(Photo: CGTN)

The summit agreement signed in Pyongyang on Wednesday means the de facto end of the Korean War, said Yoon Young-chan, the chief presidential secretary for public relations of the Republic of Korea (ROK).

Yoon made the remarks on Wednesday after leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)   Kim Jong Un and ROK President Moon Jae-in signed an agreement, which outlined a consensus on certain steps towards denuclearization and eliminating all threats of war on the peninsula.

Also, the agreement in military sphere was signed by ROK Defense Minister Song Young-moo, and Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Defense Minister of People's Armed Forces No Kwang Chol in the presence of the two states' leaders.

Yoon said the DPRK's willingness to permanently shut down the Tongchang-ri missile engine test site and other facilities means denuclearization has entered the stage of practice. 

This also provides an institutional guarantee for the non-aggression between the ROK and the DPRK, he added.

"We have signed a military agreement to end the history of tragic conflict and hostility that has existed for decades. We have also promised to make the Korean Peninsula the land of peace without nuclear weapons and threats," Kim said on Wednesday. 

"The Korean Peninsula without war has begun. South and the DPRK have agreed today to remove any threats that in exist in the Korean Peninsula that could cause war," Moon responded.

China on Wednesday hailed the latest agreements signed in the third Kim-Moon summit, saying that it hopes the DPRK and ROK can continue to implement the consensus they reached and to push for bilateral development and cooperation. 

The DPRK has reiterated that declaring an end to the Korean War is "the demand of our time" and will be the "first process" toward a peace and security guarantee.

During April's summit between Moon and Kim, the two sides agreed to work towards a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War this year.

While US President Donald Trump tweeted "KOREAN WAR TO END" after the summit, little progress seemed to have been made so far on that front.

Yonhap reported that the US remains cautious as it wants to see progress in denuclearization talks first.

The DPRK has long called for the US to declare an end to the war and pushed to replace the armistice with a peace treaty so as to boost bilateral cooperation.

The DPRK state media in July put pressure on the ROK to "do its part" to realize the "historic task" of ending the Korean War.

The DPRK and ROK remain technically at war as the Korean War ended only with an armistice treaty.

Moon is set to hold talks with his American counterpart Trump next week.

According to his chief press secretary, Moon will head to New York on Sunday to meet with Trump on the sidelines of the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly. 

The ROK president will brief Trump on the results of his third summit with Kim, which is widely expected to inject fresh momentum into the stalled nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang.