War fears defused for now as North Korea, South Korea strike deal

Seoul: Having hurtled to the edge of war, the two neighbouring Koreas have made peace.

In a deal reached late Monday night after marathon negotiations at “truce village” in the DMZ (demilitarised zone), North and South struck a deal according to which Seoul agreed to turn off its anti-Pyongyang propaganda loudspeakers after North expressed “regret” over the death of two South Korean soldiers in a landmine blast.

Though, South had demanded an apology from North, Pyongyang refused to accept any role in the Aug 4 landmine blast that killed two soldiers from the neighbouring country.

As per the deal, North Korea which had ordered its troops to be on “war footing”, agreed to end the “semi-state of war” and also expressed regret at the loss of two South Korean soldiers' death.

South Korea, which had begun blaring our loudspeaker propaganda against the North at the border, decided to turn them off at midday on Tuesday (03:00 GMT), the BBC reports.

Both the neighbours have also decided to look forward to resumption of reunions for families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.

The tensions between the two countries had ratcheted up to a very high level so much so that both were inching closer to war, threatening each other of military action.

The two Koreas have been technically in war since 1950-53 war did not end in a treaty but an armistice.