North Korea plans ceremony for nuclear test site closure

North Korea over the weekend said it will host a ceremony later this month to shut down its underground nuclear test sites. The country said journalists from the United States and other nations may view the process from May 23 to May 25. The closure will involve collapsing the tunnels in a controlled explosion and sealing all entrances. The announcement comes ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on June 12 in Singapore. Trump has said the United States could help the North bolster its economy if it permanently gets rid of its nuclear weapons in a verifiable way. He welcomed the dismantling of the test site as “a very smart and gracious gesture.” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday also praised the announcement and said the “irreversible closure of the site will be an important confidence-building measure that will contribute to further efforts towards sustainable peace and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”