North, South Koreas Wind Down War Machines

The two Koreas have decided to reduce tensions by calling down their militaries from a war footing from Tuesday noon.

“South Korea will take proportionate actions and will closely monitor the move of Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) forces as the North agreed to release the order of its troops into a state of war from noon,” Want China Times quoted South Korean defense ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok as saying in a press briefing Tuesday.

As per the inter-Korean dialogue, both the nations will stop broadcasts in frontline areas from noon.  Kim however said that, the loudspeakers used for broadcasts will remain where they are as the removal of the speakers was not discussed.

The DPRK had denounced the propaganda broadcasts as a declaration of war.

Kim said Republic of Korea troops will be placed on the highest alert till noon before downgrading the readiness level gradually.

The two Koreas agreed early Tuesday to defuse tensions following a marathon 43 hours of talks at the truce village of Panmunjom in the demilitarized border area.

The incident escalated tensions between the two sides into a brief exchange of artillery fire and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un announcing that he was placing his country's armed forces on a war footing.