North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il and South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun have signed a declaration calling for peace and joint prosperity after their summit in Pyongyang.
The leaders have agreed to try to bring peace to the Cold War's last frontier, just a day after the North signed up to an international deal to disable its nuclear facilities.
'North and South Korea shared the view they must end the current armistice and build a permanent peace regime,' Mr Roh and Mr Kim said in a joint statement at the end of their three-day meeting.
The two agreed to step up trade, travel and political exchanges.
They also agreed to set up the first regular freight train service for half a century, linking two countries divided by a heavily fortified border.
They will push for talks next month with China and the US to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War, which technically is still going on because a peace treaty has yet to be signed.
There will also be meetings of ministers and defence officials and the establishment of a cooperation zone around a contested sea border on the west of the Korean peninsula.
Yesterday, North Korea agreed to disable the three main nuclear facilities at its Yongbyon site, a source of material for atomic weapons, and provide a full declaration of all its nuclear programmes by the end of the year.
US President George W Bush has praised the nuclear deal with North Korea, a country he once linked with Iran and pre-invasion Iraq as members of an 'axis of evil'.
He also held up North Korea as a possible model for resolving the nuclear standoff with Iran.
The US is to send a team of experts to North Korea as early as next week to begin implementing a denuclearisation pact.
The US will lead and fund the program as Pyongyang makes a full declaration of its nuclear assets by a 31 December deadline set in the agreement.
