Timeline: North Korea's nuclear path
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A chronology of key events:
1961-62 - Construction of Yongbyon Nuclear Research Facility completed, 96 kilometres north of the capital, Pyongyang.
1979 - North Korea starts to build a 5-megawatt nuclear reactor at Yongbyon, aided by years of Soviet nuclear help.
1985 (Dec 12) - Pyongyang signs up to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
1992-93 - International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors denied access to two suspected nuclear waste sites.
1994 - North Korea quits the IAEA, 20 years after it first became a member state.
1994 - US brokers an agreement (known as the Agreed Framework) to freeze plutonium production in the country, and halt all work at the Yongbyon facility in exchange for aid.
1998 - North Korea tests Taepadong long-range missile. The test fails but it is thought to have provided a financial windfall for the communist state, with the suspected sale of weapons systems internationally.
2002 - Most international diplomacy with North Korea ceases after President George W Bush lists North Korea in the "Axis of Evil".
2002 - North Korea restarts its nuclear facilities at Yongbyon and expels officials from the IAEA.
2003 - North Korea officially withdraws from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
2003 (Aug) - Six-party talks formed with China, Japan, North Korea, Russia and the United States.
2005 (Feb) - North Korea admits publicly for the first time that it has nuclear weapons.
2006 (July 5) - Launches six ballistic missiles including the Taepadong-2. The T-2 fails, however the other short-range missiles fire successfully.
2006 (Oct 9) - Conducts first successful underground nuclear test.
2007 (Feb 13) - North Korea agrees to start shutting its reactor and allow UN nuclear inspectors back into the country in exchange for aid.
2008 (Oct 11) - The US says it will take North Korea off its state sponsors of terrorism list, following verbal agreement on dismantlement.
2009 (April 5) - North Korea launches a multistage rocket. A week later the UN security council adopts a declaration condemning North Korea for the launch.
2009 (April 14) - North Korea's foreign ministry says the country will quit six-party nuclear talks, and restart Yongbyon.
2009 (May 25) - Conducts second successful underground nuclear test.
2009 (May 26) - In a further act of defiance in the face of international condemnation, North Korea test fires two short-range missiles.
2009 (May 27) - North Korea declares it is no longer bound by the armistice signed in 1953 at the end of the Korean war after South Korea joins a US-led naval blockade.
2009 (June 1) - South Korea accuses the North of preparing to test fire an intercontinental ballistic missile.
2009 (June) - Barack Obama's administration issues a warning to all US banks that North Korea may try to avoid financial sanctions by engaging in deceptive practices.
2009 (June 12) - UN Security Council passes tough new sanctions in response to North Korea's nuclear tests, calling on all members of the international community to stop and search its ships for weapons.
The North responds to the UN sanctions by promising to "weaponise" all its plutonium and step up its nuclear bomb-making by enriching uranium.
2009 (June 18) - Russia and China - the country's traditional allies - call for North Korea to return to the negotiating table.
2009 (July 2) - North Korea test fires two short-range missiles off its east coast.
2009 (July 4) - North Korea test fires seven suspected Scud missiles off its east coast into the Sea of Japan.
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