Key developments leading up to US

The following is a chronology of major developments in the relations between the United States and North Korea in 2018 leading up to the first-ever summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un on Singapore's resort island of Sentosa on Tuesday.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in's top security advisor Chung Eui-yong, left, meets North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the ruling Workers' Party headquarters in Pyongyang, March 6. Korea Times file

2018
March 8― Chung Eui-yong, South Korean President Moon Jae-in's top security advisor, and Suh Hoon, chief of the National Intelligence Service, meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington and convey North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's intention to invite him to Pyongyang. Trump accepts the invitation and announces that he will meet Kim in May.

March 31-April 1― Mike Pompeo, director of the Central Intelligence Agency and nominee for U.S. secretary of state, meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang to prepare for the summit.

April 9― U.S. President Donald Trump expresses his hope of meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un either in May or June during a Cabinet meeting.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in hug after signing Panmunjeom Declaration for Peace at inter-Korean border village Panmunjeom on April 27, where both countries held a historical summit. Korea Times file

April 27― South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hold their first inter-Korean summit at the truce village of Panmunjom.

An undated handout photo made available by the U.S. White House on April 26 shows then-CIA director Mike Pompeo, left, meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang. It was a surprise visit by Pompeo to North Korea intended to prepare the historic summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump. EPA-Yonhap

May 9― Secretary of State Mike Pompeo makes a second trip to North Korea and meets leader Kim Jong-un.

U.S. President Donald Trump, center, and First Lady Melania Trump, left, walk with three U.S. detainees that were released by North Korea after greeting them upon their arrival at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, the U.S., on May 10. EPA-Yonhap

May 10― Secretary of State Mike Pompeo returns to the U.S. with three Americans detained in North Korea. On the same day, U.S. President Donald Trump tweets that his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will take place in Singapore on June 12.

May 12― North Korea announces its plan to dismantle its only known nuclear test site in Punggye-ri.

May 16― North Korea unilaterally cancels high-level inter-Korean talks, taking issue with ongoing joint military drills between South Korea and the U.S. Kim Kye-gwan, North Korea's vice foreign minister, issues a statement threatening to pull out of the planned summit with the U.S., citing hostile remarks by U.S. officials.

Smoke and debris rise in the air as barracks buildings for guards and tunneling workers at North Korea's nuclear test site are blown up at Punggye-ri, North Hamgyong Province, North Korea, May 24. AP-Yonhap

May 24― Choe Son-hui, the North's vice foreign minister, issues a statement threatening again to withdraw from the planned summit with the U.S. The North dismantles its Punggye-ri nuclear test site in front of a group of invited international media people. Later the same day, U.S. President Donald Trump says in an open letter to North Korean leader Kim that he is cancelling the summit with him, citing "tremendous anger and open hostility" from the North.

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui, second from left, arrives for a meeting with U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim at the Ritz-Carlton Millenia Hotel in Singapore on June 11, ahead of the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. AP-Yonhap

May 25 ― North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan issues a statement expressing a desire to have talks with the U.S.

May 26― South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hold their second summit at the truce village of Panmunjom in an apparent bid to salvage the U.S.-North Korea summit.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un looks visibly tired and nervous during his second meeting with President Moon Jae-in at the truce village of Panmunjeom on May 26, in comparison with their first encounter on April 27. Korea Times file

May 27― The U.S. and North Korea hold working-level consultations at the truce village of Panmunjom for a summit between their leaders.

May 31― U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of the central committee of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, meet in New York.

From left, former North Korean military intelligence chief Kim Yong-chol, the U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo walk from the Oval Office in Washington, June 1. AP-Yonhap

June 1― Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of the central committee of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, meets U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington and conveys his leader's letter to him. Trump confirms that his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will take place as planned in Singapore on June 12. (Yonhap)

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