South and North Korea have agreed to carry out the second phase of removing high-powered loudspeaker batteries and other propaganda signboards near the South-North border beginning Tuesday.

Mid-level military officials of the two sides reached the agreement at talks held at the North Korean border city of Gaesong Monday. They also agreed to maintain the exchange of radio communication between naval vessels of the two sides.

The Defense Ministry announced that the South Korean delegation expressed strong regret over North Korean ships' failure to respond to radio messages from South Korean navy patrol boats and requested a sincere attitude from the North to improve the operation of Navy hotlines. The North replied that it would commit itself to sincerely implementing the wireless communication system, which is aimed at preventing accidental naval skirmishes.

Navy vessels from the two Koreas successfully exchanged radio signals on June 14th as part of their efforts to prevent accidental naval skirmishes on the western sea border.

But North Korea has been negligent in ship-to-ship communication, responding only three times to 17 radio signals from South Korea as of the end of last month.