Timeline Korea: South Korea (B) 2016-Present

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2016        Jan 7, South Korea announced it would resume cross-border propaganda broadcasts that Pyongyang considers an act of war In response to North Korea's latest nuclear test.
    (AP, 1/7/16)
2016        Jan 7, Indonesia signed a $1.3 billion deal with South Korea to jointly develop Seoul's next-generation fighter jets.
    (AFP, 1/7/16)

2016        Jan 8, South Korea resumed high-decibel propaganda broadcasts into North Korea as the United States ramped up pressure on China to bring Pyongyang to heel after its latest nuclear test.
    (AFP, 1/8/16)

2016        Jan 26, A Chinese fishing boat capsized and killed at least one passenger near a small island off South Korea's southwest coast. Four other passengers were believed to be inside the boat, which wasn't approved by South Korean authorities to fish in the country's waters.
    (AP, 1/27/16)

2016        Jan 30, In South Korea the education ministers of South Korea, Japan and China held the first three-way meeting among the countries that often spar over how their wartime past is described in textbooks.
    (AP, 1/30/16)

2016        Feb 10, South Korea said that it will shut down a joint industrial park with North Korea in response to the North's recent rocket launch, accusing the North of using hard currency from the park to develop its nuclear and missile programs.
    (AP, 2/10/16)

2016        Feb 15, A South Korean military helicopter crashed in an eastern province, killing three of the four soldiers on board.
    (AP, 2/15/16)

2016        Feb 20, In South Korea thousands of couples took part in a mass wedding by the Unification Church, with the widow of church founder Sun Myung Moon presiding over the event at a giant stadium.
    (AFP, 2/20/16)

2016        Feb 22, A South Korean newspaper reported that Chinese banks including a branch of China's biggest bank Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) have frozen accounts belonging to North Koreans.
    (Reuters, 2/22/16)

2016        Feb 27, Thousands of South Koreans marched in the capital to protest what they say are setbacks in personal freedoms and labor rights under conservative President Park Geun-hye. Opposition lawmakers continued their nonstop speeches for a fifth straight day in parliament to block a vote on a government-backed anti-terrorism bill that they say would threaten personal freedoms and privacy if passed into law.
    (AP, 2/27/16)

2016        Feb 28, South Korean opposition lawmakers seeking to block a government-backed "anti-terrorism" bill pushed their record-breaking filibuster into a sixth straight day of speeches in the parliamentary chamber.
    (Reuters, 2/28/16)

2016        Mar 2, South Korea's opposition members of parliament ended a record-breaking filibuster to block an "anti-terrorism" bill sponsored by their conservative rivals. The opposition Minju party led the eight-day filibuster, the world’s longest. South Korea’s National Assembly passed its first legislation on human rights in North Korea, in a move that is expected to enrage its northern rival.
    (Reuters, 3/2/16)(AP, 3/2/16)(Econ, 4/9/16, p.41)

2016        Mar 8, South Korea said it would impose new sanctions against 40 individuals and 30 entities because of suspected links to North Korea's weapons program and would ban vessels that had stopped at North Korean ports in the past 180 days.
    (Reuters, 3/8/16)

2016        Mar 9, In South Korea a Google-developed supercomputer stunned South Korean Go grandmaster Lee Se-Dol by taking the first game of a five-match showdown between man and machine in Seoul.
    (AFP, 3/9/16)

2016        Mar 10, In South Korea human Go champion Lee Sedol said he was left "speechless" after his second straight loss to Google's Go-playing machine in a highly-anticipated human versus machine face-off.
    (AP, 3/10/16)
2016        Mar 10, North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions. The North also announced it had scrapped all agreements with the South on commercial exchange projects and would "liquidate" South Korean assets left behind in its territory.
    (AP, 3/10/16)

2016        Mar 11, South Korea's spy agency told lawmakers that the number of North Korean cyberattacks on the South has doubled over the past month.
    (AP, 3/11/16)

2016        Mar 12, In South Korea AlphaGo, a Google-developed computer program, won its best-of-five match-up with a South Korean Go grandmaster, taking an unassailable 3-0 lead to score a major victory for a new style of "intuitive" artificial intelligence (AI).
    (AFP, 3/12/16)
2016        Mar 12, US and South Korean troops staged a big amphibious landing exercise, storming simulated North Korean beach defenses amid heightened tension and threats by the North to annihilate its enemies.
    (Reuters, 3/12/16)

