After their historic first meeting in Singapore in June last year, U.S. President Donald Trump and top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un are scheduled to meet in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam on Feb. 27-28.
The following is a list of major interaction events that happened in the past two years between the United States and the DPRK:
On Feb. 8, 2019, U.S. State Department said U.S. special representative for the DPRK Stephen Biegun concluded his three-day visit to Pyongyang. Biegun and his DPRK counterpart Kim Hyok Chol discussed advancing the commitments that the two leaders made at their Singapore summit.
On Feb. 8, 2019, Trump said that he will meet for the second time with Kim on Feb. 27-28 in Hanoi, Vietnam.
On Jan. 18, 2019, senior representatives from Pyongyang and Washington met in Stockholm, Sweden to prepare for a second summit meeting between leaders of the two countries.
On Jan. 18, 2019, the White House said the second summit between U.S. and DPRK leaders "will take place near the end of February." The announcement was made after Trump wrapped up a meeting with Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the DPRK's ruling Korean Workers' Party Central Committee.
On Dec. 10, 2018, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced sanctions against three senior officials of the DPRK.
On Aug. 3, 2018, the U.S. Department of the Treasure announced sanctions on an individual and three entities for alleged links with the nuclear program of the DPRK.
On July 26, 2018, the White House said a U.S. military aircraft carrying the remains of U.S. soldiers who died in the Korean War had left the DPRK earlier on the same day.
On July 7, 2018, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Pyongyang for high-level talks with officials of the DPRK.
On July 2, 2018, the DPRK and the United States held working-level talks at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom.
On June 18, 2018, the U.S. Defense Department said that it has suspended all plans for the joint military drills with South Korea in August.
On June 12, 2018, Kim and Trump met for their historic summit in Singapore and signed a "comprehensive" agreement which said the United States would be committed to providing security guarantees to the DPRK in exchange for Pyongyang's commitment to a complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. The two leaders also agreed to establish new bilateral relations.
On June 1, 2018, senior DPRK official Kim Yong Chol traveled to Washington. Trump announced that the Singapore summit on June 12 would be held as originally scheduled after an almost two-hour meeting in the White House with the envoy.
On May 27, 2018, U.S. diplomat Sung Kim went to the DPRK side of the Panmunjom truce village for pre-summit negotiations with DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui to prepare for Trump-Kim meeting.
On May 24, 2018, the DPRK dismantled the Punggye-ri nuclear test ground in front of foreign journalists, but Trump announced hours later that he's pulling out of the summit, citing some DPRK official's "tremendous anger and open hostility" remarks towards the United States.
On May 10, 2018, Trump tweeted that his meeting with Kim will be in Singapore on June 12.
On May 9, 2018, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made another visit to Pyongyang to prepare for the Trump-Kim summit. The DPRK released three Americans who had been imprisoned after Pompeo's visit.
On April 9, 2018, Trump said that he expected to meet the DPRK leader in May or early June. On April 18, Trump confirmed that then CIA chief Mike Pompeo met with Kim Jong Un in a secret visit to Pyongyang in the previous week.
On Sept. 3, 2017, the DPRK conducted its sixth nuclear test. One day after the test, the United States distributed a draft resolution on DPRK sanctions to UN Security Council members for discussions. On Sept. 11, the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution to impose fresh sanctions on the DPRK, targeting the country's oil imports and textile exports.
On July 6, 2016, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Kim Jong Un and other senior DPRK officials over alleged human rights abuses. In response, the DPRK urged the United States to immediately and unconditionally withdraw the sanctions, and if not, the DPRK will cut off all channels of diplomatic contact with the United States.
