North Korea on Thursday appears to have blown up tunnels at its only nuclear test site, Punggye-ri, setting off a series of explosions over several hours in the presence of foreign journalists.
North Korea on Thursday appears to have blown up tunnels at its only nuclear test site, Punggye-ri, setting off a series of explosions over several hours in the presence of foreign journalists. The explosions were centred on three tunnels into the underground site and a number of observation towers in the surrounding area. Getting to the remote site required an 11-hour overnight train journey from Wonsan, a port city east of the capital, Pyongyang.
The first blast that happened around 11 am local time collapsed the North tunnel which was used for five nuclear tests between 2009 and last year. Two other explosions happened around 2:20 pm and 4 pm demolishing the west and south tunnels, according to officials.
The move to close the Punggye-ri site is meant to reinforce the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s pledge to stop nuclear tests before a summit with Donald Trump on 12 June in Singapore. Though it is not an irreversible move and would need to be followed by many more significant measures to meet Trump’s demands for real denuclearisation.
The Trump-Kim summit plan has hit a number of speed bumps recently as both sides have begun trading barbs and taking tougher positions. Trump met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday at the White House for consultations and suggested the summit could be delayed or even called off entirely.
The first blast that happened around 11 am local time collapsed the North tunnel which was used for five nuclear tests between 2009 and last year. Two other explosions happened around 2:20 pm and 4 pm demolishing the west and south tunnels, according to officials.
The move to close the Punggye-ri site is meant to reinforce the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s pledge to stop nuclear tests before a summit with Donald Trump on 12 June in Singapore. Though it is not an irreversible move and would need to be followed by many more significant measures to meet Trump’s demands for real denuclearisation.
The Trump-Kim summit plan has hit a number of speed bumps recently as both sides have begun trading barbs and taking tougher positions. Trump met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday at the White House for consultations and suggested the summit could be delayed or even called off entirely.