2018 in North Korea

2018 in North Korea was marked by attempts by the government to develop its international relationships, particularly in regards to South Korea. In February, North Korean athletes marched alongside their South Korean counterparts under the Korean Unification Flag at the 2018 Seoul Olympic Games. North Korea's Kim Jong-Un met with South Korea's Moon Jae-in three times during the year. Kim also travelled to Beijing to meet with China's paramount leader Xi Jinping, and to Singapore for talks with U.S. President Donald Trump.

← 2017 2016 2015 2018 in North Korea → 2019 2020 2021
Centuries:	20th 21st
Decades:	1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
See also:	Other events of 2018 Years in North Korea Timeline of Korean history 2018 in South Korea

Incumbents

• Party Chairman and State Chairman: Kim Jong-un
• President of the Supreme People's Assembly: Kim Yong-nam
• Premier: Pak Pong-ju^[1]

January

• 1 January: Kim Jong-un announces in his New Year's speech that North Korea may participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics.^[1] The announcement came after a period of uncertainty caused by the North Korean national Olympic committee's failure to enter the only North Korean athletes that had qualified.^[2]
• 3 January: The Seoul–Pyongyang hotline is restored to use after almost two years in preparation for high-level talks concerning North Korea's participation in the Winter Olympics.^[3]
• 9 January: North and South Korea agree in the high-level talks for more than two years that North Korean athletes will enter the Winter Olympics.^[4][5]
• 20 January: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirms that North Korea will participate in the Winter Olympics with a team of 22 athletes, 12 of whom are ice hockey players who will play together with South Korean players under the IOC designation Korea (COR) in the women's tournament.^[6]

February

 

North and South Korea marched together under the Korean Unification Flag at the 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony.

• 8 February: A military parade of 13,000 soldiers is held in Pyongyang. The February 8 date is unusual for parades which are usually held on the Day of the Sun (15 April) or the Military Foundation Day (25 April).(^[7]
• 9 February: North and South Korean athletes march together under the Korean Unification Flag at the 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in the attendance of Kim Yong-nam and Kim Yo-jong.^[8]

• North Korean media confirms that Hwang Pyong-so had been fired from his post, the Director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People's Army. According to South Korean sources, the sacking was due to corruption.^[9]

March

 

Chung Eui-yong of the South Korean delegation shakes hands with Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang.

• March 5: A South Korean delegation visits Pyongyang to hold talks with Kim Jong-un, agreeing to organize a 2018 North Korea–United States summit with Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump.^[10]
• March 28: Kim Jong-un met with China's paramount leader Xi Jinping for the first time in Beijing.^[11]

April

• April 27: Kim Jong-un meets with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the Inter-Korean Peace House, in the village of Panmunjom.^[12]

May

• May 2: North Korea released three detained US prisoners.^[13]
• May 12: North Korea confirms they will open territorial air space and invite foreign media to cover the dismantling of their nuclear test site.^[14]
• May 15: North Korea threatens to cancel 2018 North Korea–United States summit with United States President Donald Trump amid American military exercises with South Korea.^[15]
• May 24: Foreign journalists report that tunnels in the Punggye-ri nuclear test site have been destroyed by the North Korean government in a move to reduce regional tensions.^[16]

June

 

Kim Jong-un (left) and Donald Trump (right) shaking hands

• June 12: Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un meets with US President Donald Trump in Sentosa Island, Singapore.

September

• September 9: A military parade in central in honor of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the DPRK. The parade, which was held on Day of the Foundation of the Republic, was attended by Russian Federation Council Chairman Valentina Matviyenko and Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, as well as delegations from Cuba, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, the Dominican Republic, Uganda, and South Africa.
• September 18–20: September 2018 inter-Korean summit

October

November

• November 4–6: President of the Council of State of Cuba Miguel Díaz-Canel visits North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang.

December

• December 3: Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev of the Russian Orthodox Church visited North Korea, meeting with officials and leading a service at the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in Pyongyang.^[17]

Scheduled events

• North Korea at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics

See also

• List of years in North Korea
• 2017–18 North Korea crisis
• Vancouver Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on Security and Stability on Korean Peninsula
• Kim–Xi meetings

References

1. Heekyong Yang; Smith, Josh (1 January 2018). "North Korea's Kim 'open to dialogue' with South Korea, will only use nukes if threatened". Reuters. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
2. Axon, Rachel (10 December 2017). "IOC encourages North Koreans to compete in Pyeongchang, but it's unclear if they will". USA Today. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
3. Kim, Hyung-Jin (3 January 2018). "North Korea reopens cross-border communication channel with South Korea". Chicago Tribune. AP. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
4. Sang-Hun, Choe (8 January 2018). "North Korea to Send Athletes to Olympics in South Korea Breakthrough". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
5. "North Korea accepts Olympics talks offer". BBC News. 5 January 2018. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
6. "N. Korea to send 22 athletes in three sports to PyeongChang Winter Olympics: IOC". Yonhap. 18 January 2018. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
7. Berlinger, Joshua (7 February 2018). "North Korea sends clear message with missile parade on eve of Olympics". CNN. Retrieved 2018-02-09.
8. Talmadge, Eric (9 February 2018). . ABC News. AP. Archived from the original on 9 February 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
9. . Channel NewsAsia. 9 February 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-02-10. Retrieved 2018-02-09.
10. Landler, Mark (8 March 2018). "North Korea Asks for Direct Nuclear Talks, and Trump Agrees". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
11. "North Korea's Kim Jong Un visited China for secret summit". NBC News. NBC News. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
12. "Behind-the-scenes stories of 2018 inter-Korea summit unveiled". The Straits Times. 30 April 2018. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
13. "North Korea reportedly hands Trump another big win by releasing US prisoners". Business Insider. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
14. Delk, Josh (12 May 2018). "North Korea will open air space, invite media to cover dismantlement of nuclear test site". The Hill. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
15. Samuels, Brett (15 May 2018). "North Korea warns US it could pull out of planned summit with Trump". The Hill. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
16. "North Korea nuclear test tunnels at Punggye-ri 'destroyed'". BBC News. 24 May 2018. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
17. Rinna, Anthony (3 December 2018). "Why Moscow sent a top Orthodox Church official to Pyongyang". NK News.

Further reading

• Shin, Gi-Wook; Moon, Rennie J. (2019). "North Korea in 2018: Kim's Summit Diplomacy". Asian Survey. 59 (1): 35–43. doi:10.1525/as.2019.59.1.35. ISSN 0004-4687.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2018 in North Korea.

 

Wikinews has news related to:

North Korea

• Kim Jong Un (1 January 2018). "New Year Address". Naenara.
• Kim Sung Il (3 January 2018). "New calendars reflect North Koreans' disinterest in propaganda". Daily NK.
• Seol Song Ah (15 December 2017). "Kim Jong Un's birthday still not a national holiday". Daily NK.
• — (20 December 2017). "North Koreans shun propaganda calendars". Daily NK.