SEOUL — South Korea halted the propaganda broadcasts it blares across the border with North Korea on Monday, aiming to set a positive tone ahead of the first summit in a decade between their leaders as the US president cautioned the nuclear crisis was far from resolved.

The gesture came after North Korea said on Saturday it would immediately suspend nuclear and missile tests, scrap its nuclear test site and instead pursue economic growth and peace, a declaration welcomed be world leaders.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is due to hold a summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-In at the border truce village of Panmunjom on Friday, and is expected to meet with President Donald Trump in late May or early June.

“North Korea’s decision to freeze its nuclear program is a significant decision for the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,” South Korean President Moon Jae-in said in a regular meeting at the Blue House on Monday.

“It is a green light that raises the chances of positive outcomes at the North’s summits with South Korea and the United States. If North Korea goes the path of complete denuclearization starting from this, then a bright future for North Korea can be guaranteed.”

South Korea’s propaganda broadcasts, which include a mix of news, Korean pop songs, an criticism of the North Korean regime, were stopped at midnight, the defense ministry in Seoul said. It didn’t specify if they would resume after the Kim-Moon summit.

“We hope this decision will lead both Koreas to stop mutual criticism and propaganda against each other and also contribute in creating peace and a new beginning,” the South Korean defense ministry said.

It marks the first time in more than two years that the South’s broadcasts have fallen silent. North Korea has its own propaganda loudspeakers at the border, but a defence ministry official said he could not verify that they had also stopped.

The two Koreas agreed to a schedule for Friday’s summit in working-level talks on Monday, South Korea’s presidential Blue House said, adding North Korea had agreed to allow South Korean reporters in its part of the Joint Security Area at the border to cover the event.

Preparations for the talks will include a rehearsal by officials from both countries at the border truce village of Panmunjom on Wednesday, the Blue House said.

Meanwhile in another development, construction trucks moved into a South Korean base housing a US anti-missile system on Monday, infuriating villagers opposed to its deployment.

Thousands of riot police moved in to disperse the protesters who tried to keep supplies from reaching the site of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in the southern city of Seongju, just days before the first North-South summit since 2007.

“A peace treaty is being discussed... There is no more North Korea (nuclear threat) as an excuse (for deployment of THAAD). We can neither understand nor accept construction plans to operate the THAAD,” the THAAD residents’ committee said in a statement.

Residents have been blocking the only road to the site since mid-2017, forcing the US military to use helicopters to shuttle in fuel, food and other supplies. The government’s move on Monday to bring in trucks sparked fierce opposition.

The planned construction at the base is aimed at improving power supplies and accommodation for US and South Korean troops stationed there.

Thousands of riot police were dispatched to remove about 200 protesters, Yonhap News Agency said. Dozens were seen tussling with police, yelling and demanding ambulances be called, live footage through Facebook showed. — Reuters