wfn.org | North Korea's nuclear weapons: A timeline

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Feb. 19, 2003  News media contact: Kathy Gilbert7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.	10-35-71BI{091}

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.

# # #

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org