North Korea is reportedly preparing its Punggye-ri nuclear test site for international inspectors.

The development was reported by South Korea's Yonhap news agency, citing the country's spy agency.

In May, Sky's Tom Cheshire was the only British broadcaster invited to witness the apparent demolition of the facility, although no inspectors were present.

He watched a series of explosions with North Korea state media claiming the site had been completely dismantled in the blasts "to ensure the transparency of discontinuance of nuclear test".

At the time, the deputy director of the North Korea Nuclear Weapons Institute told Sky News that the destruction of the facility had been "conducted with high levels of transparency" in a bid to bring "peace and stability" to the Korean peninsula and the world.

The unnamed official added: "The discontinuance of nuclear tests is an important process in moving towards global nuclear disarmament and we will continue to join hands with all peace-loving people in building a peaceful world, a new independent world where the dreams and ideals of humanity are realised."

The Punggye-ri facility was used for several nuclear weapons tests, including a suspected hydrogen bomb in September 2017.

Following a summit between North and South Korea in September Pyongyang agreed to allow international inspectors to observe a "permanent dismantlement" of its other key missile facilities, and would take additional steps such as closing its main Yongbyon nuclear complex, but only if the United States took "reciprocal measures".

South Korean president Moon Jae-in said he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had agreed that the Korean Peninsula should turn into a "land of peace without nuclear weapons and nuclear threats". </s> North Korea is preparing its Punggye-ri nuclear test site for international inspectors, the Yonhap news agency says, citing South Korea's spy agency.

While North Korea has stopped nuclear and missile tests in the past year, it did not allow international inspections of its dismantling of Punggye-ri in May, drawing criticism that the action was merely for show and could be reversed.

North Korea agreed to allow international inspectors to observe a "permanent dismantlement" of key missile facilities, and take further steps, such as closing its main Yongbyon nuclear complex, in return for reciprocal measures by the United States, the South's President Moon Jae-in has said.

His September comments followed a summit with the North's Kim Jong-un. </s> International experts will be allowed into the dismantled Punggye-ri site, according to reports in South Korea

This article is more than 10 months old

This article is more than 10 months old

North Korea is preparing its Punggye-ri nuclear test site for international inspectors, according to South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, the first time foreign experts would be allowed to inspect facilities since a thaw in tensions this year.

Intelligence officials had observed what they believed to be preparations for possible inspections at Punggye-ri nuclear test site and the Sohae Satellite launching ground, Kim Min-ki of the ruling Democratic Party told reporters, according to Yonhap news agency.

The South’s national intelligence service observed North Koreans “conducting preparation and intelligence activities that seem to be in preparation for [a] foreign inspectors’ visit”, the politician added.

The site was officially closed in May, when North Korea invited a handful of international journalists to observe as the tunnels where previous nuclear tests were conducted were sealed with explosions. Experts at the time said the move was mostly symbolic, and radiation monitoring equipment brought by reporters was confiscated by North Korea officials.

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No major movements were seen at Yongbyon, the North’s main nuclear complex.

The revelations came during a routine parliamentary audit of government agencies, and also revealed North Korea has continued to deploy hackers in an effort to earn foreign currency.

While North Korea has stopped nuclear and missile tests in the past year, it has not allowed international inspections drawing widespread criticism.

North Korea agreed to allow international inspectors to observe a “permanent dismantlement” of key missile facilities, and take further steps, such as closing its main Yongbyon nuclear complex, in return for reciprocal measures by the United States, the South’s president Moon Jae-in said in September. Neither North Korea nor Moon has detailed what Pyongyang is seeking in return.

His comments followed a summit where the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, also pledged to close Sohae and allow experts to observe the dismantling of the missile engine testing site and a launch pad.

American officials have been skeptical of Kim’s commitment to giving up nuclear weapons, but the North’s pledge at the summit with the South drew an enthusiastic response from President Donald Trump. </s> The party's secretary was siting South Korea's intelligence service, according to the Yonhap news agency.

"While North Korea has closed its Punggye-ri test site and dismantled some of the facilities at the Tongchang-ri missile test site as part of denuclearization initiative, intelligence activities and preparations for the visit of a foreign inspection group have been noticed," the secretary said as quoted by the agency.

READ MORE: US Attempted to Put Brakes on Economic Cooperation Between Two Koreas — Reports

Over the past few months, Pyongyang has demonstrated willingness to reduce tensions with Seoul and work toward the denuclearization of the peninsula. Kim attended three historic summits with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and held an unprecedented meeting with US President Donald Trump, pledging to achieve lasting peace in the region. </s> North Korea is preparing to allow international inspectors into its Punggye-ri test site, the Yonhap news agency reported on Wednesday, citing a South Korean politician.

