Opinion - The Korea Times

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 24, 2025

1565-Compromise of the Nobles in Habsburg Netherlands closes against the Inquisition 1814-Treaty of Ghent signed, ending the War of 1812 between the United States, the United Kingdom and their allies 1877-Thomas Edison files for a patent for the cylinder phonograph 1930-Sukarno sentenced to four years in prison by Indonesian authorities in Bandung, Dutch East Indies 1936-First radioactive isotope medicine is administered in Berkeley, California 1943-U,S, President FDR appoints General Eisenhower as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces 1980-Americans remember hostages held by Iran by shining lights for 417 seconds 1989-Charles Taylor starts First Liberian Civil War when he enters country at the head of guerilla group the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, to overthrow President Samuel Doe

Dec 23, 2025

TUESDAY, Dec. 23, 2025

962 — Under future Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas, Byzantine troops storm the city of Aleppo and recover the tattered tunic of John the Baptist during the Byzantine-Arab Wars 1688 — King James II, the last Roman Catholic British monarch, flees to France from William of Orange 1888 — Vincent van Gogh cuts off his left ear with a razor after an argument with fellow painter Paul Gauguin and sends it to a female courtesan for safekeeping 1913 — U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signs the Federal Reserve Act into law, creating the central banking Federal Reserve System 1920 — Government of Ireland Act / Home Rule Act passes, partitioning Ireland 1954 — First human kidney transplant is performed by Dr. Joseph E. Murray at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston 1968 — Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders become the first people to orbit the moon aboard Apollo 8

Dec 22, 2025

MONDAY, Dec.22, 2025

1790-Supposedly impenetrable Turkish fortress of Izmail stormed and captured by Suvorov and his Russian armies during the Russo-Turkish War (1787–92) 1885-Samurai Itō Hirobumi becomes the first prime minister of Japan 1941-Winston Churchill arrives in Washington, D.C. for a wartime conference 1973-OPEC Gulf Six decides to raise the posted price of marker crude from $5.12 to $11.65 per barrel effective Jan. 1, 1974 1976-35 Unification church couples wed in NYC 1989-After 23 years of dictatorial rule, Romania ousts communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu 1990-Labor activist Lech Wałęsa sworn in as Poland's first popularly elected president 2010-Repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, a 17-year-old policy banning homosexuals from serving openly in the U.S. military, is signed into law by President Barack Obama

Dec 21, 2025

FRIDAY, Dec. 19, 2025

1776-Thomas Paine publishes his first "American Crisis" essay beginning "These are the times that try men's souls" (date disputed) 1783 -William Pitt the Younger becomes the youngest ever British Prime Minister at age 24 1932-British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) begins transmitting overseas 1946-War breaks out in Indochina as Ho Chi Minh attacks French in Hanoi 1950-Chinese invasion of Tibet forces the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to flee Lhasa for Yadong on the Tibetan-India border 1958-First radio broadcast from space, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends a Christmas message "to all mankind, America's wish for peace on Earth and goodwill to men everywhere" 1981-Romuald Spasowski, Polish ambassador to the United States defects to show support for the Solidarity movement amid a crackdown 1984-Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sign the Sino-British Joint Declaration to transfer Hong Kong back to China in 1997 1998-U.S. House of Representatives votes to impeach President Bill Clinton over the Lewinsky scandal, forwarding the articles of im

Dec 18, 2025

THURSDAY, Dec. 18, 2025

218-B.C. Battle of the Trebia: Hannibal's Carthaginian army heavily defeats Roman forces on Italian soil during the Second Punic War 1271-Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan renames his empire "Yuan" (元 yuán), marking the start of the Yuan Dynasty of China 1603-First fleet of the Dutch East India Company under Admiral Steven van der Haghen departs for the East-Indies 1642-Abel Tasman's expedition is the first European voyage to reach New Zealand sailing into Wharewharangi Bay at the top of the South Island, making the first confirmed contact with Maori 1917-The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, authorizing prohibition of alcohol, is approved by the U.S. congress and sent to the states for ratification 1957-World's first full scale nuclear power plant, for peacetime use only, begins to generate electricity at the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania 1972 -U.S. launches Operation Linebacker II, its heaviest bombing of North Vietnam, as negotiations to end the Vietnam War collapse 1979-Stuntman Stanley Barrett unofficially breaks the land speed record and the sound barrier in his

