KIM, MOON HOLD HANDS AS THEY VOW NO MORE WAR

The leaders of North and South Korea pledged on Friday to work towards a "common goal" of denuclearizing their peninsula and formally ending the Korean War by the end of this year, following a historic day of talks on the border that divided them for almost seven decades.

North Korean leader Kim Jongun and South Korean President Moon Jae-in in a joint declaration said that "there will be no more war on the Korean Peninsula and thus a new era of peace has begun".

The agreement was signed and issued after their bilateral summit earlier in the day inside the heavily-fortified Demilitarized Zone.

The US, Russia, China and Japan hailed the historic meeting and the commitments to peace signed by the North and South Korean leaders.

Kim invited the South Korean President to step briefly across the demarcation line into North Korea, before the pair stepped back into South Korea -- all the while holding hands. They planted a pine tree on the demarcation line in the demilitarized zone as a symbol of peace and prosperity. Kim became the first North Korean leader to have stepped on South Korean soil since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

The North Korean leader is already set to hold a bilateral summit with US President Donald Trump. Trump hailed the developments and tweeted: "KOREAN WAR TO END! The US... should be very proud of what is now taking place in Korea!" But he also struck a note of caution. "Good things are happening, but only time will tell!"

China called the summit "a historic occasion" and expressed hopes that it would create a new opportunity for stability on the Korean peninsula.

Kim repeated a lighthearted line he had used in his meeting with South Korean envoys who visited Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, last month. ‘‘I heard you had your early-morning sleep disturbed many times because you had to attend the national security council meetings because of us,” Kim said. “Getting up early in the morning must have become a habit with you. I will make sure that your morning sleep won’t be disturbed.” Kim was referring to frequent missiles that North Korea would fire to keep South on tenterhooks.