Today in Korean history

Dec. 20

1974 -- North Korean spy Moon Se-gwang is executed for assassinating first lady Yook Young-su, the wife of President Park Chung-hee.

1979 -- A military court sentences KCIA chief Kim Jae-kyu and six others to death for assassinating President Park Chung-hee on Oct. 26, 1979. The murder brought Park's 18-year rule to an end.

1997 -- President Kim Young-sam and President-elect Kim Dae-jung agree to grant special pardons to former Presidents Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo. Chun and Roh were sentenced to life imprisonment and 17 years in prison, respectively, for their roles in a 1979 coup that brought Chun to power in 1980. Chun served as president until February 1988, when he was succeeded by Roh, who served as president for five years.

2002 -- Lee Hoi-chang, the leader of the opposition Grand National Party, announces he will retire from politics.

2008 -- South Korea completes its four-year troop presence in Iraq by pulling out the last group of its Zaytun contingent that was dispatched to Irbil, a northern city, and an air support unit in neighboring Kuwait in 2004.

Korea dispatched a 3,600-strong noncombat force to Iraq at the request of the United States. The Zaytun unit provided medical services and other support to help rebuild the war-torn country.

2009 -- The United Nations General Assembly approves a resolution on North Korean human rights for the fifth straight year, calling on the communist North to improve its dire human rights conditions.

2011 -- South Korea expresses sympathy to the people of North Korea over the death of leader Kim Jong-il but decides not to send an official condolence delegation to the communist nation.

2012 -- Park Geun-hye, the standard-bearer of the ruling conservative Saenuri Party, is elected president of South Korea, becoming its first female leader. The National Election Commission confirmed at around 1:30 a.m. that Park had won the election 51.6 percent to 48 percent against Moon Jae-in of the Democratic United Party and was set to assume office Feb. 25.
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