Uploaded July 2017 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

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A crisis over North Korea's nuclear program threatens to turn war games in the volatile peninsula into the real thing. At issue: whether North Korea is building a nuclear bomb. The United States and the international community demand that North Korea open up its nuclear facilities to inspection. North Korea at first cracks the door open, then slams it shut. The nuclear gambit leaves both sides watching each other warily across a border bristling with weapons and tension.

Bill Clinton: "It's pointless for them to try to develop nuclear weapons, because if they ever used them it would be the end of their country."

Venturing across the Cold War divide between North and South Korea, a former U.S. President, Jimmy Carter. He meets with North Korean President Kim Il-Sung and comes back with a promising offer.
Carter: "He's given me assurance that as long as this good-faith effort is going on between the United States and North Korea, that the inspectors will stay on site."

The U.S. and North Korea formally signed an agreement defusing the 18-month crisis. North Korea agrees to freeze suspicious nuclear activity. In return, the U.S. promises to help replace North Korean reactors with ones not designed to produce nuclear weapons.

But, the downing of a U.S. helicopter in North Korean territory on December 17 threatens to torpedo the agreement. The copilot, David Hilemon, is killed. The pilot, Bobby Hall, is freed after 13 days in captivity. Fortunately, he did not steal any posters.

Suspicion lingers on both sides of the border.