Today in Korean history

In 1902, Kim So-wol, a renowned poet, entered the world in a mountain village within North Pyongan Province, present-day North Korea, to an upper-class family. He married at the tender age of 14 and pursued higher education in Tokyo, studying under the guidance of his former teacher, Kim Eok. After returning to his homeland, Kim began his writing career, leaving behind 154 poems and essays upon his untimely death by suicide in 1934.

Two decades later, in 1991, both South and North Korea joined the United Nations simultaneously. The path to admission was not easy for South Korea, which had initially applied for membership in 1975 but faced obstacles from the Soviet Union and China, North Korea's ideological allies. Diplomatic relations between the two Koreas were established in the early 1990s, prompting a shift in policy from Moscow and Beijing, leading to their support for the joint bid.

In 1997, a tragic event unfolded at Guam International Airport. A Korean Air Boeing 747 attempted to land amidst heavy rain, veering off course and crashing into a hillside. Miraculously, only 28 of the 254 passengers survived the harrowing incident.

In 2009, South Korea and India embarked on a groundbreaking trade agreement aimed at bolstering their economic cooperation. The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement saw the reduction or elimination of tariffs on goods over the next decade, particularly targeting cars and other manufactured items.

In 2015, the world bid farewell to Chun Kyung-ja, a distinguished South Korean artist. Known for her vibrant and bold depictions of flowers and women throughout the 1960s to the 1980s, Chun had a cerebral hemorrhage in 2003, rendering her bedridden in Manhattan until her eventual passing. Her death remained unannounced to the public until her daughter revealed it years later.

Chun's artistic journey concluded in 1991 when she faced plagiarism charges, leading her to retire from painting. Prior to her relocation to New York in 1998, she had donated 93 paintings to the Seoul Museum of Art.

In 2019, North Korea made headlines by launching two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea, seemingly in response to an ongoing joint military exercise between South Korea and the United States.