Military talks at Panmunjeom to Discuss Trial Withdrawal of Heavy Weapons from DMZ.

Tomorrow there will be talks between military representatives of North and South Korea, concerning initial trial moves to withdraw heavier firearms from the DMZ. The initial proposal was to withdraw troops and guard posts to a distance of two kilometers from either side of the demarcation line between the two states. Agreement was not reached in an earlier negotiation. In tomorrow's meeting, the South will attempt to reach an agreement to simultaneously remove heavier firearms on both sides of the military demarcation line associated with guard posts in a limited area.

This is intended as a small demonstration of how the two sides can proceed to remove machine guns from guard posts to lower the possibility of gunfights across the demarcation lines triggered by incidents of a non-combat nature. It is expected that the deescalation process could take place in a trial area near the JSA.

This is a graphic associated with the earlier proposal:

In an earlier Channel A broadcast on these talks, the North was said to have as many as 250 guardposts and the South as few as 50. Any mutual withdrawal would have put the greater burden on the North to withdraw 2 kilometers on their side.

In an another earlier broadcast, JTBC depicted a larger number of guardposts and troops for the North that would have been affected by the earlier South Korean proposal. 160 for the North and 60 for the Southern side of the DMZ. They were also said to be 10,000 troops on the Northern side as opposed to South Korea's 1,800 within the 2 km zone. Obviously, the numbers are estimated.

See my other post on Channel A reporting of North Korean proposals for conventional arms measures dated June 25: Five North Korean Conventional Military Proposals: Does it Hurt to Ask?

Update: Xinhua reports no agreement reached.