While North Korea is Denuclearizing US Promises Kim the Fate of Gaddafi
A direct flight just to witness an explosion at Punggye-ri: South Korea is ready to send reporters from Seoul via charter flight if Pyongyang approves the list of TV and radio network candidates, according to the Yonhap News Agency. A plane filled with foreign correspondents from Beijing has already arrived in North Korea. They're there to observe the demolition of a nuclear test site.
Here's Sergei Mingazhev with the details.
North Korea is calling it a demonstration of the country's commitment to the results of the inter-Korean summit. Foreign correspondents who arrived in Pyongyang from Beijing are getting on the bus that will bring them to the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site. It's located in the country's northeast, and it's where North Korea has been testing all of its nuclear weapons over the past few years. And now, right in front of foreign journalists, it is going to demolish the test site. Pyongyang's commitment to eliminating its nuclear potential is the main condition for a meeting between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un. However, Washington's reaction to this publicity stunt can't be called anything other than intimidation.
Mike Pence, US Vice President: "And you know, as the President made clear, this will only end like the Libyan model ended if Kim Jong-un doesn't make a deal."
The nuclear test site, which has been a thorn in the side for the US, will take place without any experts participating. Journalists will observe it from a great distance. Judging by statements from the White House, what was said to be a truce on the Korean Peninsula may turn into a new conflict in no time.
Mike Pence: "The US, under the management of President Trump, is not going to tolerate the North Korean regime having control over nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles".
North Korea, 2008: In the presence of journalists from participating countries of the six-party talks, a nuclear power plant cooling tower is demolished at the Yongbyon Scientific Research Center, where weapons-grade plutonium was produced. After that, the Bush administration lifted some sanctions and removed Pyongyang from the "State Sponsors of Terrorism" list. The American mainstream media compared the long-awaited demolition to déjà vu.
"North Korea's arbitrary action to dismantle this facility on its own, this is not something that we can believe is part of North Korea's declared aim of denuclearization. It's nothing more than destroying evidence".
South Korean President Moon Jae-in's visit to Washington right now is clearly not a coincidence. Obviously, Seoul is doing its best to preserve the fragile peace achieved last month in the demilitarized zone at the summit of the two Korean leaders.
Preparations for the first-ever DPRK–US summit are underway, but they are not like the ones for the inter-Korean summit. Pyongyang and Washington are raising the stakes. Recently, North Korea has canceled inter-Korean negotiations because of joint military exercises being conducted by South Korea and the US. Meanwhile, the Pentagon has sent a task force of destroyers fitted with Aegis anti-missile systems to the Japanese coast. Such trilateral maneuvers have traditionally been considered a hostile act by Pyongyang.
Sergei Mingazhev, Alexei Pichkov Vesti Eastern Asia office.