| September 3 | - North Korea
conducts its sixth nuclear test in the Punggye-ri area in
Kilju County, North Hamgyong Province (A 5.7 magnitude
artificial earthquake was detected).
|
| September 3 | - The ROK
government “will not tolerate North Korea advancing its
nuclear and missile programs” (in a briefing by the chief of
the National Security Office regarding the results of a
National Security Council meeting)./li>
|
| September 4 | - Seoul
and Washington agree to maximize pressure on North Korea by
all possible means and to lift the limits on South Korea’s
missile payloads under the ROK-US missile guidelines (in a
telephone call between the presidents of the ROK and the
US).
|
| September 7 | - ROK President Moon Jae-in says that “If
it sees Northeast Asian countries succeed in economic
cooperation, North Korea will realize that its participation
is in its best interests” (in his keynote speech at the
third Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok).
|
| September 11 |
- North Korea condemns the UN Security Council’s moves to
adopt additional sanctions on the North and issues threats
(in a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
- - “The next actions we will take will make the US face
unprecedented suffering.”
|
| September 11 | - The UN
Security Council unanimously adopts Resolution 2375 imposing
new sanctions on North Korea.
|
| September 13 | - North Korea
expresses its tough stance on UNSC Resolution 2375 (in a
press release by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
- - “The adoption of another illegal and evil ‘resolution
on sanctions’ served as an occasion for the DPRK to verify
that the road it chose to go down was absolutely right and
to strengthen its resolve to follow this road at a faster
pace without the slightest diversion until this fight to the
finish is over.”
|
| September
14 | - The ROK President says that
“I do not agree that South Korea needs to develop its own
nuclear weapons or relocate tactical nuclear weapons in the
face of North Korea’s nuclear threat” (in an interview with
CNN).
|
| September 15 |
- North Korea fires one Hwasong-12
ballistic missile from Sunan Airport in Pyongyang into the
East Sea.
|
| September 16 |
- North Korea reports that Kim Jong
Un ordered and oversaw the Hwasong-12 missile launch (in a
KCNA report).
- - Kim Jong Un emphasized “the need to
put an end to them with all-state efforts as it has nearly
reached the terminal.”
|
| September 17 | - Seoul and
Washington agree to cooperate more closely and to work with
the international community to seek stronger and more
practical measures against Pyongyang (in a telephone call
between the presidents of the ROK and the US).
|
| September 18 |
- The ROK President says that “The government will seek
stern punishment through international cooperation, giving
North Korea no other choice but to give up its nuclear
weapons and missiles” (in a video message for the opening of
the Pacific Armies Chiefs Conference in Seoul).
|
| September 18 |
- North Korea warns that “Pursuit by the US and its allies
of more sanctions will only increase our pace towards the
ultimate completion of the ‘state nuclear force’” (in a
statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
|
| September 18 |
- The US flies two B-1Bs and four F-35Bs over the Korean
Peninsula and conducts a bombing exercise in response to
North Korea’s launch of the Hwasong-12.
|
| September 19 | - US
President Trump delivers a keynote speech to the UN General
Assembly.
- - “If it is forced to defend itself or its
allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North
Korea ... The United States is ready, willing, and able, but
hopefully this will not be necessary ... It is time for
North Korea to realize that the denuclearization is its only
acceptable future.”
|
| September 20 | - In response
to Trump’s address to the UN General Assembly, North Korea
says that “There is a saying that marching goes on even when
dogs bark ... If they are trying to shock us with the sound
of a dog’s bark, they are clearly having a dog dream” (in an
interview by Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho).
|
| September 21 | - The
ROK government decides to render some funds of the
Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund to programs such as those for
North Korean mothers and children’s health and nutrition by
way of UNICEF and the World Food Program (at the 286th
Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Promotion
Council).
|
| September 21 |
- Kim Jong Un, chairman of the
State Affairs Commission, releases a statement.
