8 S Korean reporters invited for closure

North Korea will invite eight South Korean journalists as part of an international media group to witness the closure of its nuclear test site next week, the South’s government said on Tuesday. The closure of the site would be a dramatic event that would set up North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s summit with President Donald Trump in Singapore next month.

The historic Trump-Kim meeting is shaping up to be a crucial moment in the global diplomatic push to resolve the nuclear standoff with North Korea. Still, analysts say the site’s closure wouldn’t represent a material step toward full denuclearization. North Korea’s Foreign Ministry announced Saturday that journalists from South Korea, the United States, China, Russia and Britain will be invited to observe the destruction of tunnels and the removal of observation and research facilities at the country’s northeastern testing ground. It said the dismantling would take place between May 23 and 25. Seoul’s Unification Ministry said it was informed by the North today that eight South Korean journalists will be invited. The North did not reveal the number of spots it will give to non-Korean journalists, according to the ministry.

The eight South Korean journalists - four each from a wire agency and a broadcaster that have yet to be determined - will take a chartered flight from Beijing to the North Korean coastal town of Wonsan on May 22, the ministry said. The reporters will then be transported by a chartered train to the nuclear test site in Punggye-ri. Kim has already declared his nuclear weapons and missile program as finished and the nuclear testing site’s mission as completed. Some analysts question whether the dismantling of the site is aimed at destroying evidence. While South Korea’s presidential office had said that Kim told South Korean President Moon Jae-in during their summit last month that international experts will be invited to witness the closure, the North’s Foreign Ministry statement on Saturday did not include any references to allowing experts at the site.

Closure of the site would be a dramatic event that would set up Kim Jong Un’s summit with Donald Trump