Leaders of the two Koreas have agreed to end the Korean War, 65 years after hostilities ceased, in a wide-ranging joint announcement struck Friday, that includes working towards the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

But the announcement, which largely steered clear of specifics regarding Pyongyang's nuclear capabilities, faces major hurdles before any peace deal can be reached, which must also involve China and the US, both of whom were participants in the original conflict.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his North Korean counterpart, Kim Jong Un, signed the “Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification on the Korean Peninsula,” at the demilitarized zone (DMZ), after an historic day of meetings, including a 30-minute private conversation the contents of which are unknown.

Following the signing ceremony Friday, Moon and Kim clasped hands and hugged in a symbolic act of togetherness. In separate speeches they promised a new era for the Korean Peninsula. Addressing the world's media, Kim said the Koreas “will be reunited as one country.”

The Koreas went to war in 1950 when soldiers from the North Korean People's Army invaded the South. Although the armed conflict ended three years later in 1953, with the signing of an armistice agreement, no formal peace treaty was ever signed, and technically, the Peninsula remains at war.