2016        Mar 30, Kuwait inked a $2.93 billion contract with three South Korean firms for the construction of the largest Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) import facility in the oil-rich country.
    (AFP, 3/30/16)

2016        Mar 31, South Korean activist prostitutes said they would appeal to the United Nations to win back their right to work after the Constitutional Court rejected a petition to overturn a law that punishes sex workers.
    (Reuters, 3/31/16)

2016        Apr 5, Thirteen North Koreans working at a restaurant in China defected. They traveled to a Southeast Asian country before being flown to South Korea.
    (AP, 4/8/16)(AP, 4/11/16)

2016        Apr 11, South Korea said two senior North Korean officials, including an army colonel specializing in espionage against the South, defected to South Korea last year.
    (Reuters, 4/11/16)

2016        Apr 13, South Korea held parliamentary elections that were expected to hand a decisive win to President Park Geun-hye's conservative party, and enable her to push ahead with controversial economic reforms. Exit polls, however, indicated her party would not regain its majority in the National Assembly.
    (AP, 4/13/16)

2016        May 16, Han Kang’s “The Vegetarian” won the Man Booker Int’l. Prize (MBIP) for fiction. The South Korean book was translated by Deborah Smith.
    (Econ, 5/21/16, p.77)

2016        May 17, In South Korea a woman (23) was attacked and stabbed to death by a male stranger early today in a building's bathroom near Seoul’s Gangnam subway station.
    (AP, 5/21/16)

2016        May 24, South Korean officials said an unspecified number of North Koreans working at a Pyongyang-run restaurant overseas have escaped their workplace and will come to South Korea. The announcement came after South Korean media reported that two or three female employees at a North Korean-run restaurant in China fled and went to an unidentified Southeast Asian country earlier this month.
    (AP, 5/24/16)

2016        May 29, Uganda and South Korea signed cooperation agreements on the 2nd day of a visit by South Korean leader Park Geun-hye. The memorandums of understanding in areas such as health and education were signed at the State House in Entebbe. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said his country would halt security and military cooperation with North Korea.
    (AP, 5/29/16)(Reuters, 5/29/16)

2016        May 31, In Kenya South Korea's President Park Geun-hye met Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on the second day of her three-day visit.
    (AP, 5/31/16)

2016        Jun 11, In Hong Kong and South Korea operators of the ACT college entrance exam canceled the tests for some 5,500 students at the last moment over what they said was a verified breach of test materials.
    (AP, 6/11/16)

2016        Jun 17, In South Korea a civilian light plane crashed in Muan, killing all 3 people on board.
    (AP, 6/17/16)

2016        Jun 22, In China  a six-nation security forum opened in Beijing as a multilateral forum involving high-level policymakers, defense ministry officials, military officers, and researchers from China, Japan, North and South Korea, Russia, and the United States.
    (AP, 6/22/16)

2016        Jul 7, In South Korea Shin Young-ja, the daughter of the founder of the Lotte Group conglomerate, was arrested on charges including breach of trust and embezzlement.
    (Reuters, 7/7/16)

2016        Jul 8, South Korea and the United States said they would deploy an advanced missile defense system in South Korea to counter a threat from North Korea, drawing a sharp and swift protest from neighboring China.
    (Reuters, 7/8/16)

2016        Jul 15, South Koreans protesting against a plan to deploy a US missile defense system in their district blocked a minibus carrying PM Hwang Kyo-ahn for several hours. A day earlier the government announced that the southeastern county of Seongju had been chosen as the site for a Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) battery aimed at countering what it sees as the threat from North Korea's missile and nuclear program.
    (Reuters, 7/15/16)

2016        Jul 17, South Korean authorities arrested senior prosecutor Jin Kyung-joo for allegedly pocketing millions of dollars following shady stock transaction deals with a leading online game maker.
    (AP, 7/18/16)

2016        Jul 22, South Korea's central bank said North Korea's economy shrank 1.1 percent last year, in its first contraction in five years.
    (AP, 7/22/16)

2016        Jul 29, South Korean prosecutors indicted fellow senior prosecutor Jin Kyung-joon for allegedly pocketing millions of dollars from shady stock transaction deals with an online game maker.
    (AP, 7/29/16)

