Today in Korean history

July 29

1948 -- The 14th Olympic Games opens in London, with South Korea sending a delegation for the first time. The Korean Peninsula was liberated from Japanese colonial rule in 1945 after 36 years of occupation.

1983 -- South Korea's population tops 40 million, making it the third most densely populated country in the world.

2000 -- A 25-member North Korean delegation arrives in Seoul for inter-Korean ministerial talks. The two sides agreed to hold bilateral ministerial meetings on a regular basis, reopen liaison offices in the border village of Panmunjom and establish an "inter-Korean reconciliation week" to mark the Aug. 15 Liberation Day.

2002 -- Ven. Pomnyun, a South Korean monk, is named one of the winners of the Ramon Magsaysay Award, the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize, for his humanitarian achievements.

2009 -- Lee Charm is named chief of the Korea National Tourism Organization, becoming the first naturalized Korean to take a top government post in South Korea.

2011 -- South Korea notifies Japan of an entry ban on a planned visit to Ulleung Island by four lawmakers of Japan's opposition Liberal Democratic Party. Seoul officials called the planned trip a move to reassert Tokyo's claims to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo, located about 90 kilometers east of Ulleung.

2018 -- A South Korean medical team arrives in Laos to assist with recovery efforts following the deadly flooding that resulted from the collapse of a dam that was under construction by a Korean builder.
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