North Korea Crises (1994–)

Series of diplomatic and military incidents since the mid-1990s, which have strained the tense political relationship between the United States and North Korea. The end of the Cold War brought a decade marred by several bouts of crisis between North Korea and what it views as its primary foe—the United States. The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 left North Korea without its most important political ally and trading partner, drastically damaging it politically, militarily, and economically. It also gave North Korea renewed impetus to continue pursuing the nascent nuclear program it began nurturing in the previous few decades.

Citing security concerns each time, North Korea tried to use its growing nuclear capabilities repeatedly in the early 1990s to gain economic, diplomatic, and military concessions from the United States. Each time, diplomatic agreements were reached, but they were broken, or deemed so, by one or both parties. The latest such agreement was the 1994 Agreed Framework, which is a nonbinding document signed by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and former U.S. President Bill Clinton. Under the Agreed Framework, the United States offered North Korea some measure of security guarantees and fuel aid, and promised to construct two light-water nuclear reactors for North Korea. In turn, North Korea promised to freeze nuclear activities, renew its membership to the Nonproliferation Treaty, and reinstate International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections.

The Agreed Framework brought about some positive results, including the successful freezing of operations at North Korea's main nuclear facility in Yongbyon for eight years, verified by inspections at the end of 2002. Also, since 1994, North Korea created no new plutonium nor extracted plutonium from existing fuel rods—a main point of contention during the negotiations. However, North Korea made little progress toward freezing nuclear activities, and construction of the two light-water reactors was never completed.

In August 1998, North Korea test-launched a ballistic missile over Japan into the Pacific Ocean, causing the United States to consider withdrawing from the Agreed Framework. Rather than take such drastic action, President Clinton determined that the best strategy was for the United States to coordinate a message and strategy with China, South Korea, and Japan. In May 1999, the four nations approached North Korea together with the goal of attaining “verifiable elimination of the nuclear and missile programs.” They promised that they would not attack North Korea to change its behavior, but that such a promise was binding only if North Korea gave up its nuclear ambitions. Deterrence must be limited to conventional weapons, and a road would be paved for nuclear dismantlement and for North Korea's reintegration into the international community. North Korea agreed to a moratorium on tests of long-range missiles, to continue the freeze at Yongbyon, and to conduct a series of talks with South Korea. This resulted in the 2000 summit meeting of the leaders of the two countries.

In contrast with the efforts of the Clinton administration to work with North Korea, President George W. Bush turned a relatively cold shoulder to North Korea from his first day in office. Some observers cite this as one of the factors motivating North Korea to renew its nuclear posturing. In November 2002, the United States confronted North Korea with intelligence that showed North Korea's likely possession of two nuclear bombs and its operation of a uranium enrichment plant. North Korea subsequently admitted that it had indeed restarted its nuclear program, and it withdrew from the Nonproliferation Treaty on New Year's Eve 2002. At the beginning of 2003, North Korea [Page 531]ejected IAEA inspectors, capped IAEA surveillance cameras, and rejected the Agreed Framework.

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