2016        Aug 2, South Korea fined Volkswagen 17.8 billion won ($16 million) and suspended sales of 80 VW models, alleging the German carmaker fabricated documents on emissions or noise level tests.
    (AP, 8/2/16)

2016        Aug 13, In South Korea prosecutors indicted the former chief executive of the South Korean unit of Swss-based Novartis and five other former and current managers over allegations they illegally paid doctors 2.6 billion won ($2.3 million) in return for prescribing the company's drugs.
    (AP, 8/13/16)

2016        Aug 16, In South Korea an accidental explosion at a naval base left 3 soldiers dead and another injured in the southeastern port town of Jinhae.
    (AP, 8/16/16)

2016        Aug 17, South Korea said Thae Yong Ho, North Korea's deputy ambassador in London, has defected with his family to South Korea, making him the highest-ranking Pyongyang diplomat ever to flee the isolated regime for the democratic South.
    (Reuters, 8/17/16)

2016        Aug 20, North Korean state media accused diplomat Thae Yong Ho, who defected from Britain to South Korea, of fleeing to escape punishment for a variety of crimes, including child rape. KCNA news said “the fugitive was ordered in June to be summoned for embezzling a lot of state funds, selling state secrets and committing child rape.”
    (Reuters, 8/20/16)

2016        Aug 23, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported that North Korea has laid landmines in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas, after the start of annual US-South Korean military exercises.
    (Reuters, 8/23/16)

2016        Aug 24, South Korea said a ballistic missile fired from a North Korean submarine flew about 500 km (310 miles), the longest distance achieved by the North for such a weapon. The missile flew at a high trajectory and has a range of more than 1,000 km (620 miles) at a normal angle.
    (AP, 8/24/16)(Reuters, 8/24/16)

2016        Aug 26, In South Korea Lotte Group's vice chairman Lee In-won (69) was found dead as authorities widened a probe into corruption at the country’s fifth-largest business group.
    (AP, 8/26/16)

2016        Aug 31, The South Korean shipping giant Hanjin filed for bankruptcy protection and stopped accepting new cargo. With its assets being frozen, ships from China to Canada found themselves refused permission to offload or take aboard containers because there were no guarantees that tugboat pilots or stevedores would be paid. 66 ships were left stranded carrying goods worth $14.5 billion.
    (AP, 9/2/16)(Econ, 9/10/16, p.53)

2016        Sep 2, South Korea-based Samsung Electronics said it is halting sales of its Galaxy Note 7 following battery explosions.
    (AP, 9/2/16)

2016        Sep 10, South Korea-based Samsung Electronics urged customers to stop using Galaxy Note 7 smartphones immediately and exchange them as soon as possible. The company said it had confirmed 35 cases of the phone catching fire as of Sep 1.
    (SSFC, 9/11/16, p.A3)
2016        Sep 10, The Hanjin container ship Greece, that was stranded off the California coast for more than a week, began unloading after a judge protected the global shipping giant from having its assets seized in the US as it struggles to avoid bankruptcy. The ship was one of four vessels that were blocked from entering or leaving the port after Hanjin filed for bankruptcy protection on Aug. 31 in South Korea and the US on Sept. 2.
    (AP, 9/11/16)

2016        Sep 12, US-based Hewlett-Packard said it is buying Samsung Electronics Co.'s printer business in a transaction worth $1.05 billion. HP Inc. said that it is the largest print acquisition in the company's history and will help it go from traditional copiers to multifunction printers.
    (AP, 9/12/16)

2016        Sep 13, The United States sent two nuclear-capable supersonic bombers streaking over ally South Korea in a show of force meant to cow North Korea after its recent nuclear test, and also to settle rattled nerves in the South.
    (AP, 9/13/16)

2016        Sep 21, Two US supersonic bombers flew over South Korea, with one of them landing at an air base 40 km (25 miles) south of the capital, the second such flight since North Korea's Sept. 9 nuclear test.
    (Reuters, 9/21/16)

2016        Sep 25, In South Korea Baek Nam-gi (69), activist and farmer, died following ten months in a coma. He had been knocked over by a police water cannon during a demonstration in 2015.
    (Econ, 10/1/16, p.39)

