美国有线新闻 CNN 金正恩宣布朝鲜新战略路线 中止核导试验集中力量发展经济

Now, we're moving to Eastern Asia, where North Korea's leadership looks like it's making a major policy change. Over the weekend, the communist country said its quest for nuclear weapons is complete, that it's shutting down one of its nuclear test sites, that it will work with the international community to stop nuclear testing worldwide and that a strong socialist 1 economy will become a priority for North Korea.

The U.S. and South Korea say this is a sign of progress, ahead of planned talks between the three nations' leaders. Some analysts 2 say people should be cautious about this since North Korea probably want something in return and that it can always go back in its word.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Without question, this is a highly significant development and it's evident by the fact that North Korea had their most important newscaster, Ri Chun-hee, delivered a special bulletin for the 25 million North Korean citizens who know that when she comes on television, the news is a big deal. And this news comes on the heels of a very important meeting in Pyongyang with Kim Jong-un and the top leaders of the workers party of Korea.

And clearly what they're doing is they're spelling out the new strategy in North Korea moving forward, saying that they have completed their nuclear program, therefore, no longer needing nuclear tests or missile tests and instead they plan to focus solely 3 on economic development.

This allows Kim Jong-un to save face for his people, since he's built up much of his legitimacy 4 over his more than six years in power by the nuclear force that he has developed. I've been to Pyongyang many times. You walked around the city and you're surrounded by anti-American propaganda, showing nuclear missiles aimed right towards Washington.

Obviously, this would be a huge cultural shift if North Korea does indeed succeed through this potential historic upcoming talks of negotiating some sort of a deal to normalize relations with the U.S., sign a peace treaty with South Korea and at least take steps towards the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

However, the announcement that has been made is largely symbolic 5 at this point. It would be very easy for North Korea to resume missile and nuclear testing if these talks don't go well, because as of now, North Korea has not promised to destroy any of their nuclear weapons, or to dismantle 6 the facilities that manufactured them. Instead, what they are doing though is setting the tone and sending a message to the U.S. and the world that they are serious, moving into these negotiations 7, to try to work something out, to change the situation.

Obviously, a lot of analysts believe that the sanctions are playing a role here, also the fact that Kim Jong-un has received a tremendous amount of international recognition. He has world leaders willing to meet with him now who wouldn't have considered that just a few short months ago, and he wants to stay in power for the long term, long after President Trump 8 and President Moon Jae-in of South Korea are out of office and he feels at least at this point, that pursuing this path towards denuclearization is the right strategy for now. But it's going to be critical going into these negotiations that everybody is aware North Korea's definition of denuclearization might differ very much from the rest of the world.

Can they come to an agreement and can they solve this issue that has eluded 9 nine U.S. presidents and three North Korean leaders up to this point?

I'm Will Ripley, CNN, Hong Kong.