North Korea suspends nuclear missile testing, aims to focus on economic development

Kim further said that the country would close its nuclear testing facility at Punggye-ri, though that site was already believed to have been rendered largely unusable due to tunnel collapses after the North’s test of what it claimed was a hydrogen bomb last year.

Why North Korea made this major announcement? 

This Aug. 29, 2017, file photo by the North Korean government shows what was said to be the test launch of a Hwasong-12 intermediate range missile in Pyongyang, North Korea. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)

The announcement is seen as an opening gambit aimed at setting the tone for talks ahead of Kim’s summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in next Friday and US President Donald Trump in late May or early June. Analysts believe that Kim is entering the negotiation from a position of strength and is hoping to achieve tacit recognition that his country is now a nuclear power. It appears to signify a remarkable change in policy for Kim as he seeks a “favorable” international environment for economic development so that he can put the economy “on an upward spiral track.”

Not just this, it also recently agreed to drop its objections to US-South Korean military exercises, and the positioning of US troops in the South. However, Kim gave no indication Pyongyang might be willing to give up its nuclear weapons, or the missiles with which it can reach the mainland United States.

The US and South Korea welcome the decision

As Kim appears to commit himself on the path of denuclearisation, Donald trump immediately responded to the news with a tweet saying, “This is very good news for North Korea and the World” and “big progress!” He added that he’s looking forward to his upcoming summit with Kim.

Vipin Narang, an associate political science professor and nuclear proliferation expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said, “The aim of this, in my view, is to make it exceedingly difficult for Trump to say the North is uninterested in talks and walk away,” he said. “Kim is doing everything he can now _ in a reversible way, mind you _ to ensure the summit happens. Because that’s his ultimate victory.”

South Korea’s presidential office also welcomed North Korea’s announcement as “meaningful progress” toward the denuclearization of the peninsula. Presidential official Yoon Young-chan said in a statement that the North’s decision brightens the prospects for successful talks between Seoul, Pyongyang and Washington.

The surprise announcement comes less than a week before the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meets South Korean President Moon Jae-in for a summit in the Demilitarised Zone that divides the peninsula, ahead of an eagerly-awaited encounter with US President Donald Trump.

China says  focus on developing economy will help ease the situation on Korean peninsula

China said that it will support North Korea to engage in dialogue and consultation with the relevant parties. “China believes the decision to stop nuclear tests and focus on developing the economy and improving people’s living standards will help further ease the situation on the Korean peninsula and help to promote the process of denuclearisation and attempts to find a political settlement,” it added.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe welcomed the announcement too but was a bit more guarded in his reaction.

“What is crucial here … is how this development is going to lead to the complete, verifiable, and irreversible dismantlement of nuclear arms, weapons of mass destruction and missiles,” he said. “And I will keep a close eye on that.”

North Korea struggling to revive economy

North Korea has struggled to revive its economy since a famine in the mid-1990s, while South Korea has taken off as an economic powerhouse exporting everything from smartphones to automobiles. Kim stressed at the party meeting his desire to shift the national focus to improving the country’s economy, which has been hit hard by international sanctions and the “maximum pressure” strategy pushed by Trump.

Seoul says Kim has expressed genuine interest in dealing away his nuclear weapons. But North Korea for decades has been pushing a concept of “denuclearization” that bears no resemblance to the American definition, vowing to pursue nuclear development unless Washington removes its troops from the peninsula.

(With inputs with agencies)