After three days of working-level military talks, South and North Korea have agreed to use a unified system of flag and flash signals to avoid accidental armed clashes at their disputed western sea border.

Colonel-grade officers of the two sides reached the agreement on Saturday after marathon talks that opened in the North's border city of Gaesong on Thursday.

South and North Korea also agreed to stop all propaganda broadcasting along the border and gradually dismantle loudspeakers and other propaganda facilities beginning next Tuesday.

The lower-level talks were held to follow up on two rounds of high-level military talks held alternately in the North and South late last month and early June.

At the two previous rounds of general-level military talks, the two sides agreed to take a number of steps to ease tensions on the western sea border, including the use of a common, standard radio frequency by patrol boats of the two Navies to help avoid accidental skirmishes.

In recent years, dozens of sailors on both sides have been killed or wounded in bloody clashes in the western sea.