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The leaders of North and South Korea have signed a declaration agreeing to work for the "complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula".
Key points:
- "There will be no more war on the Korean Peninsula," South Korean President Moon Jae-in says
- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Mr Moon engaged in a historic first meeting in the DMZ
- The meeting comes just weeks before Mr Kim is scheduled to meet with US President Donald Trump
At their first summit in more than a decade, the two sides announced they would seek an agreement to establish "permanent" and "solid" peace on the peninsula.
The declaration included promises to pursue military arms reduction, cease "hostile acts," turn their fortified border into a "peace zone," and seek multilateral talks with other countries such as the United States.
"There will be no more war on the Korean Peninsula and we will be proclaiming the new era of peace is open," South Korean President Moon Jae-in said.
"We will establish peace on the Korean Peninsula and the international order will be changed by this agreement.
"We will stop military hostilities and there will be some measures to stop these hostilities."
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said "we have been waiting for this moment".
"When we met, it's harder. We realised we cannot be separated, we are one nation, and that is how I felt," he said.
"We are living next door to each other, there is no reason we should fight each other."
Mr Kim and Mr Moon engaged in a historic first meeting earlier today — marking the first time one of the ruling Kim leaders has crossed over to the southern side of the demilitarised zone since 1953.
North and South Korea have agreed to open a permanent communication office in the North Korean town of Kaesong and resume temporary reunions between relatives separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.
Mr Kim and Mr Moon said after their summit that the Koreas will seek to expand civilian exchanges and pursue joint sports and cultural events.
The two Koreas also agreed for Mr Moon to visit Pyongyang later this year.
Today's meeting, aimed at ending their decades-long conflict and easing tensions over the North's nuclear weapons program, came just weeks before Mr Kim was due to meet US President Donald Trump.
Mr Kim was accompanied by nine officials, including his sister Kim Yo-jong, who led the North's delegations to the Winter Olympic Games in South Korea earlier this year.
During their private meeting, Mr Kim told Mr Moon he came to the summit to end the history of conflict and joked he was sorry for keeping Mr Moon up with his late-night missile tests, a South Korean official said.
Mr Kim told Mr Moon he would be willing to visit the presidential Blue House in Seoul, and wanted to meet "more often" in the future, the official said.
'Good things are happening', Trump tweets
United States President Donald Trump responded to the news of the declaration on Twitter.
"KOREAN WAR TO END! The United States, and all of its GREAT people, should be very proud of what is now taking place in Korea!" Mr Trump tweeted.
In a separate tweet sent minutes earlier, Mr Trump said, "good things are happening, but only time will tell."
Mr Kim and Mr Trump are expected to meet in late May or June, with Mr Trump saying on Thursday he was considering several possible dates and venues.
Just months ago, Mr Trump and Mr Kim were trading threats and insults as North Korea's rapid advances in pursuit of nuclear-armed missiles capable of hitting the United States raised fears of a fresh conflict on the Korean Peninsula.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also welcomed the summit between the leaders as a positive step towards denuclearization and the solving of other issues, adding that he expected Pyongyang to take concrete steps to towards to carry out its intentions.
Japan would stay in close contact with the United States and South Korea over North Korea, Mr Abe said, indicating that Japan would be part of the denuclearisation process.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop also took to Twitter to welcome the news.
Earlier, speaking to the media, Ms Bishop was cautious about whether the talks would lead to denuclearisation.
"We see this as an opportunity for North Korea to demonstrate verifiable steps that it will take to denuclearise, not only stop its illegal nuclear weapons and ballistic missile testing, but also to denuclearise," Ms Bishop said.
ABC/wires
Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, history, foreign-affairs, world-politics, korea-democratic-peoples-republic-of, korea-republic-of, asia
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