North and South Korea begin destroying border guard posts

AFP  |  Seoul 

The two Koreas began destroying 20 posts along their heavily-fortified frontier Sunday under a plan to reduce tensions on the border.

The militaries on Sunday began destroying the 20 border posts in the Demilitarsed Zone dividing the two Koreas after withdrawing troops and equipment from them, agency reported, citing Seoul's defence ministry.

has around 60 such posts along the rest of the border while the North has about 160, said.

The border truce village of -- or the (JSA) -- is the only spot along the tense, 250-kilometre (155-mile) frontier where soldiers from the two Koreas and the US-led stand face to face.

But as part of the latest reconciliatory gesture, the two Koreas last month removed all firearms and posts from the area, leaving it manned by 35 unarmed personnel from each side.

The moves come as a diplomatic thaw between the former wartime foes gathers pace.

Under doveish South Korean Moon Jae-in, has pursued a policy of engagement with its isolated, nuclear-armed neighbour, in contrast with the US which insists pressure should be maintained on until it denuclearises.

Moon and North Korean leader agreed on a broad plan to ease tensions along the border during their third summit in in September.

The two nations technically remain at war after the 1950-53 Korean War that sealed the division of the peninsula and ended with a ceasefire instead of a peace treaty.

But ties improved markedly this year as Moon and Kim took a series of reconciliatory gestures.

Kim and US also held a historic summit in June in and signed a vaguely worded deal on denuclearisation, but little progress has been made since then, with the two countries sparring over the exact meaning of the agreement.

Planned talks between US and one of Kim's right-hand men, Kim Yong Chol, were also delayed this week.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Sun, November 11 2018. 19:45 IST