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Fri, September 29, 2023 | 03:16
Birth of a missile power
So, the North Korean government made a public statement, claiming it has restarted its nuclear facilities, will soon launch another prototype long-range missile (or peaceful satellite, as they prefer to describe it) and perhaps will conduct a nuclear test.
Seoul was quiet again - with reasons
Nowadays, it is easy to create and reproduce digital images. Almost all of us have a mobile phone with a camera in our pocket. These digital cameras deliver a level of quality that a few decades ago was beyond the reach of anybody but a handful of professionals.
World's most reclusive leader
So, it happened again: Kim Jong-un, the supreme leader of North Korea, failed to show and greet a visiting foreign dignitary. This time, the dignitary was Lee Hee-ho, widow of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung. She visited North Korea in early August, following an official invitation from Kim. Given the role that her husband played in starting the Sunshine Policy som...
[century] Communist Kim Il-sung’s Manchurian struggle in 1930-40s
On June 5, 1937, the Dong-A Ilbo, then as now one of the leading Korean dailies, recounted an incident that took place in the small township of Pochonbo on the Korean border with China. The newspaper reported that a band of Korean “communist bandits” from China attacked the Japanese police in this city, took it over, burned some Japanese agencies and then withdrew safely.
North Korea conducted first nuclear test in 2006
In Oct. 2006, a nuclear test was conducted in the remote mountainous area of North Hamgyeong Province, North Korea. This test did not come completely out of the blue. The North Korean government issued an official warning, thus becoming the first nation in history that gave prior notification about a coming nuclear weapons test. This openness might sound strange since we are...
[century] Korea became Japan’s victim amid heydays of imperialism
The date of Aug. 22 is one of the darkest in Korean history. This is when the Annexation Treaty was signed by the representatives of the Korean and Japanese governments. Actually, it was largely a formal act that finalized the slow demise of an independent Korean state which began decades earlier when Korea was forced out of a few centuries of isolation and pushed into the mo...
[century] Sohn Kee-chung — 1936 Berlin Olympic marathon winner
The opening ceremony of the Seoul Olympic Games was held on Sept. 17th in 1988. Thousands of people gathered at the Seoul Olympic Stadium, waiting for the arrival of the Olympic torch. After its airborne trip from Athens to Jeju island, the southernmost tip of the Korean Peninsula, it had travelled 4,168 kilometres, zigzagging its way through the country. Some 1,467 Korean to...
[century] Life of Writer Yi Kwang-su: From Nationalist to Collaborator
Most people want to see history in black and white, as an epic struggle between perfect heroes and treacherous villains. But real history ― like real life ― seldom has clear-cut ``goodies'' and ``baddies.''
Expressways Accelerate Economic Development
It would not be much of an overstatement to say that in the 1960s Korea had no roads. Yes, some unpaved roads did exist and were even quite suitable for oxcarts or old decommissioned military jeeps ― in good weather, at least. In the cities, the roads began to be paved around 1920, and the first country road was paved in 1932, but as late as 1960 almost all roads in the count...
[century] Communist Party of Korea Established in 1925
On April 17, 1925, a Chinese restaurant in downtown Seoul hosted what looked like a banquet attended by some young intellectuals ― had somebody asked, he or she would have been told that it was a gathering of young journalists.
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