North Korea 1945-2017: How We Got to Here
This article is an abbreviated timeline of major and significant events impacting Korea starting in 1945 up through the first week in September, 2017. This timeline overview is critical for us to gain an understanding of what is happening with the sabre rattling taking place between the USA and DPRK.
Video: 1945-1953 Truman Era
1945 Post WW2 Korea
Japan controlled Korea from 1910 through 1945. Democrat President Harry Truman drops two atomic bombs on Japan on August 6th and 9th to effectuate their unconditional surrender. As part of a post WW2 agreement the United States and Russia agreed to annex the Korean peninsula from Japan and ‘temporarily’ divide the nation into Northern and Southern regions when WW2 ended. In August 1945 the Soviets invaded the North and one month later America the South and Japan immediately surrendered to both Russia and the United States.
The 38th parallel became the ‘temporary’ dividing line for the plan was to have a united Korea which obviously never happened. Though the Soviets and Americans were allies during WW2, it was a strained relationship to depose of a common enemy, Germany and NAZI fascism and their expansion and attempt to dominate the Euro-Asian continent and beyond.
1948 Cold War & Divided Korea
The onset of the cold war between the Soviets and America in essence began in Korea for communism and elected governments are an oil and water mixture. The Russians installed a communist government in the North: the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK); and in the South a government was elected and called the Republic of Korea (ROK). Korea became two permanent nations.
1949 Perils Increase
Aug 29-Russia detonates atomic bomb ending US monopoly on atomic weapons of mass destruction.
Chinese Communist Revolution Concludes-Communist Mao Zedong assumes power in China; Immediately allies with Russia. Nationalist Chiang Kai Shek removed from power, exiled to Taiwan (Formosa).
1950 Korean War & Chinese Communist Revolution
Feb-Chairman Mao signs treaty with Soviets.
June 25, 1950-DPRK invaded ROK and quickly drove south to capture Seoul. American troops intervened and were aided by UN and UK forces in the South and pushed the Northern Communists back where they now controlled ⅔ of Korea. The Chinese army reinforced the DPRK army and by the end of 1950 the 38th parallel was generally reestablished. War ensued and DPRK was the most heavily bombed country in the history of warfare, destroying nearly all infrastructure, cities, towns and villages.
1953 Ceasefire
Open warfare stops July 27, 1953. The peninsula is divided by a demilitarized zone (DMZ) along the 38th parallel. A formal peace agreement ending the Korean War was never signed. The ceasefire agreement is still valid today and no formal declaration of peace ending the war was ever entered.
Video: 1953-2000 Eisenhower to Clinton
1960s DPRK experiences Rapid Industrial Growth
1968 USS Pueblo
The DPRK captures the USS Pueblo, an American intelligence gathering ship. Although the crew is later released, the North Koreans still hold the USS Pueblo.
1969 American Reconnaissance Plane Shot Down; 31 Americans are killed.
1972 North & South issue joint statement on peaceful reunification.
1985 Enters Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT): Bars production of nuclear weapons.
1986 Yongbyon Research Nuclear Reactor becomes operational.
1991 Joins UN: North & South
1993 IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency accuses DPRK of violating Nuclear NPT; demands inspections; DPRK threatens to quit Treaty.
DPRK test-fires medium-range ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan.
1994 July “Great Leader” Kim Il Sung dies 1948-1994. His son, “Dear Leader” Kim Jong Il assumes power.
October US/NK sign Agreed Framework to freeze nuclear program in return for heavy fuel oil and two light-water nuclear reactors.
1995 Nuclear Cooperation Agreement reached with United States to build nuclear reactors in DPRK.
1996 Catastrophe Strikes
Feb-DPRK claims severe floods and famine kill 3 Million North Koreans?
Apr-DPRK announce defiance of cease fire agreement; sends thousands of troops to DMZ.
Sep-DPRK submarine carrying 26 commandos and crew runs aground near ROK town of Gangneung. All but one is killed along with 17 ROK following several skirmishes.
1998 Military Incidents
Jun-ROK captures DPRK submarine in its waters. Entire Crew found dead.
Aug-Missile Test Flight over Japan.