- -
“Now that Trump has denied the existence of and insulted me
and my country in front of the eyes of the world and made
the most ferocious declaration of war in history that he
would destroy the D.P.R.K. [Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea], we will consider with seriousness exercising a
corresponding, highest level, hard-line countermeasure in
history.”
|
| September 21 |
- Seoul, Washington, and Tokyo
agree on the need to apply sanctions on North Korea in a
robust manner (at a luncheon meeting between the leaders of
the ROK, the US, and Japan in New York).
|
| September 21 | - ROK
President Moon Jae-in delivers a keynote speech to the UN
General Assembly.
- - “I hope North Korea will be
able to choose on its own a path leading to peace ... The
situation surrounding the North Korean nuclear issue needs
to be managed stably so that tensions will not become overly
intensified or accidental military clashes will not destroy
peace ... We need the United Nations to play a more active
role on the Korean Peninsula ... I will make wholehearted
endeavors until the end in cooperation with the IOC in order
to welcome the North Koreans to the PyeongChang Winter
Olympics.”
|
| September 21 |
- US President Trump signs an
executive order that expands US sanctions on any financial
institutions that do business with North Korea.
|
| September 22 |
- Regarding the statement by Kim Jong Un, North Korea says
that “The DPRK government would consider a hydrogen bomb
test of an unprecedented scale in the Pacific Ocean” (in an
interview by Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho).
|
| September 23 |
- North Korea says that “We will take preventive measures
by merciless preemptive action in case the US and its vassal
forces show any sign of conducting a kind of ‘decapitating’
operation on our headquarters or military attack against our
country” (in a speech to the UN General Assembly by Foreign
Minister Ri Yong Ho).
|
| September 23 | - The US
flies two B-1Bs and six F-15C fighter jets through
international airspace over waters east of North Korea.
|
| September 25 | - North Korea maintains that “Trump
claimed that our leadership wouldn’t be around much longer
and declared war on our country” and that “Since the United
States declared war on our country, we have every right to
take all defensive counter measures, including shooting down
the United States strategic bombers at any time even when
they are not yet inside the airspace of our country” (in a
statement by Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho).
|
| September 26 | - ROK
President Moon Jae-in says that “Many elements of the
October 4 Declaration can still be implemented ... I hope
that the two Koreas will be able to announce that the
October 4 Declaration is still valid” (in his speech on the
10th anniversary of the October 4 Declaration of the 2007
Inter-Korean Summit).
|
| September 26 | - The US
Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets
Control designates eight North Korean banks and 26
individuals linked to North Korean financial networks as
sanctions targets.
|
| September
26 | - Treasury Secretary Steven
Mnuchin, in a statement, says that “We are targeting North
Korean banks and financial facilitators acting as
representatives for North Korean banks across the globe ...
This further advances our strategy to fully isolate North
Korea in order to achieve our broader objectives of a
peaceful and denuclearized Korean peninsula.”
|
| September 27 |
- ROK President Moon Jae-in says that “Now is not the time
to send a special envoy to North Korea” (in a meeting of the
leaders of four major political parties).
|
| September 28 | - ROK
President Moon Jae-in says that “my Administration is now
making all-out efforts to manage the current situation in a
stable manner while further enhancing our military readiness
posture to make sure that an escalation of tensions does not
lead to a military clash” (in his address on the 69th Armed
Forces Day).
|
| September
30 | - US Secretary of State Rex
Tillerson says that “We have a couple, three, channels open
to Pyongyang, and we can talk to them,” and that we have
“our own channels” when asked whether China is acting as a
mediator between Washington and Pyongyang.
|
| September 30 | - A
spokesperson for the US Department of State, in a statement,
says that “Despite assurances that the United States is not
interested in promoting the collapse of the current regime,
pursuing regime change, accelerating reunification of the
peninsula or mobilizing forces north of the DMZ, North
Korean officials have shown no indication that they are
interested in or are ready for talks regarding
denuclearization.”
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