Today in Korean history

Sept. 12

1921 -- Korean independence fighter Kim Ik-sang throws a bomb into the headquarters of the Japanese colonial government in an attempt to kill the Japanese governor-general of Korea, Makoto Saito. Japan colonized the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.

1983 -- The South Korean government delivers an official letter to the ambassador of the Soviet Union in the United States requesting compensation for the families of victims in the shooting down of a Korean Air flight. The South Korean airliner, carrying 269 people, including 61 Americans, was shot down by a Soviet Air Force jet while en route from New York to Seoul.

1988 -- The 94th General Assembly of the International Olympic Committee is held in Seoul.

1990 -- Heavy rain in the central region of South Korea causes flooding, leaving 120 people dead or missing.

1991 -- An athletics meeting for overseas Koreans is held in South Korea with 1,652 Koreans from 88 countries participating.

2002 -- The presidential Truth Commission on Suspicious Deaths reveals that eight people executed in 1974 on charges of trying to overthrow the South Korean government were framed by the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, the predecessor of today's National Intelligence Service.

2011 -- Renowned South Korean conductor Chung Myung-whun visits Pyongyang on a trip aimed at promoting cultural exchanges between the two Koreas.

2012 -- South Korea and Norway agree to work together to tackle climate change and its effects on the Arctic, and to develop the resource-rich region without harming its environment, including opening up polar shipping routes. The agreement was reached during a summit in Oslo between South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.

2016 -- A magnitude 5.8 earthquake occurs near South Korea's southeastern city of Gyeongju, which was the strongest tremor recorded on the Korean Peninsula to date since 1978, when the country began monitoring earthquakes. No serious injuries were reported.
(END)