SEOUL, South Korea — The rival Koreas and the U. S.-led U. N. Command completed withdrawing firearms and troops from a jointly controlled area…
SEOUL, South Korea — The rival Koreas and the U. S.-led U. N. Command completed withdrawing firearms and troops from a jointly controlled area at a border village on Thursday, as part of agreements to reduce decades-long animosities on the Korean Peninsula.
South Korea separately announced its troops have found what it believes are Korean War remains in another front-line area where they’ve been clearing land mines with North Korean soldiers. The rival Koreas plan their first-ever joint searches for war dead there after their demining work is done.
Disarming the Joint Security Area at the border village of Panmunjom and the joint searches are among a package of deals the Koreas’ defense ministers struck on the sidelines of their leaders’ summit last month. Other steps include creating buffer zones along their land and sea boundaries and a no-fly zone above the borderline, as well as withdrawing some of their front-line guard posts.
On Thursday, the Koreas and the U. N. Command wrapped up a pullout of weapons, ammunition and soldiers manning guard posts at Panmunjom’s Joint Security Area, Seoul’s Defense Ministry said in a statement. The three sides have earlier completed removing mines from the village.
The three sides will jointly verify their disarmament work on Friday and Saturday. Under their September deals, the two Koreas are to let 35 “unarmed personnel” from each side guard the Joint Security Area and let tourists freely move around there.
The area is a symbol of the Koreas’ seven decades of division. It’s where an armistice was signed at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Rival soldiers have faced each other only feet (less than a meter) away at the zone that has been the scene of numerous incidents of bloodshed and violence. It’s also a venue for talks and a popular tourist destination.
Soldiers and visitors were previously allowed to move freely inside the area, but the 1976 ax-killing of two American troops by North Korea at Panmunjom led to the creation of current ankle-high concrete slabs that mark the border there.
