INSIDE THE DEMILITARIZED ZONE -- Dozens of North and South Korean soldiers crossed over the world's most heavily armed border Wednesday as they inspected the sites of their rival's front-line guard posts to verify they'd been removed, part of inter-Korean engagement efforts that come amid stalled U.S.-North Korea nuclear disarmament talks.

It was the first time since the Demilitarized Zone was created in 1948 to divide the two Koreas that troops from either side crossed the demarcation line peacefully, South Korea's Ministry of Defense noted.

The inspections Wednesday were mostly symbolic -- the removals will leave South Korea with about 50 other DMZ posts and North Korea with 150, according to defense experts in South Korea, but they mark an extraordinary change in ties from last year, when North Korea tested a series of increasingly powerful weapons and threatened Seoul and Washington with war.

Soldiers from the two Koreas exchanged cigarettes and chatted as they inspected the dismantlement or disarmament of 22 guard posts -- 11 from each country -- inside the Demilitarized Zone that forms 155-mile-long, 2.5-mile-wide border.

A small group of journalists was allowed to enter the zone to watch a South Korean team leave for a North Korean guard post Wednesday morning and a North Korean team come to a South Korean guard post later in the day.

Seven helmeted South Korean soldiers wearing backpacks, one carrying a camera and another a camcorder, approached the line separating the northern and southern sides of the DMZ. North Korean troops then walked in a row down a hill to meet them. The soldiers from the rival Koreas exchanged handshakes before moving up the hill together to go to the dismantled North Korean guard post.

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Other groups of South Korean soldiers simultaneously visited 10 other North Korean guard posts. They inspected whether the guard posts and any underground structures have been completely dismantled and whether all troops, weapons and other equipment have been withdrawn, according to Seoul's Defense Ministry.

Hours later, seven North Korean soldiers clad in olive-green uniforms crossed the same borderline and were then escorted by South Korean troops to the concrete and steel debris of a destroyed South Korean post. North Korean teams also visited 10 other South Korean sites.

South Korea's liberal president, Moon Jae-in, the driving force behind the current engagement effort, watched parts of the verification broadcast live at an underground bunker in Seoul. Moon called the work "a new milestone" in inter-Korean history that was "unimaginable in the past," according to his office.

North Korean soldiers allowed South Korean soldiers to use stethoscope-like equipment to inspect whether there were any underground tunnels below the site, South Korean presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom told reporters.

The Demilitarized Zone was originally created as a buffer between the countries at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. But contrary to its name, the DMZ has become the world's most heavily fortified frontier after the rival Koreas planted an estimated 2 million mines, deployed combat troops and heavy weapons and set up layers of barbed wire fences.

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When the leaders of the Koreas met in Pyongyang in September, they agreed to lower military tensions along their border, including the withdrawal of some DMZ guard posts, halting live-fire exercises near the border, demilitarizing their shared border village of Panmunjom and removing mines at a DMZ area to launch joint searches for Korean War dead.

Conservatives in South Korea have criticized the deals, saying Seoul shouldn't have agreed to such conventional arms reduction programs because North Korea's nuclear threat remains unchanged.

U.S.-led nuclear diplomacy aimed at stripping North Korea of its nuclear program has reported little progress since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump met for a summit in Singapore in June. North Korea has made a vague disarmament pledge, and some experts say the North's turn to diplomacy after last year's string of weapons tests is aimed at weakening U.S.-led sanctions.</s>Seoul: Soldiers from North and South Korea crossed into each other’s territory peacefully for the first time on Wednesday, Seoul said, as they began checking the dismantlement of guard posts in the Demilitarized Zone.

 The North invaded the South in 1950, triggering the Korean War, and Seoul went on to change hands four times as Pyongyang’s Chinese-backed forces and the US-led UN troops supporting the South fought their way up and down the peninsula and back again.

 The conflict ended in an armistice in 1953, leaving the two technically still in a state of war, but a rapid reconciliation has taken place this year.

 The South’s President Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un, leader of the nuclear-armed North, agreed to remove a limited number of guard posts along their heavily-fortified frontier at a September summit in Pyongyang, among other measures.

 North Korea blew up 10 of its facilities in November, while the South tore 10 down on its own side using excavators. South Korean inspectors visited each of the guard posts on the North’s side on Wednesday to make sure they had been dismantled and all firearms and troops removed, Seoul’s defence ministry said.

