Kim ready to shut key missile facility if U.S. reciprocates

In a “leap forward” North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un has agreed to permanently shut down one its major facilities for testing and launching missiles if the U.S. takes “reciprocal measures,” said the South’s President Moon Jae-in.

The remarks came after the two leaders met in Pyongyang on Tuesday and pledged to make the Korean peninsula a “land without nuclear weapons,” writes the BBC. The gesture appears to be an attempt by Pyongyang to reconfirm its commitment to denuclearization following a state of lull in the negotiations with the U.S.

Despite the lack of any specific steps on the nuclear issue, N. Korea continues to “outmaneuver” the U.S. with its readiness to take initiates and forcing Washington to engage with Pyongyang or risk being backtracking on negotiations, notes The Guardian.