“It is not sensible to seek a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula without going through the process of inspection and verification -- it seems the North’s leader has sufficient understanding of the matter,” a senior official from Seoul’s Ministry of Unification told reporters. 

On Friday, President Moon Jae-in and Kim signed a declaration committing to work toward the “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” at the first inter-Korean summit held in more than a decade.

But the international community continues to question Kim’s motives, as details on how the North will dismantle its nuclear program was not revealed in the declaration. 

In a move that was largely viewed as an effort to diffuse such skepticism, the North offered to shutter its main nuclear test site of Punggye-ri in May and make public its dismantlement by inviting security experts and journalists, according to Moon’s chief press secretary Yoon Young-chan on Sunday. 

“The North has announced that it will close down the nuclear test site with international experts and reporters attending. I think this shows that Pyongyang has a strong will for [allowing] an inspection as well,” the official added. 

But when asked whether the North would allow “anytime, anywhere” inspections of the site from now on, the official said it may be too early to discuss such matters, while stressing that it is crucial not to repeat the mistakes of the past involving agreements that failed to be fully implemented. 

North Korea had reneged on previous nuclear deals with the US and others, including the Sept. 19 accord, under which the North agreed to dismantle its nukes in exchange for a security guarantee and energy.

South Korea’s top point man on unification said there is a high possibility that the latest inter-Korean summit’s declaration will be “properly implemented,” compared to those made at the previous summits, citing a shift in the leadership circle. 

“There is a difference with the past regarding the leadership circle of the inter-Korean summit and the upcoming US-North Korea summit,” Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon told reporters on Wednesday. 

Cho added that with the level of commitment shared among leaders to resolve key issues, there is a high possibility that such agreements will be properly implemented compared to the past.

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