North Korea says it will suspend all missile tests and shut down a nuclear test sight in a surprise development ahead of an historic summit between the country’s leader Kim Jong-Un and his counterparts from South Korea and the US.
The suspensions will come into effect today, according to the country’s state-run news site KCNA. The agency quoted Mr Kim as saying it was no longer necessary to conduct missile tests since “nuclear weaponisation” had already been achieved.
The US president Donald Trump welcomed the news in a tweet: “This is very good news for North Korea and the World – big progress! Look forward to our Summit.” Kim’s South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in, who has also been pushing Pyongyang to denuclearise, reacted positively to the announcement.
The move is seen as North Korea setting the tone ahead of a long-awaited inter-Korean summit next Friday, and while the news has been seen as progress, there is no sign of the North planning to get rid of existing weapons.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe greeted the news, albeit more cautiously than others: “What is crucial here … is how this development is going to lead to the complete, verifiable, and irreversible dismantlement of nuclear arms, weapons of mass destruction and missiles,” he said. “And I will keep a close eye on that.”
The move come in the wake of escalating tensions between the North and the South and US, after a series of major missile tests last year. In November 2017, North Korea said it had successfully launched a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the whole of the continental US.
Mr Trump is planning to meet Mr Kim by June, with the site of the talks currently under discussion.
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