South Korea's Defense Ministry said Monday it has suspended its loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts directed across the border toward North Korea to create a "peaceful" atmosphere ahead of this week's inter-Korean summit talks.

The move came as the two Koreas are engaging in final arrangements for the first direct talks between their leaders in over a decade.

At a working-level meeting held Monday in the border village of Panmunjeom, the two sides agreed on the itinerary of Friday's summit, which will include an arrival ceremony and an official dinner, the South's presidential office announced.

The summit will take place on the southern side of the village, which is also known as the Joint Security Area. This will make North Korean leader Kim Jong Un the first ruler of his country to cross the border of the two countries, which remain technically at war, as the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in a cease-fire rather than a peace treaty.

The office also said it will broadcast live TV coverage of Kim's entry to the South Korean side, his first encounter with South Korean President Moon Jae In as well as the outset of the meeting in which the two leaders will make their opening statements.

At the border, the two Koreas have conducted propaganda broadcasts on and off for decades. After less than a year since the broadcasts were last suspended, South Korea had resumed them in January 2016 in response to North Korea's fourth nuclear test.

But South Korea's Defense Ministry said the loudspeakers were turned off at midnight Sunday.

"We believe this measure will stop the South and North from slandering each other and conducting propaganda activities, and help lead to 'peace, a new start,'" the ministry said in a press release, referring to South Korea's official slogan for the summit.

According to South Korea's presidential office, the two Koreas will jointly run through a rehearsal in Panmunjeom on Wednesday.

A telephone conversation between Moon and Kim is also expected to take place through a newly setup hotline prior to their talks.

But a source at the office said the issue was not raised at the latest working-level meeting, leaving the date of the hotline conversation up in the air.

Inter-Korean relations have been improving since the North decided to take part in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics hosted by South Korea in February and made other diplomatic overtures through Kim's reported expression of commitment to denuclearization.

South Korea hopes the inter-Korean summit, the third of its kind, will serve as an occasion to reaffirm the North's will for denuclearization and set the stage for the first-ever talks between U.S. and North Korean leaders, which are expected in May or June.

In a meeting of senior officials at the presidential office on Monday, Moon welcomed North Korea's recent announcement to suspend nuclear tests and long-range missile launches as well as to scrap its main nuclear test site.

"North Korea's decision to freeze its nuclear program can be an important starting toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," the president said.

Also Monday, U.S. and South Korean forces began the "Key Resolve" command-post exercise, the ministry said, part of the regular joint exercises between the two allies that began April 1 after being delayed until after the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and Paralympics in the South.

Key Resolve involves slightly over 12,000 U.S. service members, roughly the same as last year, and is set to run for two weeks, according to Yonhap News Agency.

The computer exercise, which simulates defense and countermeasures against possible North Korean attacks, is likely to be paused on the day of the summit, according to the report.