Today in Korean history

Feb. 5

1893 -- The royal authorities of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) decide to establish the nation's first naval academy on Ganghwa Island, west of Seoul. Faced with growing pressure from foreign countries' military vessels that frequently appeared around the peninsula, the authorities plan to organize naval forces and purchase modern vessels. The naval school, operating under the guidance of a British officer, is closed several years later as a result of Japan's attempt to colonize the country and prevent sovereign military education.

1992 -- North Korea ratifies the South-North Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, an inter-Korean treaty aimed at keeping the peninsula free of nuclear weapons.

1999 -- Working-level officials of South Korea and Japan reach an agreement on the implementation of a bilateral fisheries accord.

2003 -- Hyundai Asan Chairman Chung Mong-hun crosses into North Korea on a pilot tour using an overland route to the North's scenic Mount Kumgang resort, which the company developed for South Korean tourists.

2014 -- South and North Korea agree to hold a new round of reunions for families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War at Mount Kumgang on North Korea's east coast from Feb. 20 to 25, the first since October 2010.

2015 -- China warns the possible deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense system in South Korea can undermine the "overall interest of bilateral relations" between Seoul and Beijing.

2018 -- Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong is released after an appellate court hands him a suspended sentence dismissing most of the key charges against him in a bribery and corruption scandal that led to the ouster of former President Park Geun-hye the previous year.
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