美国有线新闻 CNN 朝鲜和韩国解除共同警备区武装（在线收听）

What's been called the scariest place on earth is the sight of our next story. Despite it's name, the Demilitarized Zone, the border that separates North Korea and South Korea is one of the most heavily militarized borders on the planet. But in one section of the DMZ, where the two countries soldiers have faced each other for decades with guns at their sides, the weapons were removed and the armed guards will be replaced with unarmed personnel on both sides of the border. In addition, officials from the north and south say they've removed all the mines from the region.

They're steps taken toward the more peaceful relationship that both Korean leaders say they want.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This was a very symbolic event that happened up in the DMZ on Thursday in the Joint Security Area, the JSA, which is where North and South Korean soldiers have been facing off against each other for decades. We now know according to the South Korean Defense Ministry that there are no more firearms. No more ammunition. No more guard posts in that one particular area of the DMZ.

It has been demilitarized. Now this is i?n keeping with the agreement between the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and the South Korean President Moon Jae-in just last month in Pyongyang when they had that third summit. They agreed on this broader military pact to try and make sure that tensions didn't spike again on the Korean Peninsula.

And they agreed that they wanted no firearms within that one area of — of the DMZ. And remember, just a year ago there was that — that event that took place when a North Korean soldier defected from the North to the South. Ran across the MDL, Military Demarcation Line and was shot a number of times by his own fellow soldiers. Those bullets flying from North Korea into the South Korean side. So it just shows that very recently, just a year ago, there were tensions on that exact same area. So this is really just another indication that the cooperation and the negotiations between North and South Korea are continuing. Paula Hancocks, CNN Seoul.