North Korea to stop nuclear tests and missile launches: state media

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced Friday that he would halt nuclear and missile tests, North Korean state media reported. 

At the same time, Pyongyang will also shutter a nuclear test site in the country’s north, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News agency.

The move comes just days before Kim is expected to meet with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in the border village of Panmunjom inside the Demilitarized Zone between the rival Koreas.

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The suspension of nuclear and missile tests also comes ahead of a highly anticipated meeting between Kim and President Trump. That meeting will mark the first such encounter between a North Korean leader and a sitting U.S. president.

Trump tweeted about the news shortly after it broke, describing it as “big progress.”

North Korea agreed to put a freeze on its nuclear and missile tests after the plans to meet with Trump were announced last month.

It was revealed on Tuesday that CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who is also Trump’s pick for secretary of State, traveled to North Korea over Easter weekend for a secret meeting with Kim.