Today in Korean history

Jan. 2

1946 -- The Korean Communist Party announces its support for U.N. trusteeship of Korea.

1951 -- The government of President Rhee Syng-man begins prescreening of periodicals.

2004 -- South Korea's foreign ministry summons the Japanese ambassador and lodges a strong protest over Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to a controversial war shrine in Tokyo.

2007 -- South Korean diplomat Ban Ki-moon begins his first day as United Nations secretary-general. His first order of business was to appoint a chief of staff, Vijay Nambiar of India, and spokesperson, Michele Montas of Haiti. Ban was the eighth chief of the 192-member global body and the first Asian U.N. leader in 35 years.

2017 -- Chung Yoo-ra, the daughter of President Park Geun-hye's close friend Choi Soon-sil, is arrested in Denmark by the law enforcement authorities in the European country on charges of illegal stay. She was suspected of receiving undue favor from a Seoul university by taking advantage of her mother's ties to the president. Her mother was at the heart of an influence-peddling scandal that led to President's Park's impeachment.
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