Today in Korean history

Jan. 17

1981 -- The opposition Democratic Korea Party is launched.

1992 -- Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa offers an apology for Tokyo's 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula during his speech before the South Korean National Assembly.

2001 -- The Seoul government reveals it sought Washington's consent to allow it to develop and produce missiles with a range of up to 300 kilometers that can carry warheads weighing up to 500 kilograms. Under a 1979 accord with the United States, South Korea is barred from developing missiles with a range of over 180 km.

2005 -- South Korea declassifies more than 1,000 pages of decades-old sensitive documents regarding its diplomatic normalization with Japan in 1965. The declassification later spurred a series of compensation lawsuits by victims of Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule.

2008 -- The Constitutional Court dismisses President Roh Moo-hyun's petition to allow political comments by government officials before an election, upholding the legality of South Korea's election law.

2009 -- North Korea says it may retain nuclear weapons even after normalizing ties with the United States.

2018 -- South and North Koreas agree to field a joint women's hockey team in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games held in South Korea's Pyeongchang from Feb. 9-25, paving the way for inter-Korean rapprochement that later led to a historic summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held April 27, and two more bilateral summits held in May and September.

2019 -- Kim Yong-chol, then a vice chair of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, heads to Washington from Beijing for discussions on a second U.S.-North Korea summit that was later held in Vietnam in February. The second meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ended without any progress. It came about 8 months after the leaders held the first-ever U.S.-North Korea summit in Singapore in June 2018.

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