DPRK to shut nuke test site next month
Trump expresses optimism about securing a deal in summit with Kim
Kim Jong-un, top leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, has said his country will close its main nuclear test site in May, according to the Blue House, the presidential office of the Republic of Korea, on Sunday.
Yoon Young-chan, senior press secretary for ROK President Moon Jae-in, said that during the Friday summit, Kim told Moon that he will shut down the nuclear test site, which will be done transparently to the international world.
Kim said he will invite experts and reporters from the ROK and the United States to the DPRK for the shutdown. Pyongyang conducted all of its six nuclear detonations in the Punggye-ri test site in northeast DPRK.
According to the Blue House, Kim also said Pyongyang was ready to hold talks with Japan at any time to discuss normalizing relations, adding that Moon had a telephone conversation for 45 minutes on Sunday with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to brief the meeting.
Moon and Kim held the third inter-Korean summit in the ROK side of the border village of Panmunjom. Kim became the first DPRK leader to step onto ROK soil since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
At the summit, they confirmed a common goal of the complete denuclearization of the peninsula, and agreed to have multilateral talks, including with China and the US, to declare an end to the Korean War and change the current armistice agreement into a peace treaty this year.
Moon welcomed Kim’s decision to shut down the site, agreeing to discuss when to invite experts and foreign reporters to the DPRK after Pyongyang completes preparations for it.
Kim told Moon that Washington, after holding talks with Pyongyang, will realize that the DPRK is not a country to use its nuclear weapons on the ROK, the Pacific Ocean or the US.
In ‘three or four weeks’
A summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump is forecast to be held in May or early June. Trump had said the meeting would take place “in the next three or four weeks”, as he touted his ability to achieve a nuclear deal with the DPRK at a campaign-style rally in Michigan to cheers and chants of “Nobel! Nobel!”.
Trump also lauded Chinese President Xi Jinping’s efforts over the Korean issue, calling them a “great help”.
“Please do not forget the great help that my good friend, President Xi of China, has given to the United States, particularly at the Border of North Korea (the DPRK). Without him it would have been a much longer, tougher, process!” he said in a tweet.
On Friday, Kim also told Moon that there will be no repetition of war on the peninsula, strongly affirming that there will never be any use of force.
Meanwhile, Kim agreed with Moon to unify different standard times between Seoul and Pyongyang. The DPRK has a standard time 30 minutes later than the ROK.