Today in Korean history

Jan. 23

1981 -- South Korea's military government reduces opposition leader Kim Dae-jung's death sentence to life in prison. Kim was sentenced to death the previous year for allegedly instigating an insurgency in the southwestern city of Gwangju that year.

1996 -- Hyun Sung-il, an official at the North Korean Embassy in Zambia, defects to South Korea.

1997 -- South Korean conglomerate Hanbo Group declares bankruptcy due to mounting debt.

2001 -- North Korea establishes diplomatic relations with Belgium.

2003 -- Shinhan Financial Group is chosen as the preferred bidder for Chohung Bank.

2007 -- Top nuclear envoys of the two Koreas hold talks in Beijing and agree to reopen the six-nation negotiations on ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions soon. The talks, attended by the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, China and Russia, will resume in February. North Korea will agree to disable its key nuclear facilities and submit a complete list of its nuclear programs under an aid-for-denuclearization deal that will be signed on Feb. 13.
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