| September 3 | - Seoul and
Moscow confirm “zero tolerance for North Korea’s nuclear
weapons program” and agree to strengthen strategic
communication to address the North Korean nuclear and
missile threats (in a joint press conference after a summit
meeting between the heads of state of the ROK and
Russia).
|
| September 5 |
- Seoul and Beijing share concern over
the North Korean nuclear issue and reconfirm zero tolerance
for North Korea’s nuclear weapons program (in a summit
meeting between the heads of state of the ROK and
China).
|
| September 5 |
- North Korea fires three ballistic
missiles from North Hwanghae Province into the East
Sea.
|
| September 5 | - The ROK government strongly condemns the
North’s ballistic missile launch (September 5) as a grave
provocation showing that the North’s nuclear and missile
development poses a threat to the Korean Peninsula, its
neighboring countries, and the international community (in a
statement by a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs).
|
| September 6 |
- Seoul and Washington agree to
maintain their strong deterrence against North Korea’s
nuclear weapons and missiles and to continue communication
with Beijing to address the North Korean nuclear issue (in a
statement at the joint press conference after a summit
meeting between the heads of state of the ROK and the
U.S.).
|
| September 6 |
- The UN Security Council denounces
North Korea’s ballistic missile launch (September 5) and
calls on the North to fulfil its obligations under UNSC
resolutions (in a press statement).
|
| September 7 | - Seoul and
Tokyo agree to take strong actions through trilateral
coordination between the ROK, the U.S., and Japan, as well
as close bilateral cooperation regarding North Korea’s
nuclear and missile provocations (in a summit meeting
between the heads of state of the ROK and Japan).
|
| September 7 |
- North Korea claims that the USFK should withdraw from
the South (in an “Appeal to the Entire Korean People” by the
Central Committee of the Democratic Front for the
Reunification of the Fatherland).
|
| September 7 | - Regarding
the North’s insistence on the withdrawal of the USFK
(September 7), the ROK government points out that North
Korea should consider what is the root cause of tensions on
the Korean Peninsula, calling on the North to come forward
and take the path of denuclearization and go in the right
direction of improving the livelihoods of people first (in a
regular briefing by a spokesperson for the Ministry of
Unification).
|
| September 7 |
- The Unification Minister
emphasizes that if North Korea gives up its nuclear weapons,
it will be given an opportunity to develop itself, and an
era of common prosperity for the Korean Peninsula, Northeast
Asia, and Eurasia will begin earlier (in his keynote speech
at the 2016 Eurasia City Forum).
|
| September 7 | - North Korea
proposes a “Korean youth’s meeting for reunification” with
young Koreans from South and North Korea and abroad (in an
“Appeal to the Entire Korean Youth in North and South Korea
and Abroad” by the Central Committee of the
Kimilsungist-Kimjongilist Youth League).
|
| September 8 | - The
ROK President highlights that the government will induce
North Korea to give up its nuclear program in close
cooperation with the international community based on a
solid security posture (in a video message at the opening
ceremony for the fifth Seoul Defense Dialogue).
|
| September 8 |
- The ROK government dismisses North Korea’s proposal for
a “Korean youth’s meeting for reunification” (September 7)
as part of the North’s deceptive tactics and urges the North
to show good faith - i.e. showing willingness toward
denuclearization through its actions and becoming a
responsible member of the international community (in a
press briefing by the Ministry of Unification).
|
| September 8 |
- The East Asia Summit adopts a “Statement on
Non-Proliferation” calling on North Korea to give up its
nuclear program (at the 11th East Asia Summit).
|
| September 9 |
- North Korea conducts its fifth nuclear test at the
Punggye-ri nuclear test site in Gilju-gun, North Hamgyong
Province.
|
| September 9 |
- The ROK President strongly
denounces North Korea’s fifth nuclear test and emphasizes
that the South will step up its pressure on the North by
whatever means to force the North to abandon its nuclear
program (in an emergency meeting regarding North Korea’s
fifth nuclear test).
|
| September 9 | - The ROK
government holds a National Security Council meeting chaired
by the Prime Minister and announces a government
statement.
- Strongly condemns North Korea’s fifth
nuclear test as a grave provocation that cannot be
overlooked; and sternly urges the North to immediately
dismantle its nuclear and missile programs in a complete,
verifiable, and irreversible manner.
|
| September 9 | - The ROK
President calls a meeting to check security situations and
discuss countermeasures against North Korea’s nuclear
test.
|
| September 9 |
- The UN Security Council denounces
North Korea’s fifth nuclear test (September 9) and
emphasizes that it will immediately begin preparations to
take further significant measures (in a press
statement).
|
| September 10 |
- North Korea decides to change the
objective of the 200-day battle to flood recovery in North
Hamgyong Province (in an “Appeal to All the Party Members,
Service Personnel of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) and
Other People by the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party
of Korea (WPK)).
|
| September
10 | - North Korea harshly
criticizes the ROK President’s remarks on the North (in a
letter of warning by the Korean Council for Reconciliation
and Cooperation (KCRC)).
|
| September 11 | - In response
to the KCRC’s criticism of the ROK President (September 10),
the ROK government strongly condemns North Korea’s
slandering of the head of state and its threatening of the
South and the international community and points out that
the North revealed its false perception by justifying its
reckless provocations including its fifth nuclear test (in
the government’s position on the letter of warning by the
KCRC released by the Ministry of Unification).
|
| September 12 |
- The ROK President emphasizes that North Korea’s nuclear
weapons and missiles pose a real threat to the South (in a
meeting with the representatives of three ruling and
opposition parties).
