North and South Korea in second night of talks
The first session of talks lasted 10 hours, finishing just before dawn on Sunday. No details have emerged. Senior aides to the two countries' leaders are meeting at the Panmunjom truce village on the border. The talks started before a deadline set by North Korea for the South to stop broadcasting anti-communist propaganda. It wants banks of loudspeakers, which have been blasting news bulletins, weather forecasts and music from the South to be dismantled.
Pyongyang had threatened to open fire if Seoul failed to comply and moved artillery into positions to fire on the speakers. As the second round began on Sunday afternoon, South Korea's military said the North was building up artillery units at the border and deploying submarines.
Analysis: Steve Evans, BBC News, Seoul
No word has come from the talks which have lasted for more than 12 hours until dawn on Monday on the Korean peninsula. The first night of talks also adjourned shortly before dawn, having lasted 10 hours. The very fact they have talked so long may give some hope of defusing the current highly-armed stand-off. Optimists also draw slight hope from the North Korean use of the proper title for South Korea - Republic of Korea - rather than terms like "war-maniac puppet of the United States" which was used by North Korean state media a few days ago.
While the talks continue, both sides remain poised for aggression. All the same, the tense atmosphere has eased slightly, at least for the moment. No media organisations have been present at the talks, which have taken place inside the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) dividing the two Koreas. South Korea said ahead of the talks that it would be represented by national security adviser Kim Kwan-jin and Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo, and the North would send senior officials Hwang Pyong-so and Kim Yong-gon. Mr Hwang is seen by many analysts as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's second-in-command.
South Korea has evacuated almost 4,000 residents from border areas and warned that it would "retaliate harshly". The current state of heightened tension started when two South Korean soldiers were seriously injured by landmines in the DMZ between the two countries. South Korea said North Korea planted the mines; North Korea said that was absurd. Both sides say the other then fired the first shot in artillery barrages.
US and South Korean fighter jets have been flying in formation near the border. The US's top military officer has reaffirmed his country's "unwavering commitment" to South Korea's defence in a phone call to his South Korean counterpart. The two Koreas remain technically at war, because the 1950-1953 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. In 2004, South Korea and North Korea reached an agreement to dismantle their propaganda loudspeakers at the border.
The broadcasts were part of a programme of psychological warfare, according to South Korean newspaper Korea Times, to deliver outside news so that North Korean soldiers and border-area residents could hear it.
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