North Korea agrees to shut down missile test sites as leaders hail 'leap forward'

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/19/north-korea-shut-missile-test-summit-kim-jong-un-moon

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North Korea will shut down key missile test facilities in the presence of “international experts” and is willing to close its only known nuclear complex if the United States makes reciprocal measures, South Korean president Moon Jae-in has announced in a joint press conference with Kim Jong-un.

The two leaders also agreed during a three-day summit in Pyongyang to connect two rail lines, on the east and west side of the peninsula, across one of the most militarised borders in the world. Kim also said he would visit Seoul in the “near future”, a move that would make him the first North Korean leader to visit the capital of the South.

North and South Korea agreed that the Korean Peninsula should turn into a “land of peace without nuclear weapons and nuclear threats”, Moon said. Any transport links would require the approval of the US-led United Nations Command, which oversees the border region.

“There is not only going to be a smooth road ahead, there will be challenges and trials, but the more we overcome them the stronger we will become,” Kim said. “We are not afraid of future challenges.”

But Kim did not mention denuclearisation at any point in his remarks, and it was Moon who communicated the North’s plans to close the Yongbyon nuclear reactor as well as shut missile test pads in front of “international experts”.