North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he would halt nuclear tests and intercontinental missile launches, in a Saturday announcement welcomed by US President Donald Trump ahead of a much-anticipated summit between the two men.

Pyongyang's declaration, long sought by Washington, will be seen as a crucial step in the fast diplomatic dance on and around the Korean peninsula.

It comes less than a week before the North Korean leader meets South Korean President Moon Jae-in for a summit in the Demilitarised Zone that divides the peninsula, ahead of the eagerly-awaited encounter with Trump himself.

But Kim gave no indication Pyongyang might be willing to give up its nuclear weapons, or the missiles with which it can reach the mainland United States.

The North had successfully developed its arsenal, including miniaturising warheads to fit them on to missiles, Kim said, and so "no nuclear test and intermediate-range and inter-continental ballistic rocket test-fire are necessary for the DPRK now".

As such the North's nuclear testing site was no longer needed, he told the central committee of the ruling Workers' Party, according to the official KCNA news agency.

The party decided that nuclear blasts and ICBM launches will cease as of Saturday -- the North has not carried any out since November -- and the atomic test site at Punggye-ri will be dismantled to "transparently guarantee" the end of testing.

Within minutes of the report being issued, Trump tweeted: "This is very good news for North Korea and the World -- big progress! Look forward to our Summit."

Seoul too welcomed the announcement, calling it "meaningful progress" towards the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

But Kim offered no sign he might be willing to give up what he called the North's "treasured sword", saying its possession of nuclear weapons was "the firm guarantee by which our descendants can enjoy the most dignified and happiest life in the world".

Pyongyang has made rapid technological progress in its weapons programmes under Kim, which has seen it subjected to increasingly strict sanctions by the UN Security Council, the United States, the European Union, South Korea and others.

Last year it carried out its sixth nuclear blast, by far its most powerful to date, while Kim and Trump traded threats of war and personal insults as tensions ramped up.

Even when there was an extended pause in testing, US officials said that it could not be interpreted as a halt without an explicit statement from Pyongyang.

South Korean envoys have previously cited Kim as promising no more tests, but Saturday's news is the first such announcement directly by Pyongyang.

- 'Devil in the details' -

Analysts cautioned that the declaration was promising but limited.

"Certainly this is a positive development," said Daniel Pinkston of Troy University. "It's a necessary but not sufficient step in North Korea returning to its past non-proliferation commitments."

And Christopher Green of the International Crisis Group added on Twitter: "I don't see how North Korean statement constitutes a step toward denuclearisation. It is a moratorium on testing, but recommits North Korea to nuclear weapons status."

Lassina Zerbo, executive secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, described North Korea's annoucement as "a strong signal and an important step in the right direction".

But he called for North Korea to sign up to the nuclear test ban treaty alongside the seven other countries who have still yet to do so: China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, and the United States.

Japan -- which has seen missiles fly over its territory -- gave a mixed response, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe offering a cautious welcome but his defence minister saying North Korea did not mention the short- or medium-range missiles that put Tokyo within reach.

Beijing said it believed the move would "help to promote the process of denuclearisation and attempts to find a political settlement" on the peninsula.

UN chief Antonio Guterres hailed Kim's announcement as "a positive step forward" on the path towards denuclearisation.

The EU also welcomed it while Russia said it was "an important step towards the future easing of tensions" on the peninsula.

The formal declaration of an end to testing comes after Kim reiterated the North's nuclear status in his New Year speech and said he had a nuclear button on his desk -- prompting Trump to tweet that he had a bigger one of his own.

Events have moved rapidly since then, catalysed by the Winter Olympics in the South, and Seoul is now pushing for a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War, raising hopes that a settlement can finally be reached on the peninsula.

But there is a long way to go and Moon himself acknowledged this week that the "devil is in the details".

- 'Fresh climate of detente' -

The US is seeking the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of the North, while according to Moon, Pyongyang wants security guarantees, potentially leaving much space for disagreement.

The North has long demanded the withdrawal of US troops from the peninsula and an end to its nuclear umbrella over South Korea, something unthinkable in Washington.

But Kim told the Workers' Party meeting: "A fresh climate of detente and peace is being created on the Korean peninsula and the region and dramatic changes are being made in the international political landscape."

