Today in Korean history

Sept. 11

1899 -- Korea's last kingdom, the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), signs a trade treaty with China's Qing Dynasty.

1945 -- The operation of a railway line linking Seoul and Sinuiju, a border city in what is now North Korea, is stopped amid deepening enmity between the rival political forces that controlled the southern and northern parts of the Korean Peninsula. The rift started to appear shortly after the peninsula was liberated from Japanese colonial rule on Aug. 15 of that year. The political divisions eventually led to the establishment of separate governments in 1948.

1962 -- South Korea and Costa Rica establish diplomatic ties.

1970 -- South Korea and Tonga establish diplomatic ties.

1996 -- South Korea and Brazil hold their first summit meeting in Brasilia. During the talks, then President Kim Young-sam and Brazilian leader Fernando Cardoso agreed to expand their bilateral trade, and signed memorandums of understanding on tourism cooperation and multiple visa issuance.

2000 -- A North Korean delegation led by Workers' Party Secretary Kim Yong-sun arrives in Seoul. Its four-day trip followed then President Kim Dae-jung's visit to North Korea in June of that year for the inter-Korean summit.

2007 -- President Roh Moo-hyun stresses that a new Korean Peninsula peace arrangement to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War will be the most important agenda item at his summit talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il slated for Oct. 2-4 in Pyongyang.

2008 -- The South Korean government and private companies announce a plan to invest a combined 3 trillion won to develop clean energy resources over the next five years.

2009 -- North Korea withdraws demands for a hefty wage increase at a South Korean-run industrial park as anger brewed in the South over a deadly flash flood unleashed by the North.

2013 -- South and North Korea agree to resume operations at a joint industrial complex in the communist country the following week, more than five months after the North unilaterally pulled out workers on April 9. The Kaesong Industrial Complex was started in 2000 after a historic summit meeting between then South and North Korean leaders. It is seen as the last-remaining major inter-Korean venture.

2019 -- South Korea files a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) over Japan's export curbs against three key industrial materials crucial for the production of chips and displays.
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