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North Korea's nuclear weapons: A timeline

2/19/2003 News media contact: Kathy Gilbert · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn.

NOTE: This accompanies UMNS story #090.

By United Methodist News Service

A timeline charts North Korea's nuclear weapons program for the past 10 years.

1993

North Korea quits the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty but later suspends its withdrawal.

1994

North Korea and the United States sign a nuclear 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.

May 1999

Former Defense Secretary William Perry visits North Korea and delivers a U.S. disarmament proposal during four days of talks.

September 1999

North Korea pledges to freeze testing of long-range missiles for the duration of negotiations to improve relations.

Sept. 17, 1999

President Clinton agrees to the first significant easing of economic sanctions against North Korea since the Korean War ended in 1953.

December 1999

A U.S.-led international consortium signs a US$4.6 billion contract to build two safer, Western-developed light-water nuclear reactors in North Korea.

July 2000

North Korea renews its threat to restart its nuclear program if Washington does not compensate for the loss of electricity caused by delays in building nuclear power plants.

June 2001

North Korea warns it will reconsider its moratorium on missile tests if the Bush administration doesn't resume contacts aimed at normalizing relations.

July 2001

The State Department reports North Korea is going ahead with development of its long-range missile. A senior Bush administration official says North Korea has conducted an engine test of the Taepodong-1 missile.

December 2001

President Bush warns Iraq and North Korea that they would be "held accountable" if they develop weapons of mass destruction "that will be used to terrorize nations."

Jan. 29, 2002

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.

Oct. 4, 2002

North Korean officials tell a 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.

Oct. 16, 2002

U.S. officials publicly reveal the discovery of North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

Oct. 26, 2002

Bush, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and South Korean President Kim Dae Jung meet on the sidelines of an Asian-Pacific regional summit in Mexico and agree to seek a peaceful settlement to the North's nuclear issue.

Nov. 11, 2002

The U.S. and its key Asian allies - Japan and South Korea - decide to halt oil supplies to North Korea promised under the 1994 deal.

Dec. 12, 2002

North Korea announces that it is reactivating nuclear facilities at Yongbyon that were frozen under a 1994 deal with the United States.

Dec. 13, 2002

North Korea asks the U.N. nuclear watchdog to remove monitoring seals and cameras from its nuclear facilities.

Dec. 14, 2002

The U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency urges North Korea to retract its decision to reactivate its nuclear facilities and to abide by its obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Dec. 21, 2002

North Korea begins removing monitoring seals and cameras from its nuclear facilities

Jan. 10, 2003

North Korea says it will withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

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