The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) displayed a gesture of good faith when they invited journalists from China, the US, Republic of Korea (ROK), Russia and the UK to witness the dismantling of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, which is situated in the northeastern region of the country and has been used to conduct all six of its nuclear tests since 2006. But many analysts are asking what does the DPRK want in exchange for demolishing its test site? 

“I think the dismantling of the site symbolizes the point that the DPRK is going in the direction of denuclearization. When it comes to (not) inviting technical experts for constitutional verification, that means the DPRK wants something, before they allow the verification to take place,” said Tat Yan Kong, an Associate Professor at the School of Oriental & African Studies at the University of London.

Media groups from ROK were initially expected to attend, but they were only given permission at the last moment. This came after Pyongyang cancelled high-level talks with Seoul last week.

“I think the initial stall for South Korean journalists going to DPRK to witness the dismantling of the nuclear test site was because the DPRK is waiting for the South Korean president Moon Jae-in’s visit to the US and to see the result of the presidents’ negotiations coming out of the meetings,” said Zhao Hai, a Research Fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

“I don’t think at this point DPRK is intentionally trying to hide anything from the world, the lack of technical experts going into the test site is mainly because DPRK wants to keep that leverage for verification,” he added.

Professor Tat Yan Kong pointed out that the demolition of the test site should not take too much attention, because “sites can be rebuilt and facilities can be relocated.” He said, “the most important thing rather than the demolition of the test site is actually DPRK's end to testing bombs and missiles. Over the past few months their missile system had not yet been perfected so as long as they are not testing, they are not getting intelligence, not getting new technical data to perfect their system.”

Zhao Hai agreed with Tat Yan Kong, saying that as symbolic as the gesture appears, the DPRK is just showing good faith. The next step to bring the DPRK closer to the negotiation table is for South Korea and the US to show good faith from their side.

(Top Image shows ROK journalists arriving at DPRK’s test site/CFP photo)