2017
The relationship between North Korea and the United States was marked by missile tests and heated rhetoric, with tensions reaching heights not seen in years.

January 1, 2018
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sends a message of good will to South Korea as it prepares to host the Winter Olympics in his annual New Year’s speech. He also says the mainland United States is now in striking distance of his country’s nuclear missiles.

January 2
US President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in respond to Kim in different ways. Trump taunts Kim in a tweet about his “nuclear button.” Moon says he’s willing to enter into talks with Kim.

January 3
North Korea calls a hotline between the two countries that it hasn’t been used in nearly two years. The next day, Trump and Moon agree to call off military drills during the Olympics. Two days after that, the South Koreans announce the North has accepted an invitation for talks.

January 9
South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myung-gyun and his North Korean counterpart, Ri Son Gwon, hold talks at the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that divides the two countries, the first of their kind since December 2015. The meeting ends with North Korea agreeing to send a delegation and athletes to the Winter Olympics.

January 19
Diplomats reveal that they’ve been invited to a North Korean military parade, which will be held a day before the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony.

February 8
Kim Jong Un presides over the massive military display, which includes the intercontinental ballistic missiles launched in 2017.

February 9
The Winter Olympics kick off. US Vice President Mike Pence, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, South Korean President Moon, North Korea’s ceremonial head of state Kim Yong Nam and Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, are seated just feet away from each other at the Opening Ceremony.

February 10
Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un’s sister, extends an invite from her brother to Moon to visit Pyongyang. Moon doesn’t accept at first, saying the two countries “should accomplish this by creating the right conditions.”

February 23
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announces new sanctions on North Korea, targeting shipping and trading. North Korea had been caught multiple times violating sanctions at sea.

March 6
South Korea’s national security chief leads a delegation to Pyongyang for talks with Kim Jong Un. Kim says he is willing to talk with the United States about denuclearization. The delegation returns to South Korea the next day and announces Moon and Kim will meet in person at the DMZ.

March 8
The South Korean delegation arrives in Washington to brief Trump on their meeting with Kim Jong Un and relay a message – that the young North Korean leader is willing to meet. Trump quickly accepts the invitation.

March 27
After days of rumors – sparked by the presence of an armored North Korean train in Beijing – Chinese and North Korean state media confirm that Kim Jong Un has made his first trip abroad as leader, meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Easter weekend March 31-April 1
Then-CIA director and current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo secretly travels to Pyongyang, where he meets with Kim Jong Un. The trip isn’t revealed to the public until mid-April.

April 1
South Korean Culture Minister Do Jong-hwan travels with a group of musicians to Pyongyang, where the artists perform for Kim Jong Un. Do meets Kim and later tells CNN the North Korean leader is “completely different from the person featured in news reports.”

April 20
Kim Jong Un announces North Korea will suspend all missile tests and shut down its nuclear test site, saying the country’s quest to develop nuclear weapons and the long-range missiles to deliver them is complete.

April 27
Kim Jong Un and Moon meet in person for the first time on the south side of the DMZ. The two leaders pledge to work toward a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War and “confirmed the common goal of realizing, through complete denuclearization, a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.”

May 7 and 8
Kim Jong Un travels to Dalian, a city in northeast China, for a second meeting with President Xi. They spend two days together and have an “all-round and in-depth exchange of views,” Chinese state media reports.

May 9 and 10
Pompeo, now the US secretary of state, lands in Pyongyang for his second meeting with Kim Jong Un. The two discuss plans for the Trump-Kim summit, later scheduled for Singapore on June 12. Kim also agrees to free three Americans detained in North Korea.

May 15
North Korea suddenly postpones inter-Korean talks and threatens to cancel the summit with Trump. Pyongyang says ongoing joint US-South Korean military drills are incompatible with the spirit of the declaration signed by Moon and Kim.

May 16
North Korea again threatens to cancel the summit. A top North Korean official says Pyongyang will not unilaterally give up its nuclear weapons if pushed into a corner by the United States. The official also chastises US National Security Adviser John Bolton for publicly mentioning the case of Libya as a potential model for North Korea negotiations.

May 22
Journalists, including a team from CNN, land in the North Korean city of Wonsan. The government has invited them to witness what they say will be the destruction of its Punggye-ri nuclear test site.

May 22 (cont’d)
Moon meets with Trump to discuss the upcoming summit. Trump tells reporters that “there's a very substantial chance that it won't work out … that doesn't mean that it won't work out over a period of time, but it may not work out for June 12.” Secretary of State Pompeo tells reporters later in the day that he remains optimistic.

May 24
Foreign journalists are taken to North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site to watch officials blow up the tunnels where Pyongyang claims to have tested six nuclear weapons. No foreign nonproliferation or nuclear experts attend.

May 24 (cont’d)
Donald Trump calls off the Kim summit, a day after North Korea’s Foreign Ministry calls Vice President Mike Pence a “political dummy” and amid doubts over Pyongyang's commitment to giving up its nuclear weapons.

May 25
North Korea says it regrets Trump’s decision but is still open to sitting down with the US. Trump says he appreciates the North’s statement and hints that the summit could still happen.

May 26
Kim Jong Un and Moon hold a surprise meeting, this time on the northern side of the DMZ. Moon says Kim is still willing to denuclearize. Later the same day, Trump says “we're looking at June 12th in Singapore. That hasn't changed.” A group of US diplomats travels to North Korea the next day.

May 30
One of Kim Jong Un’s most trusted advisers, Kim Yong Chol, lands in New York for talks with Pompeo. He is the highest-ranking North Korean official to travel to the US in nearly 20 years.

June 1
Kim Yong Chol travels to Washington and meets with President Trump in the Oval Office. Later that day, Trump tells reporters the summit is back on.