2016        Sep, South Korea first discovered a hacking attack of its military computer network by North Korea. In 2017 it was revealed that a vast cache of stolen data included classified wartime contingency plans jointly drawn by Washington and Seoul.
    (SFC, 10/11/17, p.A2)

2016        Oct 1, South Korean President Park Geun-Hye called on North Koreans to abandon their country and defect, just a day after a soldier walked across the heavily fortified border into the South.
    (AFP, 10/1/16)

2016        Oct 11, Shares in South Korea-based Samsung Electronics tumbled after the company junked its Note 7 smartphone. Samsung told customers to stop using their Galaxy Note 7 devices and called a halt to worldwide sales as US officials warned the handsets could blow up.
    (AFP, 10/11/16)

2016        Oct 14, South Korea-based Samsung Electronics said that discontinuing the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, which is prone to overheat and catch fire, will cost it about $3 billion in the current and coming quarters, raising total costs from the recalls to at least $5.3 billion.
    (AP, 10/14/16)

2016        Oct 27, Senior officials from the United States, Japan and South Korea agreed to step up pressure on North Korea as they stick to their goal of persuading the communist state to abandon its nuclear weapons.
    (AP, 10/27/16)

2016        Oct 29, In South Korea thousands of people took to the streets of Seoul calling for increasingly unpopular Pres. Park Geun-hye to step down over allegations that she let an old friend, the daughter of a religious cult leader, interfere in important state affairs.
    (AP, 10/29/16)

2016        Oct 31, In South Korea Choi Soon-sil, the woman at the center of a scandal roiling South Korea, met prosecutors examining whether she used her close ties to President Park Geun-hye to pull government strings from the shadows and amass an illicit fortune. Using a common expression of deep repentance she said: "I committed a sin that deserves death."
    (AP, 10/31/16)

2016        Oct, In the Philippines Jee Ick-joo, a South Korean businessman, disappeared from his home in Angeles City. It was later reported that police from a special anti-drug unit abducted him under the guise of a raid on illegal drugs and that a policeman then strangled him inside Camp Crame. His body was burned and flushed down a lavatory. The kidnappers demanded a ransom from the victim's wife and she initially paid five million pesos ($100,000), thinking he was still alive. On Jan 24, 2017, the Philippine government apologized to South Korea and pledged to ensure that justice is served and not delayed.
    (AFP, 1/22/17)(AP, 1/24/17)(Econ, 2/4/17, p.33)

2016        Nov 4, South Korean President Park Geun-hye took sole blame for a "heartbreaking" scandal amid rising suspicion that she allowed a mysterious confidante to manipulate power from the shadows. Park also vowed to accept a direct investigation into her actions.
    (AP, 11/4/16)

2016        Nov 5, In South Korea tens of thousands protested in central Seoul in one the largest demonstrations in the country's capital for years, calling on embattled President Park Geun-hye to resign over a growing influence-peddling scandal.
    (Reuters, 11/5/16)

2016        Nov 6, South Korean prosecutors arrested two former aides of Pres. Park Geun-hye. Ahn Jongbeom was arrested for pressuring companies into making large donations to non-profit organizations controlled by Choi Sonsil and Jung Ho-sung for passing classified documents to Choi Soonsil, whose relationship with the president has sparked a political scandal.
    (SFC, 11/7/16, p.A3)

2016        Nov 8, South Korean President Park Geun-hye, to defuse a massive scandal, conceded to lawmakers the power to name her new prime minister, a move that could seriously hurt, or even destroy, her ability to govern.
    (AP, 11/8/16)

2016        Nov 14, South Korea-based Samsung said it would pay $8 billion for Harman, a firm in Stamford, Conn., that makes internet connected audio, information and security systems for cars. The deal was the largest for Samsung to date.
    (Econ, 11/19/16, p.57)

2016        Nov 17, South Korea's parliament passed a law that would allow a special prosecutor to investigate a corruption scandal threatening the presidency of Park Geun-hye. The opposition-controlled National Assembly also voted for a parliamentary investigation into allegations that Park allowed a secretive confidante to manipulate power from the shadows and amass an illicit fortune.
    (AP, 11/17/16)

2016        Nov 19, In South Korea hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Seoul in the fourth straight weekend of protest against embattled Pres. Park Geun-hye.
    (Reuters, 11/19/16)