Pyongyang has stopped its nuclear and missile tests over the past year during a rapprochement with the United States and South Korea, and it blew up facilities at Punggye-ri in May in the presence of foreign journalists.

However, its refusal to allow international experts to observe the destruction of the site, which has been the staging ground for all six of its nuclear tests, including its most powerful one – reportedly of an H-bomb – last September, drew criticism that its actions were for show and could be reversed.

At a summit between the North and South’s leaders last month, Pyongyang finally agreed to allow foreign inspectors to observe a “permanent dismantlement” of key missile facilities, and to move towards closing its main Yongbyon nuclear complex in return for reciprocal US measures.

News of the apparent latest gesture came from Kim Min-ki, a member of the ruling Democratic Party, who told reporters in Seoul that intelligence officials had observed what they believed to be preparations for possible inspections at Punggye-ri and the Sohae Satellite launching ground.

The South’s National Intelligence Service observed North Koreans “conducting preparation and intelligence activities that seemed to be in preparation for foreign inspectors’ visit,” said Mr Kim, according to Reuters. No major movements were spotted at Yongbyon.

The move to open up Punggye-ri to inspection, if confirmed, would be seen as a confidence-building measure ahead of a proposed second meeting between Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s leader, and Donald Trump, the US president.

The meeting is expected to take place early next year despite concerns in Washington that North Korea is dragging its feet over nuclear disarmament and frustration in Pyongyang that the US has not agreed to ease economic sanctions or an official end to the Korean War of 1950-53.

Washington has repeatedly reminded its regional allies of the need to maintain “maximum pressure” on the North Korean regime to give up its nuclear weapons – a policy that appears to be increasingly at odds with a push from South Korean President Moon Jae-in towards closer economic ties.

The US embassy in Seoul reportedly made the unusual move of contacting major South Korean conglomerates that sent representatives to Pyongyang with President Moon for his September summit with Kim Jong-un.

“The U.S. Embassy in Seoul is known to have directly called key companies to discern the status of the cooperation projects discussed during their visit to the North,” a key official from the presidential Blue House told the JoongAng Ilbo on Tuesday.

Executives from Samsung, Hyundai Motor, LG and SK were among 17 business representatives who accompanied President Moon on his three-day trip.

North Korea is likely to depend on South Korean investment for its future economic development. “It appears that the U.S. government, along with the objective of grasping the situation in regard to North Korea-related projects, is attempting to synchronise the speed between the South and the United States ahead of North-U.S. denuclearisation negotiations,” said the source.

Teleconferences in late September between the US Treasury Department and seven South Korean banks over sanctions enforcement were also viewed as a sign that Washington is nervous that inter-Korean relations appears to be advancing faster than denuclearisation talks. </s> North Korea is preparing its Punggye-ri nuclear test site for international inspectors, the Yonhap news agency said on Wednesday, citing South Korea's spy agency.

SEOUL: North Korea is preparing its Punggye-ri nuclear test site for international inspectors, the Yonhap news agency said on Wednesday, citing South Korea's spy agency.

While North Korea has stopped nuclear and missile tests in the past year, it did not allow international inspections of its dismantling of Punggye-ri in May, drawing criticism that the action was merely for show and could be reversed.

North Korea agreed to allow international inspectors to observe a "permanent dismantlement" of key missile facilities, and take further steps, such as closing its main Yongbyon nuclear complex, in return for reciprocal measures by the United States, the South’s President Moon Jae-in has said.

His September comments followed a summit with the North's Kim Jong Un. </s> North Korea is expected to dismantle its Punggye-ri nuclear test site over the next few days in a move toward denuclearization ahead of an unprecedented summit between President Trump and the North's leader, Kim Jong Un.

However Trump cast the summit into doubt Tuesday, saying it could be delayed or even canceled.

A small group of international journalists arrived in North Korea on Tuesday to cover the shutdown of the North's key nuclear test site. Reporters and television crews from the United States, United Kingdom, Russia and China flew in from Beijing.

The dismantling ceremony is scheduled to take place between May 23 and 25, depending on weather.

Absent from the media visitors were eight South Korean journalists, who were excluded after having initially been invited by the North.

The relationship between North Korea and South Korea chilled suddenly last week when Pyongyang canceled a scheduled high-level meeting with South Korean officials, citing a joint U.S.-South Korea military exercise as the reason.

South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon expressed “regrets that South Korean press corps were unable to visit the North due to North Korea’s lack of follow-up measures despite inviting them.”

He said in a statement Tuesday that the North’s pledge to dismantle the site is proceeding as planned and “expects that such action (will) lead to the successful hosting of the North Korea-U.S. summit.”

Trump and Kim were scheduled to meet in Singapore on June 12, but Trump cast new uncertainty on the planned summit Tuesday, saying the date could slide back on the calendar — or it may not happen at all. Pyongyang has threatened to reconsider the summit if the Trump administration pressures North Korea to unilaterally abandon its nuclear weapons.

