North Korea has achieved its goal of developing nuclear weapons and is suspending further nuclear or intercontinental ballistic missile tests, its state-run media reported, citing leader Kim Jong Un.

Kim said the regime’s nuclear test site in the northern area of the country has completed its mission and will be dismantled, the Korean Central News Agency said in a statement, without elaborating.

“I solemnly declare that we have accomplished credible weaponization of nuclear forces,” Kim was quoted as saying at a Friday ruling party meeting. “Our decision to suspend nuclear tests is part of the world’s important steps for nuclear disarmament and our republic will join global efforts to completely suspend nuclear tests.”

The comments come ahead of his talks next week with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and a possible summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in May or June. While the North Korean leader reiterated that his regime has now accumulated enough of a nuclear deterrent, the announcement of a plan to dismantle the site suggests he is seeking to further ease tensions ahead of those meetings.

TRUMP RESPONSE

Trump praised Kim’s statement in a tweet shortly afterward, calling it “very good news for North Korea and the World.”

“Big progress!” he added. “Look forward to our Summit.”

The two Koreas on Friday set up and tested a direct phone line for their leaders, and the first call between Moon and Kim is expected take place sometime before their April 27 meeting.

North Korea has already effectively halted weapons tests for the past five months, after firing a missile on Nov. 29 believed to be capable of reaching any city in the U.S. After that launch, which prompted the most restrictive United Nations sanctions yet, Kim declared his regime’s decades-long quest for nuclear weapons “complete.”

Kim has long said he wants his country to be recognized as a nuclear power, but nations including South Korea and the U.S. want him to go beyond a freeze on tests to dismantle his arsenal. Any progress on that front is likely to be slow and fraught, and prior efforts involving Kim’s late father when he was leader collapsed in acrimony.

In a speech to South Korean media executives Thursday previewing his own meeting with Kim, Moon warned that implementing any deal with North Korea would be challenging, even if he was optimistic about reaching an “in-principle” agreement.

“Realistically speaking, we’re just entering the threshold for a dialogue,” Moon said. “It’s too early to be confident of the success of the talk.”

Still, the regime has been feeling the economic squeeze of sanctions, including by neighbor and ally China, and Trump has frequently warned of military retaliation if Kim were to threaten the U.S. with its weapons.

Kim at the Friday party meeting spoke of the need to prioritize putting energy and resources into building the economy, according to the KCNA statement.

The North Korean leader has placed greater emphasis on economic development alongside his nuclear goals since taking power in 2011, a shift that could make any offers of financial assistance from the U.S. and its allies more appealing in negotiations. In 2013, Kim for the first time declared his goal of “simultaneously‘’ pushing forward economic development and his nuclear force.

“This is a very serious initiative, it fits right in with North Korean policy and what they’ve been saying for a while,” said Joel Wit, a senior fellow at the US-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies who was involved in North Korea talks from 1993 to 1995, referring to Kim’s statement. “They’ve decided that this is the moment to shift gears and to focus on developing their economy, end of story.”

“I don’t know exactly how they’ll go about it,” he said. “But they’re not going to give up their nuclear weapons without reciprocal steps from the U.S. and others. But this is another sign that they are serious.”

--With assistance from Mike Dorning Nick Wadhams and Brendan Scott