SEOUL - North Korea said it had fully demolished its only known nuclear test site on Thursday with a series of planned detonations that put the facility beyond further use, in a planned move portrayed by the isolated regime as a goodwill gesture ahead of a. potential summit next month with the United States.
"The Nuclear Weapons Institute of the DPRK held a ceremony for completely dismantling the northern nuclear test ground on May 24... to ensure transparency of the discontinuence of nuclear test," the institute said in an English language statement carried on the state-run KCNA news agency.
Yonhap news agency, citing South Korean pool reporters at the scene, said multiple explosions were heard throughout the day, beginning at 11am until 4.17pm. Punggye-ri has been the staging ground for all six of the North's nuclear tests, including its latest and by far most powerful one in September last year, which Pyongyang said was an H-bomb.
Others say the fact that North Korea agreed to destroy the site without preconditions or asking for something in return from Washington suggests the regime is serious about change.
Mr Trump is due to meet his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12 for high stakes talks aimed at ridding the reclusive state of its newly acquired nuclear weapons and improving ties after decades of animosity.
Politically, Mr Trump has invested heavily in the success of the planned summit, so privately most US officials, as well as outside observers, believe it will go ahead. Hand-picked US aides travelled to Singapore this week where they are expected to meet their North Korean counterparts and iron out details of the meeting.
Pyongyang has vowed it will never give up its nuclear deterrence until it feels safe from what it terms US aggression.
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/north-korea-dismantles-nuclear-test-site-reports
"The Nuclear Weapons Institute of the DPRK held a ceremony for completely dismantling the northern nuclear test ground on May 24... to ensure transparency of the discontinuence of nuclear test," the institute said in an English language statement carried on the state-run KCNA news agency.
Yonhap news agency, citing South Korean pool reporters at the scene, said multiple explosions were heard throughout the day, beginning at 11am until 4.17pm. Punggye-ri has been the staging ground for all six of the North's nuclear tests, including its latest and by far most powerful one in September last year, which Pyongyang said was an H-bomb.
Others say the fact that North Korea agreed to destroy the site without preconditions or asking for something in return from Washington suggests the regime is serious about change.
Mr Trump is due to meet his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12 for high stakes talks aimed at ridding the reclusive state of its newly acquired nuclear weapons and improving ties after decades of animosity.
Politically, Mr Trump has invested heavily in the success of the planned summit, so privately most US officials, as well as outside observers, believe it will go ahead. Hand-picked US aides travelled to Singapore this week where they are expected to meet their North Korean counterparts and iron out details of the meeting.
Pyongyang has vowed it will never give up its nuclear deterrence until it feels safe from what it terms US aggression.
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/north-korea-dismantles-nuclear-test-site-reports
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