 North Korean inspectors carried out the same process at the South’s bunkers in the afternoon, it added. Video footage showed armed South Korean soldiers shaking hands with North Korean personnel at the military demarcation line in the centre of the DMZ, before crossing to the other side.

 Led by the North Koreans, the Southerners walked along a path where the North’s guard posts had once stood, soldiers from both sides taking photos and filming the process as they chatted. “This marks the first time since the division that the soldiers of the North and South… are peacefully crossing the military demarcation line,” the ministry said in a statement.

 The North is known to have more guard posts — which include both surface structures and underground elements — and according to Yonhap news agency it now has around 150 in the DMZ, with the South having about 50. Despite its name, the area around the DMZ is one of the most fortified places on earth, replete with minefields and barbed-wire fences.

 But under the plans to ease tensions agreed in Pyongyang, the two Koreas have demilitarised the border truce village of Panmunjom, leaving it manned by 35 unarmed personnel from each side. Officially called the Joint Security Area (JSA), the enclave is the only spot along the 250-kilometre (155-mile) frontier where soldiers from the two Koreas and the US-led UN Command stand face to face. (AFP)</s>North Korean soldiers move to inspect a dismantled guard post inside the Demilitarized Zone, while a South Korean soldier stands guard in the central section of the border on Dec 12, 2018.

SEOUL - Soldiers from North and South Korea crossed into each other's territory peacefully for the first time on Wednesday (Dec 12), Seoul said, as they began checking the dismantlement of guard posts in the Demilitarised Zone.

The North invaded the South in 1950, triggering the Korean War, and Seoul went on to change hands four times as Pyongyang's Chinese-backed forces and the US-led UN troops supporting the South fought their way up and down the peninsula and back again.

The conflict ended in an armistice in 1953, leaving the two technically still in a state of war, but a rapid reconciliation has taken place this year.

The South's President Moon Jae-in and Mr Kim Jong Un, leader of the nuclear-armed North, agreed to remove a limited number of guard posts along their heavily-fortified frontier at a September summit in Pyongyang, among other measures.

North Korea blew up 10 of its facilities in November, while the South tore 10 down on its own side using excavators.

South Korean inspectors visited each of the guard posts on the North's side on Wednesday to make sure they had been dismantled and all firearms and troops removed, Seoul's Defence Ministry said.

North Korean inspectors carried out the same process at the South's bunkers in the afternoon, it added.

North Korean soldiers working near the Military Demarcation Line to construct a tactical road to support a joint war remains recovery project in the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas in Cheorwon.

Video footage showed armed South Korean soldiers shaking hands with North Korean personnel at the military demarcation line in the centre of the DMZ, before crossing to the other side.

Led by the North Koreans, the Southerners walked along a path where the North's guard posts had once stood, soldiers from both sides taking photos and filming the process as they chatted.

"This marks the first time since the division that the soldiers of the North and South... are peacefully crossing the military demarcation line," the ministry said in a statement.

The North is known to have more guard posts - which include both surface structures and underground elements - and according to Yonhap news agency, it now has around 150 in the DMZ, with the South having about 50.

Despite its name, the area around the DMZ is one of the most fortified places on earth, replete with minefields and barbed-wire fences.

But under the plans to ease tensions agreed in Pyongyang, the two Koreas have demilitarised the border truce village of Panmunjom, leaving it manned by 35 unarmed personnel from each side.

Officially called the Joint Security Area (JSA), the enclave is the only spot along the 250-kilometre frontier where soldiers from the two Koreas and the US-led UN Command stand face-to-face.

The dovish Mr Moon has pursued a policy of engagement with the North, in increasing contrast to Washington, which insists pressure should be maintained on Pyongyang until it denuclearises.</s>Dozens of North and South Korean soldiers have crossed over the world’s most heavily armed border as they inspected the sites of rival frontline guard posts to verify they had been removed.

The checks were part of Korean engagement efforts that come amid stalled US-North Korea nuclear disarmament talks.

Soldiers from the two Koreas exchanged cigarettes and chatted as they inspected the dismantlement or disarmament of 22 guard posts — 11 from each country — inside the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) that forms their 155-mile long border.

