‘History cries out for us to be skeptical’

North Korea’s pledge to shut down its nuclear test facility next month and allow unprecedented access to the site is drawing mixed reviews from experts who cite Kim Jong Un’s history of baitand-switch tactics on the issue of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

South Korean President Moon Jaein’s chief press secretary, Yoon Youngchan, said Sunday that Moon and Kim agreed to make public when North Korea dismantles the northern test site, allowing security experts and journalists to view the process.

Yoon said the deal was struck at the historic summit the two leaders conducted at a border village Friday, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. President Donald Trump has said he will meet with Kim in coming weeks.

“Some say that we are terminating facilities that are not functioning, but you will see that they are in good condition,” Yoon quoted Kim as saying.

Kim dismissed conjecture that he made the deal because a tunnel at the site was unstable, saying two larger tunnels remained viable.

Harry Kazianis, director of defense studies at the Center for the National Interest, said “Team Trump” must demand that experts be provided access to Kim’s nuclear sites anywhere, anytime.

“History cries out for us to be skeptical,” he told USA TODAY. “North Korea could simply be updating its go-to playbook for negotiating with Washington and Seoul – make promises, pocket concessions, and stall for time.”

Trump was upbeat, tweeting late Saturday that he had just had a “long and very good” talk with Moon.

“Things are going very well, time and location of meeting with North Korea is being set,” Trump wrote.

Pyongyang’s unrelenting testing of nuclear weapons and missiles it says could carry those weapons as far as the United States has been met with a series of crippling economic sanctions.

“Negotiating with Kim is like trying to strike a bargain with Lucifer,” Kazianis said. “We need to be extremely cautious and not let our guard down.”