North Korea crisis (2013)

The following lists events that happened in 2013 in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. In 2013, tensions between North Korea and South Korea, the United States, and Japan escalated because of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2087, which condemned North Korea for the launch of Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 2. The crisis was marked by increased rhetoric by the new North Korean administration under Kim Jong-un and actions suggesting imminent nuclear attacks against South Korea, Japan, and the United States.

Incumbents

*Premier: Choe Yong-rim (until 1 April), Pak Pong-ju (starting 1 April)
* Supreme Leader: Kim Jong-un

Events

January

* January 1 – North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un makes a rare New Year broadcast, calling for an improved economy and a reunified Korea.
* January 22 – The United Nations Security Council passes Resolution 2087, condemning North Korea's December 2012 rocket launch and expanding economic sanctions against the country.
* January 24 – North Korean authorities announce a new nuclear weapon and long-range missile test, threatening their publicly manifested arch-enemy, the United States, as their primary target.
* January 25 – North Korea threatens to take "strong physical countermeasures" if South Korea co-operates with new United Nations Security Council resolutions against it.
* January 29 – Google expands its Google Maps map data coverage of North Korea, updating what had been blank in most of that country's satellite images, for its search engine.
* January 31 – South Korean media reports claim that North Korea has been placed under martial law with another nuclear test considered to be imminent.

February

* February 12 – North Korea confirms that it has successfully tested a nuclear device, claiming that it is small enough to be weaponized. The South Korean officials report that an "artificial earthquake" has occurred in North Korea suggesting that a nuclear test has occurred. The test was widely condemned internationally. The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, condemned the test, and called it a "clear and grave violation" of Security Council resolutions.
* February 15 – 2013 North Korean nuclear test
** In reaction to North Korea's latest nuclear test the European Union will tighten sanctions against the country in the form of blocking the trade of gold and diamonds, as well as cracking down on financial ties between them.
** North Korea tells China that it is prepared to stage one or even two more nuclear tests this year in an effort to force the United States into diplomatic talks.
* February 19 – North Korea threatens the "final destruction" of South Korea during a United Nations conference on disarmament.

March

* March 7 – 2013 North Korean nuclear test
** North Korea threatens its enemies with the possibility of a pre-emptive nuclear strike, amplifying its threatening rhetoric.
** The United Nations Security Council approves unanimously new sanctions against North Korea for its recent nuclear test.
** During Foal Eagle, an annual training exercise conducted between South Korea and the United States, North Korea threatened to abandon the Korean Armistice Agreement, arguing the exercises threatened North Korea with nuclear weapons and that the U.S. was unwilling to negotiate a peace treaty to replace the armistice. JoongAng Ilbo reported that American vessels equipped with nuclear weapons were participating in the exercise. The U.S. Department of Defense publicly announced that U.S. Air Force B-52 bombers from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam flown over South Korea were reaffirming the U.S.'s "nuclear umbrella" for South Korea.
* March 8 – North Korea ends all peace pacts with South Korea and closes the main Panmunjom border crossing inside the Korean Demilitarized Zone. North Korean generals affirm they are aiming their long range missiles at the U.S. mainland in retaliation for the recently approved U.N. sanctions.

* March 13 – North Korea confirmed it ended the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement, declaring that North Korea "is not restrained by the North-South declaration on non-aggression" and warned that the next step was an act of "merciless" military retaliation against its enemies.
* March 15 – United States Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases