cessor in
1980, assuming a growing political and managerial role until the
elder KIM's death in 1994. After decades of economic mismanagement
and resource misallocation, the DPRK since the mid-1990s has relied
heavily on international aid to feed its population while continuing
to expend resources to maintain an army of approximately 1 million.
North Korea's history of regional military provocations,
proliferation of military-related items, and long-range missile
development - as well as its nuclear, chemical, and biological
weapons programs and massive conventional armed forces - are of
major concern to the international community. In December 2002,
following revelations that the DPRK was pursuing a nuclear weapons
program based on enriched uranium in violation of a 1994 agreement
with the US to freeze and ultimately dismantle its existing
plutonium-based program, North Korea expelled monitors from the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In January 2003, it
declared its withdrawal from the international Non-Proliferation
Treaty. In mid-2003 Pyongyang announced it had completed the
reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel rods (to extract weapons-grade
plutonium) and was developing a "nuclear deterrent." Beginning in
August 2003, North Korea, China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the
US have participated in the Six-Party Talks aimed at resolving the
stalemate over the DPRK's nuclear programs. North Korea pulled out
of the talks in November 2005. It test-fired ballistic missiles in
July 2006 and conducted a nuclear test in October 2006. North Korea
returned to the Six-Party Talks in December 2006 and subsequently
signed two agreements on denuclearization. The 13 February 2007
Initial Actions Agreement shut down the North's nuclear facilities
at Yongbyon in July 2007. In the 3 October 2007 Second Phase Actions
Agreement, Pyongyang pledged to disable those facilities and provide
a correct and complete declaration of its nuclear programs. Under
the supervision of US nuclear experts, North Korean personnel
completed a number of agreed-upon disablement actions at the three
core facilities at the Yongbyon nuclear complex by the end of 2007.
North Korea also began the discharge of spent fuel rods in December
2007, but it did not provide a declaration of its nuclear programs
by the end of the year.

Korea, South
An independent Korean state or collectio