Dec 17, 2025

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 17, 2025

1398-Tamerlane captures and sacks Delhi, defeating Sultan Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud's armies by setting camels loaded with hay alight and charging them at the Sultan's armored elephants 1531-Pope Clement VII publishes papal bull "Cum ad nihil magis", authorizing the Inquisition into Portugal at Evora, Coimbra and Lisbon; rescinded in 1535 1788-Russian army led by Grigory Potemkin assaults and captures the fortress of Ochakov in modern-day Ukraine after a five-month-long siege in one of the major events of the Russo-Turkish War 1903-At 10:35 am, Orville Wright pilots the first sustained, powered, and controlled flight of a heavier-than-air aircraft at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina; the flight lasts 12 seconds and covers 120 feet 1947-British industrial company BTH receives a patent for holography, invented by Dennis Gabor in their development lab 1963-Ballon d'Or: Dynamo Moscow goalkeeper Lev Yashin wins award for best European football player; beats Milan midfielder Gianni Rivera and Tottenham striker Jimmy Greaves; first Russian national to win trophy 1972-New line of control

Dec 16, 2025

MONDAY, Dec.15, 2025

533-Byzantine General Belisarius defeats the Vandals, under King Gelimer, at the Battle of Ticameron 1256-Hulagu Khan captures and destroys Hashshashin stronghold at Alamut, in present-day Iran, part of the Mongol offensive on Islamic southwest Asia 1488-Bartolomeu Dias returns to Portugal after becoming first known European to sail round the Cape of Good Hope 1612-German astronomer Simon Marius is the first to observe the Andromeda Galaxy through a telescope 1791-U.S. Bill of Rights ratified when Virginia gives its approval, becomes amendments 1-10 of the U.S. constitution 1915-ANZAC forces begin their withdrawal from the Gallipoli Peninsula after Ottoman forces successfully defend access to Constantinople 1973-American Psychiatric Association declares homosexuality is not a mental illness

Dec 14, 2025

FRIDAY, Dec. 12, 2025

627-Battle of Nineveh: Byzantine Emperor Heraclius defeats Sassanid forces during the Byzantine-Sassanid War 1925-Last Qajar Shah of Iran is deposed; Reza Shah Pahlavi takes over 1946-United Nations accepts six Manhattan blocks as a gift from John D. Rockefeller Jr. 1964-Kenya becomes an independent republic with Jomo Kenyatta as its first President 1878-Joseph Pulitzer begins publishing the "St. Louis Post-Dispatch" 1936-Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek declares war on Japan 2000-U.S. Supreme Court releases its 5-4 decision in Bush v. Gore, settling the recount dispute in Florida's 2000 presidential election in George W. Bush's favor, thus handing him the presidency over Al Gore

Dec 11, 2025

THURSDAY, Dec. 11, 2025

1282-Llywelyn ab Gruffydd the last native and independent Prince of Wales is killed at the Battle of Orewin Bridge at Cilmeri, near Builth Wells, south Wales by forces of Edward I of England. Reigned from 1259 and is known as Llywelyn the Last. 1620-Mayflower Pilgrims come ashore in Plymouth Bay, traditionally thought to be at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts [NS: Dec 21] 1792-French King Louis XVI goes on trial, accused of high treason and crimes against the state 1913-"Mona Lisa" is recovered two years after it was stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris 1931-Statute of Westminster gives complete legislative independence to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland (Free State), and Newfoundland (not then part of Canada) 1946-United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is established by resolution 57 of the U.N. General Assembly 1997-Delegates from 150 industrial nations attending a U.N. climate conference in Kyoto, Japan, reach agreement to control heat-trapping greenhouse gases

Dec 10, 2025

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 10, 2025

1517-copy of Martin Luther's 95 theses, the publication of which began the Protestant Reformation in EuropeThe Protestant Reformation 1520-Martin Luther publicly burns Pope Leo X's papal bull 'Exsurge Domine' which demanded that Luther recant his writings 1684-Isaac Newton's derivation of Kepler's laws from his theory of gravity, contained in the paper “De motu corporum in gyrum” (On the motion of bodies in an orbit), is read to the Royal Society by Edmond Halley. 1799-The metric system is first adopted in France 1901-First Nobel Peace Prizes awarded, first recipients Red Cross founder Jean Henri Dunant and peace activist Frederic Passy 1930-Indian Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman is presented with the Nobel Prize for Physics for work on light scattering - first Asian to win a Science Nobel 1936-Edward VIII signs Instrument of Abdication, giving up the British throne to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson 1964-Nobel Peace Prize presented to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Oslo, Norway 1990-Hindu-Muslim rebellion in Hyderabad-Aligargh India, 140 die 1991-Architect I. M. Pei receives $5 millio

Dec 9, 2025

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