2017 in North Korea


In the year 2017, North Korea was involved in the 2017 North Korea crisis, along with other events. The country conducted a nuclear test in September, and several missile tests throughout the year. One of these was the country's first successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, Hwasong-14. Two missiles were launched over Hokkaido in the Japanese archipelago, in August and in September 2017.

Incumbents

Events

Inclusion and organization of events

This timeline categorizes 2017 events relevant to North Korea in two groups: North Korea's own actions and internal developments, and the international community interacting or reacting to North Korea. For example, if North Korea launches a missile, that is an event originating in North Korea and would be nested on the left side. And when the United Nations Security Council approves a resolution admonishing North Korea in connection with its tests, that is an event originating from an outside entity but directly relevant to the country, and is listed on the right side.
Note that the dates mostly reflect the publication of the news. News that span more than one day are usually listed according to the earliest day the event begun or was reported, or, they are listed by month but not by day.

March

North KoreaSouth Korea and International
Mar 3: North Korea has finished construction of a new hydropower plant in North Hwanghae Province.Mar 5: N.K. declares Malaysia's ambassador persona non grata and had ordered him to leave.Mar 6: N.K. launches four ballistic missiles. The missiles took off from Tongchang-ri, in the Northwest, and some flew 620 miles before falling into the sea between N.K. and Japan. The move prompted US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to embark on a diplomatic mission ten days later to Japan, South Korea and China, in an effort to resolve the heightened international tension in the region S.K. defense officials later said the projectiles were Scud-ER ballistic missiles with a 620-mile range.Mar 7: N.K. bans all Malaysians from leaving its soil, as retaliations escalate over diplomatic rift after Kim Jong-nam's death.
  • * Mar 9: N.K. allows two Malaysian employees of the United Nations' World Food Program to leave the country, while 9 remain retained.Mar 10: Commercial satellite imagery reveals that N.K. is continuing to excavate a tunnel at its Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site, which may support an explosion up to 14 times more powerful than its last test.
  • *While the [September 2016 in North Korea|2016 North Korean nuclear test|5th nuclear test] was estimated as 15-20 kilotons, the site is now ready to test up to 282 kilotons.Mar 13: N.K. boycotts a U.N. review of its human rights record.
  • Mar 16: It is reported that the number of official markets in North Korea has been quickly growing.
  • Mar 17: It is reported that Kim Jong Un instructed Ministry of State Security officials to refrain from threatening people in order to extort bribes. It is unclear why and how long this new policy will last.Mar 19: N.K. claims that it conducted a successful ground jet test of a newly developed high-thrust missile engine. This could be progress towards developing an ICBM.
  • Mar 20: Some reports say that prices for market goods are fluctuating. This may be an indicator of the State's losing princing control, in favor of market forces.March 22: N.K. fires a missile off its east coast on Wednesday, but the test apparently fails.
  • Mar 23: In two among numerous recurrent statements, N.K. vows to continue to take nuclear deterrent steps against the U.S.' hard-line policy toward it.
  • *In part N.K. says this is in response to South Korea-U.S. joint military drills taking place in March.
  • *For the first time N.K. also said that it had been testing missile launch drills regularly, and that it would continue to do so.
  • Mar 24: S.K. officials say that N.K. is all set for its 6th nuclear test.Mar 25: More reports point to N.K. has been increasingly hacking numerous financial institutions. S.K. officials estimate that N.K.'s "hacking network is immense, encompassing a group of 1,700 hackers", which are based outside N.K. They are reported to have shifted the hacking focus to making money, attacking banks and private companies, apparently because the North's other means of raising foreign currency are increasingly blocked under United Nations sanctions.
Mar 1: S.K. and U.S. kick-off their annual, month long joint military training exercise involving ground, air and naval forces. N.K. hints it may react with more missile tests.Mar 2: Malaysia scraps visa-free entry for North Koreans.Mar 4: The New York Times reports that three years earlier, U.S. President Obama ordered Pentagon officials to intensify cyber and electronic strikes against North Korea's missile program in hopes of sabotaging test launches in their opening seconds.Mar 4: The government of Malaysia expels North Korea's ambassador, after a major break in diplomatic relations following the assassination of Kim Jong-nam. The ambassador had made inflammatory accusations and had refused to be questioned in connection with Kim's death.Mar 5: The S.K. Ministry of Unification announces plans to increase payment for N.K. defectors who provide valuable information concerning "national security".Mar 6: Deployment of the U.S. THAAD missile defense in S.K. is progressing, and China continues to protest and economically retaliate against S.K.
