How’d we get here?
How North Korea Went Nuclear
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Last issue, we noted that North Korea is a nuclear-armed nation. And that makes its recent long-range missile test all the more threatening. So, to really put the test in context, let’s review North Korea’s nuclear timeline.
North Korea has been tweaking the world’s nose since the 1980s, when it signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty even while it gathered nuclear know-how at Yongbyon. Here are 14 key dates in the history of North Korea’s nuclear program–from that 1985 signing to the ominous breakthrough boom.
1985 – North Korea signs the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). The country had begun developing nuclear technology in the 1960s, with help from the Soviet Union.
1989 – Satellite photos show new construction at a nuclear facility in Yongbyon, about 60 miles (100 km) north of Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital.
1992 – North Korea allows the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to visit the Yongbyon complex, but blocks inspectors from certain areas. The IAEA says North Korea is likely hiding plutonium production.
1993 – North Korea threatens to withdraw from the NPT. The IAEA says it can’t guarantee that North Korea isn’t producing nuclear weapons.
1994 – North Korea’s dictator, Kim Il Sung, dies. Power passes to his son, Kim Jong Il, and the United States and North Korea hammer out an “Agreed Framework.” North Korea agrees to stop producing plutonium in exchange for oil, economic assistance, and the construction of two light-water nuclear power plants.
1998 – North Korea tests a Taepodong-1 missile by launching it over the Sea of Japan. The test shocks and angers the United States and its allies, especially Japan.
1999 – U.S. president Bill Clinton eases decades-old economic sanctions against North Korea after Pyongyang pledges a moratorium on long-range missile tests. Relations between North and South Korea begin to improve under South Korea’s new “Sunshine Policy.”
2000 – President Clinton tells Congress that North Korea may be “seeking to develop or acquire the capability to enrich uranium.” Pyongyang publicly threatens to restart its nuclear program, citing delays in delivery of the promised light-water nuclear power plants.
2001 – George W. Bush becomes U.S. president, and Washington moves further away from Pyongyang. North Korea restarts long-range missile tests. Then comes 9/11.
2002 – President Bush describes North Korea as part of an “axis of evil” (along with Iraq and Iran), while the CIA says it’s been operating a secret uranium enrichment program, probably since the mid-1990s. Pyongyang admits to the program. It then alternates between defending its “right” to have nukes and offering to end its weapons programs in exchange for aid and a nonaggression pact. South Korea, Japan, and the United States cut off oil shipments.
2003 – North Korea withdraws from the NPT, turns off the monitoring equipment at the Yongbyon facility, and expels IAEA inspectors. Talks on the standoff begin in Beijing. At the table: the United States, China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and North Korea. The talks lead to more talks.
2004 – Two more rounds of six-nation talks come and go. North Korea says the United States is “not interested in making the dialogue fruitful.”
2005 – At a fourth round of six-nation talks, an apparent breakthrough comes. The United States promises not to invade and to respect North Korea’s sovereignty. North Korea says it will dismantle its nuclear programs. The next day, Pyongyang recants, saying it won’t give up anything until it gets a civilian nuclear reactor.
2006 – Defying warnings from the international community, North Korea conducts a series of missile tests on July 4 and 5, including a test of a long-range Taepodong-2 ballistic missile. Three months later, on October 9, North Korea conducts its first-ever nuclear weapons test. The explosive yield isn’t large, but western tests confirm that the blast is nuclear. North Korea has built the Bomb.
–Steve Sampson
