Today in Korean history

1934 witnessed a devastating flood in southern Korea, resulting in the loss of 800 lives. In 1940, Japan's colonial authorities shut down two prominent Korean vernacular dailies, Chosun Ilbo and Donga Ilbo, due to their opposing views towards Japan. During Japan's rule from 1910-1945, these events highlighted the resistance faced by the Korean people.

In 1946, Kim Il-sung, who would later become the founding leader of North Korea, established the North Korean Provisional People's Committee. This interim government took control of crucial industries and seized private property in the future communist nation. Diplomatic relations were established in 1961 between South Korea and Cameroon.

Samsung Electronics Co. made a significant technological breakthrough in 1990 by developing a 16-megabit dynamic random access memory chip. The South Korean government decided to construct the National Museum of Korea in central Seoul in 1993, after Korea regained its independence from Japanese colonial rule. The museum initially opened in a hall of Gyeongbok Palace in northern Seoul in 1945, but due to the lack of a permanent home, it had to relocate several times.

In 2000, North Korea and South Korean conglomerate Hyundai agreed to conduct a tour program, allowing South Koreans to visit North Korea's scenic Mount Kumgang resort on the southeastern coast. In 2009, Hyun Jung-eun, the chairwoman of Hyundai Group, visited Pyongyang to advocate for the release of a detained Hyundai Asan Corp. employee, Yu Seong-jin, who was accused of slandering North Korea's political system and attempting to persuade a local woman to defect to the South.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan offered a renewed apology to South Korea in 2010, acknowledging his country's colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula from 1910-1945. In 2012, South Korea confirmed that North Korea had accepted its flood aid offer. The U.N. Security Council condemned North Korea's fifth nuclear test in 2016. In 2019, North Korea fired two short-range projectiles towards the East Sea, following an offer to resume nuclear talks with the United States and urging Washington to propose a new plan acceptable to Pyongyang.