Today in Korean history
July 30
1953 -- The U.S. Senate passes a bill to spend US$200 million to rehabilitate war-ravaged South Korea. The Korean War, which began in June 1950, when North Korea invaded the South, ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, three days earlier.
1953 -- Yok Do-san, a North Korea-born wrestler who later became a Japanese idol for his power and skill, establishes the Japan Wrestling Association. Yok, better known in Japan as Rikidozan, knocked down opponents with his trademark karate chop in the ring. He emerged as a national hero in the 1950s and early 1960s, helping to restore Japan's pride and self-esteem after its defeat in World War II.
1971 -- The government designates a greenbelt, an area of land protected from development, outside Seoul for the first time.
2000 -- South and North Korea hold their first ministerial meeting in Seoul. They agreed to have inter-Korean ministerial meetings on a regular basis, reopen liaison offices in the border village of Panmunjom and establish a reconciliation week in honor of Aug. 15, the anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945.
2002 -- South Korean golfer Gloria Park wins the LPGA's Big Apple Classic in New York, with compatriot Han Hee-won finishing in second place.
2006 -- Dozens of crewmen aboard a South Korean tuna trawler are released after nearly four months of captivity in Somalia. The 360-ton ship, owned by Dongwon Fisheries Co. and manned by eight Koreans and 17 others from Indonesia, China and Vietnam, was pirated in April by a group of Somali bandits in waters off the East African country.
2007 -- The Taliban extends the deadline on the execution of 22 South Koreans taken hostage in Afghanistan as the Kabul government refused to accede to a key demand of the kidnappers.
2009 -- North Korea seizes a stray South Korean fishing boat with four crew members and hauls it to a port on its east coast.
2013 -- Four South Korean climbers who went missing in inclement weather during a group mountaineering trip in Japan are found dead. Local police found the bodies of the four near mountain trails connecting Mount Hinokio and Mount Hoken in the Nagano prefecture.
2017 -- President Moon Jae-in appoints Kim Hyun-chong, who led the Korea-U.S. Free Trade agreement negotiations under the former Roh Moo-hyun government, as trade minister.
(END)
-
1 (LEAD) Trump warns N. Korea not to interfere with his reelection bid
-
2 S. Korea scraps conscription privilege for men from multicultural families
-
3 KBO slugger catches team, MLB scouts by surprise with posting request
-
4 Moon to meet China's top diplomat at Cheong Wa Dae
-
5 Senior N.K. official says Trump's remarks, if not mistake, would be serious challenge
-
1 N.K. official newspaper urges 'self reliance' after Kim's visit to Mount Paekdu
-
2 (LEAD) Watchdog recommends highest level of compensation over derivative misselling fiasco
-
3 (LEAD) Moon, Trump agree on need to maintain dialogue momentum over N. Korea
-
4 (Yonhap Interview) U.S. expert calls for 'tailored sanctions relief' on path to N.K. denuclearization
-
5 Police refer BTS' Jungkook to prosecutors for potential indictment
-
1 (LEAD) U.S. sends B-52 bomber, Global Hawk amid tensions with N. Korea: aviation tracker
-
2 Ultrafine dust rising to 'very bad' levels in Seoul
-
3 (2nd LD) U.S. returns 4 bases, Yongsan Garrison return process begins
-
4 N. Korea could lift freeze on ICBM, nuke tests later this month
-
5 N. Korea most likely to test Hwasong-15 ICBM: U.S. expert