Today in Korean history

Jan. 15

1987 -- Doctor Kim Man-cheol and 10 of his family members leave North Korea's eastern port of Chongjin to defect to South Korea. The family arrives in Seoul on Feb. 8 after passing through Japan and Taiwan.

1990 -- South Korea and Algeria agree to establish diplomatic relations.

2008 -- Kim Man-bok, head of the National Intelligence Service, offers to resign over leaking information about a conversation with his North Korean counterpart during his visit to Pyongyang on the eve of South Korea's 2017 presidential election.

2011 -- The Samho Jewelry, a South Korean chemical freighter with 21 crew members, including eight South Koreans, is hijacked by Somali pirates in the Arabian Sea while en route to Sri Lanka from the United Arab Emirates. All of the crew members of the 11,500-ton vessel are rescued in a raid by South Korean Navy commandos on Jan. 30, 2011, with five Somali pirates captured. The captured Somali pirates are later brought to South Korea to stand trial. The country's Supreme Court on Dec. 22, 2011, sentences the leader of the pirates to life imprisonment for attempting to kill the ship's South Korean captain. The four others receive sentences ranging from 12 to 15 years in prison.

2013 -- The South Korean government announces plans to add two new ministries to the existing 17-ministry structure for the incoming Park Geun-hye administration. The plan includes the establishment of a "Ministry of Creativity and Science" and the revival of the maritime and fisheries affairs ministry, as well as the post of economic vice prime minister.

2018 -- North Korea agrees to send a 140-member art troupe to South Korea to mark the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in February during its working-level talks with the South.
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