Today in Korean history

1911 - The Japanese colonial government introduced a new public education system in Korea that prohibited the use of the Korean language in schools.

1971 - A group of 24 South Korean commandos, trained on Silmido island, attempted to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Il-sung by blowing themselves up while trying to enter Seoul on a stolen bus.

1974 - President Park Chung-hee, who came to power through a military coup in 1960, canceled two emergency acts that prohibited any discussions about amending the Yushin Constitution, which granted him extensive powers over the National Assembly.

1977 - Bulgaria became the first Eastern European nation to allow South Korean diplomats to enter its country.

1996 - South Korea and El Salvador signed a visa waiver program.

1999 - South Korea and China held their first military talks since the end of the Korean War in 1953. The two countries normalized diplomatic ties in 1992.

2001 - South Korean President Kim Dae-jung held a summit with visiting Vietnamese head of state Tran Duc Luong.

2005 - South Korean pop star Cho Yong-pil performed a concert in North Korea's capital, Pyongyang, to mark the 60th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule.

2009 - President Kim Dae-jung's state funeral took place in Seoul, attended by tens of thousands, including incumbent President Lee Myung-bak. North Korea sent delegates to the funeral, which Kim attended after passing away from pneumonia.

2015 - South and North Korea opened rare high-level talks at Panmunjom, which lasted three days and resulted in an agreement to defuse tensions caused by a land mine blast blamed on North Korea, injuring two South Korean soldiers near the border.

2016 - A 59-year-old man from Gwangju was diagnosed with cholera, the first case of the water-borne disease in South Korea in 15 years.

2019 - South Korea's foreign ministry formally notified Japan's ambassador, Yasumasa Nagamine, of its decision to terminate the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), a bilateral military intelligence-sharing pact.