Closing down North Korea’s nuclear test site at Punggye-ri is going to be more complicated and fraught with risk than has previously been suggested, with analysts suggesting that acting in haste for short-term political gain might lead to an environmental crisis.

Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, announced during his summit last month with Moon Jae-in, his South Korean counterpart, that he would invite experts and journalists to the Punggye-ri site to monitor its decommissioning.

Initially seen as a significant concession on the part of Pyongyang, it was subsequently reported that the six nuclear tests that have been carried out at the site since 2006 have caused serious structural damage to Mount Mantap, making it unsuitable for further tests.

Satellite images have revealed landslides on the flanks of the mountain and a group of Chinese geologists have claimed in a study that the most recent nuclear test, in September 2017, turned the interior of the peak into “fragile fragments”.

Two possible methods of rendering the site unable to conduct further tests have been proposed, The Korea Herald reported.