KIM VOWS TO SHUT NUCLEAR TEST SITE
North Korea hints it could give up weapons
SEOUL • North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to shut down his country’s nuclear test site in May and disclose the process to experts and journalists from South Korea and the United States, Seoul’s presidential office said Sunday.
Kim also told South Korean President Moon Jae-in during their historic summit on Friday that the North would have no need to keep nuclear weapons if Washington commits to formally ending the 1950-53 Korean War and signs a non-aggression pact with Pyongyang, the presidential Blue House said.
While there are lingering questions about whether North Korea will ever decide to fully relinquish its nukes as it heads into negotiations with the United States, Kim’s comments qualify as the North’s most specific acknowledgment yet that denuclearization would constitute surrendering its weapons.
Seoul, which shuttled between Pyongyang and Washington to broker talks between Kim and President Donald Trump that are expected in May or June, has said Kim has expressed genuine interest in dealing away his nuclear weapons. But there has been skepticism because North Korea for decades has been pushing a concept of “denuclearization” that bears no resemblance to the American definition, vowing to pursue nuclear development unless Washington removes its troops and the nuclear umbrella defending South Korea and Japan.
The closure of the nuclear test site would be a dramatic but likely symbolic event to set up Kim’s summit with Trump. North Korea already announced this month that it has suspended all tests of nuclear devices and intercontinental ballistic missiles and plans to close its nuclear testing ground. During their summit at a border truce village, Moon and Kim promised to work toward the “complete denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula, but made no references to verification or timetables. Kim also expressed optimism about his meeting with Trump, saying the president will learn he’s not one to fire missiles toward the United States, Moon’s spokesman Yoon Young-chan said. “Once we start talking, the United States will know that I am not a person to launch nuclear weapons at South Korea, the Pacific or the United States,” Kim said, according to Yoon.
“If we maintain frequent meetings and build trust with the United States and receive promises for an end to the war and a non-aggression treaty, then why would we need to live in difficulty by keeping our nuclear weapons?” Yoon quoted Kim as saying.
Adam Mount, a senior defence analyst at the Federation of American Scientists, said Kim’s comments were significant because they’re his most explicit acknowledgment yet that denuclearization means surrendering his nuclear weapons.
“They imply a phased process with reciprocal concessions,” Mount said in an email. “It is not clear that the Trump administration will accept that kind of protracted program.”
Kim reacted to skepticism that the North would be closing down only the northernmost test tunnel at the site in Punggye-ri, which some analysts say became too unstable to conduct further underground detonations following the country’s sixth and most powerful nuclear test in September. In his conversation with Moon, Kim denied that he would be merely clearing out damaged goods, saying the site also has two new tunnels that are larger than previous testing facilities, Yoon said. Some analysts see the agreement as a disappointment, citing the lack of references to verification and time frames and also the absence of a definition on what would constitute as a “complete” denuclearization of the peninsula.
But Patrick McEachern, a former State Department analyst currently with the Washington-based Wilson Center, said it marked a significant change.
“The public conversation should now shift ... to how South Korea and the United States can advance this denuclearization pledge,” he said in an email.