Backgrounder: U.S., DPRK developments in 2019

Source: Xinhua| 2019-12-19 17:22:27|Editor: zh
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BEIJING, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- As China, Japan and South Korea are preparing for a summit in the Chinese city of Chengdu, U.S. special representative for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Stephen Biegun is trying salvage negotiations with the DPRK during a trip to Asia.

On Monday, China and Russia jointly proposed a draft resolution in the United Nations Security Council calling for a political settlement to the DPRK nuclear issue and properly accommodate the country's call to ease sanctions.

The following is a list of major interactions between the United States and the DPRK in 2019.

-- On Jan. 18, senior representatives from Pyongyang and Washington met in Stockholm, Sweden to prepare for a second summit meeting between the two heads of state. The White House said the second summit between the U.S. and DPRK leaders "will take place near the end of February."

-- On Feb. 8, U.S. State Department said 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. 28, top leader of the DPRK Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump ended their second summit in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi without any agreement on nuclear disarmament or easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

-- In April, Kim said he would wait until the end of the year for the United States to come up with a more flexible proposal.

-- On June 30, Trump and Kim met in the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom, after which Trump told reporters that the United States and the DPRK would set up teams to resume the stalled denuclearization talks in two to three weeks.

-- On Sept. 27, Trump said that he does not want to put a timeframe for the denuclearization of the DPRK when speaking at a press conference at the United Nations General Assembly.

-- On Oct. 2, the DPRK fired a new submarine-launched ballistic missile from a platform in the sea, accusing the United States and South Korea of continuing hostile policies.

-- On Oct. 5, negotiators from both countries met in Stockholm, Sweden in an effort to resume denuclearization talks. However, the talks ended without progress, and the DPRK said that it had no desire to engage in "sickening negotiations" with the United States anymore.

-- On Oct. 31, the DPRK launched two short-range projectiles off its east coast into the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, warning that it would be a mistake for the United States to ignore the year-end deadline for denuclearization talks.

-- On Nov. 18, Kim Kye Gwan, advisor to the DPRK's Foreign Ministry, said Pyongyang was no longer interested in another "fruitless" summit in response to Trump's tweet calling for another DPRK-U.S. meeting.

-- On Dec. 3, the DPRK said that it would take "prompt corresponding actions" if the United States resorts to military force amid rising tensions between the two sides.

-- On Dec. 13, the DPRK carried out a test at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

-- On Dec. 16, Stephen Biegun said Washington would not be bound by a year-end deadline set by Pyongyang for progress in their denuclearization talks, and signaled his willingness to make contact with the DPRK at the inter-Korean border during his visit to South Korea.

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