History of confrontation between two ‘long-standing’ enemies, America and North Korea

South Korean security advisor Chung Eui-yong announced the face-to-face meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Since the bloody war on the Korean peninsula 65 years ago, the relationship between the US and North Korea has always been in a state of confrontation and tension, interspersed with brief periods of `thaw`, AFP

The Korean Peninsula is divided

In 1945, World War II ended and put an end to the Japanese fascist occupation of the Korean peninsula.

On May 10, 1948, the people of the South went to the parliamentary elections and established the government of the Republic of Korea, referred to as Korea, under the leadership of first President Syngman Rhee.

On June 25, 1950, about 135,000 North Korean soldiers crossed the 38th parallel to attack South Korea.

The Pueblo spy ship crisis

After a fierce three-year war, the US and North Korea continuously collided in tense incidents.

In the 1970s, the US Navy wanted to gather intelligence on North Korean submarines, as well as advanced Soviet submarines believed to be operating in the area.

Contacts

In June 1994, former US president Jimmy Carter made a historic trip to North Korea.

In 1999, a year after the first long-range ballistic missile test, leader Kim Jong-il announced a postponement of future tests.

In October 2000, then-US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met Kim Jong-il in the capital Pyongyang.

‘Axis of evil’

By January 2002, US President George W. Bush classified North Korea, alongside Iran and Iraq, into the `axis of evil`.

In August 2004, North Korea announced it was breaking the nuclear program agreement signed with the US and criticized President Bush as a `dictator` more cruel than Hitler and `a novice politician`.

By 2006, Pyongyang conducted its first nuclear test.

Get off the US blacklist

In October 2008, the US removed North Korea from the blacklist of countries sponsoring terrorism in return for control over the installation of nuclear facilities in this East Asian country.

The Americans were arrested

In January 2016, American student Otto Wambier was arrested and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for stealing a propaganda poster from a hotel in Pyongyang.

Not only Wambier but many American citizens have been and are being detained by North Korea.

Trump – Kim war

After taking office early last year, President Donald Trump declared that he would not allow North Korea to develop nuclear weapons capable of reaching US territory.

The last months of 2017 witnessed Pyongyang’s rapidly escalating moves.

Historic invitation

In an ice-breaking effort by South Korean President Moon Jae-in, North Korea agreed to attend the 2018 Winter Olympics held in PyeongChang in February. On March 8, returning from a trip to Pyongyang,

The White House accepted the invitation but has not yet set the time and location for this historic meeting.