N Korea nuclear test site part-collapsed: Chinese experts

North Korea’s underground nuclear test site has partially collapsed following a massive bomb blast last year, making it unusable, Chinese seismologists have concluded.

The North’s leader Kim Jong Un declared last week that his regime would halt nuclear and long-range missile tests and shut down its nuclear site at Punggye-ri under Mount Mantap in the country’s northeast. The offer came days before his summit this

Friday with the South’s President Moon Jae-in, which is scheduled to be followed by a summit with US President Donald Trump.

North Korea conducted five of its six nuclear tests at the site, with the biggest blast last September 3 triggering a 6.3-magnitude earthquake that was felt across the northern border with China. The North claimed it tested a hydrogen bomb.

Landslides and earthquakes following the explosion led to speculation that the site was suffering from “tired mountain syndrome”.