Today in Korean history

1920 marked the passing of Ryu Gwan-sun, an independence fighter who died in Seodaemun Prison in Seoul. He had been imprisoned and tortured for leading the March 1 Manse Movement, a nationwide struggle against Japan's colonial rule of Korea (1910-45) in 1919.

In 1950, South Korean and U.N. forces held a ceremony to officially declare the recapture of Seoul, two days after they had pushed the North Korean forces out. The Korean War, which began earlier that year with a North Korean invasion of the South, concluded with a cease-fire in 1953.

On a diplomatic front, in 1992, President Roh Tae-woo met with his Chinese counterpart, Yang Shangkun, marking the first-ever South Korea-China summit.

The following year, in 1999, the National Assembly passed a bill to dispatch combat troops to East Timor, a region plagued by violence.

In 2016, a controversial anti-graft law took effect in South Korea, known as the Kim Young-ran Law. Proposed in 2011 by then head of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, Kim, this law mandated that workers in certain sectors requiring higher ethical standards not accept gifts exceeding a legal limit.