INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Dismantlement of the nuclear test site will happen between May 23 and 25 depending on weather conditionsSEOUL:
North Korea has scheduled the dismantlement of its nuclear test site for sometime between May 23 and 25 depending on weather conditions in
order to uphold its previous pledge to discontinue nuclear tests, state media reported on Saturday.The country's central news agency said
the dismantlement of the nuclear test ground would involve collapsing all of its tunnels with explosions, blocking its entrances and
removing all observation facilities, research buildings and security posts."The Nuclear Weapon Institute and other concerned institutions
are taking technical measures for dismantling the northern nuclear test ground of the DPRK in order to ensure transparency of discontinuance
of the nuclear test," said the announcement
DPRK is an acronym for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.The announcement comes after U.S
President Donald Trump said he would hold a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12
It will be the first meeting ever between a sitting U.S
president and the leader of North Korea.It follows a flurry of international engagement with North Korea as the two Koreas held their own
summit in late April and officials plan to hold high-level meetings in coming weeks.Trump's Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday
North Korea can look forward to "a future brimming with peace and prosperity" if it agrees to quickly give up its nuclear weapons.Officials
in Seoul had said in April that North Korea planned to invite experts and journalists from the United States and South Korea for the
shutdown of its test site.North Korea said journalists from other countries, including the United States and South Korea, will be invited to
cover the event, to "show in a transparent manner the dismantlement of the northern nuclear test ground to be carried out".In order to
accommodate the travelling journalists, North Korea said various measures would be taken including "opening territorial air space".All
international journalists will be provided with a charter flight into Wonsan, a port city in eastern North Korea, from Beijing, KCNA said
There, reporters will board a charter train to the nuclear test ground in an "uninhabited deep mountain area".North Korea's six known
nuclear tests have taken place in Punggye-ri, a location in the northeastern part of North Korea where a system of tunnels have been dug
under Mount Mantap.Experts have said the pledge to dismantle the test site is a big step forward but verifying it will be difficult.©
Thomson Reuters 2018(This story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
