May 20
1949 -- Kim Yak-su and Lee Mun-won, lawmakers in South Korea's first National Assembly, are arrested for arguing for the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country and negotiations on the reunification of the two Koreas. As a result of their assertions, the two were accused o...14:00 May. 19
May 19
1970 -- South Korea establishes diplomatic relations with Cambodia.
1980 -- Tens of thousands of students and other citizens stage demonstrations in the southwestern city of Gwangju calling for an end to martial law and the release of dissident leader Kim Dae-jung.
1983 -- Oppo...08:00 May. 18
May 18
1970 -- South Korea establishes diplomatic relations with Cambodia.
1980 -- Tens of thousands of students and other citizens stage demonstrations in the southwestern city of Gwangju calling for an end to martial law and the release of dissident leader Kim Dae-jung.
1983 -- Opposit...14:00 May. 17
May 17
1973 -- North Korea joins the World Health Organization. South Korea acquired membership in 1949.
1980 -- South Korea's then military government, led by Chun Doo-hwan, expands its enforcement of emergency martial law nationwide and arrests two leading opposition leaders, Kim Dae-jung...14:00 May. 16
May 16
1973 -- North Korea joins the World Health Organization. South Korea became a member in 1949.
1980 -- The military government of Chun Doo-hwan expands its use of emergency martial law nationwide and arrests two leading opposition leaders, Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jong-pil, on charges o...14:00 May. 15
May 15
1712 -- Korea's Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) government erects a stone monument on Mount Baekdu to mark the border with China, then ruled by the Qing Dynasty.
1956 -- Rhee Syng-man is elected South Korea's president for a third consecutive term. Rhee, an advocate of Korean independence...14:00 May. 14
May 14
1928 -- Korean independence movement activist Jo Myeong-ha unsuccessfully attempts to assassinate Japanese Army Gen. Kunihiko Kuninomiya in Taiwan. Jo, 23, self-taught in Korea and Japan, cooperated with Taiwanese locals to block the Japanese colonial regime. He was arrested at the sce...14:00 May. 13
May 13
1975 -- In the face of continuing popular unrest, Park Chung-hee promulgates the 9th State of Emergency decree, the final version of a series of emergency measures that led to the jailing of hundreds of dissidents.
1997 -- Two North Korean families defect to South Korea.
2006 -...14:00 May. 12
May 12
1932 -- A group of 60 students from Gyeongseong School are arrested for distributing manifestos appealing to their classmates to fight against the Japanese colonialists. Japan colonized the Korean Peninsula from 1910-45.
1956 -- HLKZ-TV, the first South Korean television station, h...14:00 May. 11
May 11
1937 -- The Japanese colonial regime orders 100,000 Koreans to move to Manchuria in northeastern China in an attempt to make it easier for Japan to invade China and to weaken Korea's independence movement. The descendants of those Koreans, living in villages named after their hometowns,...14:00 May. 10
May 10
1948 -- Southern Korea holds a general election for 198 lawmakers, an action that led to the formation of a government separate from that of northern Korea. North Korea established its government in September of that year.
1967 -- The country establishes flights to Britain with the...14:00 May. 09
May 9
1928 -- Japanese colonial authorities suspend publication of the Chosun Ilbo newspaper for running an editorial critical of Japan's military advancement into the Chinese province of Shandong. The move, which marked the fourth suspension of a Korean newspaper by Japanese authorities, las...14:00 May. 08
May 8
1442 -- King Sejong of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) orders the development of a rain gauge. The king is best known in Korea for inventing the Korean alphabet, Hangeul.
1902 -- A groundbreaking ceremony is held for a railway linking Seoul, now the South Korean capital, with Kaesong...14:00 May. 07
May 7
1934 -- A group of writers and historians establishes Jindan, a research institute dedicated to the study of Korean language and history. Use of the Korean language was partially banned under the Japanese colonial occupation of Korea, which lasted from 1910-1945.
1964 -- South Korea...14:00 May. 06
May 6
1952 -- Commercial phone lines connecting Seoul and Busan open.
1981 -- The Korea Fair Trade Commission, the nation's antitrust watchdog, is launched.
2003 -- The National Assembly passes a revision bill on war veterans and Agent Orange patients to expand government subsidies an...14:00 May. 05
May 5
1905 -- Bosung College, which later became Korea University, opens in Seoul.
1946 -- The country celebrates Children's Day for the first time since it was banned by the Japanese colonial regime between 1910 and 1945. The date of the holiday was changed to May 5 from the first Sunday...14:00 May. 04
May 4
1899 -- Streetcar services begin between Dongdaemun, once the main eastern gate of a wall surrounding Seoul, and Heunghwamun, the front gate of Gyeonghui Palace in the central part of the city. The revolution in electric transportation soon sparked public anger when a tram car struck an...14:00 May. 03
May 3
1967 -- Park Chung-hee, who led a military coup in 1961, is re-elected as South Korea's sixth president.
1984 -- Pope John Paul II, the 264th pope of the Roman Catholic Church, visits South Korea.
1999 -- Choheung Bank, now merged with Shinhan Bank, announces a merger with Chu...14:00 May. 02
May 2
1972 -- Lee Hu-rak, head of South Korea's state intelligence agency, makes a secret trip to North Korea under the orders of President Park Chung-hee to broker a historic inter-Korean agreement.
1992 -- South Korea and China sign the Agreement on the Encouragement and Reciprocal Pro...14:00 May. 01
May 1
1923 -- The first Children's Day is celebrated in Seoul. Bang Jung-hwan, a children's author who was devoted to children's issues, was the first person to come up with the idea of Children's Day. The South Korean government later changed the date to May 5.
1948 -- The South Korean tran...14:00 Apr. 30