#panmunjom

U.S. and North Korean officials held an unofficial meeting in the border truce village of Panmunjom on Monday to discuss a fresh date for a high-level meeting that was canceled last month.

The U.S.-led United Nations Command, North and South Korea agreed Monday to remove weapons and guard posts from a jointly patrolled area this week, according to the defense ministry in Seoul. The decision, made during a second round of trilateral talks in the truce village of Panmunjom, is a major step toward implementing an inter-Korean military pact reached last month. The ministry also said the Koreas also have finished removing land mines from the area, which is the heart of the heavily fortified border that has divided the peninsula since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice instead of a peace treaty. Seoul and Pyongyang have moved forward with initiatives aimed at improving relations despite little progress in diplomatic efforts to rid the North of its nuclear weapons. The longtime rivals agreed in September to withdraw weapons and guard posts from the Joint Security Area in Panmunjom and replace them with 35 unarmed guards from each side. That was part of a wide-ranging