South Korean Prez urges UN to verify North’s nuclear test site shutdown

NewsBharati    02-May-2018
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Seoul, May 2: Sighting the historical accord between North and South Korea, pledging to have a peaceful relation by denuclearization, South Korea President Moon Jae-in has asked the United Nations to verify the planned closure of North Korea's nuclear test site.

 

The request to verify the closure was done through a phone call to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday, a few days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told the South Korean leader he planned to shut down the test site in May.

The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's global nuclear watchdog, has the expertise to carry out verification missions. Kim told Moon during the summit on Friday that he planned to dismantle the Punggye-ri nuclear test site as the leaders pledged to pursue a permanent peace treaty and denuclearize the Korean peninsula.

The Security Council has imposed tough economic sanctions on North Korea after Pyongyang last year carried out a sixth nuclear test and a series of advanced missile launches.

Guterres on Friday applauded the "truly historic summit" between the Korean leaders and urged them to quickly turn their commitments into action.

The North had decided to shut down a nuclear test site in the country's northern side to prove the vow to suspend nuclear test from April 21. The decision was made in a meeting of the ruling party's full Central Committee, which had convened to discuss a "new stage" of policies.