North Korea, setting stage for talks with South, U.S., halts nuclear tests
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea announced that it will suspend nuclear tests and intercontinental ballistic missile launches ahead of its summits with Seoul and Washington, but stopped short of suggesting it has any intention of giving up its hard-won nuclear arsenal.
The announcement, which sets the table for further negotiations when the summits begin, was made by leader Kim Jong Un at a meeting of the North Korean ruling party’s Central Committee on Friday. It was reported by the North’s state-run media early Saturday.
Kim justified the suspension to his party by saying the situation around North Korea has been rapidly changing “in favor of the Korean revolution” since he announced last year that his country had completed its nuclear forces.
He said North Korea has reached the level where it no longer needs underground testing or test-launching of ICBMs, and added that it would close its nuclear testing facility at Punggye-ri, which was already believed to have been rendered unusable because of tunnel collapses after the North’s test of its most powerful bomb to date last year.
The announcement is Kim’s opening gambit to set the tone for summit talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, set for Friday, and U.S. President Donald Trump, expected in late May or early June.
Trump almost immediately responded with a tweet, saying, “This is very good news for North Korea and the World” and “big progress!” He added that he’s looking forward to his summit with Kim.
South Korea’s presidential office also welcomed North Korea’s announcement as “meaningful progress” toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Presidential official Yoon Young-chan said in a statement that the North’s decision brightens the prospects for successful talks between Seoul, Pyongyang and Washington.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe offered a more guarded reaction.
“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.”
Pyongyang residents, who have been largely kept in the dark about Kim’s plans to meet Trump, gathered at subway stations, where newspapers are posted for the public, or around large screens in city plazas to see the reports.
One resident, 34-yearold Son Kum Chol, said he read the news in the ruling party’s newspaper. North Koreans are extremely cautious when speaking to the media, but Son told The Associated Press that the news made him feel the “future road will be brighter and prosperous.”
Some analysts believe Kim feels he is entering the summit negotiations from a position of strength and is hoping to achieve tacit recognition that his country is now a nuclear power. They believe he wants to engage in talks and make some concessions around the edges that would convince Washington and other countries to ease sanctions on his struggling economy.
In his speech at the party meeting, Kim praised his nuclear policy as “a miraculous victory” achieved in just five years. A resolution passed after his speech also stressed that the country had successfully achieved its goals of obtaining a viable nuclear force and suggested it intends to keep that force.
Using the acronym for North Korea’s official name, it said the North would “never use nuclear weapons nor transfer nuclear weapons or nuclear technology under any circumstances unless there are nuclear threats and nuclear provocation against the DPRK.”