North Korean media stir up optimism ahead of nuclear site shutdown

A comparison and analysis by the 38 North website shows the Punggye-ri nuclear site being prepared for shutdown, with satellite imagery taken from April 20, left, and May 7, right. The test site is expected to be dismantled by Friday. / Yonhap

By Lee Suh-yoon

North Korean media have been using the impending shutdown of the Punggye-ri nuclear testing site for propaganda.

The Rodong Sinmun, a mouthpiece of the ruling Workers' Party, said in its Tuesday editorial that "the international community and numerous sectors of South Korean society are showering praise" on North Korea for its decision to close down Punggye-ri.

The official (North) Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) broadcast a detailed report on the foreign media coverage of the dismantlement decision. It directly quoted China's Xinhua News Agency's report of the North Korea "taking technical measures to dismantle the northern nuclear test ground of the DPRK in order to ensure transparency of discontinuance of the nuclear test." DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.

The KCNA also quoted U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as "welcoming" the shutdown decision. Guterres hailed the scheduled closure of the nuclear site Monday as "an important confidence-building measure that will contribute to further efforts towards sustainable peace."

The North Korean public appeared to be aware of some of the publicity. In a recent interview with the New York Times, David Beasley, the head of the World Food Program who visited North Korea earlier this month, claimed there was a "tremendous sense of optimism by the leadership and by the people I met," as well as a sense of hope for "a new chapter in history, a new page."

Meanwhile, the North has invited foreign media outlets to cover the demolition. It invited South Korean reporters to the event, but delayed their entry into the North after a recent standoff with the South over an ongoing Seoul-Washington air force exercise.

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