The U.S. and South Korean governments have welcomed North Korea's announcement on Saturday that it will dismantle its nuclear test site between May 23 and May 25.

U.S. President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Saturday to express his thanks, calling the North's move ahead of his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on June 12 "a very smart and gracious gesture."

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

On Sunday, South Korea's presidential office spokesman Kim Eui Kyeom also welcomed Pyongyang's decision.

Kim told reporters, "We wish that the sound of dynamite blowing up the (Punggye-ri) tunnels will be the first gun salute in the journey toward a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula."

North Korea's Foreign Ministry said all tunnels of the nuclear test site will be destroyed by explosions and the surrounding area will be completely closed.

The closure of Punggye-ri is seen as a key step toward denuclearization on the peninsula, but North Korea has yet to clarify whether it will give up its existing nuclear weapons.