|
| September 12 | - North Korea
blasts the ROK President’s remarks on the North and argues
that the North is “protected by its unity and robust
self-defensive nuclear deterrence” (in a Q&A session
with KCNA reporters by a spokesperson for the Committee for
the Peaceful Reunification of the Country of the DPRK
(CPRC)).
|
| September 13 |
- In the face of the extreme
nuclear threat posed by North Korea, the ROK President
emphasizes that the South should respond to the North’s
nuclear threat more effectively than before (in a Cabinet
meeting).
|
| September 13 |
- Seoul and Washington agree to use
every possible means to pressure Pyongyang in response to
North Korea’s fifth nuclear test (in a joint press
conference after a meeting between chief delegates to the
Six-Party Talks from the ROK and the U.S.).
|
| September 13 |
- Seoul discusses countermeasures against North Korea’s
nuclear test with Beijing and Moscow (in a series of
telephone calls between the foreign ministers of the ROK,
China, and Russia).
|
| September 13 | - North Korea
severely criticizes the ROK President and threatens to “turn
Seoul into a sea of fire,” citing the President’s remarks on
the North’s fifth nuclear test and the ROK government’s
response plan (in a statement by a spokesperson for the
Korean Asia-Pacific Peace Committee).
|
| September 15 | - North
Korea insists that it is ready to initiate attacks in
response to the U.S.’s strategic bomber flight over the
Korean Peninsula (September 13) (in a speech by Foreign
Minister Ri Yong Ho at a ministerial meeting of the 17th
Non-Aligned Movement Summit).
|
| September 17 | - North Korea
emphasizes the legitimacy of its possessing nuclear weapons
(in a speech by Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme
People's Assembly Kim Yong Nam at the 17th Non-Aligned
Movement Summit).
|
| September
18 | - Foreign Ministers from the
ROK, the U.S., and Japan announce a joint statement and
discuss countermeasures against North Korea’s fifth nuclear
test.
|
| September 20 |
- North Korea claims the successful
ground test of a new satellite rocket engine (in a KCNA
report).
|
| September 20 |
- UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
urges North Korean leaders to fulfill their obligations to
the North Korean people and the international community (in
his speech at the opening ceremony of the 71st session of
the General Assembly).
|
| September 20 | - North Korea
denounces the joint statement by the ROK-U.S.-Japanese
foreign ministers and threatens that it “will take multiple,
continual strong countermeasures” (in a Q&A session with
KCNA reporters by a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs).
|
| September 21 |
- The ROK National Assembly adopts
a statement condemning North Korea’s fifth nuclear test and
calling for the abandonment of its nuclear program.
|
| September 21 | - The “Friends of the CTBT” Foreign
Ministers’ meeting adopts a joint statement urging North
Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons and nuclear
program.
|
| September 22 |
- The ROK President declares the
current security situation to be the most grave ever and
emphasizes that North Korea’s nuclear test was not due to
the South and the international community refusing to engage
in dialogue (in a chief secretary meeting).
|
| September 22 | - The
Unification Minister asserts that if we are to induce North
Korea to give up its nuclear program, we must make North
Korea realize that its determined development of nuclear
weapons is reckless and wrong (in his congratulatory speech
at the symposium of the Korea Institute for National
Unification).
|
| September
22 | - Seoul and Beijing share the
need for swift and strong responses to North Korea’s nuclear
test (in a meeting between chief delegates to the Six-Party
Talk from the ROK and China).
|
| September 22 | - Regarding
the flight of U.S. long-range strategic bombers (September
21), North Korea threatens that “North Korea’ nuclear
warheads will turn Seoul, where the Blue House (Cheongwadae)
and reactionary ruling machines are based, into a heap of
ashes” (in a statement by a spokesperson for the General
Staff Department of the KPA)
|
| September 22 | - North Korea
condemns the ROK for using the North’s disaster as a cunning
ploy to escalate confrontations (in a statement by a
spokesperson for the Central Committee of the DPRK Red Cross
Society).
|
| September 23 |
- Seoul and Beijing agree to adopt
a strong UNSC resolution (in a meeting between chief
delegates to the Six-Party Talks from the ROK and
China).
|
| September 23 |
- As North Korea, which threatens
peace on the Korean Peninsula and around the world, has made
mention of turning Seoul into a heap of ashes, the ROK
government points out the “sheer audacity of the thief,”
warning North Korea to immediately desist from such talk and
behavior (in a press release by the Ministry of National
Defense).
|
| September 23 |
- In response to the statement by a
spokesperson for the Central Committee of the DPRK Red Cross
Society (September 22), the ROK government criticizes that
North Korea is trying to gain assistance from the outside
world through propaganda while not making efforts at all,
arguing that such ambivalent attitude deserves criticism (in
a regular briefing by a spokesperson for the Ministry of
Unification).
|
| September
23 | - North Korea advocates its
nuclear armament and denounces the U.S. (in a keynote speech
by Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho at the 71st session of the UN
General Assembly).
|
| September
28 | - The Center for North Korean
Human Rights Documentation and Research under the Ministry
of Unification opens.
|
| September 29 | - One North
Korean soldier defects to the South.
|
| September 30 | - The ROK
President emphasizes that the North Korean nuclear threat is
like a dagger beneath one’s chin and that if it is not
addressed immediately, it will someday do much damage to the
people of the ROK and the U.S. (in a luncheon with USFK
officials at the Blue House).
|
| September 30 | - The
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) unanimously adopts
a resolution condemning North Korea’ nuclear test (at the
60th session of the IAEA General Conference).
|
| September 30 |
- The ROK government announces the final site for the
deployment of THAAD (in a press release by the Ministry of
National Defense).
|
