North and South Korea -- Page 13

North Korea since 1953

Chinese troops aided North Korea during the Korean War, but North Korea tried to disassociate itself from the dispute between China and the USSR during the 1960s; in 1966, North Korea declared its political independence. In 1968 tensions increased when the crew of the U.S. ship Pueblo were held and charged with spying, but neither Moscow nor Beijing intervened. President Kim Il Sung, raised to demigod status, chose his eldest son, Kim Jung Il, as his eventual successor. North Korea boycotted the 1988 Seoul Olympics when its bid to co-host the games failed. Talks between the two Koreas on trade links and cross-border visits have been held on and off since 1972, and in September 1990 their prime ministers met for the first time since the Korean War. North Korea announced in 1990 that it would seek full normalization of its relations with Japan.

The following year, in a further effort to end its growing diplomatic isolation, North Korea was granted UN membership and said that it would permit international inspection of its announced that it was withdrawing from adherence to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and refused to allow international inspection of its nuclear power sites.