© AFP/Getty ImagesNorth Korea has stoked regional tensions with nuclear and missile tests in recent months
"From April 21, 2018, nuclear tests and intercontinental ballistic missile tests will be discontinued," the Korean Central News Agency cited Kim as saying at a plenary meeting of the central committee of the ruling Worker's Party of Korea (WPK).
Furthermore, since North Korea's nuclear test center has "completed" its mission, it "will be discarded in order to ensure the transparency of the nuclear test suspension," KCNA reported.
Comment: Clearly there is little need for testing what with Russia's recent unveiling: Putin Delivers Landmark 'State of The Union' Speech: Puts The Smack Down on US, Shows Off Latest Russian Nuclear Weapons
Announcing the new course, the ruling party has declared that North Korea "will never use nuclear weapons, unless there is nuclear threat or nuclear provocation to our country, and in no case we will proliferate nuclear weapons and nuclear technology."
In the announcement, North Korea noted that the "suspension of nuclear testing is an important process for global nuclear disarmament." Therefore, North Korea is willing to join international denuclearization efforts.
North Korea's last major missile test took place on November 29. Pyongyang announced at the time that it had tested a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile known as the Hwasong-15 that could reach the entire continental United States.
US President Donald Trump, who has traded insults and threats with Kim since taking office, tweeted that the latest decision by Pyongyang is "good news for North Korea and the world," calling it "big progress."
China has also hailed the move, expressing hope that Pyongyang will continue towards the path of denuclearization and "political settlement" on the Korean Peninsula. "Denuclearization of the peninsula and lasting peace in the region are in line with the common interests of the people of the peninsula," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
South Korea also praised the decision. The president's office called it "meaningful progress for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, which the world waits for."
The European Union's foreign affairs chief, Federica Mogherini, also called North Korea's announcement a step in the right direction. She called the move "a positive, long sought-after step on the path that has now to lead the country's complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization."
Japan, however, was less excited about the announcement. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stated that while he wants to "welcome these positive moves," he wondered "if this will lead to the complete, verifiable, and irreversible dismantlement of its nuclear arsenal, weapons of mass destruction, and missiles."
The extraordinary development comes just ahead of Kim's meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in later this month. The announcement also follows US Secretary of State nominee Mike Pompeo's recent secret meeting with the North Korean leader in Pyongyang.
Trump is also preparing to meet Kim in the coming weeks. He has stressed on a number of occasions that Washington would keep up its "maximum pressure" campaign on North Korea until it agrees to denuclearize.
"Our campaign of maximum pressure will continue until North Korea will denuclearize," Trump said on Wednesday. "As I have said before, there is a bright path available to North Korea when it achieves denuclearization in a complete and verifiable and irreversible way. It will be a great day for them, it will be a great day for the world."
Comment: It's because of US aggression North Korea felt the need for nuclear weapons in the first place.
Meanwhile, the director of the anti-war Answer Coalition, Brian Becker, told RT that Kim's announcement to halt the missile tests was a "big step" because it "is removing all of the obstacles, the impediments, that would stop a possible, real, major development on the Korean Peninsula, bringing the Korean War to an end finally, all these decades later." He added that Pyongyang "wants a peace treaty and it wants to be able to trade and it wants to be economically integrated into the world economy."
Comment: RT also reports:
Path to denuclearization? North Korea announces 6 pivotal decisionsRT also reports:
Pyongyang has declared a new strategic course for the country, announcing an indefinite suspension of all nuclear and ballistic missile tests, in the run-up to the planned meeting between Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump.
At a plenary meeting of the central committee of the Worker's Party of Korea, the ruling party has outlined six crucial decisions:
#1. North Korea 'solemnly' declared that its previous ballistic and missile tests have allowed the country to successfully miniaturize warheads and develop their means of delivery.
#2. Effective immediately, any further nuclear and ballistic missile tests will be frozen, starting April 21, 2018
#3. North Korea's nuclear test center will be discarded in order to ensure the transparency of the nuclear research suspension.
#4. Pyongyang will never use nuclear weapons, unless there is a "nuclear threat or nuclear provocation" against North Korea, and "in no case will proliferate nuclear weapons and nuclear technology."
#5. From now on, all Pyongyang's efforts will be concentrated on building up a strong socialist economy, while the human and material resources of the country will be mobilized to "dramatically" raise people's quality of life.
#6. Pyongyang will establish a favorable international environment and will intensify close dialogue with neighboring countries and the international community, in order to protect the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and the world.
'Big progress!' Trump welcomes Kim's nuke test freeze announcement
[...]
The surprise announcement comes amid preparations for the much-anticipated high-level meeting between Trump and Kim, planned to take place sometime after the historic intra-Korean leaders' summit, scheduled for April 27.
As Trump's team continues to prepare for the summit, earlier this week the US president confirmed that Secretary of State nominee Mike Pompeo already had a secret meeting with the North Korean leader in Pyongyang, and that, currently, five locations are being considered for the US-Korea summit.
Although the US president stated that a meeting between the two leaders will be a "tremendous thing" for the world, he stressed on Wednesday that the plan to sit across from Kim could still end before it begins.
"If I think that it's a meeting that is not going to be fruitful, we're not going to go," Trump said during a news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Florida. "Our campaign of maximum pressure will continue until North Korea will denuclearize."
Prior to Kim's announcement, South Korean president Moon Jae-in noted on Thursday that, besides North Korean willingness for "complete denuclearization", Pyongyang is also willing to negotiate with the US under favorable conditions and will most likely not demand the withdrawal of US forces stationed in South Korea.
A number of US lawmakers also welcomed the development but called for the maximum pressure against Pyongyang to continue.
"The pressure campaign must stay in place until full denuclearization is complete. Suspending all nuclear tests is a positive first step," Congressman Michael McCaul (R-TX) tweeted.
"North Korea's announcement is a testament to President Trump's determination to negotiate from a position of strength," Congressman Dan Donovan (R-NY) told his followers. "American resolve means something again. This is just the beginning of the work to defuse the crisis, but it's cause for cautious optimism."
"With North Korea, there is always room for deep skepticism, but we should seize the opportunity to test their willingness to change," Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA) said on his Twitter.
Comment: Basically, the US reserves the rights to, at a whim, cancel the meeting: