South Korea to maintain military readiness despite agreement with North Korea

South Korea has said it will maintain military readiness despite the temporary truce agreement reached with North Korea. However, the anti-North Korea loudspeaker broadcasts have been stopped following regret expressed by Pyongyang for the recent mine blast.

Subsequent to the four-day intense negotiations, the rival Koreas reached a deal potentially averting a full-fledged conflict. "Since the North has agreed to withdraw the semi-war state starting at 12:00 noon our military will maintain its defence posture for the possibility of another provocation," South Korea's Defence Ministry spokesperson Kim Min-seok told reporters during a routine press conference.

The South Korean forces will remain in defence posture since Pyongyang has said it will take "considerable" time to pull back its troops from the frontline border region. The spokesperson also said Seoul would scale back its military alert status matching the situation.

The defence ministry spokesperson added that South Korea "will stop anti-North loudspeaker broadcasts, starting at noon today, in accordance with the agreement of the inter-Korean high-level talks".

Further capitalising on the dramatic breakthrough, Seoul has sought regular dialogue with its neighbour to improve relations between the two countries. A senior South Korean official told Yonhap news agency that the two Koreas would attempt to hold "regular and systematic" talks to boost inter-Korean ties.

"I hope that the deal could serve as an occasion to resolve all inter-Korean issues through trust," South Korea's President Park Geun-hye said in a statement.