North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared that Pyongyang no longer needs to continue ballistic missile and nuclear weapons testing, according to the state-run KCNA news agency.
The country's military will cease nuclear testing by April 21, according to a report released early on Saturday. The test site in Punggye-ri, North Korea's only publicly known nuclear weapons testing facility, "will shut down" in order "to prove the vow to suspend nuclear tests," Kim said.
"As the weaponisation of nuclear weapons has been verified, it is not necessary for us to conduct any more nuclear tests or test launches of mid- and long range missiles or ICBMs," Kim told a meeting of ruling Worker's Party of Korea at a meeting on Friday, according to an AFP translation of the KCNA, Sputnik reports.
Pyongyang "will join international efforts to halt nuclear tests altogether," Kim also noted.
The leader promised that the country's nuclear weapons would only be used if North Korea found itself under attack, but that its nuclear and weapons technology would not be handed over to third parties.
The announcement comes just days before Kim is to meet South Korean President Moon Jae In. Earlier this year, Kim and US President Donald Trump agreed to meet one another in person in May or June.
