U.S. President Donald Trump thanked North Korea for saying Saturday that it would dismantle its nuclear test site between May 23 and 25, in a dramatic event that would set up leader Kim Jong Un’s summit with Trump next month.

“North Korea has announced that they will dismantle Nuclear Test Site this month, ahead of the big Summit Meeting on June 12th. Thank you, a very smart and gracious gesture!” Trump wrote in a tweet Saturday evening.

In a statement carried by state media, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said that all of the tunnels at the country’s northeastern testing ground will be destroyed by explosion, and that observation and research facilities and ground-based guard units will also be removed.

Kim had already revealed plans to shut down the test site by the end of May during his summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in last month.

The North plans to invite journalists from the United States, South Korea, China, Russia and Britain to witness the dismantling process, the Foreign Ministry’s statement said.

“A ceremony for dismantling the nuclear test ground is now scheduled between May 23 and 25,” depending on weather conditions, it said.

The journalists from the five selected countries will be provided with a charter flight from Beijing to the North Korean coastal city of Wonsan, from where they will travel by train to the test site, the statement said.

The ministry said the North will continue to “promote close contacts and dialogue with the neighboring countries and the international society so as to safeguard peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and over the globe.”

The North’s announcement came days after Washington announced that the historic summit between Kim and Trump will be held June 12 in Singapore.

The closure of the underground testing site could be a useful precedent for Washington and Seoul as they proceed with the nuclear negotiations with Pyongyang, analysts say.

South Korea’s presidential Blue House yesterday hailed the North’s pledge to dismantle its nuclear test site.

Kim Eui-kyeom, spokesman for President Moon Jae-in, said in a statement that South Korea welcomed the North’s announcement Saturday to hold a ceremony for the dismantling of its nuclear test site from May 23 to May 25. The spokesman said it was an expression of the North’s willingness, not with a word but with an act, to keep the promise that Pyongyang made during the inter-Korean summit.

(SD-Xinhua)