SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — After North Korea’s first test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile last week, the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, has moved one step closer to perfecting a nuclear missile capable of reaching the United States, a weapons program launched by his grandfather
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — After North Korea’s first test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile last week, the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, has moved one step closer to perfecting a nuclear missile capable of reaching the United States, a weapons program launched by his grandfather and nurtured by his father.
The three generations of the Kim family have run North Korea with an absolute rule that tolerates no dissent. They have devoted much of the country’s scarce resources to its military but have constantly feared Washington is intent on destroying their dynastic rule. They concluded that a powerful nuclear deterrent against potential U. S. aggression would guarantee their survival.
A look at how North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs have evolved under each of the three Kims.
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THE PATRIARCH: KIM IL SUNG (1948-1994)
1948: Kim Il Sung, a former guerrilla leader fighting against Japan’s colonial rule, establishes the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the northern half of the Korean Peninsula.
1950: Kim’s army invades South Korea, triggering the three-year Korean War. The United States fights alongside South Korea while China backs North Korea.
1985: North Korea joins the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. But the country doesn’t allow inspections required by the pact, arousing suspicions that it’s engaging in clandestine work to develop atomic weapons.
1993: North Korea announces its withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, touching off an international nuclear crisis.
July 1994: Kim Il Sung dies of a heart attack at age 82. His son and longtime heir apparent, Kim Jong Il, takes power.
