North and South Korean officials pose for a photo after wrapping up 43 hours of talks to reach a deal at the truce village of Panmunjom early Tuesday morning. From left: Kim Yang-gon, the secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party; Kim Kwan-jin, the South Korean director of National Security; Hwang Pyong-so, the director of the General Political Bureau of the North Korean Army; and Hong Yong-pyo, the South Korean unification minister. Provided by the Blue House
South and North Korea reached a deal on a six-point agreement early Tuesday after 43 hours of talks, putting a halt to rising tensions on the peninsula that brought the two rivals on the brink of an armed conflict.

The two sides wrapped up discussions around 1 a.m. Tuesday, defusing tensions that had escalated over the past few days after Pyongyang agreed to express regret over land mine blasts on Aug. 4 that left two South Korean soldiers seriously injured.

In return, South Korea consented to stop propaganda broadcasts via loudspeakers along the demilitarized zone (DMZ), which will go into effect at noon on today, accepting Pyongyang’s demand that the psychological warfare be halted.

The broadcast campaign was resumed on Aug. 10, 11 years after it had been discontinued, in retaliation for a series of land mine detonations a week earlier on the southern area of the border, for which Seoul blamed Pyongyang.

An apology from the North was one of the South’s key demands in the talks. In the end, Pyongyang agreed to provide an expression of “regret” over the incident, which Seoul accepted, agreeing to halt its propaganda in exchange.

While the North’s expression of regret over the land mine incident falls short of Seoul’s initial demand for an apology, it is thought to have been somewhat of a concession for the South – Seoul could essentially claim it as an apology, while the North contends otherwise to its people.