2000 Pyongyang Summit
Kim Jong-il and ROK President Kim Dae-jung pave the way for reopening border liaison offices and family reunions. ROK grants amnesty to 3,500+ DPRK prisoners.
Video: 2001-2008 The Bush Era
2002 Axis of Evil
Jan-State of the Union Address: President George W. Bush labels North Korea “Axis of Evil” with Iran & Iraq.
Jun-North & South Korean naval battle in Yellow Sea; 30 DPRK & 4 ROK sailors are killed.
Sep-Japan PM Junichiro Koizumi makes historic visit during which DPRK admits to having abducted 13 Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s and that at least 4 still alive.
Oct-US & allies stop oil shipments to DPRK in a dispute over secretive nuclear weapons program.
Dec-DPRK reactivating nuclear facilities at Yongbyon and expels UN inspectors.
2003 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty
Jan-DPRK withdraws from Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. “6 Party” talks open: DPRK, ROK, USA, China, Russia, Japan.
May-NK withdraws from 1992 agreement with ROK to keep the Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons.
Oct-NK declares it completed reprocessing 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods. Enough plutonium to make 6 nukes in a few months
2005 Outpost of Tyranny
Jan-Condoleezza Rice called DPRK an outpost of tyranny in Senate confirmation hearing.
Feb-DPRK proclaims it has nuclear weapons for defense purposes.
2006 Nuclear Missiles
Jul-DPRK test fires 7 missiles.
Oct-conducts underground test explosion of a nuclear device; UN issues sanctions
2007 6 Party Talks
Mar-DPRK to shuts down its nuclear enrichment program and agrees to international inspections.
Jul-DPRK shuts down its main Yongbyon reactor after receiving 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil as part of an aid package.
Aug-ROK announces it will send nearly $50M US in aid to DPRK after rare appeal for flood relief.
Sep-State Dept announces DPRK will catalog and dismantle its entire nuclear program by year end; will be remove from list of state sponsors of terrorism upon confirmation; Holds discussion to formally end Korean War; President Bush sends handwritten letter to Kim Jong Il.
Oct-Second Pyongyang Summit. President Roh Moo-hyun becomes 1st ROK leader to walk across DMZ.
Video: 2008-September 3, 2017 Obama to Trump
2008 Deterioration
Mar-North/South relations deteriorate sharply after new ROK President Lee Myung-bak promises to take a harder line on North Korea.
Aug-Kim Jong-il suffers a stroke.
Oct-US Removes DPRK From Terror Watch List; North agrees to provide full access to Yongbyon nuclear site.
2009 Further Deterioration
Jan-DPRK says it is scrapping all military and political deals with the ROK, accusing them of “hostile intent”
Apr-DPRK launches a long-range rocket, carrying what it says is a communications satellite; its neighbors accuse it of testing long-range missile technology. Condemnation from the UN Security Council prompts DPRK to walk out of six-party talks and restart its nuclear facilities.
May-DPRK carries out 2nd underground nuclear test. UN Security Council condemns move in June.
Aug-DPRK frees American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee after former US Prez Bill Clinton facilitates their release. The pair was sentenced to 12 years hard labor for allegedly crossing the border illegally.
Aug-North makes conciliatory gestures to South, sending delegation to funeral of former President Kim Dae-jung; releases four ROK fishermen; agrees to resume family reunions.
Nov-DPRK state-run news agency reports the reprocessing of 8,000 spent fuel rods is complete, garnering enough weapons-grade plutonium for one to two nuclear bombs? (6 were processed in 2003).
2010 Economic Calamity
Feb-Increased social unrest leads government relaxing free market restrictions after a 2009 currency revaluation wiped out many cash savings in the country.
2011 Regime Change & Purge
Dec-Death of Kim Jong-il. Kim Jong-un presides at funeral and takes over key posts by April, 2012.
2012 Missile Launches
Apr-Rocket launch viewed internationally as a banned test of long-range Taepodong-2 missile technology – fails. DPRK says aim was to put a satellite into orbit to mark 100th birthday anniversary of Kim Il-sung.