  • Mar 7: Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE Corp agrees to plead guilty and pay nearly $900 million in a U.S. sanctions case.
  • *A U.S. investigation found that ZTE conspired to evade U.S. embargoes by buying U.S. components, incorporating them into ZTE equipment and illegally shipping them to Iran. In addition, it was charged in connection with 283 shipments of telecommunications equipment to N.K.
  • * This was the largest civil penalty ever levied in a Commerce export control case. The investigation was triggered by Reuters' investigative journalism.Mar 8: North Korean banks subject to international sanctions have recently been banned by Swift from using its global financial messaging service, after Swift was caught in violation of sanctions by the UN.
  • * Seven blacklisted North Korean banks had continued to use the Swift network in recent years despite the UN Security Council sanctions. Later, four had voluntarily withdrawn, leaving three banks identified as Bank of East Land, Korea Daesong Bank and Korea Kwangson Banking Corp. UN investigators uncovered evidence that the North Korean banks had continued to use Swift's services despite being subjected to UN sanctions. Upon publication of the UN report, Belgian authorities ordered Swift to ban those banks from using its services.
  • * However, the tighter enforcement of these sanctions may be ineffectual if China continues to allow N.K. to move funds between the two countries.
  • *Mar 14: The Wall Street Journal reported that despite U.S. sanctions four N.K. banks still remain connected with the international financial system through Swift.
  • **These banks are: Foreign Trade Bank, Kumgang Bank, Koryo Credit Development Bank, and North East Asia Bank.
  • **The loophole was possible because Swift is required by law to comply with U.N. sanctions, but doesn't have to abide by U.S. law if its activities do not fall under U.S. jurisdiction, the report said.Mar 13: After the one-year anniversary of the S.K.'s new North Korean Human Rights Law, its centerpiece North Korean Human Rights Foundation, is yet to be created due to political divisions.
  • Mar 15: Malaysia says DNA sample confirms murdered Kim Jong Nam's identity. N.K. accused of the murder, has denied the victim was Kim Jong Nam.
  • Mar 16: Malaysia prepares to deport 50 North Koreans, detained by the government for overstaying their visas.Mar 17: The U.S. Secretary of State visits Seoul.
  • * He stated that two decades of international efforts to end the North's nuclear weapons and missile programs had failed, and noted that "the policy of strategic patience has ended”.
  • *However, analysts doubt that other, new policy options are available. The policy in fact continues to consist of military deterrence, economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation.
  • * He explicitly rejected any return to the bargaining table in an effort to buy time by halting North Korea's accelerating testing program. Negotiations “can only be achieved by denuclearizing, giving up their weapons of mass destruction,” he said — a step to which the North committed in 1992, and again in subsequent accords, but has always violated. “Only then will we be prepared to engage them in talks.”
  • * He warned that all options should be on the table to stop them, including possible pre-emptive military action “if they elevate the threat of their weapons program” to an unacceptable level.
  • Mar 19: The U.S. Secretary of State visits China. N.K. issues are prominent in talks, but no new agreements come out of it. Disagreements over THAAD continue, and China's economic retaliation for it against S.K., continue.Mar 22: It is reported that the U.S. is investigating N.K.'s possible role in the theft of $81 million from the central bank of Bangladesh in 2016, in what security officials fear could be a new front in cyberwarfare.Mar 24:The UN Human Rights Council adopts a resolution to authorize the use of criminal justice experts to devise legal strategies for eventual prosecutions of violations by NK. This follows an in-depth 2014 human rights report that recommended prosecution. Actual prosecution remains uncertain.Mar 30: Kim Jong-nam's body is released by Malaysia to N.K. Negotiations between the two countries also resulted a reduction of diplomatic tensions, the release of the 9 Malaysian citizens retained in N.K., and N.K. citizens in Malaysia also being allowed to travel to their home country.

