North Korea Demolishes Nuclear Site Ahead of, now Canceled, Trump Summit

Trump Canceled the Planned June 12 Summit Thursday Morning

PUNGGYE-RI, North Korea (AP) — Just weeks ahead of a planned summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, Kim Jong Un made good on his promise to demolish North Korea’s nuclear test site, which was formally closed in a series of huge explosions Thursday as a group of foreign journalists looked on.

The explosions at the nuclear test site deep in the mountains of the North’s sparsely populated northeast were centered on three tunnels at the underground site and a number of buildings in the surrounding area.

North Korea held a closing ceremony afterward with officials from its nuclear arms program in attendance. The group of journalists that witnessed the demolition, which touched off landslides near the tunnel entrances and sent up clouds of smoke and dust, included an Associated Press Television crew.

North Korea’s state media called the closure of the site part of a process to build “a nuclear-free, peaceful world” and “global nuclear disarmament.”

“The dismantling of the nuclear test ground conducted with high-level transparency has clearly attested once again to the proactive and peace-loving efforts of the DPRK government being made for assuring peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and over the world,” the North’s official news agency reported late Thursday.

North Korea’s formal name is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Kim announced his plan to close the site, where North Korea has conducted all six of its underground nuclear tests, ahead of a summit with South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in in April and the planned summit with Trump, which is scheduled to take place next month in Singapore.

On Thursday morning President Donald Trump formally canceled the June 12 summit with North Korea’s Kim, citing ‘tremendous anger and open hostility’ in recent statements.