North Korea will hold a ceremony for dismantling its Punggye-ri nuclear test site between May 23 and May 25, depending on weather conditions, the Foreign Ministry was quoted Saturday by state-run media as saying, ahead of the upcoming U.S.-North Korea summit in Singapore.

The ministry was also quoted by the Korean Central News Agency as saying it will let journalists from China, Russia, United States, Britain and South Korea to conduct on-the-spot coverage "to ensure transparency of discontinuance" of nuclear tests.

This would be the first time for North Korea to allow foreign media to visit the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in nation's northeast.

In the future, North Korea will "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 ministry was quoted as saying by KCNA.

(KNS/Kyodo)

The Foreign Ministry added all tunnels of the nuclear test site will be destroyed by explosions and the surrounding area will be completely closed, according to the news agency.

Prior to the historic U.S.-North Korean summit on June 12, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appears to be preparing for negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump over denuclearization.

The Workers' Party of Korea said in a resolution adopted last month that North Korea will dismantle the nuclear test site. Kim was quoted by KCNA as telling the party that its mission has "come to an end."

According to the South Korean presidential office, at the inter-Korean summit on April 27, Kim pledged to close the nuclear test site in May and disclose the closure to foreign experts and media.

Punggye-ri is the site where North Korea has conducted all of its six nuclear weapon tests to date, beginning in 2006, including the most powerful one last September.

Kim denied claims that North Korea is closing down "an unusable test site," according to presidential office. "There are two bigger tunnels than the existing test facilities and they are in a very good condition," he was quoted as saying at the summit.

(File photo, KCNA/Kyodo)

Letting experts and journalists from South Korea and the United States travel to Punggye-ri is intended to "transparently" reveal the shutdown to the international community, the presidential office quoted North Korean leader as saying.

The closure of Punggye-ri is regarded as an important step toward denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, but North Korea has yet to clarify whether to give up its existing nuclear weapons, although Washington has urged North Korea to do so.

Kim is expected to demand that the U.S. pledge to accept the continuation of North Korea's hereditary regime in return for vowing to achieve denuclearization on the divided peninsula in a "phased" and "synchronized" manner.