19 September 2018
North Korea's Kim Jong-un agrees to shut missile site
By BBC
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has agreed to shut one of the country's main missile testing and launch sites.
He signed a pledge to permanently close the Tongchang-ri facility, after talks in Pyongyang with his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in.
Both leaders also "agreed on a way to achieve denuclearisation" on the Korean peninsula, Mr Moon said.
Mr Kim said he hoped to "visit Seoul in the near future" - he would be the first North Korean leader to do so.
China has welcomed the outcome of the inter-Korean summit, saying both sides had found "new and important common ground".
What was agreed on denuclearisation?
The main focus of the summit was the issue of denuclearisation. While the US and North Korea agreed in broad terms earlier this year to work towards that goal, negotiations have stalled.
Pyongyang has now sought to reconfirm its commitment.
Mr Kim expressed a readiness to shut down the Yongbyon nuclear facility - where North Korea is believed to have produced the material used in its nuclear tests - if the US took some reciprocal action. The details of that were not specified.
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But he went further on Tongchang-ri, saying the engine missile testing and launch facility would be permanently closed "in the presence of experts from relevant nations".
The BBC's Seoul correspondent Laura Bicker said the announcement is a major step forward.
Satellite images suggest Tongchang-ri is in the process of being destroyed, she added, but the declaration will allow inspectors to verify the process.
North Korea blew up its main nuclear testing site at Punggye-ri shortly before Mr Kim's meeting with US President Donald Trump in June.
"The outcome is a big win for Moon Jae-in, who has managed to extract a series of positive headlines from Kim Jong-un related to denuclearisation," Ankit Panda, editor of The Diplomat, told the BBC.
"None of the concessions are truly costly to Kim and won't help move North Korea toward short-term disarmament, but provide a further basis for confidence building on which US-North Korea talks can move forward."
