Koreas agree to demolish 22 guard posts

Major Gen. Kim Do-gyun of South Korea, right, and his North Korean counterpart Lt. Gen. An Ik-san shake hands ahead of a general-level military meeting at Tongilgak, the North’s side of the truce village of Panmunjeom inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), Friday. / Joint Press Corps

PANMUNJEOM/SEOUL _ The two Koreas agreed late Friday to completely demolish 22 front-line guard posts (GPs) by the end of November within the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating Seoul and Pyongyang, following a broad-reaching military agreement at President Moon Jae-in’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un last month to reduce tensions.

Military generals of both sides held talks Friday at Tongilgak in the North’s side of the truce village of Panmunjeom inside the DMZ. After, they released a joint statement saying they agreed to create a joint military committee to explore further measures to disarm and cut back military threats against each other. The two Koreas, however, failed to produce a detailed timetable for when the committee will be launched.

Starting Nov. 1, all hostilities and accidental clashes will be banned on both sides, according to the statement. North Korea would close the gates for its concrete bunkers and military tunnels.

“At the talks, the two sides decided to create a 10-member joint survey team early next month as a measure to guarantee the safe sailing of civilian and non-military vessels passing through the Imjin River estuary along the 70-kilometer-long waterway separating both countries,” the statement said, adding that the when and how will be fixed through additional working-level talks.

Friday’s agreement came as President Moon is pushing hard to win backing for his “sanctions easing” initiative from Washington and other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), to encourage North Korea to announce more detailed steps and plans to scrap its entire nuclear arsenal.

The United States isn’t that supportive of the President’s initiative, and the United Kingdom and France hold similar positions. China and Russia, North Korea’s long-time backers, support easing sanctions.

A prerequisite to break an impasse in the denuclearization talks is to continuously apply measures to ease the military tension between the two Koreas, helping Seoul get justification to move ahead with the President’s new assessment toward North Korea.

Major General Kim Do-gyun represented South Korea’s delegation at the talks, while Lieutenant General An Ik-san represented the North.

As a rare gesture, North Korea allowed a vehicle carrying the South’s delegation to cross the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), considered the Armistice Line and land border between the two Koreas, for the delegation to reach the meeting place about 150 meters from Southern territory. Previously delegates from both sides made border crossings on foot.

The September agreement is calling for the two Koreas to remove guns and guard points from Panmunjeom, following a trilateral decision with the United States-led United Nations Command (UNC) in which they agreed on troops from the two Koreas to remove about 800,000 landmines buried along the border.

In a related note, the South’s Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo said President Moon’s recent decision to ratify the Pyongyang Joint Declaration and inter-Korean military agreement without consent from the National Assembly has “no legal issues” in terms of getting momentum to further reduce military threats between the Koreas.

Source:koreatimes.co.kr