General

Today in Korean history Date: 26-Aug-23

1980 — Chun Doo-hwan, a former army general, is named president by a hand-picked electoral college. Chun seized power in an internal military coup on Dec. 12 of the previous year, in which he arrested then martial law commander Gen. Chung Seung-hwa.

1992 — China opens its embassy in Seoul. The two countries established formal diplomatic ties on Aug. 24 after South Korea agreed to switch its diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China.

2003 — The six-way talks involving the two Koreas and the U.S., China, Japan and Russia kick off in Beijing to defuse tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program.

2004 — South Korea’s parliamentary speaker Kim One-ki conveys concerns to the Chinese Communist Party leader over a controversy surrounding the history of the ancient Korean kingdom of Goguryeo (37 B.C.-A.D. 668). The controversy was sparked by assertions that the kingdom was a vassal state of China.

2013 — South Korea calls on North Korea to hold working-level talks on Oct. 2 to discuss resuming cross-border tours to Mount Kumgang that have been suspended for nearly five years. The proposal made by Seoul’s Ministry of Unification to the North’s United Front Department of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea was in response to suggestions by Pyongyang to hold the talks in late August or early September.

Source: Yonhap News Agency