Hopes for peace after North Korea’s Kim Jong-un agrees to shut missile site, visit Seoul

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un agreed to dismantle his main nuclear complex if the United States takes unspecified measures, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said after a landmark meeting in Pyongyang.

The pledge was made Wednesday in a joint declaration and press conference by the two leaders after a summit at the Paekhwawon official guest house on the outskirts of the North Korean capital.

Moon is on a three-day trip to North Korea for his third summit with Kim this year, hoping to reboot stalled denuclearisation talks between his host and the United States.

“The South and the North shared the view that the Korean peninsula should be a region without nuclear weapons nor nuclear threats, and have agreed to make practical progress,” according to the document called the “September Pyongyang Declaration”.

Moon said Kim agreed to permanently dismantle a missile engine test site and a launch pad in Tongchang-ri in the presence of international experts as a specific step toward denuclearisation.

Moon also said the North agreed to permanently dismantle its main Yongbyon nuclear complex if the United States took “corresponding measures”.