Today in Korean history

Feb. 12

1975 -- President Park Chung-hee wins a popular vote of confidence for his Yushin Constitution, which allows for his extended rule, following a national referendum. Yushin means revitalization.

1981 -- South Korea opens diplomatic ties with Lebanon.

1985 -- The 12th National Assembly elections are held.

1987 -- South Korea reports first confirmed death from AIDS.

1991 -- South and North Korea agree to form unified Korean teams at the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships and the 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship.

1997 -- Hwang Jang-yop, secretary of the North Korean Workers' Party, requests political asylum at the South Korean Consulate General in Beijing.

2013 -- North Korea carries out its third nuclear test, drawing strong international condemnation and sending tensions on the Korean Peninsula sky-high.

2014 -- The Koreas hold their first high-level talks in seven years at the border village of Panmunjom.

2017 -- A sixth foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) case is confirmed at a cow farm in central South Korea, a week after the first one. Three days earlier, the Seoul government raised the watch level to the highest vigilance level in the country's disease control system for the first time in seven years.
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