North Korea suspends nuclear and missile tests
Seoul, April 21: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has announced the immediate suspension of nuclear and missile tests, media reports said on Saturday.
"From April 21, North Korea will stop nuclear tests and launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles," Efe quoted Kim as saying.
North Korea will also "shut down a nuclear test site in the country's northern side to guarantee transparency in suspending nuclear tests," the report added.
Having established a nuclear deterrent, North Korea can now turn to overhauling its economy, Kim said.
Pyongyang's move comes ahead of Kim's April 27 summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in the demilitarized zone that separates the two countries.
The last in-person talks between the leaders of North and South Korea took place 11 years ago.
What will be the first-ever encounter between the leaders of North Korea and the US is expected to happen in late May or early June.
US President Donald Trump, who accepted Kim's proposal for a meeting after months that saw the two men trade insults and threats, hailed the announcement from Pyongyang.
"North Korea has agreed to suspend all Nuclear Tests and close up a major test site. This is very good news for North Korea and the World -- big progress! Look forward to our Summit," Trump wrote on Twitter.
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
