North Korea to destroy nuclear site ahead of US summit
North Korea will destroy Punggye-Ri nuclear test site later this month, ahead of the US summit, it has said, pledging to blow up its tunnels in front of invited foreign media. US President Donald Trump praised the North's decision to dismantle the Punggye-Ri test site in a ceremony scheduled between May 23-25, the latest step in leader Kim Jong-un's charm offensive. Here's more.
Kim and Trump to meet in Singapore on June 12
The dialogue brokered by Seoul has seen US-North Korea relations go from trading personal insults and threats of war last year to a summit between Kim and Trump due in Singapore on June 12. But skeptics warn that Pyongyang has yet to make any public commitment to give up its arsenal, which includes missiles capable of reaching the United States.
US seeks complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of North Korea
Washington is seeking the "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization" of the North. Punggye-Ri has hosted all six of the North's nuclear tests, the latest and by far the most powerful in September last year, which Pyongyang said was an H-bomb. Kim has declared the development of the North's nuclear force complete and that it had no further need for the site.
Punggye-Ri's tunnel would be blown up and entrances completely blocked
"The latest measures will see the tunnels of the test site blown up and their entrances completely blocked. All observation facilities and research institutes would be removed, along with guards and the surrounding area of the test ground be completely closed," Pyongyang's foreign ministry said.
Journalists from China, Russia, US would cover destruction of nuclear-site
Reporters from China, Russia, US, Britain, South Korea would be allowed to cover the event to show it "in a transparent manner". Limits on foreign journalists were due to space constraints as the site was in an "uninhabited deep mountain area". South Korea welcomed the announcement, which signaled the North's willingness to carry out its pledges "not just in words but in action".
North Korea have enough nuclear bombs for a while
Analysts said the move was positive but limited in its scope. "It wasn't bad, but a cost-free signal. Given the stage it had already reached, Pyongyang may feel like they don't need to test anything for a while," tweeted MIT Political Science Professor Vipin Narang. Middlebury Institute for International Studies' Jeffrey Lewis expected that North "will sanitize the site before letting anyone see it".
UN adopts tough sanctions on North Korea
The North Korea's announcement is the latest move in a rapid sequence of events on Korean peninsula triggered by the Winter Olympics in the South. Tensions had been mounting for years as Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programs saw it subjected to multiple rounds of increasingly strict sanctions by UN Security Council, the US, the EU, South Korea and others.
North Korea is turning a new page in History: UN
Since the Pyeongchang Games, Pyongyang and Washington agreed to unprecedented Singapore meeting, and Kim has twice visited China to meet President Xi Jinping, after not paying respects in 6 years since he inherited power from his father. David Beasley, Head of UN's World Food Program said, it appeared North Korea was "turning a new page in history", following a four-day visit to the country.
Kim and Moon Jae-in met last month
Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in last month affirmed their commitment to the goal of "realizing, through complete denuclearization, a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula". Pyongyang has long wanted to see an end to the US military presence in the South, but it invaded its neighbor in 1950 and is the only one of the two Koreas to possess nuclear weapons.
