After the collapse of its long-time patron the Soviet Union, North Korea began to explore new economic and diplomatic alliances and to improve relations with the United States. After a tentative start, the U.S. and North Korea began to communicate on an almost monthly basis.

In September 1991, the United States supported the admission of both North and South Korea into the United Nations. That same month, President George Bush announced the withdrawal of some 100 U.S. tactical nuclear weapons based in South Korea.

This move cleared the way for the two Koreas to sign the South-North Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in December 1991. Under the terms of the pact, the two countries pledged not to test, produce, or house nuclear weapons.

Relations improved significantly in January 1992 when the North committed to the International Atomic Energy Agency's nuclear safeguards agreement, permitting IAEA inspections of its primary nuclear facility in Yongbyon. Responding to this move by the North, the U.S. and South cancelled their 1992 joint annual military exercise, Team Spirit.

In February 1992, State Department officials and North Korean diplomats began to discuss how to normalize relations. Specifically, the U.S. wanted North Korea to end its exports of missile and weapons technology and to work on North-South relations, including mutual nuclear inspections. The U.S. explicitly hinged any future talks with North Korea on regular nuclear weapons inspections.

The normalization process came to a halt in March 1993, after the North refused to grant IAEA inspectors access to two alleged nuclear waste sites banned under the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The Pyongyang government then threatened to withdraw from the treaty within three months.

As international concern mounted, the U.S. and the North held talks in June 1993 in New York, prompting the North to suspend its decision to withdraw from the NPT. In exchange, the U.S. gave the North new assurances against the threat of nuclear force and agreed not to interfere with the North's internal affairs.

But the resumption of IAEA monitoring of the North's nuclear facilities was a difficult affair. After a series of disagreements between monitors and North Korean officials, the North announced its withdrawal from the IAEA deal in June 1994 and threatened to expel inspectors. In response, the U.S. urged the United Nations to levy sanctions on the communist nation.

That same month, former President Jimmy Carter visited the North to meet with officials in hopes of defusing international tensions and to lay the groundwork for a nuclear agreement. After two days of talks, North Korea's leader Kim Il Sung agreed to freeze nuclear programs in exchange for resumed dialogue with the United States.

The renewed talks briefly stalled after the sudden death of the North's President Kim Il Sung in July 1994. His son, Kim Jong Il, succeeded him as the North's leader, but the U.S. had little confidence in the new premier. The U.S. believed North Korea's regime would crumble without Kim Il Sung -- especially as the nation was suffering through a grave economic crisis and severe famine.

In October 1994, North Korea and members of the Clinton administration finally struck an agreement to freeze North Korean nuclear development in exchange for shipments of an estimated $5 billion worth of heavy oil and the construction of two light water reactor plants to produce urgently needed energy for the small country.

Named the "Agreed Framework," the deal arranged for the creation of a multinational organization, the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO), to oversee the implementation of the promised energy sources.

The pact also called for the improvement of both diplomatic and economic relations between Washington and Pyongyang as well as between the two Koreas, although U.S. economic sanctions remained in place. In addition, over 30,000 U.S. troops remained on and around the Korean peninsula to help protect the South.

U.S. relations with the North again soured when the North Koreans tested a "Taepondong-1" ballistic missile in August of 1998. Additionally, the U.S demanded that Pyongyang cease exporting similar missiles to "rogue" nations of the Middle East.

-- Compiled by Maureen Hoch for the Online NewsHour