Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)
Ambassador Pak Gil Yon
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was founded in 1948 in the post-World War II division of the Korean peninsula into American and Soviet spheres of influence. The DPRK became a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 1974 and acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1985, pledging not to attempt to develop nuclear weapons. In the early 1990s, however, evidence mounted that North Korea had a nuclear weapons program. This led to a confrontation with the United States and North Korea’s withdrawal from the IAEA on June 13, 1994, and threatened withdrawal from the NPT….
