Opinion - The Korea Times

MONDAY, Sept. 22, 2025

1692-The last eight people --Martha Corey, Margaret Scott, Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Wilmott Redd, Samuel Wardwell, and Mary Parker -- hanged for allegedly practicing witchcraft as a result of the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts Bay Colony; 19 hanged overall, with six other deaths caused by the hysteria 1792 French First Republic is formed by the National Convention, stripping the French king of his powers 1862-U.S. President Abraham Lincoln issues preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, threatening to free all enslaved people in the rebel southern states if those states fail to re-join the Union by Jan. 1, 1863 1968-Ceremony to commemorate the relocation of the ancient Egyptian Abu Simbel temples, honoring Ramesses II after being rebuilt 200 meters inland away from the Aswan Dam 1980-Iraq invades Iran in an attempt to control the Shatt al-Arab waterway 1993-Supreme Soviet dismisses President Boris Yeltsin 1994-"Friends" TV sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman debuts on NBC, starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and

Sep 21, 2025

FRIDAY, Sept. 19, 2025

1356-English forces under Edward the Black Prince defeat the French at the Battle of Poitiers and capture French King John II during the Hundred Years' War 1870-Siege of Paris by Prussian forces begins (lasts until January 28, 1871) 1893-New Zealand becomes the first country to grant all women the right to vote 1945-Kim Il-sung arrives in the harbor of Wonsan, Korea, after 26 years in exile in the Soviet Union 1985-Magnitude 8.0 earthquake rocks Mexico City, killing an estimated 10,000 people and leaving 250,000 homeless 1986-U.S. Federal health officials announce the first antiretroviral medication (AZT) to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS will be available to patients 2017-U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the United Nations vowing to “totally destroy North Korea” if threatens the U.S.

Sep 18, 2025

THURSDAY, Sept. 18, 2025

1811-A British East India Company force led by Baron Minto conquers Java, part of the Dutch East Indies, and Stamford Raffles is appointed Lieutenant-Governor 1812-Great Fire of Moscow burns out after five days, destroys 75% of the city and kills 12,000 people 1873-Government bond agent Jay Cooke & Co collapses, causing panic on Wall Street and the start of the Panic of 1873 and the Long Depression 1914-Irish Home Rule Bill receives Royal Assent 1931-Mukden Incident: To create a pretext for the invasion of Manchuria, China, the Japanese detonate a small quantity of dynamite close to a railway line owned by Japan's South Manchuria Railway 1947-Central Intelligence Agency officially comes into existence after being established by President Truman in July 1971-Momofuku Ando markets the first Cup Noodles, packaging them in a waterproof polystyrene container 1976-Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong's funeral takes place in Beijing, China 2001-First mailing of anthrax letters from Trenton, New Jersey in the 2001 anthrax attacks

Sep 17, 2025

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 17, 2025

1683-Dutch scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek is the first to report the existence of bacteria 1787-U.S. Constitution is signed by delegates at the Philadelphia Convention 1862-Battle of Antietam [Battle of Sharpsburg]: Bloodiest day in the American Civil War with 22,000 dead, wounded, or missing in the first major battle on Union soil 1916-World War I flying ace, the Red Baron of the German Luftstreitkräfte, wins his first aerial combat near Cambrai, France 1940-Adolf Hitler indefinitely postpones Operation Sealion, the planned German invasion of Great Britain 1978-Anwar Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter sign the Camp David Accords, frameworks for peace in the Middle East and between Egypt and Israel 1980-South Korea opposition leader Kim Dae-jung sentenced to death on false charges of sedition and conspiracy (sentence later commuted) 1985-Soyuz T-14 carries 3 cosmonauts to Salyut 7 space station 1988-24th Olympic games open at Seoul, Korea

Sep 16, 2025

TUESDAY, Sept. 17, 2025

1620-The Mayflower departs Plymouth, England, with 102 Pilgrims and about 30 crew for the New World 1795-British capture Cape Town, South Africa, from the Dutch 1810-Priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla rings the church bells in Dolores, Mexico, issuing a call to arms known as the "Grito de Dolores (Cry of Dolores)", calling for the end of Spanish rule. Celebrated today as Mexican Independence Day. 1848-Slavery is abolished in all French territories 1920-The "Wall Street bombing" occurs at 12:01 when a horse-drawn wagon explodes on Wall Street, New York, killing 38 and injuring 143 1963-Federation of Malaysia formed by Malaya, Singapore, British North Borneo (Sabah) and Sarawak 1974-U.S. President Gerald Ford announces conditional amnesty for US Vietnam War deserters 1997-Apple Computer Inc. names co-founder Steve Jobs as interim CEO 2012-14 people are killed and 7 wounded by a roadside bomb Jandol, Turkey

