We finally had the footage of the dismantling of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site come in this morning,... and we will be showing the footage of those tunnel demolitions.
For more, we have our Foreign Ministry correspondent Lee Ji-won, who is part of South Korea's Joint Press Corps for Punggye-ri,... in the studio.
Welcome.

Thanks for having me. So as much as you're curious about the freshly uploaded footage, let's watch it first and I'll guide you through it.

A TOTAL OF 5 EXPLOSIONS
Tunnel number 2 -- otherwise known as the North Portal was the first to go down together with nearby observation buildings at exactly 11 a.m., Thursday, soon after the reporters had arrived at the site.

Mount Mantap, standing some 22-hundred meters high, shook hard as the blasts rang out, according to the reporters at the site.
Now the North portal is where most of the North's nuclear tests had been held... from the 2nd through to the 6th nuclear test.

Then at 2:17PM, tunnel number 4 -- also called the West Portal -- was brought down together with a metal foundry.
And after 30 minutes the living quarters.

Now the next round of explosions started slightly after 4PM, destroying the South Portal or tunnel number 3 and other observation facilities.
The west portal and South Portal have not yet had any nuclear tests held yet. And while tunnel one and two had already been heavily damaged, showing 'tired mountain syndrome' due to the nuclear tests, the tunnel 3 and 4 are new and strong. So, by destroying those tunnels as well, some experts say the North has truly put an end to its nuclear tests.

The East Portal, or tunnel number 1, where the regime's first nuclear test was conducted in 2006, has been closed ever since then... due to contamination.

Alright, so could you tell us more about the ceremony itself and the process leading up to it.

A few weeks ago, North Korea announced its plans to destroy its Punggye-ri nuclear test site, and had invited reporters from South Korea, China, the U.S., Russia and the UK to witness the moment.
Now there have been problems along the way, but the reporters, including those from South Korea,... all successfully gathered at the Kalma Hotel in Wonsan, in the east coast of the peninsula.

And from there, the reporters had to take a 12-hour train ride from Wonsan to Jaedok station, near the entrance to the massive test site. And from there they had to take another 4 hour bus ride on dirt roads,... and then hike for another two hours to reach the test site.

And when the reporters got there, they were allegedly briefed by the North's Nuclear Weapons Institute Deputy Chair Kang Kyung-ho near the North Portal.