North Korea

The countries made the announcement after three days of intense talks aimed at pulling the rivals back from the brink of war.

During the talks at the border village of Panmunjom, North Korea also agreed to lift a "quasi-state of war" that it had declared last week, chief South Korean negotiator and presidential security adviser Kim Kwan-jin told a televised briefing.

The closed-door meeting at Panmunjom, where the armistice ending fighting in the Korean War was agreed to in 1953, began early Saturday evening, shortly after a deadline set by North Korea for the South to dismantle loudspeakers broadcasting anti-North Korean propaganda at their border, said an official from South Korea's Unification Ministry.

North Korea had declared that its front-line troops were in full war readiness and prepared to go to battle if Seoul did not back down.