text: Kim Jong Un has agreed to allow Nuclear inspections, subject to final negotiations, and to permanently dismantle a test site and launch pad in the presence of international experts. In the meantime there will be no Rocket or Nuclear testing. Hero remains to continue being........ ||||| This video has been removed. This could be because it launched early, our rights have expired, there was a legal issue, or for another reason. 
   
   Moon Jae-in says leaders have agreed to steps they say will lead to a nuclear-free peninsula, and Kim pledges to visit Seoul 
   
   North Korea will shut down key missile test facilities in the presence of “international experts” and is willing to close its only known nuclear complex if the United States makes reciprocal measures, South Korean president Moon Jae-in has announced in a joint press conference with Kim Jong-un. 
   
   The two leaders also agreed during a three-day summit in Pyongyang to connect two rail lines, on the east and west side of the peninsula, across one of the most militarised borders in the world. Kim also said he would visit Seoul in the “near future”, a move that would make him the first North Korean leader to visit the South’s capital. 
   
   'Ashamed': South Koreans chilled by Kim Jong-un's cuddles Read more 
   
   North and South Korea agreed that the Korean Peninsula should turn into a “land of peace without nuclear weapons and nuclear threats”, Moon said. Any transport links would require the approval of the US-led United Nations Command, which oversees the border region. 
   
   “There is not only going to be a smooth road ahead, there will be challenges and trials, but the more we overcome them the stronger we will become,” Kim said. “We are not afraid of future challenges.” 
   
   The agreement signed in Pyongyang “will open a higher level for the improvement in relations” between the two Koreas, Kim added, describing it as a “leap forward” toward peace. 
   
   Donald Trump described the meeting as “Very exciting!” in a tweet, and claimed Kim had “agreed to allow nuclear inspections, subject to final negotiations”. 
   
   He later said US relations with North Korea were much improved since he took office. “We’re making tremendous progress with respect to North Korea. Prior to becoming president, it looked like we were going to war with North Korea and now we have a lot of progress,” he told journalists at the White House. 
   
   “A lot of tremendous things but very importantly no missile testing, no nuclear testing.” 
   
   Under the agreement signed by the men, North Korea will shut down the Dongchang-ri missile engine testing facility and missile launch pad, according to Moon. It was not immediately clear what North Korea meant by “reciprocal measures” the US could take so that it would shut its nuclear complex, but it is unlikely Washington would agree to give up any part of its own nuclear arsenal. 
   
   Handshakes and high hopes: the inter-Korean summit – in pictures Read more 
   
   Kim did not mention denuclearisation at any point in his own remarks. The lack of steps specifically on the nuclear issue could worry officials in Washington, and talks between the US and North Korea have stalled in recent weeks. 
   
   Mintaro Oba, a former US diplomat who focused on North Korea policy, said: “I think we can expect a two-tiered response where President Trump remains enthusiastic about engaging with Kim Jong-un, but we also see continued scepticism from US officials about both the purported progress on denuclearisation. 
   
   “But if one thing is clear, it’s that North Korea continues to outmanoeuvre the United States through its willingness to take initiatives that shape the global public narrative and force Washington to choose between engaging on Pyongyang’s terms or looking like it is acting in bad faith.” 
   
   The two Koreas also agreed to establish a joint military committee to resolve any potential conflicts, and each side will withdrawal 11 guard post from the demilitarised zone by the end of the year. The two militaries agreed to a range of measured to prevent accidental clashes, including a no-fly zone near the border and suspending test firing in the area. 
   
   South Korea will allow its citizens to visit the Mount Kumgang tourist region in the North for the first time since 2008, when a North Korean soldier shot and killed a tourist from the South. The two sides will also establish a permanent venue for families divided by the 1950-53 Korean war to meet more frequently. In the past most families could see relatives for only a few hours, and usually only once. 
   
