2001. |
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IAEA argues North Korea has 1-2 nuclear
weapons
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2002. |
10. |
American officials say North Korea privately
admitted to running a highly enriched uranium
(HEU) program
|
|
11. |
Heavy oil supply suspended
by the U.S.
|
|
12. |
Pyongyang resumes operation of nuclear facilities
and expels IAEA monitors from the country
|
|
|
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2003. |
04. |
Pyongyang announces withdrawal from NTP |
|
08. |
1st round of six-party talks held. |
|
|
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2004. |
02. |
2nd round of six-party talks held |
|
06. |
3rd round of six-party talks held |
|
|
|
2005. |
02. 10 |
North Korea officially declares
possession of nuclear weapons and an indefinite
boycott of six-party talks
|
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03. 02 |
North Korea announces via KCBS
(Korean Central Broadcasting System) the Foreign
Ministry memorandum:“due to the apparent sincerity
that President Bush’s second administration
has shown, North Korea is willing to participate
in the six-party talks if adequate conditions
and justification for resuming the talks are
presented.”
|
|
03. 23 |
Park Bong-ju, North Korea Cabinet Premier,
meets Chinese President Hu Jin-tao.
|
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04. 04 |
North Korea Foreign Ministry
1st Division Chief Kang Suk-ju makes top-secret
visit to Beijing.
|
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04. 18 |
Kim Sook, Head of the South
Korea Foreign Ministry‘s North American Affairs
Bureau, confirms that the 5MW-class reactor
in Youngbyun has halted operation.
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|
|
|
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04. 25 |
The North Korea Foreign Ministry announces
that it will regard US attempts to take the
nuclear weapons issue to the UN Security Council
as a declaration of war.
|
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05. 08 |
At a summit meeting in Russia,
South Korea and China’s leaders urge the DRPK
to return to the six-party talks. The North
Korea Foreign Ministry suggests that contact
should be made with the US in order to ascertain
the status on the sovereignty issue.
|
|
05. 11 |
North Korea announces that
extraction of used nuclear fuel rods has been
completed.
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|
|
|
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05. 13
|
Contact is made between Joseph DeTrani, US
State Department special envoy, Jim Foster,
the Director of the State Department's Korea
Office, Park Gil-yun, North Korea ambassador
to the UN, and deputy ambassador Han Sung-ryul.
|
|
05. 16 ~ 18 |
Vice minister-level South-North Korea talks
held at Gaesung. Agreement is made to hold
minister-level talks in the future.
|
|
|
|
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05. 25 |
The US announces suspension
of operations to recover the remains of US
troops in North Korea.
|
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05. 31 |
US President Bush makes comment
on “efforts for a diplomatic solution to North
Korea’s nuclear weapons issue”.
|
|
06. 06 |
Contact is made between Joseph
DeTrani, US State Department special envoy,
Jim Foster, the Director of the State Department's
Korea Office, Park Gil-yun, North Korea ambassador
to the UN, and deputy ambassador Han Sung-ryul.
|
|
06. 11 |
Agreement to “assure North
Korea of regime security as well as actively
pursue measures to normalize US-North Korea
relations once North Korea gives up its nuclear
program” made in South Korea-US summit talks.
|
|
06. 17 |
North Korea leader Kim Jong-il meets South
Korea Unification Minister Chung Dong-young
at Pyongyang’s Youngbin Hall, expressing the
willingness to “return to the six-party talks
in July”
|
|
06. 21 |
South Korea Foreign Minister
Ban Ki-moon expresses regret on the US-made
remark ‘outpost of oppression’.
|
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06. 22 |
The US decides to provide 50,000
tons of food to North Korea.
|
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06. 23 |
South-North Korea minister-level
talks held in Seoul. Agreement is made to
draw up practical measures for peacefully
resolving North Korea nuclear weapons issue
through conversation.
|
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06. 30
|
Unofficial meeting held by Lee Geun, Head
of North Korea Foreign Ministry’s US Affairs
Bureau, and Joseph DeTrani, US State Department’s
special envoy.
South Korea Ambassador to the US, Hong Suk-hyun,
meets North Korea ambassador to the UN, Park
Gil-yun.
|
|
07. 09 |
North Korea announces that
it will return to the six-party talks within
the month of July.
|
|
09. 13 ~ 19 |
The fourth round of six-nation nuclear talks
in Beijing adopts a joint six-point agreement
on Sep. 19, which includes a pledge that North
Korea will dismantle all of its nuclear weapons
and existing nuclear plans.
|
|
09. 16 |
The U.S. Treasury Dept. puts
Macao-based bank Banco Delta Asia on its blacklist
on charges of illegal financial transactions
including involvement in North Korean money
laundering (financial sanctions begin).
|
|
11. 09 ~ 11 |
First phase talks of the six-way dialogue’s
fifth round adopt a chairman’s statement on
the implementation of the September joint
agreement based on the principle of “pledge
to pledge” and “action to action.”
|
|
|
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2006. |
01. 18 |
Chief delegates to the six-party talks from
North Korea, the U.S. and China meet in Beijing.
