N.Korea to shut nuke test site in May: Seoul

By Alex Jensen

SEOUL

North Korea will next month dismantle the Punggye-ri facility where it has carried out all six of its nuclear tests to date, according to Seoul's Blue House presidential office.

South Korean chief press secretary Yoon Young-chan announced the news during a live broadcast Sunday, two days after the first inter-Korean summit in over a decade.

Following the meeting's breakthrough denuclearization and peace agreements, Yoon insisted the North's leader Kim Jong-un is ready to develop a relationship with his self-proclaimed enemy, the United States, and he is expected to hold talks with U.S. President Donald Trump for the first time within the next two months.

"Why would we keep nuclear weapons and live in a difficult condition if we often meet with Americans to build trust and they promise us to end the war and not to invade us?" the spokesman quoted Kim as saying in comments carried by local news agency Yonhap.

Kim also denied that the Punggye-ri site has already been exhausted, and will invite outside experts and reporters to witness its closure.