Sep 15, 2025

MONDAY, Sept. 15, 2025

1616-First non-aristocratic, free public school in Europe is opened in Frascati, Italy 1821-Act of Independence of Central America: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua declare their independence from the Spanish Empire 1835-HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin on board, reaches the Galápagos Islands 1916-First use of tanks in warfare, Britain's Mark I "Little Willies" at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, part of the Battle of the Somme 1940-Battle of Britain Day: Royal Air Force repulses a major Luftwaffe attack, losing 29 aircraft to the Germans' 57-61 as the tide begins to turn 1981-Pope John Paul II publishes encyclical "Laborem exercens" against capitalism/Marxism 1992-George Soros' Quantum Fund begins selling large amounts of pound sterling, helping force the pound out of the ERM the next day and earning him the label "the man who broke the Bank of England"

Sep 14, 2025

FRIDAY, Sept. 12, 2025

1624-First submarine is publicly tested in London on the Thames for King James I 1758-French astronomer Charles Messier mistakenly identifies the Crab Nebula and begins his Messier Catalogue 1909-World's first patent for synthetic rubber granted to German chemist Fritz Hofmann 1940-Four teens follow their dog down a hole near Lascaux, France, and discover 17,000-year-old drawings now known as the Lascaux Cave Paintings 1958-U.S. Supreme Court orders the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, to integrate 1959-Luna 2 is launched by the Soviet Union, the first spacecraft to impact the Moon 2000-Netherlands passes law allowing same-gender marriage, adoption and divorce

Sep 11, 2025

THURSDAY, Sept.11, 2025

1297-Battle of Stirling Bridge, Scottish rebel William Wallace defeats the English 1609-An expulsion order is issued against the Moriscos of Valencia, beginning the expulsion of all of Spain's Moriscos (former Muslims and their descendants) 1697-Battle of Zenta: Holy League forces led by Prince Eugene of Savoy defeat an Ottoman army under Mustafa II near Zenta, Kingdom of Hungary, ending Ottoman control of large parts of Central Europe 1708-Great Northern War: Charles XII of Sweden stops his march to conquer Moscow outside Smolensk, marking the turning point in the war 1916-First true self-service supermarket, Clarence Saunders' "Piggly Wiggly," opens in Memphis, Tennessee 2001-Attempt by passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93 to retake control of their hijacked plane from terrorists causes the plane to crash in a Pennsylvania field, killing all 44 people on board 2001-Terrorists hijack a passenger plane and crash it into the Pentagon, killing 125 people 2001-Two passenger planes hijacked by Al Qaeda terrorists crash into New York's World Trade Center towers, causing the collapse

Sep 10, 2025

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 10, 2025

1776-George Washington asks for a spy, Nathan Hale volunteers 1813-American naval commander Oliver Hazard Perry defeats the British in the Battle of Lake Erie 1846-Elias Howe takes out a U.S. patent for a lockstitch sewing machine 1924-Leopold and Loeb are found guilty of the murder of Bobby Franks in Chicago in "the crime of the century" 1977-Hamida Djandoubi, convicted of torture and murder, is the last person to be executed by Guillotine in France 2008-The Large Hadron Collider at CERN, described as the biggest scientific experiment in the history of mankind, is powered up in Geneva, Switzerland 2020-California's August Complex wildfire becomes the largest recorded in state history at 471,000 acres (736 square miles)

Sep 9, 2025

TUESDAY, Sept. 9, 2025

1000-Battle of Svolder, Baltic Sea: King Olaf on board the Long Serpent is defeated in one of the greatest naval battles of the Viking Age and leaps to his death overboard 1543-Mary Stuart, at nine months old, is crowned Queen of Scots in the central Scottish town of Stirling 1776-Congress officially renames the country as the United States of America (from the United Colonies) 1817-Alexander Twilight, likely the first African American to graduate from a US college, receives a BA degree from Middlebury College 1914-First fully mechanized unit in the British Army is created: the Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade (WWI) 1993-Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization exchange letters of mutual recognition 2015-Queen Elizabeth II becomes Great Britain's longest-reigning monarch at 63 years and seven months, beating the previous record set by her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria

Sep 8, 2025

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