   The two sides also plan to bid to jointly host the 2032 Summer Olympics. ||||| WASHINGTON/SEOUL (Reuters) - The United States said it was ready to resume talks with North Korea after Pyongyang pledged on Wednesday to dismantle its key missile facilities and suggested it would close its main Yongbyon nuclear complex if Washington took unspecified actions. 
   
   South Korean President Moon Jae-in, first lady Kim Jung-sook, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his wife Ri Sol Ju pose for photographs beside the Heaven Lake of Mt. Paektu, North Korea, September 20, 2018. Pyeongyang Press Corps/Pool via REUTERS 
   
   U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he had invited North Korea’s foreign minister to meet in New York next week, with the aim of completing its denuclearization by January 2021, after a Pyongyang summit between the leaders of the two Koreas. 
   
   The United States appeared eager to seize on commitments by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at his talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in even as critics said the steps did little to put Pyongyang on a course for irreversible denuclearization. 
   
   North Korea will allow experts from “concerned countries” to watch the closure of its missile engine testing site and launch pad at Tongchang-ri, Moon said at a joint news conference with Kim after their meeting in the North Korean capital. 
   
   North Korea will also take additional steps such as closing its main Yongbyon nuclear complex if the United States undertook unspecified reciprocal measures, Moon added. 
   
   The sudden revival of diplomacy followed weeks of doubts in U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration’s about whether North Korea was willing to negotiate in good faith after a June summit between Trump and Kim yielded few tangible results. 
   
   The January 2021 completion date was the most specific deadline set in what is expected to be a long process of trying to get the North to end its nuclear program, which may threaten U.S. allies South Korea and Japan as well as the U.S. homeland. 
   
   In addition to inviting North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho to meet when both are in New York next week for the annual U.N. General Assembly gathering of world leaders, Pompeo said Washington invited Pyongyang’s representatives to meet the U.S. special representative for North Korea, Stephen Biegun, in Vienna at the “earliest opportunity.” 
   
   China, North Korea’s most important economic backer and diplomatic ally, said it warmly welcomed the agreement reached in Pyongyang and strongly supported it. 
   
   “We absolutely cannot let this hard to come by opportunity for peace slip away once again,” the Chinese government’s top diplomat, State Councillor Wang Yi, said in a statement. 
   
   SKEPTICISM 
   
   Some U.S. officials were deeply skeptical. Speaking before Pompeo’s announcement, two senior U.S. officials involved in U.S.-North Korea policy voiced fears Kim was trying to drive a wedge between Washington and Seoul. 
   
   At the summit, the two Koreas agreed on plans to resume economic cooperation, including working to reconnect rail and road links. They agreed as well to restart a joint factory park in a border city of Kaesong and tours to the North’s Mount Kumgang resort, when conditions are met. 
   
   U.S. officials suggested Kim was trying to ease the economic pressure on him to curb his nuclear programs and to undercut the rationale for U.S. troops being based in South Korea by improving relations with Seoul. 
   
   The United States has some 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea to deter North Korean attack. Pyongyang has long sought their withdrawal and Trump has questioned their rationale and cost. 
   
   “There is nothing the North has offered so far that would constitute irreversible movement toward denuclearization, however you define that, by January 2021 or any other time, or even a reduction of the military threat it poses to the South and the region,” said a U.S. intelligence official. 
   
   “Everything that’s out there now is conditional on U.S. actions that would reduce the pressure on the North to cooperate or (is) filled with loopholes and exit ramps,” added the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. 
   
   U.S. officials said the ambiguity about what Washington was supposed to do for the North to close its nuclear complex at Yongbyon gave Kim room to argue that Washington had not done enough for North Korea to follow through on its pledges. 
   
   TRUMP: ‘HE’S CALM, I’M CALM’ 
   
   Even if North Korea were to shut down Yongbyon, officials and experts believe it has other secret nuclear facilities. 
   
   South Korea’s national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, said the reciprocal U.S. steps could include an end-of-war declaration. South Korea and the United States remain technically at war with North Korea because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice and not a peace treaty. 
   
