Seoul and Pyongyang's generals met Tuesday to follow up on agreements to ease military tensions, reached during the historic inter-Korean summit back in April.
Both sides were brimming with hope as they headed into the session,... and came out with some significant shared understandings.
Park Ji-won reports.

The two Koreas reached a mutual understanding on the principle of disarming the Joint Security Area in the DMZ,... the joint recovery of war remains in the DMZ,... and the withdrawal of troops at some guard posts as a pilot program.
South Korea's defense ministry explained the mutual understanding is sort of a broad sense of agreements in principle,... and the two sides will work on specific and detailed implementations in later talks.
Tuesday's general-level inter-Korean military talks, started 10 a.m.,.... and ended at around six thirty p.m Korea time at the border village of Panmunjom.
The two sides didn't adopt a joint communique,... yet both sides said that the talks had gone well.

"I think our talks were done in an earnest and sincere manner, as the items on the agenda are all very important, and can become substantial measures for easing inter-Korean military tensions and building trust. I think the two Koreas' militaries can play a significant role in establishing perpetual peace on the Korean peninsula, if the two sides continue to study and work on implementing the agenda items."

"We fully understood the South's views, and I think our views have been fully delivered to the South. In that regard, the talks were very productive and brought joy to people in both Koreas. I think, if we continue to have this attitude and stance of caring and helping each other, many problems will be solved. All items we discussed have historical significance in inter-Korean relations."

During the talks, the South Korean delegation also invited the North to this year's Seoul Defense Dialogue,... scheduled to take place from September 12th to September 14th in Seoul.
This is the second time this year the delegations meet for talks on Tuesday, with the first meeting taking place in mid-June.
At that time, the two sides agreed to restore military communication channels on the western and eastern sides of the Peninsula,... with the western military communication channel being completely restored earlier this month.

"For now, the two sides say they do not have any specific plans for another round of military talks in the near future.
Park Ji-won, Arirang News."