North Korea & Nuclear Weapons
Follow key dates in North Korea's program to develop nuclear weapons.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
North Korea signs the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which bars the Far East Asian nation from making nuclear weapons.
|
|
|
|
North Korea says it has quit the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty amid suspicions that it is developing nuclear weapons. It later reverses that decision.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
North Korea and the U.S. sign an agreement in Geneva. North Korea pledges to freeze and eventually dismantle its nuclear weapons program in exchange for international aid to build two power-producing nuclear reactors.
|
|
|
|
North Korea fires a multistage missile over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean, proving it can strike any part of Japan's territory.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Former Defense Secretary William Perry visits North Korea and delivers a U.S. disarmament proposal.
|
|
|
|
North Korea pledges to freeze long-range missile tests.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
U.S. President Bill Clinton eases economic sanctions against North Korea.
|
|
|
|
A U.S.-led consortium signs a $4.6 billion contract for two safer, Western-developed light-water nuclear reactors in North Korea.
|
|
|
|
North Korea again threatens to restart its nuclear program if Washington doesn't compensate for the loss of electricity caused by delays in building nuclear power plants.
|
|
|
|
North Korea warns it will reconsider its moratorium on missile tests if the Bush administration doesn't resume contacts aimed at normalizing relations.
|
|
|
|
The State Department reports North Korea is going ahead with development of its long-range missile. A Bush administration official says North Korea conducts an engine test of the Taepodong-1 missile.
|
|
|
|
President Bush warns Iraq and North Korea that they would be "held accountable" if they developed weapons of mass destruction "that will be used to terrorize nations."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mr. Bush labels North Korea, Iran and Iraq an "axis of evil" in his State of the Union address. "By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger," he says.
|
|
|
|
North Korean officials tell visiting U.S. delegation that the country has a second covert nuclear weapons program in violation of the 1994 agreement - a program using enriched uranium.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
U.S. officials publicly reveal discovery of North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
|
|
|
|
Mr. Bush, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung meet at an Asian-Pacific regional summit in Mexico and agree to seek a peaceful end to the North's nuclear problem.
|
|
|
|
The United States, Japan and South Korea halt oil supplies to North Korea promised under the 1994 deal.
|
|
|
|
North Korea reactivates nuclear facilities at Yongbyon that were frozen under the 1994 deal with the United States.
|
|
|
|
North Korea asks the U.N. nuclear watchdog to remove monitoring seals and cameras from its nuclear facilities.
|
|
|
|
The U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency urges North Korea to retract its decision to reactivate its nuclear facilities and abide by its obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
North Korea removes monitoring seals and cameras from its nuclear facilities.
|
|
|
|
North Korea withdraws from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
|
|
|
|
North Korea says it has reactivated its nuclear facilities.
|
|
|
|
During talks with U.S. officials in Beijing, North Korea says it has nuclear weapons and may test, export or use them, depending on U.S. actions, according a senior American official.
|
|
|
|
North Korea backs out of the only remaining legal obligation blocking its nuclear ambitions, a 1992 pact with South Korea to keep the peninsula free of nuclear weapons. The North's official news agency cites a "sinister" U.S. agenda as the reason.
|
|
|
|
Pyongyang's main state-run newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, makes the first-ever explicit reference to the North's own "nuclear weapons program." Previously, Northern officials had only confirmed the communist country was working to build nuclear weapons during private comments to U.S. officials.
|
|
|
|
North Korean representatives tell a State Department official they have finished extracting plutonium from 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods, enough to build six nuclear bombs. U.S. officials say the claim cannot be verified. The White House continues to seek a diplomatic solution.
|
|
|
|
U.N. atomic agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei says North Korea "is currently the most immediate and most serious threat to the nuclear nonproliferation regime."
|
|
|
|
After insisting for months that it would only agree to one-on-one talks with the United States, North Korea agrees to arms talks involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia. The Bush administration says it has specific proposals to discuss.
|
|
|
|
North Korea announces its intentions to formally declare it has nuclear weapons and to carry out a nuclear test, a U.S. official says. The news follows the first direct talks between United States and North Korea in months, at a summit with China, Russia, Japan and South Korea.
|
|
|
|
N. Korea says it has reprocessed plutonium from 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods, "in the direction (of) increasing its nuclear deterrent force." The U.S. has recently become concerned that they might have more nuclear weapons than the one or two the CIA estimates.
|
|
|
|
The United States, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea make an overture to North Korea in which they'd give the rogue nation written assurances it wouldn't be attacked in exchange for a promise to dismantle its nuclear program.
|
|
|
|
North Korea rebuffs the U.S.-led plan to end the nuclear stalemate, saying it will settle for nothing less than a formal nonaggression treaty. Reacting to the news, President Bush promises to "stay the course."
|
|
|
|
A consortium on North Korean energy development, consisting of the United States, South Korea, Japan and the European Union, decides to suspend construction of two nuclear reactors in North Korea. The reactors were meant to come online in 2007.
|
|
|
|
North Korea invites a group of U.S. nuclear experts from outside the Bush administration to visit its main nuclear complex, apparently part of an effort to prove its nuclear capabilities and strengthen its negotiating position. It would not be an official U.S. visit.
|
|
|
|
Moving to rekindle talks on the standoff, North Korea offers to freeze its nuclear program, including weapons and power development, "as first-phase measures of the package solution."