   Though Wednesday’s inter-Korean agreement failed to stipulate the North’s commitment to declare nuclear and missile facilities for inspection and eventual decommissioning, Seoul has been in talks with both Pyongyang and Washington over the issue, a senior South Korean official said. 
   
   “What North Korea really wants and their priorities may be different from ours,” the official told reporters on Thursday on condition of anonymity. 
   
   “We’re talking about a package that would carry many elements, including the declaration of the facilities, Yongbyon and Tongchang-ri, which are of U.S. interest, and from the North side, the issues of normalizing relations, ending the war and easing sanctions.” 
   
   Despite the doubts of U.S. officials and outside analysts, North Korea’s pledge at the summit with the South Korean president drew an enthusiastic response from Trump. 
   
   Speaking before Pompeo’s comments, Trump‏ welcomed Kim’s pledges, calling them part of “tremendous progress” with Pyongyang on a number of fronts, and hailing “very good news” from the summit between the Koreas. 
   
   “He’s calm, I’m calm - so we’ll see what happens,” Trump, who last year threatened to destroy North Korea, told reporters. 
   
   ‘THEATRICAL PROMISES’ 
   
   Kim pledged to work toward the “complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula” during two meetings with Moon earlier this year and at his summit with Trump. 
   
   But discussions over how to implement the vague commitments have since faltered and North Korea has consistently refused to give up its nuclear arsenal unilaterally. 
   
   Washington has demanded concrete action, such as a full disclosure of North Korea’s nuclear and missile facilities, before agreeing to Pyongyang’s key goals, including an easing of international sanctions and an official end to the Korean War. 
   
   While North Korea has stopped nuclear and missile tests in the past year, it did not allow international inspections of its dismantling of its Punggye-ri nuclear test site in May, drawing criticism that its action was for show and could be reversed. 
   
   The day after the June 12 Trump-Kim summit, Pompeo said he hoped to achieve “major disarmament” by North Korea by the end of Trump’s first term in January 2021. 
   
   His latest statement that the process “should be completed by January 2021” may be a signal Washington will not wait forever. 
   
   “The statement clearly implies that inter-Korean summits and theatrical promises to dismantle the odd facility simply can’t substitute for a negotiating process on the nuclear issue,” said the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Daniel Russel. 
   
   “Invoking the end of Trump’s term in January 2021 is another way of saying to the North that American patience is not unlimited and that Kim Jong Un won’t be able to sidestep denuclearization indefinitely,” Russel added. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption North Korea's agreed to shut one of the country's main missile launch sites. Laura Bicker considers what might happen next. 
   
   North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has agreed to shut one of the country's main missile testing and launch sites. 
   
   He signed a pledge to permanently close the Tongchang-ri facility, after talks in Pyongyang with his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in. 
   
   Both leaders also "agreed on a way to achieve denuclearisation" on the Korean peninsula, Mr Moon said. 
   
   Mr Kim said he hoped to "visit Seoul in the near future" - he would be the first North Korean leader to do so. 
   
   China has welcomed the outcome of the inter-Korean summit, saying both sides had found "new and important common ground". 
   
   What was agreed on denuclearisation? 
   
   The main focus of the summit was the issue of denuclearisation. While the US and North Korea agreed in broad terms earlier this year to work towards that goal, negotiations have stalled. 
   
   Pyongyang has now sought to reconfirm its commitment. 
   
   Mr Kim expressed a readiness to shut down the Yongbyon nuclear facility - where North Korea is believed to have produced the material used in its nuclear tests - if the US took some reciprocal action. The details of that were not specified. 
   
   But he went further on Tongchang-ri, saying the engine missile testing and launch facility would be permanently closed "in the presence of experts from relevant nations". 
   
   The BBC's Seoul correspondent Laura Bicker said the announcement is a major step forward. 
   
   Satellite images suggest Tongchang-ri is in the process of being destroyed, she added, but the declaration will allow inspectors to verify the process. 
   
