This week North Korea is scheduled to hold a ‘dismantling ceremony’ at its nuclear test site Mount Mantap, where six nuclear bombs have been detonated in the last 12 years. The ceremony will include collapsing the mountain’s tunnels, which allow access to the mountain’s interior, where the bombs are detonated. Satellite imagery suggests that above-ground structures have already been razed and equipment removed, according to analysis from the website 38 North, a project of the Stimson Center in Washington, DC.
But while some hope North Korea’s move signals genuine willingness to end its nuclear weapons programme, others are sceptical: foreign journalists have been approved to attend the dismantling ceremony, but as yet no independent weapons inspectors. Nature spoke to nuclear engineer Suh Kune-yull of Seoul National University – one of South Korea’s few scientific experts on nuclear weapons – to get a handle on the issues.
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