Opinion - The Korea Times

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 29, 2025

539-B.C. King Cyrus "the Great" of Persia marches into Babylon, freeing Jewish captives and allowing them to return home 1268-Conradin, the last legitimate male heir of the German Hohenstaufen dynasty of Kings and Holy Roman Emperors, is executed with Frederick I, Margrave of Baden by Charles I of Sicily 1665-Battle of Mbwila [Ambuila]: Portuguese forces defeat the Kingdom of Kongo and decapitate King António I of Kongo, also known as Nvita a Nkanga 1922-Italian King Victor Emmanuell III appoints Benito Mussolini (Il Duce) as Prime Minister of Italy 1929-Stock market crash on Wall Street, known as "Black Tuesday," triggers the Great Depression 1954-Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser disbands the Muslim Brotherhood 1966-National Organization of Women (NOW) officially established at an organizing conference in Washington D.C.; Betty Friedan is elected as President 1999-Deadliest Indian Ocean tropical super cyclone hits Odisha, India, death toll 9,885, wind speed of 300 mph 2015-China announces the end of its one-child policy after 35 years 2022-Crowd surge at Halloween festivities in Seoul, South Kore

Oct 28, 2025

MONDAY, Oct. 27, 2025

312-Roman Emperor Constantine the Great is said to have received his famous Vision of the Cross 1913-In a speech in Mobile, Alabama, President Woodrow Wilson vows the US will "will never again seek one additional foot of territory by conquest" 1920-League of Nations moves headquarters in Geneva 1931-Chuhei Numbu of Japan, sets then long jump record at 26' 2½" 1938-DuPont announces its new synthetic polyamide fiber will be called “nylon” 1958-General Ayub Khan succeeds Iskander Mirza as President of Pakistan 1962-Black Saturday during the Cuban Missile Crisis: An American spy plane is shot down over Cuba and the navy drops warning depth charges on Soviet submarines 1982-China announces its population has reached over 1 billion people 1987-South Korean voters overwhelmingly approved a new constitution 1998-Helmut Kohl resigns as Chancellor of Germany after 16 years, following a landslide defeat in elections 2023-Alliance of rebel armies begin Operation 1027, an offensive against the ruling military junta in Myanmar

Oct 26, 2025

TUESDAY, Oct. 28, 2025

1492-Christopher Columbus sights Cuba and claims it for Spain under the name "Juana" 1538-The first university in the New World, the Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino, is established on Hispaniola 1746-The Peruvian cities of Lima and Callao are demolished by an earthquake, killing 18,000 1831-Michael Faraday demonstrates his dynamo invention, an electric generator 1886-Statue of Liberty is dedicated by President Grover Cleveland, celebrated with the first confetti (ticker tape) parade in New York City 1919-Volstead Act is passed by Congress, establishing prohibition despite President Woodrow Wilson's veto 1924-Miner M. de Bruin discovers the infant fossil skull, "Taung child," in a lime quarry in Taung, South Africa; paleoanthropologist Raymond Dart identifies the fossil as a new hominin species, Australopithecus africanus

Oct 26, 2025

FRIDAY, Oct. 24, 2025

1648-Treaty of Westphalia ends the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire; Switzerland's independence is recognized 1923-General Otto von Lossow calls Reichswehr to Berlin to form a dictatorship 1924-Christian General Feng Joe Siang occupies Beijing 1945-Charter of United Nations comes into effect 1954-Dwight D. Eisenhower pledges United States' support to South Vietnam 1962-Soviet ships approach but stop short of the US blockade of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis 1995-Total solar eclipse in SW/S Asia (2m09s) 2017-Albert Einstein's "Theory of Happiness," written as a note for a bellboy instead of a tip in Tokyo in 1922, sells for $1.56 million

Oct 23, 2025

THURSDAY, Oct. 23, 2025

1641-Outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641 - Catholic uprising in Ulster 1731-Library of manuscript collector Robert Cotton is badly damaged in a fire in London, lost are one of only two surviving copies of King John's Magna Carta (1215) and Asser's biography of King Alfred [1] 1814-One of the first modern plastic surgeries in the West is performed by Joseph Carpue on a soldier's nose in England using Indian techniques 1854-English newspaper "The Times" gives precise British positions in Crimea during Crimean War 1943-First Jewish transport out of Rome reaches extermination camp Birkenau 1944-Battle of Gulf of Leyte begins - largest naval battle of WWII near the Philippines 1954-Britain, France & US agree to end occupation of Germany 1992-Emperor Akihito becomes the first Emperor of Japan to stand on Chinese soil 2018-Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejects Saudi claim journalist Jamal Khashoggi killed accidentally, says it was premeditated murder