   Tongchang-ri has been North Korea's main satellite launch facility since 2012, according to monitoring group 38 North. 
   
   It has also been used for testing engines for North Korean missiles capable of reaching the US. 
   
   Read more on North Korea's missile and nuclear programme 
   
   Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The war that never officially ended 
   
   North Korea blew up its main nuclear testing site at Punggye-ri shortly before Mr Kim's meeting with US President Donald Trump in June. 
   
   "The outcome is a big win for Moon Jae-in, who has managed to extract a series of positive headlines from Kim Jong-un related to denuclearisation," Ankit Panda, editor of The Diplomat, told the BBC. 
   
   "None of the concessions are truly costly to Kim and won't help move North Korea toward short-term disarmament, but provide a further basis for confidence building on which US-North Korea talks can move forward." 
   
   What about North-South relations? 
   
   The two countries also made advances on inter-Korean ties, announcing plans to link up their railways, allow more reunions for families separated by war and co-operate on health care. 
   
   Mr Moon invited the North Korean leader to Seoul, suggesting the visit should take place before the end of this year. 
   
   They will also seek to co-host the 2032 Summer Olympics. 
   
   Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption How North Korea welcomed the South Korean leader 
   
   The South's defence minister and the head of the North Korean army also signed an agreement to reduce military tensions, with a buffer zone to be established along the border to prevent accidental clashes. 
   
   The signing came mid-way through a three-day visit to Pyongyang by Mr Moon. 
   
   While it is the first trip to the North Korean capital in a decade by a leader from the South, it is Mr Moon's third meeting with Kim Jong-un since their historic summit in April. 
   
   What does this mean for the US? 
   
   Efforts towards denuclearisation between the North and the US had recently hit a deadlock and this week's Pyongyang summit will bolster the South's role as a mediator. 
   
   Mr Trump was quick to tweet his applause for the Moon-Kim summit. 
   
   The US and North Korea held their own historic meeting in June when Mr Trump and Mr Kim agreed in broad terms to work towards denuclearisation. 
   
   Since then, however, there has been little progress, with no clear process nor timeline laid out. 
   
   Image copyright Reuters Image caption The June Trump-Kim summit has so far yielded limited results 
   
   Most observers warn that so far the North has taken no meaningful steps to end its controversial nuclear weapons programme and that this week's summit might not be enough to convince them otherwise. 
   
   "For instance, the commitment to shutting down the Yongbyon complex is premised on reciprocal US measures, which raises difficulties," warns Mr Panda. 
   
   "Washington will have to help move the needle here and it's unclear if the Trump administration can do that." 
   
   Mr Trump recently said that he and Mr Kim would "prove everyone wrong", after he received an invitation from the North Korean leader for a second summit. Both sides say they are working on making that meeting happen.
target: – The leaders of the two Koreas have signed what President Trump calls a "very exciting" agreement on the second day of a three-day summit in Pyongyang. South Korean President Moon Jae-in announced in a joint press conference with Kim Jong Un that they had agreed to turn the peninsula into a "land of peace without nuclear weapons," the Guardian reports. Moon said Kim had agreed to permanently close the Tongchang-ri missile launch facility in the presence of international experts, reports the BBC. The Yongbyon nuclear site could also be closed, depending on "reciprocal action" from the US. The leaders also agreed to file a joint bid to host the 2032 Summer Olympics. Trump praised the agreement in a tweet. Kim has "agreed to allow Nuclear inspections, subject to final negotiations, and to permanently dismantle a test site and launch pad in the presence of international experts," he said. "In the meantime there will be no Rocket or Nuclear testing. Hero remains to continue being returned home to the United States." Analysts described the agreement as a small step in the right direction. "Remember that North Korea is still taking baby steps," Melissa Hanham at the James Martin Centre for Nonproliferation Studies tells Reuters. "We don't have a timeline, and we also don’t have any guarantees about the larger nuclear and missile programs."