North and South Korea wrapped up marathon talks Tuesday with an agreement aimed at defusing a crisis that had pushed the two rivals to the brink of armed conflict.

South Korea’s defence ministry said troops would remain on high alert until it confirmed that the North had stepped down from a “semi-war state” ordered by leader Kim Jong-Un.

The nations additionally agreed to renew in September reunions of households separated by the warfare and to carry additional talks quickly in both Seoul or Pyongyang, each side stated.

North Korea is estimated to have about 70 submarines in its fleet, the majority of which are old Soviet-era boats that have long been retired by the Russians and other former Soviet client states. North Korea had declared that its front-line troops were in full war readiness and prepared to go to battle if Seoul did not back down. The two sides also agreed to continue dialogues and negotiations in various areas to improve ties. They said more reunions would follow, but there were no immediate details.

The South’s response of resuming of loudspeaker broadcasts across the border – which included news broadcasts and Korean pop music – infuriated the thin-skinned regime in the North. Seoul hadn’t used the tactic in more than a decade.

South Korea restarted the broadcasts from August 10 in retaliation for the August 4 explosion of landmines, which injured two South Korean soldiers on patrol duty inside the demilitarised zone (DMZ).

But even if Monday’s resolution aims to give South Koreans temporary reassurance that North Korea will not attack, the deal – which took 43 hours of negotiations – is really just a temporary fix for this month’s escalation. In the end, Pyongyang agreed to provide an expression of “regret” over the incident, which Seoul accepted, agreeing to halt its propaganda in exchange.

“It is very merciful to grab an opportunity for developing inter-Korean relations and preventing the recurrence of provocative acts through this round of high-level inter- governmental contact between the two Koreas”, Kim Kwan-jin, the ROK President Park Geun-hye’s chief security advisor, told a press briefing. Pyongyang has denied involvement in the land mine explosions and rejected Seoul’s report that Pyongyang launched an artillery barrage last week – so winning an apology will be hard work.

All joint projects have been on hold since 2010, except a jointly run industrial park at Kaesong, close to the border in North Korea. “They are playing hardball with them [North Koreans], and I think essentially the North Koreans blinked”, said Cossa.

While the parties showed rare bipartisan support and refrained from politicizing the event, the NPAD also took time to mention the government’s handling of the agreement that they said left room for misinterpretation of the deal that could later undermine the historic agreement’s trustworthiness.

A spokesman for South Korea’s Defense Ministry reportedly said the North’s mass submarine deployment is “unprecedented”, and that the US and Seoul have responded by increasing their military surveillance.