The leaders of North and South Korea have pledged to jointly eliminate the risk of war and work together to achieve complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
The joint statement Friday, from the border truce village of Panmunjom, concluded a historic one-day bilateral summit aimed at achieving peace between the longtime adversaries for the first time in more than sixty years. The meeting of the Korean leaders was the first in more than a decade.
The statement was released during the signing of a pact between South Korean President Moon Jae-In and his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Un seeking to establish a “permanent” and “solid” peace on the Peninsula.
The two Koreas promised to ease military tensions, work together to achieve a peace regime, and work toward a nuclear-free region. They also pledged to improve inter-Korean relations, work toward co-prosperity and achieve a future of unification.
The warm declarations have taken the world by surprise, considering relations between the two states have been hostile since the Korean War that began in 1950 and saw well over 1 million people killed.
North and South Korea have technically still been at war since then, as the cessation of fighting was only enabled by an armistice signed in 1953 rather than a peace agreement. The Peninsula has been divided since 1945.
