Chapter 4
Box 4.4 Chronology of key events, 1950–2000

1950 June: Korean war starts.
1953 July: DPR Korea and South Korea sign ceasefire. No peace treaty signed.
1956 February: Japanese Red Cross Society’s (JRCS) vice president visits Pyongyang for first time to agree on repatriation of 36 Japanese remaining in DPRK after the Second World War.
1959-1984 The JRCS, together with the Red Cross Society of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRKRC), implements repatriation to DPRK of 93,340 Koreans residing in Japan.
1972 August: Seven rounds of full talks between the Republic of Korea National Red Cross Society (RoKRC) and the DPRKRC continue in Seoul and Pyongyang until August 1973.
1974 February: Kim Jong Il appointed as Kim Il Sung’s successor.
1984 September: The DPRKRC sends relief goods (rice, cloth, cement, medicines) to the RoKRC to assist flood victims in the South.
1985 September: As a result of Red Cross talks, 30 North Koreans and 35 South Koreans are reunited with family members in South Korea and North Korea respectively.
1989 September: Eight rounds of working-level contacts between South and North Red Cross societies continue until November
1990. 1991 September: DPRK and South Korea join United Nations. December: Soviet Union collapses.
1992 Undated: North Koreans cut down on eating amid diminishing food supplies.
1993 February: DPRK refuses inspections by International Atomic Energy Agency of two undeclared nuclear sites. June: DPRK holds missile tests over coastal waters. First talks between high-ranking US and North Korean officials.
1994 January: DPRK allows international monitors to inspect declared nuclear facilities. July: Kim Il Sung dies of a heart attack. October: DPRK and US sign nuclear agreement. DPRK pledges to freeze and eventually dismantle nuclear weapons programme in exchange for international aid to build two power-producing nuclear reactors.
1995 March: Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) set up under October
1994 agreement to promote cooperation with North Korea. July-August: Floods affect estimated 5.2 million people in DPRK, destroying crops. September: DPRK appeals for UN assistance and reduces some grain rations. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies launches its first appeal for DPRK.
1996 April: US and South Korea propose four-way talks with DPRK and China for permanent Korean peninsula peace treaty. July: Rains damage grain-producing area of DPRK.
1997 April: UN requests cooperation for emergency humanitarian aid of US$ 120 million to ease starvation in DPRK. Drought hits agricultural areas. May: Inter-Korean Red Cross talks in Beijing agree that delegates from the South should visit the North to deliver 50,000 tonnes of relief goods. Further agreements for the RoKRC to deliver relief goods to the North follow in July 1997 and March 1998.
1998 January: DPRK says families now responsible for feeding themselves. April: Vice president of the JRCS visits the DPRKRC to discuss relief and repatriation issues between the two Red Cross societies. August: DPRK fires Taepo Dong 1 missile that flies over Japan and lands in Pacific Ocean. Pyongyang says it successfully launched its first satellite. September: MSF withdraws from DPRK. November: US and DPRK hold first round of high-level talks over suspected construction of underground nuclear facility. US demands inspections.
1999 February: DPRK allows US access to the site in exchange for promises of food. US finds no evidence of any nuclear activity during site visit in May. April-June: The RoKRC sends 155,000 tonnes of fertilizer to the North. May: US says it will provide additional 400,000 tonnes of food aid. July-August: Floods hit eight provinces in DPRK. August: Reports say DPRK ready to launch improved version of Taepo Dong 1 missile. Floods damage more than 50,000 hectares of crops. September: DPRK pledges to freeze testing of long-range missiles for the duration of negotiations to improve relations. President Clinton agrees to the first significant easing of economic sanctions against DPRK since the Korean war ended. October: Former US Secretary of Defense William Perry, acting as special adviser to President Clinton, proposed two-track engagement policy over DPRK. November: Total US aid to DPRK since 1995 set to exceed US$ 1 billion by end-2000. Report by a US North Korea advisory group says DPRK can hit US with missile. UN Inter-Agency Appeal for North Korea seeks US$ 331.7 million for 2000. Total of 63.8 per cent of needs met for 1999 appeal of US$ 292.1 million. December: Oxfam withdraws from DPRK.
2000 January: Italy establishes diplomatic relations with DPRK – the first of the G7 nations to do so. February: Action contre la Faim withdraws from DPRK. March: Japan says it will give DPRK 100,000 tonnes of rice as precursor to reopening of normalization discussions. DPRK hosts visit by Italian foreign minister to Pyongyang.