Today in Korean history

Feb. 1

1952 -- The Korea Veterans Association is launched.

1968 -- Construction of the Seoul-Busan expressway begins.

1989 -- South Korea establishes diplomatic relations with Hungary, marking South Korea's first establishment of diplomatic ties with a communist state.

1989 -- South Korea, for the first time, imports 20,000 tons of coal from North Korea.

2000 -- The Cabinet approves a legal revision on human organ transplants.

2002 -- A group of 46 ruling and opposition party members submit a resolution to the National Assembly calling for the release of Robert Kim, a Korean-American who was serving a prison sentence in the United States on conviction of passing secret information to South Korea while serving as a U.S. naval intelligence officer. The 65-year-old was released on probation in July 2004 after serving seven years of his nine-year sentence.

2008 -- A Seoul court finds the U.S. private equity firm Lone Star Funds guilty of stock manipulation in the controversial takeover of the credit card unit of the Korea Exchange Bank in 2003. KEB and its main shareholder, Lone Star, were fined 25 billion won (US$26.5 million) each.

2013 -- Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee wins inheritance lawsuits Friday against his siblings demanding stakes of over 4 trillion won (US$3.4 billion) in Samsung Group units.

2018 -- North Korean Olympic athletes arrive in South Korea on a chartered plane to participate in the PyeongChang Winter Games. A delegation of 32, including 10 athletes, was led by North Korean Vice Sports Minister Won Kil-u.
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