PYONGYANG/SEOUL – The leaders of the two Koreas agreed Wednesday to end military tensions and try to achieve the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), and South Korean President Moon Jae-in made the pledge at a joint press conference in Pyongyang.
At the press conference, Kim said that the Panmunjom Declaration would serve as groundwork for a new era of peace in the Korean Peninsula and he wished to make the peninsula nuclear-free.
The Panmunjom Declaration was signed during Kim's first meeting with Moon in April at the truce village of Panmunjom, on the border of the two Koreas.
Kim promised to accelerate the inter-Korean peace talks, further develop inter-Korean relations and visit Seoul, capital of South Korea, in the near future.
Moon said he and Kim have agreed on ways to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula for the first time. In addition, they agreed to end military tensions and transform the inter-Korean border into a "peace zone."
Moon noted that they reached consensus to eliminate all threats of war in the entire Korean Peninsula.
Before meeting the press, the two leaders signed a summit agreement.
Defense chiefs from both sides also signed a separate agreement on military affairs in the presence of the two leaders.
Moon and Kim had a two-hour-long talk Tuesday afternoon at the headquarters of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and a one-on-one meeting earlier on Wednesday.
During Tuesday's meeting, the two sides had an "in-depth exchange of opinions on various issues arising, to further accelerate the development of the north-south relations by honestly implementing the Panmunjom declaration in an all-round manner," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Wednesday.
Under the joint declaration signed by Moon and Kim in Pyongyang, the DPRK expressed its willingness to continue additional steps, such as the permanent destruction of its main Yongbyon nuclear facility, if the United States takes corresponding measures in accordance with the spirit of the DPRK-US summit agreement reached on June 12 in Singapore. (Xinhua)