For years, the impoverished North has pursued a "byungjin" policy of "simultaneous development" of both the military and the economy.

But the leader said that as it was now a powerful state, "the whole party and country" should concentrate on "socialist economic construction".

Several factors have driven the Korean rapprochement, including the North feeling that it can now negotiate from a position of strength, concern about the belligerence of the Trump administration, and the looming impact of sanctions.

Key steps in North Korea's weapons development
Seoul (AFP) April 21, 2018 - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared Saturday that Pyongyang would halt nuclear tests and intercontinental missile launches, five months after its last ICBM launch amid a rapid diplomatic thaw.

Here are the key steps in the development of the regime's banned nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes:

- The beginnings, 1970s -

North Korea starts working in the late 1970s on a version of the Soviet Scud-B missile with a range of around 300 kilometres (around 200 miles), carrying out a first test in 1984.

Between 1987 and 1992, it begins developing longer-range missiles, including the Taepodong-1 (2,500 km) and Taepodong-2 (6,700 km).

The Taepodong-1 is test-fired over Japan in 1998 but the following year, Pyongyang declares a moratorium on such tests as ties with the United States improve.

- First nuclear test in 2006 -

It ends the moratorium in 2005, blaming the Bush administration's "hostile" policy, and carries out its first nuclear test on October 9, 2006.

In May 2009, there is a second underground nuclear test, several times more powerful than the first. Kim Jong Un succeeds his father Kim Jong Il -- who dies in December 2011 -- and oversees a third nuclear test in 2013.

- 2016, Japanese waters reached -

There is a fourth underground nuclear test in January 2016, which Pyongyang claims is a hydrogen bomb.

In March, Kim Jong Un claims the North has successfully miniaturised a thermonuclear warhead, and in April it test-fires a submarine-launched ballistic missile.

On August 3, it fires, for the first time, a ballistic missile directly into Japanese-controlled waters. Later that month, it successfully test-fires another submarine-launched ballistic missile.

There is a fifth nuclear test on September 9.

- 2017, Japan and Guam under threat -

Between February and May, the North tests a series of ballistic missiles that fall into the Sea of Japan. Pyongyang claims these are exercises to hit US bases in Japan.

A test on May 14 is of a "newly developed mid/long-range strategic ballistic rocket, Hwasong-12", Pyongyang says. It flies 700 kilometres before landing in the Sea of Japan.

Two months later, North Korea announces it successfully tested on July 4 -- the US independence day -- an ICBM capable of reaching Alaska, a gift for the "American bastards". There is a second successful ICBM test on July 28.

Hours after US President Donald Trump threatens Pyongyang on August 8 with "fire and fury" over its missile programme, the North says it is considering strikes near US strategic military installations in Guam.

- Largest nuclear test yet -

On September 3, North Korea conducts its sixth and largest nuclear test. Monitoring groups estimate a yield of 250 kilotons, which is 16 times the size of the 15-kiloton US bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945.

On September 15, less than a week after the UN adopts an eighth series of sanctions, North Korea fires an intermediate-range missile over Japan.

On November 20, Washington declares North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism, a day before adding to pressure on the isolated state with fresh sanctions.

On November 29, North Korea launches a new Hwasong-15 ICBM, which it claims could deliver a "super-large heavy warhead" anywhere on the US mainland.

Analysts agree the rocket is capable of reaching the US but voice scepticism that Pyongyang has mastered the advanced technology needed to allow the rocket to survive re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.

Weeks later on December 13, Kim vows to make North Korea the "world's strongest nuclear power".

- Olympic detente triggers thaw, 2018 -

In his New Year speech, Kim states that the development of North Korea's nuclear force had been completed.

Catalysed by the Winter Olympics in the South, a rapid diplomatic thaw begins in February.

On April 21, Pyongyang declares that nuclear blasts and ICBM launches will cease immediately and the atomic test site at Punggye-ri will be dismantled to "transparently guarantee" the end of testing.

Kim adds that the possession of nuclear weapons was "the firm guarantee by which our descendants can enjoy the most dignified and happiest life in the world".

Related Links
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
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Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com

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