Today in Korean history

March 6

1883 -- King Gojong of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) proclaims the "taegukgi" to be the formal national flag.

1958 -- Twenty-six South Koreans return home after being held in North Korea for almost three weeks. They were taken to the North on Feb. 16 when a group of communist spies hijacked their plane en route to Seoul from Busan. The North did not return the plane.

1979 -- South Korea and Mexico sign a visa exemption agreement.

1985 -- President Chun Doo-hwan lifts a ban on political activity imposed against a number of opposition leaders and other key figures, including Kim Dae-jung, Kim Young-sam and Kim Jong-pil. Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung were both later elected president and Kim Jong-pil served as prime minister under Kim Dae-jung's government in the late 1990s.

2011 -- Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co., South Korea's fourth-largest builder, said it evacuated most of its workers from Libya amid growing tensions in the North African country.

2013 -- South Korea keeps a close watch over North Korea amid heightened concern that the communist nation may attempt further provocations after Pyongyang said it will abandon the cease-fire with the South.

2015 -- A 55-year-old South Korean activist, Kim Ki-jong, is taken into custody on charges of attempting to murder U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert the previous day. Kim slashed the ambassador five times with a 25-centimeter fruit knife at a performance hall in Seoul where the envoy was to give a speech. The wounds, though not life-threatening, required more than 80 stitches on the right side of Lippert's face.

2018 -- South Korea and North Korea agree to hold a summit of their leaders in late April. Chung Eui-yong, top presidential security adviser in Seoul, said the third-ever inter-Korean summit, between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, would be held at the Peace House, a South Korean facility in the joint security area of Panmunjom located just south of the inter-Korean border.
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