Kore Tarihinde Bugün 17, 18, 21, 22, 23 Ekim

[Aphrodite]

Oct. 21


1994 -- A section of the Seongsu Grand Bridge spanning the Han River collapses, killing 32 people and injuring 17 others. The victims were mostly students aboard a bus that plunged into the water.

Later on the same day, North Korea and the United States sign an agreement to end a nuclear dispute. The agreed framework reached at the North Korean diplomatic mission in Geneva paved the way for future cooperation, including the replacement of graphite-moderated reactors in North Korea with light-water units and the normalization of political and economic relations between Washington and Pyongyang.


2004 -- North Korea's No. 2 leader, Kim Yong-nam, returns to Pyongyang after a visit to China. The goodwill visit provided an opportunity to affirm longstanding friendly relations between the two communist states.


( Yonhap )

[Aphrodite]

Oct. 22


1950 -- American-led U.N. forces advance to Korea's border with China a little more than a month after the Incheon landing, which turned the tide of the Korean War. The U.N. forces were later forced to retreat by Chinese soldiers who crossed the border to aid North Korea's attack.


1996 -- South Korea joins the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a Paris-based group of developed nations.


2003 -- Dissident Song Doo-yul is arrested on charges of violating the country's controversial National Security Law and engaging in pro-North Korean activities. The Muenster University professor had arrived in South Korea after 36 years of self-imposed exile in Germany. Song was initially sentenced to seven years in prison, but an appellate court later cleared him. Song and his wife returned to Germany in August 2004.


( Yonhap )

[Aphrodite]

Oct. 23


1936 -- The first bridge built over the Han River opens, linking the Yongsan area of Seoul and Noryangjin in the southern part of the capital.


1996 -- Ahn Doo-hee, who assassinated freedom fighter Kim Koo in 1949, is killed by one of Kim's supporters, Kwon Joong-hwi.


2000 -- U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visits North Korea and meets the communist country's leader, Kim Jong-il.


( Yonhap )