NK timeline 06-09

June 2006
Kim Jong Il Visits China. He was apparently poised to follow Chinese economic reforms.
https://web.archive.org/web/20090216130206/http://www.cfr.org/publication/10858/

October 9, 2006,
North Korea announced it had successfully conducted its first nuclear test. International condemnation of the tests by governments has been nearly unanimous, including from North Korea's close ally and benefactor, the People's Republic of China. (The test seemed to scuttle relations with China).

January 6, 2007,
the North Korean government further confirmed that it had nuclear weapons.
On March 17, 2007, North Korea told delegates at international nuclear talks that it was preparing to shut down its main nuclear facility.
The agreement was reached following a series of six-party talks, involving North Korea, South Korea, China, Russia, Japan, and the United States begun in 2003.

April 2007
This was delayed from April due to a dispute with the United States over Banco Delta Asia,

July 14 2007,
International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors confirmed the shutdown of North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear reactor and consequently North Korea began to receive aid.

August 2008,
Japanese newsweekly Shūkan Gendai, Waseda University professor Toshimitsu Shigemura, an authority on the Korean Peninsula, claimed that Kim Jong-il died of diabetes in late 2003 and had been replaced in public appearances by one or more stand-ins previously employed to protect him from assassination attempts.
Public appearances showed anomalies since 2004.

9 September 2008,
United States intelligence agencies believed Kim might be "gravely ill" after having suffered a stroke.
A former CIA official said earlier reports of a health crisis were likely accurate. North Korean media remained silent on the issue. An Associated Press report said analysts believed Kim had been supporting moderates in the foreign ministry, while North Korea's powerful military was against so-called "Six-Party" negotiations with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States aimed towards ridding North Korea of nuclear weapons.

2009
This agreement fell apart in 2009, following a North Korean satellite launch.

April 2009,
reports surfaced that North Korea has become a "fully fledged nuclear power".