| February 1 | - North Korea
threatens South Korea regarding the ROK-US joint military
exercises and asks the South to consider its proposal to
improve inter-Korean relations (in a statement by a
spokesperson for the Committee for the Peaceful
Reunification of the Country of the DPRK (CPRC).
|
| February 2 |
- The ROK government strongly condemns the North’s threat
against the South (February 1) for distorting the truth of
the annual ROK-US joint military drills and mentioning
nuclear strike capability and preemptive attacks (in a
regular briefing by a spokesperson for the Ministry of
Unification).
|
| February 7 |
- Seoul and Washington define the
North Korean nuclear issue as an “imminent threat” and agree
to take common approaches (in a telephone call between the
Foreign Minister of the ROK and the US Secretary of
State).
|
| February 12 |
- North Korea fires a ballistic
missile from Panghyon, North Pyongan Province.
|
| February 12 |
- The Blue House discusses ways to strongly respond to the
North’s provocations in cooperation with the international
community regarding North Korea’s ballistic missile launch
(February 12) (at a meeting of the Standing Committee of the
National Security Council).
|
| February 12 | - The ROK
government declares North Korea’s ballistic missile launch
to be a violation of the UN Security Council resolutions and
a threat to the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula
and the international community (in a statement on North
Korea’s ballistic missile launch by the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs).
|
| February 13 |
- The ROK Coast Guard finds a
drifting North Korean ship and rescues five crewmen (in a
regular briefing by a spokesperson for the Ministry of
Unification on February 15).
|
| February 13 | - Kim Jong Nam
is killed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
|
| February 15 | - The ROK
government checks the developments in North Korea and any
provocative moves regarding the death of Kim Jong Nam and
discusses the background for his death (at a meeting of the
Standing Committee of the National Security Council).
|
| February 16 | - Seoul and Washington exchange opinions
on mutual concerns including the ROK-US alliance, the North
Korea and North Korean nuclear issues, and regional
circumstances, and discuss specific ways to improve policy
coordination between the ROK and the US (at a meeting
between the Foreign Minister of the ROK and the US Secretary
of State in Bonn, Germany).
|
| February 16 | - Seoul,
Washington, and Tokyo share the perception that the North
Korean nuclear threat is urgent and serious, discuss how to
apply full pressure and sanctions on North Korea to change
the North’s calculus, and adopt a joint statement on the
nuclear situation in North Korea (at a meeting between the
foreign ministers of the ROK and Japan and the Secretary of
State of the US in Bonn, Germany).
|
| February 17 | - North
Korea expresses its dissatisfaction with the autopsy of Kim
Jong Nam’s body and demands the immediate handover of the
body (in a press conference by the North Korean Ambassador
to Malaysia).
|
| February
18 | - The ROK Foreign Minister
calls on the international community to be united and to
take special measures in order to address the North Korean
nuclear issue (in a keynote speech at the special session on
the Korean Peninsula of the Munich Security Conference in
Munich, Germany).
|
| February
18 | - The ROK government
repatriates five crewmen rescued on the East Sea on February
13 (via Panmunjeom).
|
| February 19 | - The ROK
government announces its position on the murder of Kim Jong
Nam that many circumstances indicate that the man killed is
definitely Kim and that North Korea was behind the incident
(in a commentary on Malaysia’s announcement of criminal
investigation into the murder of Kim Jong Nam by a
spokesperson for the Ministry of Unification).
|
| February 20 |
- The ROK government discusses measures regarding the
murder of Kim Jong Nam (at a meeting of the Standing
Committee of the National Security Council).
|
| February 20 |
- North Korea refutes the allegation that it was behind
the death of Kim Jong Nam, asserting that it cannot believe
the investigation findings by the Malaysian police (in a
press conference by the North Korean Ambassador to
Malaysia).
|
| February 23 |
- North Korea states that the North
Korean resident (Kim Jong Nam) “died of a heart attack” and
denies that North Korea masterminded the death (in a
statement by a spokesperson for the Korean Jurists
Committee).
|
| February 23 |
- The ROK government refutes the
North’s claim that the death of Kim Jong Nam was a political
scheme by South Korea (February 23) as farfetched sophistry
(in a regular briefing by a spokesperson for the Ministry of
Unification).
|
| February 25 |
- The Unification Minister delivers
a message that North Korea can survive only if it changes
while emphasizing that the ROK, China, and Japan can
continue to coexist only if they cooperate with each other
(in a congratulatory speech at a symposium of the Korean
Political Science Association).
|
| February 27 | - In response
to the Malaysian government’s announcement that the VX nerve
agent was used in the murder of Kim Jong Nam, the ROK
government strongly condemns the use of such a chemical
weapon against a civilian and emphasizes that it will take a
coordinated response with the international community (in a
regular briefing by a spokesperson for the Ministry of
Unification).
|
| February 27 |
- The Unification Minister
underscores that we have to make North Korea realize that it
cannot survive by a reign of terror (in a congratulatory
speech at the Biblical Unification Forum for National
Unity).
|
| February 27 |
- The Foreign Minister emphasizes that
the international community should focus on holding the
human rights violators in North Korea responsible (in a
keynote speech in a high-level segment of the 34th session
of the UN Human Rights Council).
|
| February 28 | - The Foreign
Minister urges the international community to take stern
response to address the North Korean weapons of mass
destruction issue (in a keynote speech at a high-level
session of the Geneva Disarmament Conference in Geneva,
Switzerland).
|
| February 28 |
- Seoul, Washington, and Tokyo
discuss various matters including the murder of Kim Jong
Nam, North Korea’s further provocations, and pressure and
sanctions on North Korea (in a meeting between the chief
delegates to the Six-Party Talks from the ROK, the US, and
Japan, in Washington D.C.).
|
| February 28 | - North Korea
asserts that it has neither used nor possessed chemical
weapons and criticizes the ROK government for denouncing the
North’s chemical weapons threat and for suggesting that
Pyongyang could lose its UN seat because of the use of
chemical weapons, saying that “it is a nasty and ridiculous
argument” (at the UN Disarmament Conference in Geneva,
Switzerland).
|
