North Korea to End Nuclear Weapon, Missile Tests, Kim Jong Un Says

North Korea will discontinue tests of its nuclear weapons and inter-continental ballistic missiles, the country’s leader Kim Jong Un said Friday, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The decision took effect on Saturday, April 21, according to the statement.

“Progress being made for all!” U.S. President Donald Trump said of North Korea’s move in a tweet Saturday.

The country’s northern nuclear test site will be dismantled to provide a guarantee that the nuclear tests have ended, Kim said at a plenary meeting of the central committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) in the capital city of Pyongyang, according to the KCNA report.

North Korea “will never use nuclear weapons or transfer nuclear weapons or nuclear technology under any circumstances” unless there are nuclear threats or provocations against the country, KCNA quoted Kim as saying.

The testing of nuclear weapons, intermediate-range missiles and inter-continental ballistic missiles is no longer necessary for North Korea, given that the country’s ability to mount nuclear warheads on ballistic missiles was verified as part of the nuclear weapon development program, Kim explained.

Accomplishing the buildup of the state’s nuclear arsenal in less than five years proves the success of the WPK’s decision to push forward simultaneously with both economic construction and the buildup of the nuclear force, Kim said.

In the future, the country “will concentrate all its efforts on building a powerful socialist economy and markedly improving the people’s standard of living by mobilizing all human and material resources in the country,” he added.

North Korea will facilitate close contacts and active dialogues with neighboring countries and the international community to promote peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in the world, Kim said.

China welcomed North Korea’s decision to end testing and said it hopes North Korea can resolve other countries’ concerns through dialogue, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said in a statement on Saturday.

Kim visited China in late March, his first since he came into power, and is due to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in on April 27 to conduct the first bilateral peace talks since 2007.

Contact reporter Lin Jinbing (jinbinglin@caixin.com)