Although not a peace treaty, this agreement renouncing armed forces against one another, signed by leaders of North and South Korea 38 years after the fighting ceased, has been described as a first step toward inevitable reunification of the Korean peninsula. It reaffirms the three principles of unification set forth in the July 4, 1972, South-North Joint Communiqué. The document includes 25 articles in four chapters: South-North Reconciliation, South-North Nonaggression, South North Exchanges and Cooperation and Amendments and Effectuation.