North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un made the surprise announcement Friday that the country will suspend all nuclear and missile tests — in advance of an anticipated summit with President Trump.
The president immediately praised the move on Twitter, with a statement that called the nuke ban a positive move in the ongoing effort to calm relations on the Korean Peninsula.
“North Korea has agreed to suspend all Nuclear Tests and close up a major test site,” Trump wrote. “This is very good news for North Korea and the World – big progress! Look forward to our Summit.”
Kim said that intercontinental ballistic missile tests would also be discontinued.
But he stressed that the tests would stop because they are no longer needed — and the sites have “completed their mission.”
The Korean Central News Agency quoted Kim as saying that “under the proven condition of complete nuclear weapons, we no longer need any nuclear tests, mid-range and intercontinental ballistic rocket tests, and that the nuclear test site in northern area has also completed its mission.”
But a North Korea source told CNN that Kim has committed himself to the path of denuclearization and will now focus solely on economic growth and improving the national economy.
Kim said he wanted to focus on boosting the economy — which has been devastated by international sanctions — but professed that his nation has risen to near-superpower status.
“At the current stage where our nation has risen to the status of a political and military powerhouse, focusing on building the economy based on socialism is the WPK’s strategic party line,” Kim stressed.
The Korean Central News Agency said that the decision came from a meeting between Kim and his top aides.
“From April 21, North Korea will stop nuclear tests and launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles,” the news agency said.
“The North will shut down a nuclear test site in the country’s northern area to guarantee transparency in suspending nuclear tests.”
The country has conducted six nuclear tests at the site in the northeast region since 2006. The most powerful test took place in September, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News.
As far as ballistic missile tests, the country conducted a dozen in 2017 including two intercontinental ballistic missile tests last July.
The country claimed that the missiles could reach the US mainland and some of the test dropped into the waters just miles off the coast of Japan.
Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera warned that it was not the time to ease pressure on North Korea, following news that they were suspending its tests, according to Kyodo news agency.
The country has advocated maximum sanctions on the nation to get them to abandon their weapons program.
Kim will have a high-profile sit down with President Moon Jae-in next Friday, as the two countries set to end the decades-long stalemate and initiate diplomatic and economic relations.
CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who has been nominated to be next secretary of state, visited the secretive country earlier this month to meet with the nation’s leader.
The planned summit between Kim and Trump, set to take place in June, will be the first meeting between the country’s two leaders in history.
The North and South have recently set up a hotline that they hope will improve communications between the leaders and avert disastrous military action, according to the New York Times.
“President Moon can just call me directly and the problem will be promptly solved,” Mr. Kim was quoted as saying.