[18] In July 2024, North Korea dismissed Trump's claims of a close relationship with Kim Jong-un as ineffective, emphasizing that their bond didn't lead to substantial changes.

After almost a year of coerced confessions, beatings and a staged news conference, the crew was released following a negotiated settlement in which the U.S. apologized and pledged to stop spying on North Korea.

Historians theorize President Richard Nixon, embroiled in the Vietnam War, chose not to retaliate for fear of escalating the conflict to involve the Soviet Union and China.

"[43] North Korean supreme leader Kim Il Sung said the incidents in the Joint Security Area were "regretful" but stopped short of meeting U.S. demands for a formal apology.

[45] Nonetheless, in the subsequent years, Kim Il Sung met with high-profile political and religious figures including US House Representative Stephen Solarz (D-NY) and Reverend Billy Graham.

"[54] In September 2005, the US alleged that North Korea produced $15–25 million worth of counterfeit Federal Reserve supernotes[55] over several years for worldwide distribution in a "direct attack on a protected U.S.

[68] On November 4, 2007, Dai Hong Dan, a North Korean merchant vessel, was attacked by Somali pirates off the coast of Mogadishu who forced their way aboard, posing as guards.

This resulted in favorable comments from U.S. envoy in Beijing, Christopher R. Hill,[71] as well as an exceedingly rare pro-U.S. statement in the North Korean press: We feel grateful to the United States for its assistance given to our crewmen.

[86] A South Korean diplomatic source said "apparently President Barack Obama, who was then bidding for a second term in office, secretly sent the officials to North Korea to minimize disruptions to the U.S. presidential election.

[108] In the second week of April 2017, global media outlets[108][109] erroneously reported that the USS Carl Vinson supercarrier had been deployed to the Sea of Japan heading towards North Korea, as a result of confusion created by a "miscommunication" between the "Pentagon and the White House."

"[111] President Donald Trump called Mr Kim "Little Rocket Man" and a "sick puppy", and promised that continued North Korean threats to America "will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen".

[116] According to New York Times correspondent Michael S. Schmidt, Trump proposed using a nuclear weapon against North Korea and blaming the attack on another country, but was dissuaded by John F.

The China-based travel company that took Warmbier to North Korea as part of a tourist group stated that it would no longer accept U.S. citizens on its tours to avoid similar incidents.

[124] In August 2017, The Washington Post reported on a confidential assessment carried out by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency which suggested that North Korea had successfully developed nuclear warheads for missiles within reach of the US mainland.

In response North Korea announced that it was examining an operational plan to strike areas around the U.S. territory of Guam in the Pacific, including the Andersen Air Force Base.

[127] On August 8, 2017, President Trump suggested that the United States was prepared to inflict "fire and fury" against North Korea if they failed to cease nuclear testing and threats.

The meeting had been scheduled to be held on June 12 in Singapore,[137] although after military exercises between the United States and South Korea, Kim Jong Un threatened to pull out of the summit,[138] and on May 24 President Trump cancelled it.

[151][152] Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's first visit to North Korea in July 2018 invoked disgruntled remarks from Pyongyang that the Trump administration was using "unilateral and gangster-like demand for denuclearization".

In his speech, President Trump commended Kim Jong-Un for ceasing nuclear testing, dismantling several military facilities, releasing American hostages, and returning POW/MIA remains.

[171] It was also revealed that Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner had visited North Korea to meet with Kim beforehand and acted as lead American diplomats during the summit.

[183] In December 2019, US Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft said during a meeting of the UN Security Council that was called at her request that the US was prepared to take "simultaneous steps" with North Korea to achieve peace.

[196] On February 26, 2022, North Korea's foreign ministry stated that the US measures that "disregard" Russian security concerns are a "root cause of the Ukrainian crisis," in its first remark since Moscow launched a military invasion of its neighbour days earlier.

[203] In September 1956, the U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Radford told the U.S. Department of State that the U.S. military intention was to introduce atomic weapons into South Korea.

[210] The negotiators successfully reached the U.S.–North Korea Agreed Framework in October 1994: Historians Paul Lauren, Gordon Craig, and Alexander George point out that the agreement suffered from a number of weaknesses.

There was no specific schedule made for reciprocal moves, and the United States was granted a very long time to fulfill its obligations to replace the dangerous graphite-moderated reactors with LWRs.

[219] In December 1999, KEDO and the (South) Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) signed the Turnkey Contract (TKC), permitting full scale construction of the LWRs, but significant spending on the LWR project did not commence until 2000.

In releasing the funding, President George W Bush waived the Framework's requirement that North Korea allow inspectors to ensure it has not hidden away any weapons-grade plutonium from the original reactors.

North Korean officials acknowledged to a U.S. delegation, headed by Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James A. Kelly, the existence of the uranium enrichment program.

A written statement from the National Defence Commission of North Korea stated "a nuclear test of higher level will target against the U.S., the sworn enemy of the Korean people."

[239] In February 2016, President Barack Obama enacted the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act of 2016, which passed the House of Representatives and the Senate with nearly unanimous support.