Will shut Ntest site by may: Kim
Kim Jong Un invites foreign experts, journalists to see closure
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 US, Seoul’s presidential office said on Sunday. Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a historic summit on Friday.
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 US, Seoul’s presidential office said on 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 acknowledgement yet that denuclearisation would constitute surrendering its weapons.
Seoul, which shuttled between Pyongyang and Washington to broker talks between Kim and US 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 scepticism because North Korea for decades has been pushing a concept of “denuclearisation” that bears no resemblance to the US 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 denuclearisation” 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.