2016        Nov 23, In South Korea state prosecutors combed through the offices of Samsung for a third raid in as many weeks related to a probe in an influence-peddling case tied to the administration of Pres. Park Guen-hye.
    (Econ, 11/26/16, p.60)

2016        Nov 26, In South Korea for the fifth straight weekend, masses of protesters occupied major avenues in downtown Seoul demanding the ouster of President Park Geun-hye. Organizers estimated the crowd at 1.5 million.
    (AP, 11/26/16)

2016        Nov 29, South Korean Pres. Park Geun-hye said that she'll resign, if parliament arranges the technical details, in her latest attempt to fend off impeachment efforts. Opponents immediately called Park's conditional resignation offer a stalling tactic.
    (AP, 11/29/16)

2016        Dec 3, In South Korea hundreds of thousands rallied in Seoul on Saturday in the sixth straight weekend of protests demanding the resignation of scandal-tainted President Park Geun-hye that took them closer than ever to the presidential Blue House.
    (Reuters, 12/3/16)

2016        Dec 8, South Korea's parliament introduced Thursday to impeach President Park Geun-hye, setting the stage for a historic vote to oust the embattled leader engulfed in an influence-peddling scandal.
    (Reuters, 12/8/16)

2016        Dec 9, South Korean lawmakers impeached Pres. Park Geun-hye, a stunning and swift fall for the country's first female leader amid protests that drew millions into the streets in united fury. This allowed PM Hwang Kyo-ahn to assume leadership until the Constitutional Court rules on whether Park must permanently step down.
    (AP, 12/9/16)

2016        Dec 17, In South Korea supporters of impeached President Park Geun-hye clashed with anti-Park protesters, as large crowds of demonstrators again gathered in Seoul to demand the scandal-ridden leader's immediate ouster.
    (AP, 12/17/16)

2016        Dec 19, In South Korea high-profile North Korean defector Thae Yong Ho told South Korean lawmakers that he fled because of disillusionment with what he describes as a "tyrannical reign of terror" by leader Kim Jong Un.
    (AP, 12/19/16)

2016        Dec 24, A large crowd of South Koreans took to the streets of central Seoul for the ninth weekend in a row to demand the immediate resignation of President Park Geun-hye, who has been impeached by parliament over a corruption scandal.
    (Reuters, 12/24/16)

2016        Dec 27, South Korea said 26 million head of poultry will be culled over the next 24 hours after the H5N6 strain of avian influenza was found in farms and parks.
    (SFC, 12/28/16, p.A2)

2016        Dec 28, South Korea's antitrust regulator slapped a 1.03 trillion won ($865 million) fine on Qualcomm Inc. for allegedly violating competition laws.
    (AP, 12/28/16)

2016        Dec 31, A South Korean court issued an arrest warrant for Moon Hyung-pyo, the head of the national pension fund, the world's third largest, in a corruption scandal that has led to President Park Geun-hye's impeachment.
    (Reuters, 12/31/16)
2016        Dec 31, In South Korea large crowds gathered to join another rally demanding the ouster of impeached President Park Geun-hye, who's determined to restore her powers through a court trial.
    (AP, 12/31/16)

2016        The South Korean film “Spirits Homecoming” portrayed the story of the “comfort women” enslaved by the Japanese during WW II.
    (Econ, 3/26/16, p.47)
2016        Reporters Without Borders placed South Korea in the 70th position in its World Press Freedom Index.
    (Econ 5/6/17, p.37)

2017        Jan 1, South Korea's impeached Pres. Park Geun-hye broke a month-long silence over her alleged role in a corruption scandal, publicly denying charges of wrongdoing and saying that the accusations against her were "fabrication and falsehood."
    (Reuters, 1/1/17)
2017        Jan 1, Denmark police arrested Chung Yoo-ra (20), an equestrian competitor and the daughter of Choi Soon-sil, a central figure in a South Korean influence-peddling scandal that led to President Park Geun-hye's impeachment. She will face extradition proceedings following her arrest on an Interpol request from Seoul.
    (Reuters, 1/2/17)