The inspections were mostly symbolic, as the removals will leave South Korea with about 50 other DMZ posts and North Korea with 150, according to defence experts in South Korea.

But they mark an extraordinary change in ties from last year, when North Korea tested a series of increasingly powerful weapons and threatened Seoul and Washington with war.

A small group of journalists was allowed to enter the zone to watch a South Korean team leave for a North Korean guard post and a North Korean team come to a South Korean guard post later in the day.

Seven helmeted South Korean soldiers approached the line separating the northern and southern sides of the DMZ.

North Korean troops then walked in a row down a hill to meet them. The soldiers from the rival Koreas exchanged handshakes before moving up the hill together to go to the dismantled North Korean guard post.

Other groups of South Korean soldiers simultaneously visited 10 other North Korean guard posts.

They inspected whether the guard posts and any underground structures have been completely dismantled and whether all troops, weapons and other equipment have been withdrawn, according to Seoul’s Defence Ministry.

Hours later, seven North Korean soldiers clad in olive-green uniforms crossed the same borderline and were then escorted by South Korean troops to the concrete and steel debris of a destroyed South Korean post. North Korean teams also visited 10 other South Korean sites.

South Korea’s liberal president, Moon Jae-in, the driving force behind the current engagement effort, watched parts of the verification broadcast live at an underground bunker in Seoul.

Mr Moon called the work “a new milestone” in inter-Korean history that was “unimaginable in the past”.

North Korean soldiers allowed South Korean soldiers to use stethoscope-like equipment to inspect whether there were any underground tunnels below the site, South Korean presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom told reporters.

The Demilitarised Zone was originally created as a buffer between the countries at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. But contrary to its name, the DMZ has become the world’s most heavily fortified frontier after the rival Koreas planted an estimated 2 million mines, deployed combat troops and heavy weapons and set up layers of barbed wire fences.

When the leaders of the Koreas met in Pyongyang in September, they agreed to lower military tensions along their border, including the withdrawal of some DMZ guard posts, halting live-fire exercises near the border, demilitarising their shared border village of Panmunjom and removing mines at a DMZ area to launch joint searches for Korean War dead.</s>In scenes that would have been unthinkable just a year ago, soldiers from North and South Korea shake hands across their joint border.

Officials crossed into each other’s territories peacefully for the first time as they began to dismantle guard posts in the demilitarised zone.

The North invaded the South in 1950, triggering the Korean War.

The conflict ended in an armistice in 1953, leaving the two sides technically still in a state of war.

However this year there has been a rapid reconciliation and moves have been made to demolish a number of guard posts along their heavily-fortified frontier.

The North exploded 10 of its facilities while its southern neighbour excavated a further ten on their side.

It is the first step in a military pact reached in September between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Today teams from each of the countries inspected the other side’s work, looking for secret tunnels where firearms could have been hidden.

A statement read: ‘This marks the first time since the division that the soldiers of the North and South are peacefully crossing the military demarcation line.’

A year ago, such a joint operation by some 77 officials from the two sides would have been unthinkable.

North Korea’s repeated missile tests and its sixth and most powerful nuclear test in September 2017, in defiance of U.N. and U.S. warnings, had stirred fears of war.

But things have changed at a head-spinning pace over the past 12 months.

In a New Year message last year, Kim extended an olive branch to old enemy South Korea, then sent a team to the Winter Olympics there in February, and held three summits with Moon over the course of the year.

Kim also met U.S. President Donald Trump for an unprecedented summit in Singapore in June.

Moon said the removal of the border guard posts and Wednesday’s two-way verification exercise marked a ‘new milestone’ in the 65-year division of the peninsula.

‘It’s something we couldn’t even imagine in the past that the South and the North build trails in the Demilitarised Zone where they confronted each other, and pull out the guard posts and transparently verify it,’ Moon told aides after watching a broadcast of the inspection.

He added that the atmosphere was ‘cordial’ and soldiers chatted and shared cigarettes.

Moon is hoping to host Kim in Seoul for their fourth summit, perhaps as early as this month, but North Korea has been aloof amid stalled nuclear talks with the United States.</s>South Korea says a visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to Seoul before the end of the year is unlikely.

Kim promised to visit the South Korean capital “in the near future” when he hosted President Moon Jae-in for their third summit of this year.

