Today in Korean history

March 21

1990 -- South Korea establishes diplomatic relations with Namibia.

1996 -- South Korea is elected to the executive board of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), which is in charge of developing copper, nickel, cobalt, manganese and other seabed mineral resources, the foreign ministry says. The ISA general assembly in Kingston, Jamaica, elected South Korea and 35 other countries to the board.

1997 -- Hanbo Construction Co., an affiliate of Hanbo Group, goes bankrupt as it fails to honor mature promissory notes totaling 6.5 billion won. The bankruptcy came after the First Bank, the firm's main bank, denied the financially troubled client any further loans. The firm's insolvency brought to five the number of Hanbo affiliates that have gone bankrupt.

2001 -- Chung Ju-yung, the founder and former honorary chairman of Hyundai Group, dies of respiratory trouble due to pneumonia at age 85.

2002 -- South Korea says it will prohibit all demonstrations around World Cup stadiums and the lodging grounds of teams participating in the football extravaganza. It said it will crack down hard on all demonstrations that occur within a 1-kilometer radius of football venues and within 600 meters of lodgings of teams and FIFA officials.

2005 -- North Korea says it has "increased its nuclear arms arsenal" in preparation for a preemptive invasion by the United States.

2007 -- Host China extends the latest round of six-party nuclear disarmament talks by "one or two days" after North Korea boycotted it due to a delay in getting back its funds frozen at a Macau bank.

2008 -- The younger brother of popular South Korean actor Lee Dong-gun is found to have been killed in a gang-related incident in Sydney, Australia.

2009 -- North Korea's state news agency says the country has detained two Americans and is investigating them for allegedly intruding into North Korean territory illegally. The report came as two female reporters from Current TV, an American internet outlet, were reportedly taken by North Korean soldiers along the Tumen River on the Chinese border while filming the North Korean side earlier in the week.

2013 -- Lt. Gen. John Johnson, the 8th U.S. Army Commander, says joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises, code-named Key Resolve, were a good first step for Seoul to rehearse a scenario in which it is set to play a leading role in defending itself. About 10,000 South Korean and 3,000 U.S. troops took part in the largely computer simulated war games.

2014 -- South Korea says it will file an official complaint with the international figure skating governing body over the controversial composition of the judging panel for the ladies' singles competition at the Sochi Winter Olympics, arguing its star Kim Yu-na was robbed of a gold medal because of it.

2015 -- The top diplomats of South Korea, China and Japan agree to continue efforts to hold a trilateral summit of their leaders at an early date as they seek to revive cooperation amid history and territorial rows. The pledge came at a meeting between South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and his Chinese and Japanese counterparts Wang Yi and Fumio Kishida -- the first such trilateral meeting in nearly three years.

2019 -- The Supreme Court approves a retrial of three civilians who were executed for siding with anti-government insurgents in the political bloodshed of the Yeosu-Suncheon uprising in 1948.

2020 -- North Korea fires two projectiles presumed to be short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea. It marked the third time the communist country carried out such a weapons test in March after months of hiatus.
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