North Korea to shut bomb test site in move towards nuclear-free peninsula
North Korean leader Kim Jongun said he would shut down the country’s nuclear test site next month and allow experts and journalists from South Korea and the US to observe, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday.
Mr Kim made the comments during his summit with South Korean President Moon Jaein on Friday at a border truce village.
At the meeting, Mr Moon’s spokesman Yoon Young-chan expressed optimism about a possible meeting with Donald Trump, saying the US President would learn that Mr Kim would never nuclear fire missiles towards the US.
Mr Moon and Mr Kim promised to work towards the “complete denuclearisation” of the Korean Peninsula during the summit but made no reference to verification or time.
The South negotiated with Pyongyang and Washington to try to set up a meeting between Mr Kim and Mr Trump, which is expected next month or early in June.
“Once we start talking, the US will know that I am not a person to launch nuclear weapons at South Korea, the Pacific or the United States,” Mr Yoon quoted Mr Kim as saying.
“If we maintain frequent meetings and build trust with the US 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?” Mr Kim said.
North Korea this month announced it had suspended all tests of nuclear devices and intercontinental ballistic missiles, and planned to close its testing site.
Mr Kim reacted to scepticism that the North would be closing only the northern-most test tunnel at the site in Punggye-ri, which some analysts say became too unstable to conduct further underground detonations after the country’s sixth nuclear test in September.
In his conversation with Mr Moon, Mr Kim denied that he would be merely clearing out damaged goods, saying that the site also had two new tunnels that were larger than previous testing areas.
Mr Yoon said Mr Kim also revealed plans to readjust the North’s time zone to match that of the South. The Koreas used the same time zone for decades before the North in 2015 introduced Pyongyang Time, setting the clock 30 minutes behind South Korea and Japan.
North Korea then explained the decision as an effort to remove a legacy of Japanese colonial rule. Local time in South Korea and Japan is the same, nine hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time.
Mr Yoon said that the North’s decision to return to the Seoul time zone was to enhance communication with the South and the US.