But a statement issued Thursday by the Blue House, South Korea’s presidential residence, quoted a senior adviser to President Moon as saying a visit by Kim Jong Un would be “difficult.” A visit by Kim would be the first by a North Korean leader to South Korea since the Korean Peninsula was divided after World War II.

Analysts say North Korea is cautious about giving a fixed date for Kim’s visit, because of security concerns in South Korea and the stalled negotiations with the United States over its nuclear weapons program.

The Blue House statement says Kim Jong Un could still visit Seoul early next year.</s>Black-and-white photographs showing the horror and heroes of the Korean War have come to life thanks to digital colourisation.

These incredible images show many different sides of the war between North and South Korea, which started in 1950 and ended with an armistice in 1953.

One photo shows a memorial service for fallen U.S. soldiers on the front line, another a young John Glenn - who would go on to become the first man to orbit the Earth as an astronaut and later a U.S. Senator.

Other striking shots show soldiers and vehicles struggle through snowy conditions, a US soldier giving a young Korean child a gift and a brave bagpiper on a hill.

The original black and white photographs were painstakingly colourised by electrician Royston Leonard, 55, from Cardiff, Wales, with each snap taking between four and five hours to complete.

'Adding colour brings to life the horror of war, of the trenches and not just another old black and white photo from long ago,' he said.

'We must never forget and teach all our children so that it never happens again. The pictures are not nice but then nor is sending loved ones to war.'

Proud tradition: A lone bagpipe player is seen standing above two soldiers. His nationality is not clear, however the bagpipe is most commonly associated with the Scottish Highlands. While a majority of the Western soldiers who fought and died in the Korean War were from the U.S., thousands of British and Commonwealth troops also served

The Korean War was sparked by communist North Korea invading South Korea following a series of clashes by the border.

The United Nations, with the United States as the principal force, came to the aid of South Korea, with China and the Soviet Union providing assistance to the North.

The fighting ended on 27 July, 1953, when an armistice was signed. The agreement created the Korean Demilitarized Zone to separate North and South Korea, and allowed the return of prisoners.

However, no peace treaty has been signed, and the two Koreas are technically still at war.</s>SEOUL: Soldiers from North and South Korea crossed into each other’s territory peacefully for the first time on Wednesday, Seoul said, as they began checking the dismantlement of guard posts in the Demilitarized Zone.

The North invaded the South in 1950, triggering the Korean War, and Seoul went on to change hands four times as Pyongyang’s Chinese-backed forces and the US-led UN troops supporting the South fought their way up and down the peninsula and back again.

The conflict ended in an armistice in 1953, leaving the two technically still in a state of war, but a rapid reconciliation has taken place this year. The South’s President Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un, leader of the nuclear-armed North, agreed to remove a limited number of guard posts along their heavily-fortified frontier at a September summit in Pyongyang, among other measures.

North Korea blew up 10 of its facilities in November, while the South tore 10 down on its own side using excavators. South Korean inspectors visited each of the guard posts on the North’s side on Wednesday to make sure they had been dismantled and all firearms and troops removed, Seoul’s defence ministry said.</s>SEOUL: Soldiers from North and South Korea are set to verify the dismantlement of guard posts in the demilitarised zone Wednesday (Dec 12), Seoul said, after crossing into each other's territory peacefully for the first time.

The removal of 20 posts along the heavily-fortified frontier was one of the steps agreed at a September summit between the South's President Moon Jae-in and the North's leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang, part of a rapid reconciliation drive on the peninsula.

In November, North Korea blew up the 10 facilities while the South tore down 10 on its own side using excavators.

Seoul's defence ministry said early Wednesday that South Korean inspectors will visit each of the guard posts on the North's side to verify their dismantlement and to ensure that all firearms and troops have been removed.

North Korean inspectors will carry out the same process at the South's bunkers, it added.

"This marks the first time since the division that the soldiers of the North and South ... are peacefully crossing the military demarcation line," the ministry said in a statement.

The dovish Moon has pursued a policy of engagement with its isolated, nuclear-armed neighbour, in increasing contrast to Washington, which insists pressure should be maintained on Pyongyang until it denuclearises.

Despite its name, the area around the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) is one of the most fortified places on earth, replete with minefields and barbed-wire fences.