    • April

    North KoreaSouth Korea and International
    Apr 2: Report indicates that Pyongyang is seeing a construction boom of skyscrapers and apartment buildings.Apr 4: N.K. test-fires another intermediate range ballistic missile, a day before a U.S.-China summit.Apr 6: N.K. called the U.S. strike on Syria an "intolerable act of aggression against a sovereign state", and said the strike showed it was justified in bolstering its own defenses.Apr 9: N.K. holds its annual international marathon in Pyongyang.Apr 11: N.K. announces its readiness to declare war on the U.S. after the country previously stated that they felt threatened as U.S. military forces approach the Korean Peninsula.Apr 12: New satellite images suggest that N.K. might soon conduct another underground detonation in its effort to learn how to make nuclear arms, it would be its 6th test.
    • * Estimates that N.K. may soon test a nuclear device are strengthened by the proximity to April 15, a national day in N.K. that commemorates the birth of Kim Il Sung, and that in prior years has been highlighted with a nuclear test or missile test.Apr 15: N.K. celebrates the Day of the Sun, 105th birthday of Kim's grandfather, the country's founder-president, Kim Il Sung. In a major military parade in Pyongyang, N.K. displayed its long-range missiles. N.K. does not carry out another nuclear test or ballistic missile launch, against widespread speculation that it would seek to do so on this day.Apr 16: N.K. attempts to launch a ballistic missile test from its east coast, but fails.Apr 29: N.K. tests another missile, which also fails shortly after launch.
    		Apr 5: U.S. Treasury issued an alert to financial institutions about the results of an intergovernmental meeting that blacklisted North Korea as a money laundering concern. The alert follows a measure taken by the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network in 2016, that identified North Korea as a jurisdiction of money laundering concern under the USA Patriot Act.Apr 5: China arrests South Korean pastors for helping North Koreans flee the regime.Apr 5: U.S. Secretary of States react's to N.K. latest missile test with a brief a cryptic statement: "North Korea launched yet another intermediate range ballistic missile. The United States has spoken enough about North Korea. We have no further comment.". In a phone call to prime minister Shinzo Abe, U.S. president Trump promises to boost US military capabilities after Pyongyang fired ballistic missile.Apr 6: Mongolia deregisters more North Korean vessels, following UN Security Council Resolution 2321.Apr 6: U.S. bombs Syria to punish the regime's use of chemical weapons. It is also seen as the Trump administration signaling N.K. its willingness to use military force to compel N.K. to stop its development of nuclear bombing capabilities.Apr 7: China and U.S. leaders Trump and Xi meet. Trump seeks Xi's cooperation in dealing with N.K., but states he is prepared to act alone. No specific commitments resulted from this meeting.Apr 8: The U.S. announces the rerouting of the Carl Vinson Strike Group from its original planned route from Singapore to Australia, to the West Pacific, near the Korean Peninsula.
  • * This is in response to N.K.'s recent nuclear and missile tests, which the U.S. calls "The number one threat in the region", and discourage further tests. There are also recent indications from North Korea that it may about to test an intercontinental missile.
  • April 11: Reacting to worries and conjecture spreading in S.K. of a possible pre-emptive American military strike on nuclear-armed N.K., the government sought to reassure citizens that there would be no such attack without its consent.Apr 12: China orders its military to be on nationwide alert and ready to move, in areas North Korea border, as tensions escalate on the peninsula.Apr 12: China's leader Xi calls U.S. President Trump to advocate for a "peaceful resolution" in tensions with N.K.Apr 13: Trump warns N.K. to back down from a soon-expected nuclear test. Trump's remark are taken as a threat of military action against the North.Apr 14: The Chinese government is reported to be strengthening its diplomatic efforts to defuse tensions between N.K. and the U.S. China's foreign minister Wang Yi states that “The United States and South Korea and North Korea are engaging in tit for tat, with swords drawn and bows bent, and there have been storm clouds gathering”.Apr 18: It is revealed that when the Carl Vinson carrier group was announced on April 8 to be heading to the Korean peninsula as a deterrent to N.K., due to a "glitch-ridden sequence of events" it was actually heading in the opposite direction. Finally, it did change course and start heading there, with an arrival expected a week later.

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