Korea military chiefs ease warring tensions

HIGH-LEVEL TALKS A SUCCESS

THE rival Koreas have agreed to fully restore their cross-border communication lines after holding rare high-level military talks on reducing tensions.

The military officials also discussed temporarily disarming an area in their jointly controlled truce village of Panmunjom, where soldiers from the North and South stand several feet from each other across the demarcation line that divides their countries, South Korea’s Defence Ministry said.

It was not clear whether North Korean officials brought up the South’s military drills with the US during the talks at Panmunjom.

US President Donald Trump said after his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday that the allies should stop the war games while nuclear negotiations are being held in “good faith”.

South Korea’s presidential office has said it is trying to discern Mr Trump’s meaning and intent, but also that the allies should explore various ways to “further facilitate” dialogue with the North.

Seoul’s Defence Ministry said the military talks focused on implementing the agreements at an earlier summit between Mr Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, in which they vowed to reduce military tensions and eliminate the danger of war.

The discussions were the first general-level talks between the militaries since December 2007.