Today in Korean history

Jan. 25

1886 -- The state publishing organ of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), Bakmunguk, launches the Hanseongjubo weekly under the initiative of young modernists who wanted to accept Western civilization. The publication was a revival of their first magazine, Hanseongsunbo, which was abolished in 1883 due to the infiltration of conservative forces.

1930 -- Cadres of the Korean provisional government in Shanghai launch a political party, the Korea Independence Party, on the nationalist and democratic platform.

1965 -- The second bridge over the Han River, currently named the Yanghwa Bridge, opens.

1981 -- The military junta of Chun Doo-hwan rescinds martial law, which was imposed on Oct. 26, 1979, when President Park Chung-hee was shot and killed by his intelligence aide.

2002 -- The government launches the Korea Independent Commission Against Corruption, an anti-corruption body, under the presidential office.

2005 -- South Korea and the United States agree to a land swap deal for the building of a new U.S. Embassy, with Seoul promising to provide a bigger plot of land for the facility.

2016 -- South Korea experiences the coldest weather this winter with temperatures dropping to near record lows. The temperature in Seoul falls to minus 18 C, the lowest since Jan. 15, 2001, when the mercury dropped to minus 18.6 degrees.

2018 -- Chung Hyeon becomes the first South Korean tennis player to reach a semifinals at a Grand Slam event, as he continued his historic run at the Australian Open.

2019 -- South Korea's military releases five photos captured from two videos of a Japanese warplane's "threatening" low-altitude flyby close to its destroyer a day earlier.
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