Today in Korean history

Sept. 24

1987 -- South Korea and Bhutan forge diplomatic relations.

1991 -- President Roh Tae-woo delivers a speech at the United Nations.

1996 -- Robert Kim, a U.S. Navy officer, is arrested by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation on charges of passing classified information on North Korea to South Korean diplomats in Washington. Convicted in 1997, Kim, who is a naturalized American citizen, served a prison term of seven years and three months, and home confinement of two months after his release.

2000 -- The two Koreas hold their first defense ministry-level talks in Seoul.

2002 -- The two Koreas open a hotline between military authorities for the first time since the Korean War ended in 1953.

2016 -- North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho vows to bolster the country's "national nuclear armed forces" to cope with what he calls "increased war threats from the United States."

2017 -- U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers fly in international airspace off North Korea's eastern coast. The strategic bombers deployed from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam flew with F-15C air superiority fighters from Kadena Air Base on Okinawa on a mission meant to send a clear message that the United States has many military options to defeat any threat from North Korea.

2020 -- The defense ministry announces North Korea fatally shot a South Korean fisheries ministry official drifting at sea before dousing his body with oil and setting it on fire. According to the defense ministry, the 47-year-old official had disappeared while on duty aboard an inspection boat in waters off the western border island of Yeonpyeong. The defense ministry condemned "such a brutal act" by North Korea and called for an explanation from Pyongyang.
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