During a discussion with the United States and China in Beijing on April 24, 2003, North Korean officials admitted for the first time that they possessed nuclear weapons. North Korean officials say they have reprocessed and reproduced spent fuel rods and have threatened to begin exporting nuclear materials unless the United States agrees to one-on-one negotiations with North Korea. Tensions between the United States and North Korea have been quite high since early October 2002. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly informed North Korean officials that the United States knew that North Korea had an agenda that allowed them to enrich uranium. for nuclear weapons. North Korea initially denied this claim, but later confirmed the veracity of the US claims. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay In confirming that they had an active nuclear weapons program, they also declared the framework agreement agreed. The agreed framework signed by the United States and North Korea on October 21, 1994 in Geneva provided that: 1.) North Korea would freeze its existing nuclear program and accept enhanced safeguards from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). 2.) The two sides would cooperate to replace the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) graphite-moderated reactors for related facilities with light water power plants (LWR). 3.) Both countries would move toward full normalization of political and economic relations. 4.) The two sides will work together for peace and security on a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula. 5.) Both sides would work to strengthen the international nuclear non-proliferation regime. Beginning in the 1960s, the Soviet Union supplied various types of missiles, nuclear technology, and training to North Korea. China began supplying North Korea with missile technologies in the 1970s. North Korea's nuclear weapons program was officially launched and fully operational in the 1980s. In the 1980s, North Korea began to focus on the practical uses of nuclear energy and the construction of a nuclear weapons development system. In 1985, a U.S. official first announced that he had intelligence data proving that a secret nuclear reactor was being built north of Pyongyang, near the small town of Yongbyon..