Media to see nuke site closing
WONSAN: A small group of foreign journalists arrived in North Korea yesterday to cover the dismantling of the country’s nuclear test site later this week, but without South Korean media initially scheduled to participate.
Pyongyang is allowing limited access to the site to publicise its promise to halt underground tests and launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles. It unilaterally announced that moratorium ahead of a summit between leader Kim Jong-un and President Donald Trump scheduled for June 12 in Singapore.
Eight South Korean journalists were excluded because Pyongyang has cut off high-level contact with Seoul to protest an exercise with the US military — a protest North Korea’s media reiterated yesterday, saying sabre-rattling and dialogue don’t mix.
Such messages from North Korea and Mr Trump’s statements he is ready to call it all off have heightened concerns about the success of the summit and prompted South Korean President Moon Jae-in to travel to Washington, where he was to meet with Mr Trump later yesterday.
The group that arrived by charter flight from Beijing is made up of media from the UK, Russia, China and the US. The journalists will stay at a hotel in Wonsan on North Korea’s east coast before travelling by train to the site, which is in the northeast.
The dismantling ceremony is expected to be held in the coming days, depending on the weather.
North Korea’s decision to close the Punggye-ri nuclear test site has generally been seen as a welcome gesture by Mr Kim to set a positive tone ahead of his summit with Mr Trump. But it is mainly just a gesture.
The North already conducted six underground tests at the site — including its most powerful ever, last September — and Mr Kim told ruling party leaders last month that further testing is unnecessary.
North Korea could build a new site if it decides it needs more testing or could dismantle the tunnels into Punggye-ri’s Mt Mantap in a reversible manner.
Details of what will actually happen at the site are sparse, but Pyongyang’s apparent plan to show the closure of the site to journalists, not international nuclear inspectors, has been raised as a matter of concern.
South Korean media were expected to participate in the trip, but were left behind in Beijing after the North refused to grant them visas.
South Korea’s government expressed regret over the decision, but said it still hopes North Korea’s dismantling of the site proceeds as planned and proves to be a genuine step toward denuclearisation.