North Korea destroys Punggye-ri nuclear test site
- 6 years ago
On any other day,... this would've been the top North Korea-related headline,... but it was no ordinary day.
In the hours before President Trump announced the cancelation of the summit with Kim Jong-un,... North Korea blew up its Punggye-ri nuclear test site.
A group of international reporters were at the scene, but since they've just arrived back at their hotel in Wonsan,.. we are still awaiting the actual footage... although we should have it in the coming hours.
For more on what we know so far,... here's our Lee Seung-jae.
North Korea's Punggye-ri nuclear test site in the country's northeastern Hamgyongbuk-do Province became a thing of the past on Thursday.
According to South Korean reporters who witnessed the event,... the explosions began at 11AM.
Tunnel number 2 -- otherwise known as the North Portal -- was the first to go down together with nearby observation facilities.
Mount Mantap, standing some 22-hundred meters high, reportedly shook as the blasts rang out.
Then at around 2:15PM, tunnel number 4 -- also called the West Portal -- was brought down together with a furnace,... and some 30 minutes later,... living quarters for the site's workers and four other buildings were blown up.
The next round of explosions started slightly after 4PM with the South Portal or tunnel number 3 and other observation facilities destroyed.
Fifteen minutes later, a final blast rang out,... taking down some military barracks.
The East Portal, or tunnel number 1, where the regime's first nuclear test was conducted in 2006, has been closed ever since then... due to contamination.
While a group of international reporters from South Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and the UK were at the site watching the event unfold, it was only at 7:30PM, Korea time,... more than three hours after the final explosion, that word was delivered to media outlets around the world as the reporters phoned in the information.
With the journalists expected to arrive at the press center in Wonsan on Friday morning,... video footage of the ceremony is expected to filter through soon.
Lee Ji-won, Arirang News.
In the hours before President Trump announced the cancelation of the summit with Kim Jong-un,... North Korea blew up its Punggye-ri nuclear test site.
A group of international reporters were at the scene, but since they've just arrived back at their hotel in Wonsan,.. we are still awaiting the actual footage... although we should have it in the coming hours.
For more on what we know so far,... here's our Lee Seung-jae.
North Korea's Punggye-ri nuclear test site in the country's northeastern Hamgyongbuk-do Province became a thing of the past on Thursday.
According to South Korean reporters who witnessed the event,... the explosions began at 11AM.
Tunnel number 2 -- otherwise known as the North Portal -- was the first to go down together with nearby observation facilities.
Mount Mantap, standing some 22-hundred meters high, reportedly shook as the blasts rang out.
Then at around 2:15PM, tunnel number 4 -- also called the West Portal -- was brought down together with a furnace,... and some 30 minutes later,... living quarters for the site's workers and four other buildings were blown up.
The next round of explosions started slightly after 4PM with the South Portal or tunnel number 3 and other observation facilities destroyed.
Fifteen minutes later, a final blast rang out,... taking down some military barracks.
The East Portal, or tunnel number 1, where the regime's first nuclear test was conducted in 2006, has been closed ever since then... due to contamination.
While a group of international reporters from South Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and the UK were at the site watching the event unfold, it was only at 7:30PM, Korea time,... more than three hours after the final explosion, that word was delivered to media outlets around the world as the reporters phoned in the information.
With the journalists expected to arrive at the press center in Wonsan on Friday morning,... video footage of the ceremony is expected to filter through soon.
Lee Ji-won, Arirang News.