Pyongyang, Seoul to verify removal of guard posts on border

The two Koreas will exchange inspection teams across their border next week to verify each other’s work to remove some of their front-line guard posts, the Defense Ministry in Seoul said on Thursday. North and South Korea each have dismantled or disarmed in the past weeks 11 of their border guard posts. The development is part of agreements to reduce tensions that were reached during the leaders’ summit in Pyongyang in September. Vice Defense Minister Suh Choo-suk said that the Koreas agreed to conduct one-day mutual verification on the sites of the guard posts next Wednesday. The countries will each send 11 military inspection teams to the other’s 11 sites. In a separate development, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho was due to arrive on Thursday in China, AP reports. The talks with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on Friday will come amid stalled efforts to persuade Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear weapons programs.