19th September, 2018
North Korea has agreed to take concrete steps towards denuclearisation, including dismantling its nuclear facilities, South Korean President Moon Jae-In said on Wednesday following two days meetings in Pyongyang.
At a joint news conference with North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un, Jae-In said Jong-Un had agreed to allow international experts to witness the dismantling of its west coast Sohae missile engine testing facility and launch pad.
However, he said that the shutdown of the North’s main nuclear facility, the Yongbyon Research Centre, would be dependent on the U.S. taking corresponding measures.
The South Korean leader also said that the two countries had agreed to launch a bid to jointly host the 2032 Summer Olympics.
North Korea took part in the Winter Olympics in South Korea in February.
“We are going to restore normal life,” Jae-In said, the first South Korean president to visit the North in 11 years.
Jong-Un said meanwhile that he wanted to visit Seoul “soon.”
The news conference came after the two leaders, who were meeting for third time this year following summits in April and May, were broadcast live on television signing an agreement.
Their defence ministers were also shown signing an agreement on reducing military tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
The Yongbyon complex houses a nuclear reactor, a fuel reprocessing facility that can recover weapons-grade plutonium and a uranium enrichment facility which can also be used to make nuclear weapons.
Jong-Un had announced his commitment to denuclearisation at his previous summits with Jae-In, as well as at his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in June in Singapore.
However, he had given no concrete details on how and by when the process would be complete and negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea had since stalled.
Jae-In is due to fly back to Seoul on Thursday.
Similarly, It is “very exciting” that North and South Korea have penned an agreement that will seek to denuclearise the Peninsula and jointly bid to host the 2032 Olympics, tweets U.S. President Donald Trump.
He noted that the offer to dismantle nuclear facilities and allow nuclear inspections is “subject to final negotiations.”.