Oct-North Korea claims it has missiles than can hit the US mainland after ROK and Washington announce a deal to extend the range of South Korea’s ballistic missiles.
Dec-DPRK successfully launches a “rocket-mounted satellite” into orbit following its failed attempt in April. EMP?
2013 Escalation
Feb-3rd Nuclear Test. UN approves fresh sanctions. Nuclear test, said to be more powerful than the 2009 test.
Apr-DPRK says it will restart all facilities at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex and briefly withdraws its 53,000-strong workforce from the South-Korean-funded Kaesong joint industrial park stalling operations at 123 ROK factories.
July-Panama impounds a North Korean ship carrying two MiG-21 jet fighters under bags of sugar. The UN later blacklists the ship’s operator.
Sep-Sole ally China bans export to North Korea of items that could be used to make missiles or nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
Dec-Kim Jong-un’s uncle, Chang Song-thaek, is found guilty of attempting to overthrow the state and is summarily executed in a purge seen as the biggest shake-up since the death of Kim Jong-il in 2011.
2014 Missiles & Spying
Mar-North Korea test-fires two medium-range Rodong ballistic missiles for the first time since 2009, in violation of UN resolutions and just hours after the US, South Korea and Japan met in the Netherlands for talks.
Two drones allegedly from North Korea are found in the south, sparking concerns about the north’s intelligence gathering capabilities.
Oct-Officials pay surprise visit to south, agree to resume formal talks that have been suspended since February.
Dec-North Korea and US exchange accusations of cyber-attacks over a Sony Pictures film mocking Kim Jong-un, prompting new US sanctions the following month.
2015
Aug-South Korea halts loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts across the DMZ after the North fires on them during annual US/South-Korean military exercises.
Sep-North Korea confirms it has put its Yongbyon nuclear plant – mothballed in 2007 – back into operation.
Dec-US imposes new sanctions on North Korea over weapons proliferation, targeting the army’s Strategic Rocket Force, banks and shipping companies.
2016
Jan-Government announcement of first hydrogen bomb test met with widespread expert skepticism.
May-The ruling Workers Party holds its first congress in almost 40 years, during which Kim Jong-un is elected leader of the party.
Nov-UN Security Council further tightens sanctions by aiming to cut one of North Korea’s main exports, coal, by 60%.
2017
Jan-Kim Jong-un says North Korea is in the final stages of developing long-range guided missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
Feb-Kim Jong-un’s estranged half-brother Kim Jong-nam is killed by a highly toxic nerve agent in Malaysia, with investigators suspecting North Korean involvement.
July-Pyongyang test fires a long-range missile into the Sea of Japan, with some experts stating the missile could potentially reach Alaska.
Aug-Tension rises in war of words with US over North Korean threat to fire ballistic missiles near US Pacific territory of Guam.
Aug-China announces it plans to implement the UN sanctions against North Korea agreed to earlier this month; bans imports of coal, minerals and sea food.
2017
Sep 3-DPRK conducts 6th nuclear test; a Hydrogen bomb.
The neocons and globalists are in an active coup d’état to depose President Donald J Trump from his duly elected office as President of the United States. This coup is due to the internal forces of evil’s madness in continuing the completion of the fundamental transformation of the United States in relinquishing its national sovereignty by driving America into globalism and totalitarianism by the tyrants embedded in all branches of government. This is happening worldwide with all western nations.
Another reason is self-preservation for these tyrants have been operating as a criminal enterprise for more than two decades and have weaponized most departments and agencies of the federal and the several state governments they control. If fair and honest investigations are conducted along with fair judicial proceedings, these people are looking at extensive prison sentences. The probability of prosecution is questionable due the extensive corruption of government and industry.
The North Korean problem is a false flag and IMPEACHMENT TRAP! There is significant efforts taking place to falsely impeach President Donald J Trump for he represents a clear and present danger to their criminal activities and must be removed from office one way or another. These globalist and tyrannical powers are seeking to manipulate President Trump into a first-strike against DPRK so they may impeach him on the grounds of violating the 1953 ceasefire agreement between North and South Korea.
A first strike may bring UN sanctions against the United States and precipitate impeachment of President Trump. The US is in grave peril.
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