"There's a chance — there's a very substantial chance — it won't work out," Trump said as he met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the White House Tuesday.

“You never know about deals," he said. "I’ve made a lot of deals. You never really know.”

Trump's comments came after an April 27 inter-Korean summit between Moon and Kim, which ended in a joint declaration seeking a peace treaty and complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Kim announced plans to close the Punggye-ri site last month ahead of the summit, saying that nuclear development was complete and further underground testing was unnecessary.

North Korea has been clearing out small buildings and sheds from the site in recent weeks, according to satellite images and analysis from the online Korea journal 38 North.

The dismantling of the site will include “collapsing all of its tunnels with explosions, blocking its entrances, and removing all observation facilities, research buildings and security posts,” according to North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Punggye-ri, located in the mountainous northeast of the country, is the site where all six of North Korea's nuclear tests have been held.

North Korea’s most recent test in September 2017 was by far its most powerful. A study published earlier this month in the journal Science concluded the explosion was 13 to 16 times as powerful as the bomb the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945. The force of the explosion caused Mount Mantap above the underground site to shift several feet horizontally and collapse around a foot-and-a-half vertically.

There has been speculation that the closing of the site is merely a bit of geopolitical stagecraft since it has already been so badly damaged.

Chinese geologists last month published a report saying the nuclear blast caused an on-site collapse at Punggye-ri, warning of an “environmental catastrophe” if the North tried to use the site again.

Technical experts have not been invited to the decommissioning of the site, raising further questions whether the gesture is for show.

Some observers still see the site's closing as a step forward.

"It's important to welcome this offer even if it is making a virtue out of a necessity because the test site was damaged by recent tests,” said Rebecca Johnson, an arms control expert with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. She added that experts from the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the world’s main nuclear test-ban body, should also be invited to observe the site.

Joel Wit, director of 38 North and a senior fellow at the Stimson Center, said dismantling the site is not a meaningless gesture, as there are two areas of the installation that have never been used for tests and still contain tunnels.

“In an ideal world, we wouldn't just have journalists observing what's going on,” said Wit. “What (the U.S.) should be doing in the summit is insisting on having experts come in to make sure the sites are dismantled properly.”

Wit added that the move is something "no one would have anticipated four or five months ago. In part, it’s a nice piece of theater. But it's an opening to accomplish something more significant by building on it.” </s> North Korea appears to be preparing for possible visits by external inspectors to verify that it has shut down its nuclear test site, South Korea’s intelligence agency said on Wednesday. Ruling party lawmaker Kim Min-ki shared the development with reporters after a closed-door audit session by the National Intelligence Service with parliamentarians, reported Yonhap.

“Signs have been detected that North Korea is doing some preparations and intelligence-related activity over a possible visit by outside experts, as it shut down the nuclear test site and demolished some of the missile launching facilities at Dongchang-ri,” the agency told the lawmakers, according to Kim Min-ki.

The agency also said that North Korea continued to engage in hacking attacks to steal information and money, and breaking into email accounts.

Earlier this month, United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had agreed to give international inspectors access to the country’s nuclear and missile testing sites. Pompeo had said that the inspectors would visit a missile engine test facility and the Punggye-ri nuclear testing site as soon as the logistics are worked out.

In May, North Korea said it had dismantled its nuclear bomb test site in Punggye-ri as a goodwill gesture before a meeting with US President Donald Trump. During his meeting with Trump in Singapore, Kim promised to work towards denuclearising the Korean peninsula. Both leaders had signed a joint statement in which the US agreed to establish diplomatic relations. </s> North Korea is preparing to allow international inspectors into its Punggye-ri test site, the Yonhap news agency reported on Wednesday, citing a South Korean politician.

Pyongyang has stopped its nuclear and missile tests over the past year during a rapprochement with the United States and South Korea, and it blew up facilities at Punggye-ri in May in the presence of foreign journalists.

However, its refusal to allow international experts to observe the destruction of the site, which has been the staging ground for all six of its nuclear tests, including its most powerful one – reportedly of an H-bomb – last September, drew criticism that its actions were for show and could be reversed.

At a summit between the North and South’s leaders last month, Pyongyang finally agreed to allow foreign inspectors to observe a “permanent dismantlement” of key missile facilities, and to move towards closing its main Yongbyon nuclear complex in return for reciprocal US measures.

News of the apparent latest gesture came from Kim Min-ki, a member of the ruling Democratic Party, who told reporters in Seoul that intelligence officials had observed what they believed to be preparations for possible inspections at Punggye-ri and the Sohae Satellite launching ground.
South Korean officials say that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un stated during his summit meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in that he would close the country's Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site in May.