North Korea wants the U.S. to first lift sanctions
while the U.S. maintains its previous stance.
|
|
03. 07 |
Chief delegates to the six-party
talks from North Korea, the U.S. and China
meet in Beijing. North Korea wants the U.S.
to first lift sanctions while the U.S. maintains
its previous stance.
|
|
06. 01 |
The North Korean Foreign Ministry,
through the news media, invites the
U.S. chief nuclear negotiator to Pyongyang
for talks but Washington
refuses.
|
|
07. 05 |
North Korea test fires its long-range Daepodong-2
missiles.
|
|
07. 16 |
The U.N. Security Council unanimously
passes a resolution denouncing its missile
launch. North Korea rejects the resolution.
|
|
08. 18 |
U.S. broadcaster ABC reports
that North Korea is preparing an underground
nuclear test.
|
|
09. 09 |
Twenty-four financial institutions
worldwide including Chinese banks halt transactions
with North Korea.
|
|
10. 03 |
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry issues a statement
that Pyongyang plans to conduct a nuclear
test.
|
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10. 06 |
In a statement by its president
the U.N. Security Council urges North Korea
to abandon the plan.
|
|
10. 09 |
The North’s official Korean
Central News Agency announces that “a nuclear
test was successfully conducted.”
|
|
10. 16 |
U.N. Security
Council resolution on sanctions on North Korea
|
|
10. 31 |
North Korea agrees to return
to six-party talks
|
|
12. 18 ~ 22 |
The six-party talks resume after a 13-month
hiatus. The talks end in deadlock as the US
and North Korea fail to narrow differences
on key issues - denuclearization and BDA.
|
2007. |
01. 16 ~ 18 |
The top nuclear envoys from
the United States and North Korea meet in
Berlin to seek ways to resume the six-way
nuclear talks.
|
|
02. 08 ~ 13 |
The third phase of the fifth round of six-party
talks resumes in Beijing. North Korea pledges
to shut down its nuclear facilities in Yongbyon
within sixty days and allow IAEA inspections,
in return for energy aid equivalent to 50-thousand
tons of heavy fuel oil. Delegates also agree
that if North Korea takes further steps to
report and disable all nuclear facilities,
the North will receive an additional 950-thousand
tons of energy aid.
|
|
03. 19 |
The United States reaches an
agreement with North Korea to allow the release
of all $25m dollars of North Korean funds
frozen in a Macao bank since 2005.
|
|
05. 15 |
A spokesman for the North's
Foreign Ministry says that Pyongyang is determined
to swiftly start shutting down its key nuclear
facilities as agreed in a February nuclear
accord once the money transfer is concluded.
|
|
06. 14 |
Macao Secretary of Economy and Finance says
that Banco Delta Asia transfers 20 million
dollars in North Korean accounts out of the
bank.
|
|
06. 21 ~ 22 |
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher
Hill makes his first visit to North Korea.
Returing from his two-day visit to Pyongyang,
he tells a news conference that North Korea
reaffirms its commitment to fully implenting
the February 13 agreement to disable its nuclear
facilities.
|
|
06. 25 |
North Korea confirms the transfer
of its assets ($25m) from a Macao bank to
one of its accounts elsewhere, saying the
problematic BDA issue is resolved with the
completed transfer.
|
|
07. 14 ~ 31 |
IAEA delegation (first group)
visits North Korea. IAEA completes the sealing
of
five nuclear facilities in North Korea, confirming
their shutdown.
|
|
07. 18 |
IAEA chief, Mohamed ElBaradei confirms the
shutdown of the North's five nuclear facilities.
|
|
07. 18 ~ 20 |
Six-party talks resume. The
parties agree to hold the next main round
of talks in early September to discuss second
stage implementation of the disabling of North
Korea's nuclear facilities.
|
|
07. 28 ~ 08. 11 |
Six IAEA inspectors (second group) install
monitoring cameras and put seals on key equipment
in North Korea's nuclear facilities.
|
|
09. 02 ~ 03 |
The top nuclear envoys from the US and North
Korea hold talks in Geneva on the normalization
of relations between the two countries. North
Korea agrees to report and disable all its
nuclear programs and facilities by late this
year.
|
|
09. 10 ~ 15 |
A team of U.S., Russian and
Chinese inspectors carries out a five-day
on-site survey of North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear
facilities in preparation for the disablement
of the North's nuclear weapons program.
