24 May 2018

North Korea nuclear test tunnels 'destroyed'

11:21 pm on 24 May 2018

North Korea appears to have blown up tunnels at its only nuclear test site, in a move to reduce regional tensions.

A photograph from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un during the 5th Conference of the Workers' Party of Korea.

A photograph from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un during the 5th Conference of the Workers' Party of Korea. Photo: AFP / KCNA via KNS

Foreign journalists at the Punggye-ri nuclear testing site said they witnessed a huge explosion.

The North offered to scrap the site earlier this year as part of a diplomatic rapprochement with South Korea and the United States.

But scientists believe it partially collapsed after the last test in September 2017, rendering it unusable.

International inspectors were not allowed to attend the dismantling of the Punggye-ri site in the mountainous north-east of the country.

Sky News' Tom Cheshire was among a group of foreign journalists invited to witness the event.

"We hiked up into the mountains and watched the detonation from about 500m away," he said.

"They counted it down: Three, two, one. There was a huge explosion, you could feel it. Dust came at you, the heat came at you. It was extremely loud."

Get the RNZ app

for ad-free news and current affairs