International reporters on their way to Punggye-ri nuclear test site, where dismantling is expected to be held later in the afternoon

2018-05-24 4

The foreign reporters departed from Wonsan last night, and are now on their way to the Punggye-ri nuclear test site.
If the weather is good, according to what North Korea had said before,... the dismantlement of the test site is expected to be held sometime today.
For more on this,... let's connect live to Arirang's Lee Ji-won, who is part of South Korea's Joint Press Corps for Punggye-ri.
Ji-won.

Ji-yoon, the reporters left the east coast city of Wonsan at around 7 p.m. last night,... and are now on their 17th hour of the arduous journey to the Punggye-ri nuclear test site. The train ride from Wonsan to Jaedok station, near the entrance to the massive site, is expected to have taken around 12 hours, and its followed by a 4-hour bus ride to the Mount Mantap valley, and then a 2-hour hike to the site.
It's been said that the reporters will not have internet connection at the area or en route, so we're unsure which stage of the journey they are on at the moment.
And that also means, that we will have to wait until the reporters get back to their press center in Wonsan, probably on Friday, to have stories or footage of the dismantling of the site.
We still haven't been notified when the demolition will take place, but with clear skies expected in Punggye-ri today, hopefully it will be carried out later in the afternoon.

Can you tell us more about this Punggye-ri nuclear test site?

Ji-yoon, to briefly tell you about the test site, there are total of four portals,... where all the North's six nuclear tests have been held underground. The East Portal, also known as Tunnel number 1 was used for the first nuclear test in 2006, but has been closed since due to contamination.
And it is tunnels 2, 3 and 4 or, the West, North and South Portals, that we'll hopefully see destroyed today.
That's all I have for now, back to you Ji-yoon.