Today in Korean history

June 16

1232 -- Korea's Goryeo Dynasty relocates its capital from the ancient city of Kaesong to Ganghwa Island off the west coast in the face of a Mongolian invasion.

1956 -- South Korea's first television network, HLKZ-TV, starts broadcasting.

1981 -- The government allows South Korean citizens to travel overseas freely.

1998 -- Hyundai Group honorary Chairman Chung Ju-yung visits North Korea, taking 500 head of cattle that he donated to the country. Chung became the first South Korean civilian to be allowed to visit the North through the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone. The founder of South Korea's leading conglomerate died at age 86 in March 2001.

2004 -- The two Koreas begin dismantling propaganda loudspeakers and signboards.

2016 -- An appeals court hands down a 12-year prison term to a 56-year-old South Korean man, Kim Ki-jong, for assaulting top U.S. envoy to South Korea, Mark Lippert, the previous year. Kim attacked Lippert with a knife at a breakfast function in Seoul in March 2015, leaving him with deep gashes on his face and arm. The 12-year term was later upheld by the Supreme Court in September.

2020 -- North Korea blows up the inter-Korean joint liaison office in its border town of Kaesong, further escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula after near-daily threats to punish Seoul over anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets.
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