But under plans to ease tensions agreed in Pyongyang, the two Koreas have demilitarised the border truce village of Panmunjom, leaving it manned by 35 unarmed personnel from each side.

Officially called the Joint Security Area (JSA), the enclave is the only spot along the 250km frontier where soldiers from the two Koreas and the US-led UN Command stand face to face.</s>On Wednesday, soldiers from North and South Korea made several peaceful crossings into each other's territory for the first time since the countries were divided. The soldiers were inspecting the dismantlement of 22 guard posts — 11 from both countries — inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the buffer zone between both countries, which, contrary to its name, is the world's most heavily fortified border.

It was mostly a symbolic gesture, since many more guard posts still remain, but as South Korea's president Moon Jae-in pointed out, the action was "a new milestone" in inter-Korean history that was "unimaginable in the past."

Just like the photos and video footage of soldiers chatting and sharing cigarettes contribute to changing the image both countries have of each other, another type of imagery unites them as well, as the exhibition "Rückkehr von Jeong Seon – Alter Meister, Neue Geister" (Return of Jeong Seon – Old Master, New Minds) in Berlin shows.

Mount Kumgang, or Geumgangsan, which translates as Diamond Mountain, has always been a muse for Koreans. Poets and artists have been celebrating it in their works since well before the Middle Ages.

One Korean painter most famously revolutionized art through his depictions of the peak: Jeong Seon (1676-1759), who is credited as the father of "True View" landscape painting. The label refers to landscape painting techniques specifically portraying Korean scenery. Before him, "Korean artists were all orientated towards China. Jeong Seon was the first artist who made it popular to paint Korean landscapes," explains the exhibition's curator, Kwang Lee from the international art association Kunstverein 64 e.V.

However, since the mountain is located in North Korea, South Koreans were unable to visit their treasured site for 50 years, after the Korean peninsula was divided in 1948. North Korea progressively opened it to South Korean tourists starting in 1998.

Jeong Seon's approach still influences Korean artists from the North and the South to this day, and the show that opened at the Berlin Office of the Representation of the State of Saxony on Wednesday is the first official German exhibition to display works from both sides of the border, displaying painters inspired by the ideas of the old master.

Holding the exhibition in a state building also served to represent the ties between Germany and Korea. Germany's own experience of division and its peaceful reunification provide an inspiring model for Korea.

With the upcoming the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 2019, different special projects with Korea will aim to consolidate the already important ties between the two countries, says Hartmut Koschyk, co-president of the German-Korean Forum. He cites for example an upcoming digital game that will allow users in Berlin and Seoul to reflect on borders and divisions, called "Mauerspechte – von der DMZ zur Berliner Mauer" (Wall-Woodpeckers — from the DMZ to the Berlin Wall).

Kwang Lee first came to Germany 20 years to study art in Europe without thinking much about the parallels between both countries. It is through her professor at the Düsseldorf Arts Academy, artist Markus Lüpertz, that she began reflecting upon her identity, about Korean traditions and the common aspects in German and Korean history.

The parallels can also be drawn in the countries' artistic production. Just like in former East Germany, Kwang Lee points out, the artists from North Korea work under the tight control of the regime, promoting the state's official ideology. For example, the landscapes painted by these artists are "not as personal" as the South Korean interpretations; the North Korean artworks rather serve as a direct demonstration of how powerful these mountains are, says the exhibition's curator.

North Korean artists mainly work in an enormous complex in Pyongyang, the Mansudae Art Studio, which is basically one of the largest art factories in the world. Some 1,000 artists and 3,000 assistants produce works for Kim Jong Un's regime, churning out propaganda monuments, paintings and even the Kim pins worn by all North Koreans.

While the way art is produced is obviously distinct in both parts of Korea, hopes that a shared cultural heritage may contribute to improving diplomatic ties is not only a concept celebrated in Berlin. During his visit to Kim Jong Un in North Korea last September, South Korean President Moon Jae-in was guided around the massive art studio.

In a guest book, Moon wrote: "I wish that art would become a bridge connecting South and North Korea as one."

The exhibition "Rückkehr von Jeong Seon – Alter Meister, Neue Geister" runs through January 30, 2019 at the Vertretung des Freistaates Sachsen beim Bund in Berlin.
Soldiers from North Korea and South Korea peacefully cross the Korean Demilitarized Zone for the first time since it was created in 1953.