|
|
09. 27 ~ 10. 03 |
The six-party talks resume in Beijing. The
United States agrees to keep its pledge to
remove North Korea from its list of state
sponsors of terrorism in exchange for Pyongyang's
disablement of its key nuclear facilities.
|
|
11. 01 |
A team of U.S. nuclear inspectors arrives
in North Korea. The U.S. government confirms
that North Korea begins disabling its nuclear
facilities with the aid of a nuclear expert
team.
|
|
12. 01 ~ 03 |
A top U.S. nuclear envoy, Christopher Hill,
visits to Pyongyang. U.S President George
W. Bush sends a letter to North Korean leader
Kim Jong-il, emphasizing the need for a clear,
full and complete nuclear program declaration
from the North.
|
2008. |
02. 19 |
U.S. nuclear negotiator Christopher
Hill and his North Korean counterpart Kim
Kye-kwan meet in Beijing. The two discuss
North Korea's declaration of its nuclear programs
and ways to resume the six-party talks.
|
|
03. 13 ~ 14 |
U.S. and North Korean nuclear
negotiators discuss the issues of North Korea’s
uranium enrichment and nuclear collaboration
with Syria in Geneva. North Korea denies its
suspected nuclear collaboration with Syria.
|
|
04. 08 |
Top U.S. and North Korean nuclear
envoys begin negotiations in Singapore over
Pyongyang's delayed nuclear declaration.
|
|
04. 22 ~ 24 |
A U.S State Department delegation
travels to Pyongyang. The U.S. and North Korea
agrees to cooperate on verification of the
North’s nuclear activities.
|
|
05. 08 ~ 10 |
U.S State Department officials visit North
Korea. North Korea gives the U.S. key documents
related to its past nuclear activities and
the operation of its main nuclear reactor
in Yongbyon.
|
|
05. 20 |
The nuclear envoys from South Korea, Japan and the U.S hold talks in Washington. South Korea’s top nuclear envoy Kim Sook confirms that the U.S. and North Korea have agreed to blow up the cooling tower at the North’s key nuclear facility in Yongbyon.
|
|
06. 26 |
North Korea submits its nuclear declaration to China, the chair country for the six-party talks on
ending Pyongyang's nuclear program. U.S. President George W. Bush says he will remove North
Korea from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism within 45 days. |
|
06. 27 |
North Korea destroys the cooling tower of its main nuclear facility in Yongbyon. The demolition comes a day after North Korea has submitted its nuclear declaration.
|
|
07. 10 ~ 12 |
Chief negotiators’ meeting (Beijing)…The participants of the six-party talks agree on the completion of North Korea’s nuclear disablement and energy assistance by the end of October. They also agree on principles on nuclear verification. |
|
09. 19 |
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry says the nation is in the process of restoring a nuclear facility in Yongbyon. |
|
10. 11 |
The U.S. State Department announces the removal of North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism |
|
12. 04 ~ 05 |
Chief nuclear envoys of North Korea and the U.S. hold talks in Singapore to discuss a verification protocol. No progress is made. |
|
12 08 ~ 11 |
Chief negotiators in the six-party nuclear talks convene a meeting. The talks go into recess without any outcome, failing to adopt a verification protocol. |
2009. |
01. 20 |
Barack Obama is inaugurated as U.S. President. |
|
03. 24 |
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry says the U.N. Security Council’s hostile action against the North’s rocket launch is tantamount to its denial of the September 19th joint statement. The nation warns the six-party nuclear talks will lose its base and significance, if the September 19th statement is nullified. |
|
04. 05 |
North Korea fires a long-range rocket. (The North claims the rocket is the Eunha-2 space launch vehicle carrying the country’s communication satellite Gwangmyeongseong-2.) |
|
04. 13 |
The U.N. Security Council convenes a plenary session and adopts a presidential statement condemning the North’s April 5th rocket launch.
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry declares a boycott of the six-party nuclear talks and pledges to restore its nuclear facilities.
|
|
04. 25 |
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry announces the nation has started reprocessing spent fuel rods at its Yongbyon nuclear complex. |
|
04. 29 |
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry warns of a nuclear test and an ICBM test launch. |
|
05. 08 |
A spokesman for North Korea’s Foreign Ministry says it would be pointless to open a dialogue with the U.S., which employs a hostile policy toward Pyongyang. |
|
05. 25
06. 12 |
North Korea conducts a second nuclear test.
The U.N. Security Council adopts Resolution 1874 calling for sanctions on North Korea.
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry announces it will weaponize all new plutonium it extracted and start a program to enrich uranium.
|