Soldiers from two Koreas enter each other’s territory

Soldiers from North and South Korea crossed into each other’s territory peacefully for the first time on Wednesday, Seoul said, as they began checking the dismantlement of guard posts in the Demilitarized Zone.

The Korean War started in 1950, and Seoul went on to change hands four times as Pyongyang’s forces and the USled UN troops supporting the South fought their way up and down the peninsula and back again.

The conflict ended in an armistice in 1953, leaving the two technically still in a state of war, but a rapid reconciliation has taken place this year.

The South’s President Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un, leader of the nuclear-armed North, agreed to remove a limited number of guard posts along their heavily-fortified frontier at a September summit in Pyongyang, among other measures.

North Korea blew up 10 of its facilities in November, while the South tore 10 down on its own side using excavators.

South Korean inspectors visited the guard posts on the North’s side on Wednesday to ensure they had been dismantled and all troops removed, Seoul’s defense ministry said.

North Korean inspectors carried out the same process at the South’s bunkers in the afternoon. Video footage showed armed South Korean soldiers shaking hands with North Korean personnel at the military demarcation line in the center of the DMZ, before crossing to the other side.