Kim Jong-un Promised Denuclearization in May

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has offered to close the nuclear test site in May and invite American experts, Seoul announced on Sunday, while Donald Trump expressed optimism about the possibility of a nuclear agreement with Pyongyang.

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This promise conveyed by the office of the South Korean president is the latest illustration of the diplomatic storm that has swept the peninsula in recent months, highlighted by the historic inter-Korean summit on Friday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed at that time to achieve a “nuclear-free Korean Peninsula” through “complete denuclearization.” For years, Pyongyang has claimed it would never give up its nuclear weapons, which it deems essential for protection against a U.S. invasion.

“Kim stated at the summit with President Moon that he would proceed with closing the test site in May and would soon invite experts from South Korea and the U.S. as well as journalists to disclose the process to the international community in a transparent manner,” said Yoon Young-chan, spokesperson for the Blue House, the South Korean presidential office.

“Kim stated that the ‘U.S. considers us repulsive, but once we talk, they will see that I am not someone who will launch nuclear weapons at the South or the U.S. or target the U.S.,'” continued the spokesperson.

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“‘If we meet often with Washington, if we build trust, end the war, and they promise us there will be no invasion, why would we live with nuclear weapons?’,'” quoted the spokesperson for Kim.

It is likely that these statements will be interpreted as a ‘carrot’ before the next highly anticipated summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump, who has expressed cautious optimism.

The meeting will take place “in the next three or four weeks,” said the White House chief at a gathering of his supporters in Michigan, and “it will be very important.”

Trump has promised to “do a great service to the planet” by reaching a nuclear disarmament agreement with Pyongyang. The U.S. president has quickly put his role in the current détente in the spotlight through what the White House calls a “Maximum Pressure Campaign,” which involves very strict statements, strengthening sanctions, and the diplomatic isolation of North Korea.

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“Do you remember what they said? ‘They will draw us into a nuclear war,'” Trump said. “No, force will keep us from nuclear war; it will not draw us into it!”

However, he also warned that the summit could be brief. “Whatever happens, happens. I can leave. Maybe it won’t work. In that case, I’m leaving,” he said.

According to CBS News, the meeting could take place in Mongolia or Singapore.