|
|
|
|
Diplomats say North Korea was likely the source of nearly two tons of uranium Libya recently handed over, raising fears it supplied other countries as well. Speaking anonymously, the diplomats add other sources can't be ruled out yet. Pakistan had previously been eyed as Libya's supplier.
|
|
|
|
U.S. officials at six-nation talks propose giving North Korea energy aid and a security guarantee in exchange for ending its nuclear program. The North's diplomats do not immediately reply to the proposal, which the officials say includes the possibility of lifting sanctions.
|
|
|
|
For the first time, North Korea publicly states that it has a nuclear weapon. Possibly a negotiating tactic, the claim is a grave challenge to President Bush's vow to end their nuclear program through six-nation talks. With no U.N. inspectors in North Korea, the claim cannot be verified.
|
|
|
|
The U.S. and North Korea hold a secret meeting aimed at getting Pyongyang to rejoin six-nation talks on its nuclear program. But, North Korea resists any public commitment. "This channel is used to convey messages about U.S. policy, not to negotiate," an anonymous embassy official says.
|
|
|
|
North Korea agrees to stop building nuclear weapons and allow international inspections in exchange for energy aid, economic cooperation and security assurances, in a first step toward disarmament after two years of six-nation talks.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On a visit to Gyeongju, South Korea, President Bush takes a hardline stance against North Korea, saying the U.S. won't help the communist nation build a civilian nuclear reactor to produce electricity until it dismantles its nuclear weapons programs.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
North Korea test-fires seven missiles, including a long-range Taepodong, igniting an international furor. The missiles fell harmlessly into the Sea of Japan. The U.S. said the Taepodong-2 failed shortly after take-off, calling into question the capability of the North's ballistic missile program.
|
|
|
|
North Korea rejects further talks on its nuclear
program, claiming Washington wants to rule the world.
|
|
|
|
North Korea says it will conduct a nuclear test in the
face of what it claimed was "the U.S. extreme threat of a nuclear war."
|
|
|
|
North Korea claims it performed its first-ever nuclear weapons test. The country's official Korean Central News Agency said the test was performed successfully and there was no radioactive leakage from the site.
"The nuclear test is a historic event that brought happiness to the our military and people," KCNA said.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the test was conducted in Hwaderi near Kilju city, citing defense officials.
|
|
|
|
The U.N. Security Council votes unanimously to impose sanctions on North Korea including ship searches for banned weapons, calling Pyongyang's claimed nuclear test "a clear threat to international peace and security." North Korea rejected the resolution, accusing the council of "gangster-like" action. The U.S.-sponsored resolution demands that the communist nation abandon its nuclear weapons program, and orders all countries to prevent North Korea from importing or exporting material for weapons of mass destruction or ballistic missiles.
|
|
|
|
A landmark nuclear agreement is reached with North Korea, U.S. calls it "a very important first step" toward ridding the Pyongyang government of all atomic weapons and capabilities. Under the first phase of the agreement announced in Beijing, North Korea would be required to shut down its main nuclear reactor and allow U.N. inspectors back into the country within 60 days. In return, it would receive aid equal to 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil. Negotiations on other issues were put off until a later date.
|
|
|
|
North Korea shuts down its plutonium-producing reactor, its first step to scale back its nuclear program since the start of the standoff.
|
|
|
|
North Korea pledged to detail its nuclear programs and disable all activities at its main reactor complex by the end of the year. The agreement at talks in China came on the same day North Korean leader Kim Jong Il held talks in the communist nation's capital of Pyongyang with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun at the first summit between the two countries in seven years.
|
|
|
|
North Korea starts disabling the Yongbyon reactor under the watch of U.S. experts.
|
|
|
|
North Korea misses its deadline for declaring
all its nuclear programs.
|
|
|
|
North Korea opens its main nuclear reactor in Yongbyon to foreign media for the first time. American researchers say North Korean officials told them they had slowed the removal of fuel rods because the United States and other nations fell behind in supplying aid promised under the disarmament deal.
|
|
|
|
North Korea opens its main nuclear reactor in Yongbyon to foreign media for the first time. American researchers say North Korean officials told them they had slowed the removal of fuel rods because the United States and other nations fell behind in supplying aid promised under the disarmament deal.
|
|
|
|
North Korea test-fires a barrage of short-range missiles in an apparent angry response to the new South Korean government's tougher stance on Pyongyang.
|
|
|
|
The White House said North Korea assisted Syria in a secret nuclear program and that a reactor bombed by Israel in September 2007 "was not intended for peaceful purposes." The White House also said North Korea's nuclear assistance to Syria was "a dangerous manifestation" of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program and its proliferation activities. The U.S. will work within the framework of six-party talks to make sure North Korea ceases its nuclear program and assistance to other countries.
|
|
|
|
President Bush announced the lifting of key trade sanctions against North Korea and its removal from the list of nations that the U.S. says sponsor terrorism. It marks a remarkable turnaround in U.S. policy. Mr. Bush once labeled the North's communist regime part of an "axis of evil," along with Iraq and Iran. The announcement came soon after North Korea handed over documents detailing its nuclear program to officials in China.
|
|
|
|
North Korea barred U.N. nuclear inspectors from its main nuclear reactor and within a week plans to reactivate the plant that once provided the plutonium for its atomic test explosion, the chief U.N. nuclear inspector said. Experts say it would take about a year to restart the Yongbyon facilities.
|
|
|
|
Credits:
CBS News, Associated Press
|
|
|
