North Korea offers to shutter missile site
BEIJING — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un offered Wednesday to shut down a nuclear missile testing and launch site in a development welcomed by President Donald Trump, raising hopes of a second meeting between the two leaders in the quest for a long-sought Korean Peninsula denuclearization deal.
Kim made the offer to close down the Dongchang-ri missile testing center and launch pad at a summit in Pyongyang with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. The two signed an agreement to “eliminate all danger” of war on the Korean Peninsula, recommitting to the denuclearization of the peninsula.
Kim also agreed to close down the Yongbyon nuclear facility, the first time such an offer has been made by North Korea — but only if the U.S. offers reciprocal rewards. Washington expects North Korea to dismantle its nuclear facilities — in a verifiable manner — before concessions are made.
Kim agreed that international experts would be present to observe the dismantling of the Dongchang-ri facilities.
While some experts suggested Kim was giving up facilities no longer important to him, given North Korea’s development of nuclear missiles, Trump’s instantaneous positive reaction on Twitter kept the door open to a possible new summit with Kim.
Kim last week requested a second summit, after the historic first meeting in Singapore in June, the first between U.S. and North Korean leaders. U.S. officials last week said preparations were underway for a second meeting to go ahead.
A second summit may hinge on a meeting between Trump and Moon expected next week, where Moon is to brief Trump on his summit with Kim.
Calling the developments “very exciting,” Trump tweeted Wednesday that “Kim Jong Un has agreed to allow Nuclear inspections, subject to final negotiations, and to permanently dismantle a test site and launch pad in the presence of international experts. In the meantime there will be no Rocket or Nuclear testing.” He added that the remains of U.S. servicemen killed in the Korean War would continue to be returned to the U.S.
U.S.-North Korea denuclearization talks stalled in recent months. Trump last month canceled a visit by Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo to North Korea for talks, citing lack of progress.
On Wednesday, Pompeo congratulated the two leaders for “the successful outcome of their summit meeting in Pyongyang,” he said in a statement. “We welcome President Moon and Chairman Kim’s reaffirmation of the Singapore joint statement of complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, including the permanent dismantlement of all facilities at Yongbyon . ... On the basis of these important commitments, the United States is prepared to engage immediately in negotiations to transform U.S.DPRK relations.”
Pompeo said he invited his North Korean counterpart, Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, to meet him next week in New York during the U.N. General Assembly meeting.
The leaders of the two Koreas appeared to move significantly closer at Wednesday’s meeting: Kim accepted Moon’s invitation to visit Seoul in the near future, in what would be the first visit to the country by a North Korean leader. The two countries also decided to make a joint bid to host the 2023 Olympic Games.
They also signed a 55-page joint military agreement designed to ease tensions on the border, including creating a border buffer zone, removing landmines from the demilitarized zone, creating a no-fly zone along the DMZ and shutting down 11 guard posts.
Kim gave Moon a welcome that was full of photo opportunities and symbolic moments. He met Moon at the airport Tuesday and hugged him on the tarmac before the two drove through the streets of Pyongyang in an open-topped limousine as flag-waving crowds cheered.
The summit saw Moon eating North Korea’s most iconic dish, a meal of cold handmade buckwheat noodles called naengmyeon, at lunch Wednesday, with Kim later joking that he was concerned Moon had to hurry the meal because of the summit agenda.