"North Korea has decided to stop nuclear and missile tests and focus on economic growth and improving well-being of its people, we welcome this decision," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said in a statement.
He said this decision would help improve the situation on the Korean peninsula, calm tensions and promote denuclearization.
Earlier, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un on declared an end to nuclear and long-range missile testing and plans to shut an atomic test site, in a surprise move timed to historic summits.
The decision was applauded as good news in Seoul and Washington, which will have direct talks scheduled with Kim, but decried as insufficient by Japan's Defense Minister, which fears being sidelined by its allies in the denuclearization process. Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe however, also praised the move by North Korea, saying that was a "step forward".
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