TENSIONS REDUCED
This handout photo released by the presidential Blue House shows the South Korean Unification Minister Hong Yong-Pyo (L) shaking hands with North Korean top official in charge of South Korea affairs, Kim Yang-Gon (R), as South Korean president’s national security adviser, Kim Kwan-Jin (C), looking on during their last meeting after days of intensive high-level talks at the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) dividing the two Koreas on August 25. North and South Korea wrapped up marathon talks on August 25 with an agreement aimed at defusing a crisis that had pushed the two rivals to the brink of armed conflict. AFP PHOTO
This handout photo released by the presidential Blue House shows the South Korean Unification Minister Hong Yong-Pyo (L) shaking hands with North Korean top official in charge of South Korea affairs, Kim Yang-Gon (R), as South Korean president’s national security adviser, Kim Kwan-Jin (C), looking on during their last meeting after days of intensive high-level talks at the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) dividing the two Koreas on August 25. North and South Korea wrapped up marathon talks on August 25 with an agreement aimed at defusing a crisis that had pushed the two rivals to the brink of armed conflict. AFP PHOTO
SEOUL: North and South Korea stepped back from the brink Tuesday, with an agreement that ended a dangerous military standoff but left a host of perennial tension-raising irritants unresolved.