North Korea Timeline
June 26, 2008
1986: North Korea starts operation of a 5-megawatt nuclear
reactor at Yongbyon after seven years of construction with Soviet
help.
1993: North Korea says it will quit the Nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty, later suspends its withdrawal.
1994: North Korea and the United States sign an agreement
under which the North shuts down the plutonium-based Yongbyon
nuclear reactor in exchange for help in building two nuclear
reactors for producing electricity.
Jan. 29, 2002: President Bush labels North Korea, Iran and
Iraq an "axis of evil."
Oct. 4, 2002: Washington says North Korea admitted to a
visiting U.S. delegation that it has a uranium enrichment program.
Nov. 21, 2002: U.S.-led consortium says it is suspending
construction of the two new reactors.
Jan. 11, 2003: North Korea withdraws from the Nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty.
Aug. 27-29, 2003: North Korea joins first round of six-nation
nuclear talks in Beijing, which include China, Japan, Russia, South
Korea and the U.S.
Feb. 10, 2005: North Korea announces it has nuclear weapons.
Oct. 9, 2006: North Korea conducts an underground nuclear test
blast.
Feb. 13, 2007: North Korea agrees at six-nation talks to take
initial steps to disarmament, after Washington moves to help free
some $25 million frozen in North Korean accounts.
July. 14, 2007: North Korea shuts down its Yongbyon reactor.
Sept. 6, 2007: Israeli warplanes bomb a Syrian nuclear reactor
site allegedly built with North Korean design help.
Oct. 3, 2007: The six countries at nuclear talks agree that
North Korea will provide a complete declaration of its nuclear
programs and disable facilities at its main reactor complex by Dec.
31.
Nov. 5, 2007: North Korea starts disabling the Yongbyon
reactor under the watch of U.S. experts.
Dec. 31, 2007: North Korea misses its deadline for declaring
all its nuclear programs.
Feb. 26, 2008: The New York Philharmonic performs in
Pyongyang, in the highest-level cultural exchange between the U.S.
and North Korea since the 1950-53 Korean War.
April 24, 2008: The White House says North Korea assisted
Syria's secret nuclear program and that the nuclear reactor
destroyed by Israel was not intended for peaceful purposes.
May 8, 2008: North Korea gives the U.S. more than 18,000 pages
of records on the Yongbyon reactor after discussions between the
two countries to resolve disagreements over what its nuclear
declaration will include.
May 16, 2008: The U.S. announces it will provide North Korea
with 500,000 tons of food aid as a humanitarian gesture unrelated
to the nuclear talks.
June 26, 2008: The White House says it will lift some trade
sanctions and move to remove North Korea from a U.S. terrorism
blacklist after Pyongyang releases a long-delayed accounting of its
nuclear weapons activities.
