This report discusses the recent comments and upcoming summits between North Korea, South Korea, and the United States regarding denuclearization and negotiating a formal peace treaty to officially end the Korean War. A brief overview of past attempts to negotiate a peace treaty between the parties in the Korean War is provided and current priorities for a peace treaty are provided.

This report discusses China's suspension of coal trade with North Korea for the remainder of 2017 which keeps China in compliance with an UN agreement to limit coal buying from North Korea that was implemented in November 2016 in response to continued nuclear tests by North Korea. Coal's value as an export to North Korea, China's trade with North Korea, quantities of coal and its value that was imported into China in 2016 and 2017, and possible reasons and implications for China's decision are discussed.

This report presents background information and discusses potential issues for Congress relating to U.S. ballistic missile defense (BMD) efforts in the Asia-Pacific region. These efforts pose several potential policy, funding, and oversight issues for Congress. Decisions that Congress makes on these issues could affect U.S. defense funding requirements and military capabilities, and U.S. relations with countries in the Asia Pacific region, including China, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, and Australia.

This report describes the key elements of a nuclear weapons program; explains the available information regarding cooperation among Iran, North Korea, and Syria on ballistic missiles and nuclear technology; and discusses some specific issues for Congress.

This report provides background and discusssion regarding United States aid in food, energy, and denuclearization to North Korea. Currently plans for new aid are on hold due to the North Korean rocket launch on April 13, 2012.

This report provides background information on the negotiations over North Korea's nuclear weapons program that began in the early 1990s under the Clinton Administration. As U.S. policy toward Pyongyang evolved through the George W. Bush presidency and into the Obama Administration, the negotiations moved from mostly bilateral to the multilateral Six-Party Talks (made up of China, Japan, Russia, North Korea, South Korea, and the United States).

This report summarizes what is known from open sources about the North Korean nuclear weapons program — including weapons-usable fissile material and warhead estimates — and assesses current developments in achieving denuclearization.

Should the United States resume food, energy, and/or denuclearization assistance to North Korea? This is the major issue facing Congress in considering the provision of aid to Pyongyang. The U.S. has provided food aid and energy assistance in the past. Currently plans for new aid is on hold due to the North Korean rocket launch on April 13, 2012.

This report discusses the economic sanctions the United States imposes on North Korea for activities related to weapons proliferation, destabilizing the region, anti-terrorism, and undemocratic governance.

This purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the role, purposes, and results of the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) and examine U.S. interests, policy issues, options, and legislation.

This report discusses North Korea's second nuclear test and the implications of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1874. The resolution puts in place a series of sanctions on North Korea's arms sales, luxury goods, and financial transactions related to its weapons programs, and calls upon states to inspect North Korean vessels suspected of carrying such shipments.

This report discusses the implications of North Korea's May 25, 2009, underground nuclear test, related issues such as the the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), containment of radioactive materials, and other concerns for Congress, such as improving nuclear monitoring capability.

This report discusses the issue of North Korea's inclusion on the U.S. list of terrorism-supporting countries that has been a major issue in U.S.-North Korean diplomacy since 2000, particularly in connection with negotiations over North Korea's nuclear program.

This report summarizes U.S. assistance to the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea (DPRK, also known as North Korea). It will be updated periodically to track changes in U.S. provision of aid to North Korea.

This report summarizes the U.S. assistance to North Korea.

This report provides information on reported instances of North Korean provocations against South Korea, the United States, and Japan between June 1950 and 2007 and related actions. Reports of North Korean involvement in drug trafficking and "political and other extrajudicial killing" are outside the purview of this report.

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The United States and Republic of Korea (ROK) currently seek ways to convince the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) that it should forego the manufacture of nuclear weapons, initially by allowing the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to conduct full inspections of suspected facilities. North Korea thus far has refused, although it did agree to an incomplete examination of declared sites early in March 1994. This report reviews military options open to each side as the United Nations, United States, and South Korea explore ways to resolve the resultant crisis peacefully despite threats of war from Pyongyang.