Kim’s nuclear test site ‘may be unusable’

PART of North Korea’s main nuclear weapons testing site may not be usable for further trials as a result of a collapse in the mountain above it, a report by a team of Chinese geologists found.

Researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China (Ustc) said a collapse in a cavity at Mount Mantapsan, above north-west North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site, occurred after the latest nuclear tests in September. The Ustc study led to speculation the collapse informed a decision by Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s leader, to suspend its nuclear testing.

The announcement was widely perceived to have been an overture in the run-up to today’s talks between Mr Kim and Moon Jae-in, the South Korean president.

Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said: “This does not mean the tunnel complex below the mountain is ruined. North Korea shouldn’t use the exact same cavity again, which has some implications for decoupling scenarios, but new branches off the main tunnel should be fine. Kim can keep testing there if he wants.”

He added: “At most, North Korea might shift big tests to neighbouring mountains. Kim has agreed to stop nuclear testing because of the summit, not because his nuclear test mountain collapsed.”