The following is a chronology of major events leading up to the first-ever summit between sitting U.S. and North Korean leaders on Tuesday in Singapore.
1945 -- The Korean Peninsula is liberated from Japan's colonial rule with its World War II surrender.
1948 -- The peninsula is divided into the Soviet-backed North and the U.S.-supported South.
1950 -- The Korean War begins.
1953 -- The Korean War ends in an armistice.
1985 -- North Korea becomes a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
1992 -- North and South Korea sign a joint declaration on the denuclearization of the peninsula.
1994 -- Jimmy Carter becomes the first former U.S. president to visit North Korea. The United States and North Korea sign the Agreed Framework under which Pyongyang promises to freeze its nuclear program in return for aid.
1998 -- North Korea test-fires a long-range Taepodong-1 ballistic missile, part of which flies over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean.
2000 -- The first inter-Korean summit takes place in Pyongyang. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visits North Korea.
2002 -- Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi makes historic visit to North Korea, during which Pyongyang admits to having abducted Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s.
2003 -- North Korea withdraws from the NPT. The first round of six-party nuclear talks involving the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States is held in Beijing.
2005 -- North Korea declares it has nuclear weapons. The six countries adopt a joint statement that commits North Korea to giving up its nuclear program in return for energy aid and security assurances.
2006 -- North Korea conducts its first nuclear test.
2009 -- North Korea says it will quit the six-party talks and carries out its second nuclear test.
2011 -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Il dies and is succeeded by his youngest son, Kim Jong Un.
2012 -- North Korea agrees to implement a moratorium on its nuclear and missile programs in return for food aid from the United States. But it effectively scraps the deal with a test widely seen as aimed at improving its missile capabilities.
2013 -- North Korea conducts its third nuclear test.
2014 -- North Korea test-fires medium-range Rodong ballistic missiles for the first time since 2009.
2015 -- North Korea announces restart of all its nuclear facilities.
January 2016 -- North Korea announces its first hydrogen bomb test or fourth nuclear test.
May -- North Korea's ruling party holds its first congress in 36 years.
September -- North Korea conducts fifth nuclear test.
January 2017 -- Kim Jong Un says North Korea is in the final phase of preparing to test-launch an intercontinental ballistic missile. Donald Trump takes office as U.S. president.
February -- Kim's estranged half-brother, Kim Jong Nam, is murdered in Malaysia by a highly toxic nerve agent.
June -- North Korea releases American university student who fell into a coma while imprisoned. He later dies.
July -- North Korea claims its first successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
August -- Trump and North Korea begin to exchange increasingly fiery rhetoric.
September -- North Korea conducts sixth and most powerful nuclear test.
November -- Trump announces relisting of North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism. North Korea announces its launch of a new ICBM capable of striking anywhere in the United States with a nuclear warhead and declares its nuclear force as complete.
Jan. 1 2018 -- Kim voices his readiness to send athletes to the Winter Olympics in South Korea.
Jan. 4 -- South Korea and the United States agree to postpone their annual military drills until after the Winter Olympics and Paralympics.
Jan. 9 -- North and South Korea hold their first official talks in more than two years in the truce village of Panmunjeom.
Feb. 10 -- Kim's sister invites South Korean President Moon Jae In to visit North Korea during their talks in Seoul.
March 25 -- Kim makes surprise visit to China by train for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
[Photo courtesy of Korea Media]
April 9 -- Trump says he will meet Kim in May or early June.
April 18 -- Trump reveals U.S. Secretary of State-designate Mike Pompeo's secret meeting with Kim in North Korea.
April 20 -- North Korea decides to shut down its Punggye-ri nuclear test site and suspend ICBM tests.
April 27 -- Kim and Moon meet on southern side of the truce village for the first inter-Korean summit in over a decade and agree to work toward the "complete" denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
[Korea Summit Press Pool]
May 8 -- China discloses Xi's second surprise meeting with Kim in its northeastern port city of Dalian.
May 9 -- Trump announces North Korea's release of three American hostages following Pompeo's second meeting with Kim.
May 10 -- Trump says he will meet Kim on June 12 in Singapore.
May 16 -- North Korea threatens to cancel summit with Trump.
May 24 -- North Korea says its only known nuclear site in Punggye-ri "completely" dismantled. Trump cancels the scheduled summit with Kim.
May 26 -- Moon and Kim hold a surprise meeting in the North Korean side of the truce village after Trump revives hopes of the summit in Singapore.
May 27 -- Moon and North Korea's official media unveil Kim's unchanged commitment to holding talks with Trump.
May 30 -- Pompeo and a high-ranking North Korean official, Kim Yong Chol, meet in New York.
June 1 -- Trump meets the high-ranking North Korean official at the White House and is given a letter from Kim. Trump reinstates his summit with Kim for the original date in Singapore.
[Photo courtesy of the White House]
June 12 -- Trump and Kim meet in Singapore.
