Pyongyang has dismantled its nuclear testing site deep in the mountains of the country's northeast. While foreign journalists were on hand, international inspectors were not invited to witness the event. North Korea closed and rendered unusable its Punggye-ri nuclear test site, where the country conducted all six of its nuclear weapons tests, according to international journalists who witnessed the event.
Explosions at the complex on Thursday were carried out over several hours and centered on three tunnels into the underground testing site, nearby towers and barracks used by guards and other workers.
The carefully choreographed move comes as previously announced and despite doubts cast on whether a summit of North Korea leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump will go ahead as planned.
The decision to shutter the site was welcomed, but by not allowing international experts to observe the facility's destruction the question of how much effort it might take to reopen or rebuild the site remains.
Geologists said the site had become unstable after a series of earthquakes in September 2017 that Pyongyang said was triggered by a hydrogen bomb explosion. Kim said in April that North Korea would halt its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