Oct 22, 2025

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 22, 2025

794-Japanese Emperor Kanmu relocates the capital from Nara to Heian-kyo (now Kyoto) 1879-Thomas Edison perfects the carbonized cotton filament light bulb 1948-First Arab–Israeli War: Israeli Navy sinks Egyptian Navy flagship 'King Farouk' using explosive-laden motorboat in the Mediterranean Sea near Gaza 1951-Earthquake hits Formosa, 100 killed 1953-Laos gains full independence from France 1954-West Germany joins North Atlantic Treaty Organization 1962-U.S. President John F. Kennedy makes a live television address about Soviet missile bases in Cuba and imposes a naval blockade on Cuba, beginning the Cuban Missile Crisis 1964-French philosopher and author Jean-Paul Sartre refuses the Nobel Prize for Literature, saying he doesn't want to be "institutionalized" 1958-FirstJapanese anime feature film in color "The Tale of the White Serpent" released, produced by Toei Doga Company 1961-75,000 Flemings demand equal rights & Flemish language in Belgium 2004-Discovery and isolation of new wonder material Graphene announced in paper by Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov (Nobel Prize 2010). Incredibly

Oct 21, 2025

TUESDAY, Oct. 21, 2025

1803-English scientist John Dalton reads his paper "On the Absorption of Gases by Water and Other Liquids" to the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Soc - 1st outline of his atomic theory 1816-Oldest English-language school in Southeast Asia, Penang Free School is founded in George Town, Penang, Malaysia, by English clergyman Rev. Hutchings 1854-Florence Nightingale, with a staff of 38 nurses, is sent to the Crimean War 1950-Chinese Communist forces occupy Tibet 1964-Society Hill Towers, a complex of three 31-story skyscrapers designed by I. M. Pei and Associates, inaugurated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1971-Nobel prize for literature awarded to Pablo Neruda 1988-Philippine's former president Ferdinand Marcos and first lady Imelda Marcos indicted on racketeering charges 2013-The Parliament of Canada confers Honorary Canadian citizenship on women's rights and education activist Malala Yousafzai 2015-German Chancellor Angela Merkel says German view of Holocaust will not change, after Benjamin Netanyahu says idea came from Mufti of Jerusalem

Oct 20, 2025

MONDAY, Oct. 20, 2025

202-B.C. Battle of Zama: Hannibal Barca and the Carthaginian army are defeated by Roman legions under Scipio Africanus, ending the Second Punic War 1781-British forces under General Charles Cornwallis sign terms of surrender to George Washington and Comte de Rochambeau at Yorktown at 2 p.m., effectively ending the American Revolutionary War 1926-Russian Politburo throws out Leon Trotsky and his followers 1943-Streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis, is isolated by researchers at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey 1983-U.S. Senate establishes Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday, observed on the third Monday in January (on or near his January 15 birthday) 1987-Black Monday: Stock markets around the world crash, including the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which falls 508.32 points (22%), 4½ times the previous daily record 2015-Scientists from the University of California find evidence that life on Earth may have begun 4.1 billion years ago, 300 million years earlier than previously thought 2021-Moscow's mayor orders unvaccinated people over 60 years to

Oct 19, 2025

FRIDAY, Oct. 17, 2025

1854-French and British forces bombard Sevastopol for the first time during the Crimean War 1907-Guglielmo Marconi's company begins the first commercial transatlantic wireless service between Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada and Clifden, Ireland 1933-Albert Einstein arrives in US as a refugee from Nazi Germany 1943-Burma Railway built by Allied POWs and Asian laborers is completed for use by the Japanese army 1973-OPEC oil ministers use oil as an economic weapon in the Arab-Israeli War, mandating a cut in exports and recommending an embargo against unfriendly states 1985-French author Claude Simon wins the Nobel Prize for Literature.” 2007-The Dalai Lama receives the United States Congressional Gold Medal 2015-Star forward Cristiano Ronaldo becomes Real Madrid's all-time leading scorer across all competitions, overtaking club legend Raul with his 324th goal in a 3-0 win over Levante 2017-Islamic State headquarters in Raqqa is declared under full control of the US-led alliance by Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) spokesperson Talal Sello after four months of fightings

Oct 16, 2025

THURSDAY, Oct. 16, 2025

1813-Battle of Leipzig, the largest battle in Europe prior to World War I, sees Napoleon's forces defeated by Prussia, Austria, and Russia 1900-Great Britain and Germany sign the Anglo-German Treaty, agreeing to maintain the territorial integrity of China and support the 'open door' policy called for by the US Secretary of State 1934-Mao Zedong and 25,000 troops begin their 6,000 mile Long March from the south of China to the north and west 1962-Cuban Missile Crisis begins as US President John F. Kennedy is shown photos confirming the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba 1978-Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla is elected Pope John Paul II 1998-Former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet is arrested in London on a Spanish warrant requesting his extradition on murder charges

Oct 15, 2025

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