1948 Last Soviet troops withdraw from North Korea.
1950 Korean War - North Korean forces capture Seoul
1950 Allied troops land in Inchon, occupied by North Korea, to begin the Battle of Inchon.
1950 Korean War: While in an F-80, United States Air Force Lt. Russell J. Brown intercepts two North Korean MiG-15s near the Yalu River and shoots them down in the first jet-to-jet dog fight in history.
1950 Korean War: Troops from the People's Republic of China move into North Korea and launch a massive counterattack against South Korean and American forces, ending any thought of a quick end to the conflict.
1950 Korean War: North Korean and Chinese troops force a desperate retreat of United Nations forces from North Korea.
1951 Korean War: Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul.
1953 Korean War ends: The United States, People's Republic of China, North Korea, and South Korea sign an armistice agreement.
1968 North Korea seizes the ''USS Pueblo'', claiming the ship violated its territorial waters while spying.
1976 In North Korea at Panmunjom, two US soldiers are killed while trying to chop down part of a tree in the Demilitarized Zone which had obscured their view.
1983 A North Korean Ilyushin Il-62M jet en route to Conakry Airport in Guinea, crashes into the Fouta Djall Mountains in Guinea-Bissau, killing all 23 people on board.
1993 North Korea nuclear weapons program: North Korea says that it plans to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and refuses to allow inspectors access to nuclear sites.
1995 Argentine national Guillermo "Bill" Gaede is arrested in Phoenix, Arizona on charges of industrial espionage. His sales to Cuba, China, North Korea and Iran are believed to have involved Intel and AMD trade secrets worth USD$10-20 million.
1998 North Korea reportedly launches Kwangmyongsong, their first satellite. Although North Korea reports that it reached stable orbit, NORAD was never able to confirm this assertion.
2002 The US State Department releases a report naming 7 state sponsors of terrorism: Iran,Iraq,Cuba,Libya,North Korea,Sudan,and Syria.
2004 Two trains carrying explosives and fuel collide in Ryongchon, North Korea, killing 161 people, injuring 1,300 and destroying thousands of homes.
2004 Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi visits North Korea, to secure the release of the families of the 9 abducted Japanese citizens returned earlier.
2005 North Korea announces that it possesses nuclear weapons as a protection against the hostility it feels from the United States.
2005 North Korea agrees to stop building nuclear weapons in exchange for aid and cooperation.