A timeline of North Korea's nuclear weapons activities

Thursday, April 24, 2008

By The Associated Press

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Timeline of North Korea's nuclear weapons activities:

_ 1994: North Korea and the United States sign an agreement under which the North shuts down its plutonium-based nuclear reactor in exchange for help building two "light water" nuclear reactors for producing electricity.

_ Sept. 17, 1999: President Clinton agrees to first major easing of economic sanctions against North Korea since the Korean War's end in 1953.

_ Jan. 29, 2002: President Bush labels North Korea, Iran and Iraq an "axis of evil."

_ Oct. 4, 2002: North Korea tells visiting U.S. delegation it has a uranium enrichment program, Washington says.

_ Nov. 21, 2002: U.S.-led consortium says it is suspending construction of light water reactors.

_ Dec. 28, 2002: North Korea orders U.N. nuclear inspectors to leave the country.

_ Jan. 11, 2003: North Korea withdraws from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

_ Feb. 26, 2003: North Korea is reported to have restarted Yongbyon reactor, which U.S. officials say was designed to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons but which North Korea maintains is for energy production.

_ 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., which continue periodically over the next several years.

_ Feb. 10, 2005: North Korea announces it has nuclear weapons.

_ July 5, 2006: North Korea launches seven missiles into the Sea of Japan, prompting a U.N. Security Council resolution to condemn it.

_ Oct. 9, 2006: North Korea says it has conducted its first-ever nuclear test.

_ Oct. 14, 2006: U.N. Security Council unanimously adopts a resolution imposing wide-ranging economic and diplomatic sanctions on North Korea for its nuclear test.

_ Feb. 13, 2007: North Korea agrees at six-nation talks on initial steps to disarmament.

_ July. 14, 2007: North Korea says it has shut down its Yongbyon plutonium-reactor. IAEA inspectors arrive in Pyongyang.

_ Aug. 17, 2007: The IAEA says its agents have confirmed the shutdown of four nuclear facilities at Yongbyon and an unfinished nuclear power plant at Taechon.

_ Sept. 2, 2007: The U.S. says North Korea agreed during talks in Geneva to declare and disable its nuclear programs by the end of the year _ the first time it has offered a timeline.

_ Sept. 6, 2007: Israeli warplanes bomb a Syrian nuclear reactor site allegedly built with North Korean design help.

_ Oct. 3, 2007: The six parties agree that North Korea will provide a complete list of its nuclear programs and disable its facilities and its main reactor 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. 22, 2008: 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.

_ March 28, 2008: 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.

_ April 24, 2008: The White House breaks its silence and says North Korea assisted Syria's secret nuclear program and that the nuclear reactor destroyed by Israel was not intended for "peaceful purposes."