NHK reported at noon that Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga welcomed the announcement by North Korea that it will stop conducting nuclear tests and ICBM launches. He was quoted as saying: “(Since the visit by South Korean special envoys to North Korea in March) North Korea has not announced publicly that it would stop conducting nuclear tests even though South Korea and China had talked about North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. Now North Korea has announced that it will suspend its nuclear tests and test launches of ICBMs and close a nuclear test site. Chairman Kim Jong Un even said, ‘Let’s actively contribute to creating a world without nuclear weapons.’ This is a step forward and we welcome it as a positive move.” Meanwhile, Suga was also quoted as saying: “Our policy to seek the abolishment of all of North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles in a complete, verifiable, and irreversible manner, which was confirmed at the U.S.-Japan summit, remains unchanged. Japan, the United States, and South Korea will continue to work closely and discuss policy ahead of the inter-Korean summit and the U.S.-DPRK summit.”