Today in Korean history

June 2

1592 -- Joseon Dynasty Admiral Yi Sun-shin and his combined fleet destroy 20 Japanese ships off the southeastern region of Dangpo. Yi's naval victory was partly thanks to his "Turtle Boats," constructed in the previous year to effectively protect Korean soldiers from Japanese attacks. The Japanese forces, under Toyotomi Hideyoshi, tried repeatedly to invade the peninsula.

1950 -- South Korea and Japan sign a trade treaty, five years after Korea's recovery of its sovereignty from Japan.

1970 -- Kim Ji-ha, a poet and democracy activist during the military dictatorship, is arrested by the police after writing "Five Enemies." The satirical poem used figurative language to denounce conglomerates, lawmakers, high-level civil servants, military generals and ministers who sought wealth and power at the expense of ordinary people. Kim was charged with violating the anti-communist law.

1986 -- An association of 265 professors from 23 universities nationwide announces a political statement at Hanshin University in Seoul, calling for the election of a democratic government. The country was under a military administration, led by general-turned-president Chun Doo-hwan.

1989 -- Kim Young-sam, head of the opposition New Democratic Party, visits Russia for the first time as a politician.

1993 -- The United States and North Korea open a high-level officials' meeting in New York to discuss North Korea's nuclear arms development project.

1994 -- A painting of Buddha from the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392), one of Korea's ancient kingdoms, is sold for US$332,500 at Sotheby's in New York.

2001 -- Three commercial North Korean ships illegally enter South Korean territorial waters off the southern island of Jeju.

2014 -- South Korea rejects North Korea's demand that Seoul hand over all three North Koreans picked up from a fishing boat drifting off South Korea's east coast.
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