美国国家公共电台 NPR North Korea Demolishes Its Nuclear Test Site In A 'Huge Explosion'

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RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

North Korea is making a public show of moving towards denuclearization ahead of a planned summit with the U.S. The regime invited a small group of foreign reporters to witness the demolition¹ of its nuclear test site in the northeast of the country. Those journalists are now reporting that they have witnessed a huge explosion there. NPR's Elise Hu is watching all this from her base in Seoul, South Korea.

Hey, Elise.

ELISE HU, BYLINE²: Hey, there.

MARTIN: What are you hearing from the reporters who are on this trip to North Korea?

HU: A correspondent from the British broadcaster Sky News says that reporters hiked high into the mountains and watched the detonation³ from about 500 meters away from Punggye-ri. That's the site of North Korea's six underground nuclear tests that have happened, most recently in September of last year. This reporter says North Koreans counted down. And then there was a huge explosion. Dust came at them. The heat came at them. And it was extremely loud, blew an observation tower into, quote, "smithereens."

So far, though, there's no pictures or video of this event. We do know that reporters had to travel about 18 hours to get high up into the mountains. It included a journey on trains - and the train actually had blinds drawn⁴ shut, so you couldn't look out - then a four-hour bus ride, then the hike into the mountains. So once they get back into a place where there's a connection, we are expecting to see some images and video.

MARTIN: All right. So we've got the North making this big statement today; the U.S. perceiving it, I imagine, as some kind of good faith effort before the summit is supposed to happen. But it's still not for sure. Right?

HU: Right. There is another flare-up because North Korea is particularly annoyed by the talk from the Trump⁵ administration about the Libya model. This is what White House national security adviser⁶ John Bolton has suggested, referring to how Libya gave up its nascent⁷ nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. But several years afterward⁸, Libya's former leader Moammar Gadhafi was killed by mobs of rebels. President Trump himself publicly backed away from talk of a Libya model. But then this week, Vice⁹ President Pence went on Fox News and said things could end that way for Kim.

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VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE: You know, as the president made clear, you know, this will only end like the Libya model ended if Kim Jong Un doesn't make a deal.

MARTHA MACCALLUM: Some people saw that as a threat.

PENCE: Well, I think it's more of a fact.

MARTIN: The vice president pointing to Libya is just strange because it's an example of a leader agreeing to give up his weapons - agreeing to the U.S. deal and still getting overthrown¹⁰ and murdered. So it's hard to understand how that would compel the North to comply.

HU: And that's an important point because North Korea's propaganda, especially last year when there was a lot more fiery¹¹ rhetoric¹² traded between the U.S. and North Korea, would often cite the Libya model as something that it was particularly irritated by and a reason for its deterrence¹³, a reason for its program and not wanting to give up its program.

MARTIN: Right.

HU: But today, you know, this flare-up is about Pence's latest comments on Fox. And the vice foreign minister of North Korea put out a statement. He said, quote, "I cannot suppress my surprise at such ignorant and stupid remarks gushing¹⁴ out from the mouth of the U.S. vice president." Then he said that if the U.S. continues to, you know, offend North Korea's goodwill¹⁵, then he's going to suggest to Kim Jong Un to reconsider the summit. And that's why, again, there's talk of - or doubt about whether Singapore will happen on June 12. But so far, planning does continue on both sides. And a press accreditation¹⁶ center has been set up online. So - so far, it's still on.

MARTIN: We'll see. NPR's Elise Hu.

Thanks so much.

HU: You bet.