Today in Korean history

May 25

1946 -- Leading left- and right-wing politicians in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula, including Kim Kyu-sik and Yea Woon-heong, start talks as part of their long-term plan to form a united front and, later, a Korean government on the peninsula.

1950 -- South Korea joins the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

1955 -- The pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean residents in Japan, commonly referred to as Chongnyeon, is established in Tokyo.

1971 -- The eighth National Assembly election is held.

1973 -- The first World Taekwondo Championships begin in Seoul.

1992 -- A nuclear inspection team from the International Atomic Energy Agency enters North Korea.

1999 -- A pile of fossilized dinosaur eggs is discovered in Boseong, South Jeolla Province. The fossils were estimated to date back more than 100 million years.

2006 -- The Seoul High Court declares Park Jie-won, chief of staff for former President Kim Dae-jung, not guilty of accepting 15 billion won in bribes from Hyundai Group in exchange for helping the conglomerate's business in North Korea.

2009 -- North Korea conducts its second atomic test, sparking international condemnation and U.N. Security Council Resolution 1874, which intensified U.N. sanctions imposed on the communist nation, shortly after its first atomic test in October 2006.

2012 -- The remains of South Korean soldiers killed in North Korea during the Korean War returned home via the U.S., marking the first such repatriation of South Korean war dead since the 1953 armistice.
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