Politics
21:36, 12-May-2018
DPRK to dismantle its nuke site within two weeks, detailed plans out
["china"]
Share
Copied
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has scheduled the dismantlement of its nuclear test site for sometime between May 23 and 25, state media reported on Saturday, to uphold its previous pledge to discontinue nuclear tests. The statement added that the variation of time depends on weather conditions.
The country’s central news agency said the dismantlement of the nuclear test ground would involve collapsing all of its tunnels with explosions, blocking its entrances and removing all observation facilities, research buildings 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 in order to ensure transparency of discontinuance of the nuclear test,” said the announcement.
The announcement comes after US President Donald Trump said he would hold a summit with DPRK leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12. It will be the first meeting ever between a sitting US president and the leader of DPRK.
Screenshot from Trump's Twitter handle
Screenshot from Trump's Twitter handle
It follows a flurry of international engagement with the DPRK as the country and the Republic of Korea (ROK) held their own summit in late April and officials plan to hold high-level meetings in coming weeks.
Trump’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday that the DPRK can look forward to “a future brimming with peace and prosperity” if it agrees to quickly give up its nuclear weapons.
Officials in Seoul had said in April that the DPRK planned to invite experts and journalists from the US and the ROK for the shutdown of its test site.
The DPRK said journalists from other countries, including the US and the ROK, will be invited to cover the event, to “show in a transparent manner the dismantlement of the northern nuclear test ground to be carried out”.
In order to accommodate the travelling journalists, the DPRK said various measures would be taken including “opening territorial air space.”
All international journalists will be provided with a charter flight into Wonsan, a port city in eastern DPRK, from Beijing, KCNA said. There, reporters will board a charter train to the nuclear test ground in an “uninhabited deep mountain area.”
The DPRK’s six known nuclear tests have taken place in Punggye-ri, a location in the northeastern part of the DPRK where a system of tunnels have been dug under Mount Mantap.
Experts have said the pledge to dismantle the test site is a big step forward but verifying it will be difficult.
Source(s): Reuters