WEB DESK
South Korean reporters have arrived in North Korea to cover the planned shutdown of a nuclear test site. They quote North Korean officials as saying dismantling work may begin as early as Thursday if weather permits,report NHK.
Pyongyang plans to allow foreign media to conduct on-site coverage of the destruction of the Punggye-ri site in North Hamgyong Province. It says the shutdown work will take place between Wednesday and Friday.
On Wednesday, North Korea reversed its earlier refusal and allowed South Korean journalists to cover the shutdown. A South Korean government aircraft carrying them touched down in the North Korean city of Wonsan later in the day.
Reporters from the United States, Britain, China and Russia arrived in the eastern city on Tuesday.
Their trip to the test site is expected to take 12 hours by train, 4 hours by bus and 2 hours on foot.
Chinese media said the correspondents left their hotel at around 6 PM, local time.
Analysts say Pyongyang wants to show that it is willing to achieve the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.