Pyongyang to shut down nuke facility in May, allow inspection

In this photo, taken April 27, 2018, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (left) and South Korean President Moon Jae-in shake hands after signing on a joint statement at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea. Seoul says North Korean leader Kim plans to shut down the country’s nuclear test site in May and reveal the process to experts and journalists from the United States and South Korea. Seoul’s presidential spokesman Yoon Young-chan said Sunday, April 29, Kim made the comments during his summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Friday. (Photo from the Korea Summit Press Pool via AP)

SEOUL — The South Korean presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae, said Sunday that North Korea had offered to close down its nuclear test site in Punggye-ri in May.

North Korea will shut down its nuclear weapons testing facility within May and allow inspection by South Korean and US experts and media, according to Cheong Wa Dae.

“[North Korean leader Kim Jong-un] said during the summit talks with President Moon Jae-in that the shutdown of the facility in the north of the country will be carried out in May,” Cheong Wa Dae Senior Public Relations Secretary Yoon Young-chan said.

“[Kim said that] in order to reveal it transparently to the international society, South Korea and US experts and media will be invited to the North.”

Yoon elaborated that Kim denied speculations that the decision to shut the facility down was prompted by structural damage.

According to Yoon, Kim said that there were two more intact tunnels.

After North Korea announced that the facility in Punggye-ri would be shut down, speculations rose that the decision was prompted by irreparable damage caused by earlier nuclear tests.

Yoon added that Seoul and Pyongyang would negotiate on when experts and media personnel would be invited to the North once preparations had been made.

“Kim’s decision is a statement of North’s intent to engage in denuclearization proactively and preemptively,” Yoon said.

“Through talks it will become clear that I am not someone who will target the South, the Pacific or the US (with nuclear weapons). Once trust is built with the US, why would we live difficultly with nuclear weapons,” Yoon quoted Kim as saying.

Yoon also revealed that Kim had decided to synchronize Pyongyang Time with Seoul’s Korea Standard Time, as part of efforts to improve inter-Korean relations.

Pyongyang Time was created under Kim in August 2015,