[Timeline] 6 “crazy” months that brought Trump and Kim Jong-un closer together

2017: Relations between North Korea and the United States have been marked by missile tests and heated rhetoric, pushing tensions to levels not seen in years.

1/1/2018: In his New Year's address, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent a message of goodwill to South Korea ahead of the Winter Olympics. He also asserted that the US mainland is now within range of Pyongyang's nuclear missiles.

2/1:US President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in responded to Kim’s statement in different ways. Trump taunted Kim in a Twitter post about his “nuclear button.” Moon said he was ready to engage in dialogue with Kim.

3/1:North Korea called a hotline with South Korea that had not been used for two years. A day later, Trump and Moon agreed to postpone military exercises during the Olympics. Two days later, South Korea announced that North Korea had accepted an invitation for dialogue.

9/1:South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myung-gyun and his North Korean counterpart Ri Son-gwon held talks at the demilitarized zone (DMZ) dividing the two Koreas, in the first such talks since December 2015. The meeting ended with North Korea agreeing to send a delegation and athletes to the Olympics.

19/1:Diplomats revealed they had been invited to attend a North Korean military parade, held a day before the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics.

8/2:Kim Jong-un presided over a display of military might, including intercontinental ballistic missiles launched in 2017.

9/2:The Winter Olympics have begun. US Vice President Mike Pence, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, South Korean President Moon Jae-in, North Korean President Kim Yong-nam and Kim Jong-un's sister Kim Yo-jong sat not far from each other at the opening ceremony.

10/2:Kim Yo-jong, Kim Jong-un's younger sister, invited Moon to visit Pyongyang on behalf of her brother. Moon initially declined to accept the invitation, saying the two countries "should achieve this by creating the right conditions."

23/2:US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced new sanctions on North Korea, targeting shipping and trade. North Korea has repeatedly been caught violating sanctions at sea.

6/3:South Korea's national security chief led a delegation to Pyongyang for talks with Kim Jong-un. Kim affirmed his willingness to talk to the United States about denuclearization. The delegation returned to South Korea the next day, announcing that Moon and Kim would meet at the DMZ.

8/3:The South Korean delegation arrived in Washington to brief Mr Trump on the meeting with Kim Jong-un and convey the message that the young North Korean leader was willing to meet. Mr Trump quickly accepted the invitation.

27/3:After days of speculation over the appearance of an armed North Korean train in Beijing, Chinese and North Korean media confirmed that Kim Jong-un had made his first foreign trip since taking office, meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

March 31 and April 1:Then-CIA Director and current US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo secretly traveled to Pyongyang to meet with Kim Jong-un. The trip was kept secret until mid-April.

1/4:South Korean Culture Minister Do Jong-hwan accompanied the musicians to Pyongyang, where they performed for Kim Jong-un. Do met Kim and later said the North Korean leader was “completely different from the person portrayed in the news”.

20/4:Kim Jong-un announced that North Korea will suspend all missile tests and close its nuclear test site, asserting that its task of developing nuclear weapons and long-range missiles to carry nuclear weapons has been completed.

27/4:Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in met for the first time south of the DMZ. The two leaders pledged to work toward a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War and “confirmed the common goal of realizing, through complete denuclearization, a nuclear-weapon-free Korean Peninsula.”

7/5 and 8/5:Kim Jong-un arrived in Dalian, a city in northeastern China, for his second meeting in two days with Xi Jinping. According to Chinese media, they had a “comprehensive and in-depth exchange of views.”

9/5 and 10/5:US Secretary of State Pompeo landed in Pyongyang for a second meeting with Kim Jong-un. The two discussed plans for the Trump-Kim summit, which was later set for June 12 in Singapore. Kim also agreed to release three US citizens detained in North Korea.

15/5:North Korea abruptly postponed inter-Korean talks and threatened to cancel the summit with Trump. Pyongyang said that the joint US-South Korea military exercises were inconsistent with the spirit of the declaration signed by Moon and Kim.

16/5:North Korea continues to threaten to cancel the summit. A senior North Korean official said Pyongyang will not unilaterally give up its nuclear weapons if the United States backs it into a corner. The official also criticized U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton for publicly mentioning Libya as a potential model for negotiating with North Korea.

22/5:Reporters landed in the North Korean city of Wonsan. The government had invited them to witness the demolition of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site.

22/5:Moon met with Trump to discuss the upcoming summit. Trump told reporters that “there is a very good chance it will not happen on June 12.” Secretary Pompeo told reporters later that day that he remained optimistic.

24/5:Foreign journalists traveled to North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site to watch as officials blew up tunnels where Pyongyang claimed six nuclear weapons tests had taken place. No foreign nuclear or nonproliferation experts were present.

24/5:Trump canceled the summit with Kim, a day after North Korea's Foreign Ministry called US Vice President Mike Pence a "political puppet" and amid doubts about Pyongyang's commitment to giving up its nuclear weapons.

25/5:North Korea said it regretted Trump's decision but was still willing to sit down with the US. Trump said he appreciated North Korea's statement and suggested the summit could still go ahead.

26/5:Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in held a surprise meeting north of the DMZ. Moon said Kim was still willing to denuclearize. Later that day, Trump said, “We’re looking at June 12 in Singapore. That hasn’t changed.” A team of US diplomats arrived in North Korea the next day.

30/5:One of Kim Jong-un's most trusted advisers, Kim Yong-chol, arrived in New York for talks with Pompeo. He is the highest-ranking North Korean official to visit the United States in nearly 20 years.

1/6:Kim Yong-chol arrived in Washington and met with US President Trump in the Oval Office. Trump later told reporters the summit had resumed.