South Korean military officials cross the border

"We also recognised that the meeting was the first co-operative project between the two military authorities," he added.

Transport links were cut off by the 1950-53 Korean War, but earlier this year the two sides agreed to reconnect the main railway from Seoul to Pyongyang and build a four-lane highway parallel to it through the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ).

Tuesday's talks between General Kim and North Korea's chief delegate, Colonel Ryu Yong-chul, were held at a North Korean pavilion at the border village of Panmunjom.

But journalists were banned from stepping into North Korean territory to cover the meeting.

Landmines

The railway, due to be completed by next September, will run 318km (200 miles) from Seoul to Sinuiju on North Korea's border with China.

A statement issued after the talks said officials had discussed the issue of designating an area within the DMZ for joint management and the removal of landmines in the area.

More than a million landmines are thought to be strewn along the 4km-wide DMZ which divides the peninsula.

In September, South Korea began removing mines from its areas just south of the zone.

But the South Korean military said so far the North had only cleared weeds and put up some tents on its side.

Earlier this month North Korea and the United Nations Command (UNC), which oversees the DMZ, signed an agreement turning over the administration of the southern side of the zone to South Korea.

The initial agreement to reconnect the rail link followed a historic summit in June in which the South's President Kim Dae-jung and the North's leader Kim Jong-il agreed to move towards ending hostilities on the peninsula.

General Kim and Colonel Ryu provisionally agreed to hold a second round of talks on the railway link in Panmunjom on 5 December.