Moon, Kim Trek Mount Considered Place of Origin of Korean People (PHOTOS)

The leaders of the two Koreas met in Pyongyang for landmark talks which wrapped up with a joint agreement, which the South Korean authorities have praised as a de-facto end of the decades-old state of war on the peninsula.

On Thursday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in trekked Mount Paektu on the Chinese border, which is traditionally considered the ancestral place of origin of the Korean nation.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, second from left, and his wife Kim Jung-sook, second from right, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and his wife Ri Sol Ju, right, visit Mount Paektu

© AP Photo / Pyongyang Press Corps Pool

"Many people in the South would go to Mount Paektu from the Chinese side, but I decided not to, pledging to myself that I would go by (only) setting foot on our soil," Moon told Kim after climbing the peak of the mountain, as cited by Reuters.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, right, and his wife Kim Jung-sook, second from right, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, second from left, and his wife Ri Sol Ju ride a cable car to Mount Paektu

© AP Photo / Pyongyang Press Corps Pool

This symbolical act of North-South unity came after three days of Pyongyang talks, devoted to the further improvement of relations, denuclearization and dialogue between North Korea and the US.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in puts water from the crater lake into a bottle as his wife Kim Jung-sook watches on Mount Paektu

© AP Photo / Pyongyang Press Corps Pool

This is the first visit by a president of South Korea to Pyongyang in nearly 11 years; former president Roh Moo-hyun traveled to North Korea back in October 2007.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, third from right, and his wife Kim Jung-sook, second from right, watch a crater lake

© AP Photo / Pyongyang Press Corps Pool

The situation on the Korean Peninsula has significantly improved since the start of the year, with Kim and Moon holding two other bilateral meetings earlier, in April and May.