admin
PYONGYANG. — North Korea has announced it will dismantle its nuclear weapons testing site in less than two weeks, according to state media.
The dismantlement of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site will take place sometime between May 23 and May 25, depending on weather conditions, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Saturday.
It will involve the removal of all research buildings, observation facilities and security posts.
“The Nuclear Weapon Institute and other concerned institutions are taking technical measures for dismantling the northern nuclear test ground of the DPRK (The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) in order to ensure transparency of discontinuance of the nuclear test,” KCNA said.
It added that North Korean media and reporters from South Korea, China, Russia, the US and UK will be allowed to attend the dismantlement ceremony.
N. Korea says only journalists from S. Korea, China, US, Britain, Russia can cover nuclear test site dismantling.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un pledged to close the site during a landmark summit last month with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, but experts have warned verifying any dismantling may prove difficult.
Kim is also scheduled to meet US President Donald Trump next month.
Prior to Kim’s meeting with Moon, the North Korean leader announced on April 21 that all nuclear and missile tests were to be suspended, saying the Punggye-ri site had “finished its mission” after completing its nuclear programme.
Four days later, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) newspaper reported that the facility had collapsed, threatening an “unprecedented risk” of radioactive fallout.
The newspaper said the Punggye-ri site, situated near Mount Mantap in northeastern North Korea, was “wrecked” beyond repair by a landslide.
It suggested the incident “may” have been the reason for Kim’s announcement of a suspension in testing.
Six nuclear tests – including North Korea’s most powerful test to date in September 2017 – have been carried out at the facility since Pyongyang began experiments in 2006.
The announcement of the site’s dismantlement comes ahead of a planned meeting between Kim and Trump in Singapore on June 12, which, if it takes place, will mark the first summit between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader.
Trump is expected to push North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons at the meeting in exchange for the removal of economic sanctions and US assistance in rebuilding Pyongyang’s ailing economy. — Al Jazeera/Yonhap News.
Online Reporter