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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 2 OcTOber 2018

2 Koreas begin removing DMZ mines to ease military tensions

By HYUNG-JIN KIM South-North Korean agree-
Associated Press ment that made a conces-
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) sion in our defense posture
— North and South Korean before (North Korean) de-
troops began removing nuclearization is achieved,”
some of the land mines Shin Wonsik, a former vice
planted at their heavily for- chairman of the South’s
tified border on Monday, Joint Chiefs of Staff, said
Seoul officials said, in the last week.
first implementation of re- After provocative tests of
cent agreements aimed at three intercontinental bal-
easing their decades-long listic missiles and a power-
military standoff. ful nuclear weapon last
The demining comes amid year, North Korea entered
resumed diplomacy over talks with the United States
North Korea’s nuclear and South Korea earlier this
weapons program after year, saying it’s willing to
weeks of stalemated ne- deal away its expanding
gotiations. U.S. Secretary of nuclear arsenal. Kim Jong
State Mike Pompeo is to visit Un has subsequently held a
Pyongyang, North Korea’s South Korean President Moon Jae-in, center, salutes during the repatriation ceremony for the series of summits with U.S.,
capital, this month to try remains of 64 South Korean soldiers killed in North Korea during the Korean War, which arrived at South Korean and Chinese
to set up a second summit Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, South Korea, from Hawaii on Monday, Oct. 1, 2018. leaders and taken some
between President Donald Associated Press steps such as dismantling
Trump and North Korean ported demining. Mines dislodged by flood- Moon Jae-in said Monday his nuclear test site.
leader Kim Jong Un. At Arrow Head Hill, where ing and landslides have oc- the military deals will “end The nuclear diplomacy
On Monday, South Korean some of the fiercest battles casionally caused deaths all hostile acts on land, sea later came to a standstill
army engineers with dem- occurred during the Ko- in front-line areas in South and sky between South and amid disputes over how sin-
ining equipment were de- rean War, Seoul officials Korea. In 2015, a land mine North Korea.” In a speech cere North Korea is about
ployed to the border village believe there are remains blast blamed on North Ko- marking South Korea’s 70th disarmament. But Trump,
of Panmunjom and anoth- of about 300 South Korean rea maimed two South Ko- Armed Forces Day, Moon Pompeo and other U.S. of-
er frontline area called “Ar- and U.N. forces, along with rean soldiers and pushed also called for a stronger ficials have recently report-
row Head Hill” where the an unspecified number of the Koreas to the brink of national defense, saying ed progress in denuclear-
Koreas plan their first joint Chinese and North Korean war. “peace can continue only ization discussions with the
searches for soldiers killed remains. The agreement to clear when we have power and North. Pompeo is to make
during the 1950-53 Korean The Korean War left millions mines, the first such effort are confidant of protecting his third trip to North Korea
War. dead or missing, and South since the early 2000s, was ourselves.” soon.
The troops began remov- Korea wants to expand among a package of ten- Moon, a liberal who aspires Meanwhile, on Monday,
ing mines on the southern joint excavations with North sion-easing deals struck by to improve ties with North South Korea held a cer-
part of the two sites. Later Korea for remains at De- the Koreas’ defense chiefs Korea, is a driving force emony marking the recent
Monday, the South Korean militarized Zone areas. The on the sidelines of a lead- behind U.S.-North Korean return of the remains of 64
military detected North Ko- Koreas remain split along ers’ summit last month in nuclear diplomacy. Critics South Korean soldiers miss-
rean soldiers engaged in the 248-kilometer (155-mile) Pyongyang. Aiming to re- of his engagement policy ing from the Korean War.
what it believed was dem- -long DMZ that was origi- duce conventional military have lambasted the recent They were earlier found in
ining on the northern part nally created as a buffer threats, they also agreed to inter-Korean military deals, North Korea during a joint
of the sites, a South Korean zone at the end of the Ko- remove 11 front-line guard saying a mutual reduction 1996-2005 excavation proj-
defense official said on rean War. About 2 million posts by December and set of conventional military ect between the United
condition of animosity, cit- mines are believed to be up buffer zones along their strength would weaken States and North Korea. Fo-
ing department rules. scattered in and near the land and sea boundaries South Korea’s war readi- rensic identification tests in
The official refused to pro- DMZ, which is also guarded and a no-fly zone above ness because the North’s Hawaii confirmed they be-
vide more details. North by hundreds of thousands the border to prevent ac- nuclear program remains long to South Korean war
Korea’s state media didn’t of combat troops, barbed cidental clashes. largely intact. dead, according to Seoul’s
immediately confirm its re- wire fences and tank traps. South Korean President “I think it’s the worst-ever Defense Ministry.q