Today in Korean history

Aug. 12

1966 - In an editorial in its main newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, North Korea promulgates the policy of "juche," meaning self-reliance, claiming ideological independence from its allies -- the Soviet Union and China -- at that time.

1971 - South Korea's National Red Cross suggests to its North Korean counterpart a joint campaign to locate separated family members in both parts of the Korean Peninsula. The two sides met a year later to discuss the project but failed to reach an agreement. The family reunion project materialized decades later, in a 2000 summit meeting between President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, who agreed to regularly hold the humanitarian event.

1993 - In a move to fight corruption, President Kim Young-sam puts into effect the "real-name financial system," banning transactions under phony or borrowed names and requiring all individuals use their real names to open bank accounts or purchase stock. The previous nonregulation policy provided a haven for money laundering and tax evasion.

1999 - Workers from South and North Korea play a friendly soccer match in the North's capital of Pyongyang.

2002 -- South and North Korea hold their seventh round of ministerial talks in Seoul.

2010 -- Andre Kim, one of South Korea's most popular fashion designers, dies at age 75 at a Seoul hospital, where he was being treated for pneumonia.

2016 -- President Park Geun-hye grants special pardons to some 4,000 people in celebration of Liberation Day, including CJ Group Chairman Lee Jay-hyun, who was struggling with an illness.
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