Editing Kim Jong Il (section)

=== Foreign relations ===
[[File:Vladimir Putin 4 August 2001-1.jpg|thumb|left|Kim talking with Russian President [[Vladimir Putin]] during their 2001 meeting in Moscow]]
Kim was known as a skilled and manipulative diplomat.{{sfn|Lankov|2014|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=FHpYCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA130 130]}} In 1998, South Korean President [[Kim Dae-jung]] implemented the "[[Sunshine Policy]]" to improve North-South relations and to allow South Korean companies to start projects in the North. Kim announced plans to import and develop new technologies to develop North Korea's fledgling software industry. As a result of the new policy, the [[Kaesong Industrial Park]] was constructed in 2003 just north of the [[Korean Demilitarized Zone|demilitarized zone]].<ref>[http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/biz/200404/kt2004042317263611880.htm "Asan, KOLAND Permitted to Develop Kaesong Complex"], ''The Korea Times'', 23 April 2004. {{dead link|date=May 2016|bot=medic|fix-attempted=yes}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

Nonetheless, regular skirmishes broke out between the two Koreas, including the [[1996 Gangneung submarine infiltration incident|Gangneung incident]] in 1996, the [[1998 Sokcho submarine incident|Sokcho incident]] and [[1998 Yeosu submersible incident|Yeosu incident]] in 1998 and the Battles of Yeonpyeong in [[Battle of Yeongpyeong (1999)|1999]] and [[Battle of Yeongpyeong (2002)|2002]]. The most serious conflict took place in 2010, with the [[sinking of the ROKS Cheonan]] and the [[Bombardment of Yeonpyeong|shelling of Yeonpyeong island]], which effectively killed the Sunshine Policy.

In a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister [[Junichiro Koizumi]] in September 2002, Kim publicly admitted to the [[North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens|kidnapping of at least 13 Japanese citizens by North Korea since the 1970s]]. According to Russian scholar [[Andrei Lankov]], the North Korean disclosure was met with outrage within both the Japanese government and the general public, as the allegations that were previously thought of as conspiracy theories had proved to be true.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lankov|first=Andrei|author-link=Andrei Lankov|title=[[The Real North Korea: Life and Politics in the Failed Stalinist Utopia]]|year=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-939003-8|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=FHpYCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA24 24]}}</ref>

[[File:SD William Cohen meets with Jo Myong Rok in the Pentagon.jpg|thumb|[[Kim Ok]], Kim's personal secretary, with U.S. Secretary of Defense [[William Cohen]], 2000]]
In 1994, North Korea and the United States signed an [[Agreed Framework]] which was designed to freeze and eventually dismantle the North's [[North Korean nuclear weapons program|nuclear weapons program]] in exchange for aid in producing two power-generating [[nuclear reactor]]s and the assurance that it would not be invaded again. In 2000, after a meeting with [[Madeleine Albright]], he agreed to a moratorium on missile construction.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Timeline and Quick Facts on the Korean War|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/facts-korean-war-quick-guide-195745|access-date=24 January 2023|website=ThoughtCo|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rhodes|first1=Richard|last2=Shellenberger|first2=Michael|date=23 May 2017 |title=Atoms for Pyongyang: Let North Korea Have Peaceful Nuclear Power |journal=Foreign Affairs |url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/north-korea/2017-05-23/atoms-pyongyang|access-date=5 June 2023|issn=0015-7120}}</ref> 

In 2002, Kim's government admitted to having produced nuclear weapons in violation of the 1994 agreement. Kim's regime argued the secret production was necessary for security purposes{{spnd}}citing the presence of United States-owned nuclear weapons in South Korea and the new tensions with the United States under President [[George W. Bush]] after the ''[[axis of evil]]'' speech.<ref>{{Cite web|website=GLOCOM Platform |title=Weekly Review #70: Motivation Behind North Korea's Nuclear Confession |date=28 October 2002 |url=http://www.glocom.org/media_reviews/w_review/20021028_weekly_review70/index.html |first=John |last=de Boer |access-date=5 June 2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061006230559/http://www.glocom.org/media_reviews/w_review/20021028_weekly_review70/index.html |archive-date=6 October 2006}}</ref> On 9 October 2006, North Korea's Korean Central News Agency announced that it had successfully conducted [[2006 North Korean nuclear test|an underground nuclear test]]. In 2009, a [[2009 North Korean nuclear test|second nuclear test]] was conducted.<ref name="msnbc1">{{cite web | url=http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2006/200610/news10/10.htm#1 | title=DPRK Successfully Conducts Underground Nuclear Test|publisher=[[Korean Central News Agency]]|date=10 October 2006|access-date=10 October 2006| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20061026061534/http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2006/200610/news10/10.htm| archive-date= 26 October 2006 }}</ref>