2017        Jan 7, In South Korea hundreds of thousands of protesters returned to the streets of Seoul demanding impeached Pres. Park Geun-Hye's immediate removal and the salvaging of the April 16, 2014, sunken Sewol ferry which left more than 300 dead.
    (AFP, 1/7/17)
2017        Jan 7, A South Korean Buddhist monk (64) set himself on fire to protest the country’s settlement with Japan on compensation for wartime sex slaves. The monk suffered third-degree burns.
    (SFC, 1/9/17, p.A2)

2017        Jan 16, In South Korea special prosecutors accused Lee Jae-yong, the only son of Samsung’s chairman Lee Kun-hee, of bribery, embezzlement and perjury. Three days later a court rejected a request for his arrest.
    (Econ, 1/21/17, p.53)

2017        Jan 20, A South Korean court said  that the government had broken the law during the 1960s and 1970s by detaining prostitutes who catered to US soldiers and by forcing them to undergo treatment for venereal diseases. The court ordered the government to pay 57 plaintiffs $4,240 each in compensation for physical and psychological damage.
    (SFC, 1/21/17, p.A4)

2017        Jan 21, South Korean prosecutors arrested President Park Geun-hye's culture minister and her former top presidential adviser over allegations that they blacklisted artists critical of the government. Culture Minister Cho Yoon-sun and ex-presidential chief of staff Kim Ki-choon had allegedly drawn up a list of some 9,500 artists and cultural figures to be excluded from government funding programs.
    (AP, 1/21/17)(Econ, 1/28/17, p.34)

2017        Jan 26, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte apologized to South Korea after policemen last October killed, one of its citizens, then said he wanted to hang rogue police and send their heads to Seoul. The police accused of kidnapping and killing Jee Ick-joo were anti-narcotics officers.
    (Reuters, 1/26/17)

2017        Jan, China expelled 32 South Korean Christian missionaries this month. Some 1000 South Korean missionaries worked in China.
    (AP, 2/11/17)

2017        Feb 3, US President Donald Trump's defense secretary warned North Korea of an "effective and overwhelming" response if it chose to use nuclear weapons, as he reassured South Korea of steadfast US support.
    (Reuters, 2/3/17)

2017        Feb 17, South Korean authorities arrested Lee Jae-yong (48) a vice-chairman at Samsung Electronics, for alleged bribes worth $36 million to win government support for a smooth company leadership transition and a contentious merger of two Samsung companies.
    (SFC, 2/18/17, p.A2)

2017        Feb 27, South Korean police said four of the eight North Koreans, identified as suspects in the Feb 13 assassination of Kim Jong Nam in Malaysia, were agents from North Korea’s Ministry of State Security.
    (SFC, 2/28/17, p.A3)

2017        Feb 28, South Korean special prosecutors indicted Samsung's de facto chief on bribery, embezzlement and other charges linked to a political scandal that has toppled President Park Geun-hye. Yonhap news said Samsung would scrap its Future Strategy Office and devolve power to individual affiliates as part of broad reforms.
    (AP, 2/28/17)(Econ, 3/4/17, p.52)
2017        Feb 28, South Korea’s Lotte Mart supermarket chain signed a deal allowing America to build the THAAD anti-missile system on land owned by the company. The company’s businesses in China were adversely affected with sudden tax and safety inspections and a scarcity of buyers.
    (Econ, 3/18/17, p.41)

2017        Mar 6, South Korea received the first components of THAAD, an American anti-missile system.
    (Econ, 3/18/17, p.41)   

2017        Mar 8, China's foreign minister said that North Korea could suspend its nuclear and missile activities in exchange for a halt in joint US-South Korea military drills, in an unusually public proposal that analysts said showed Beijing's growing alarm over the tensions.
    (AP, 3/8/17)

2017        Mar 10, South Korea's Constitutional Court removed impeached President Park Geun-hye from office in a unanimous ruling over a corruption scandal that has plunged the country into political turmoil and worsened an already-serious national divide. About 30 protesters and police officers were injured in the violent clashes near the court.
    (AP, 3/10/17)

2017        Mar 10, South Korea-based LG Electronics launched its new G6 smartphone.
    (Econ, 3/18/17, p.19)

2017        Mar 11, In South Korea opponents of ousted leader Park Geun-hye (35) rallied in Seoul to demand that she be arrested, a day after she was thrown out of office over a corruption scandal involving the country's conglomerates.
    (Reuters, 3/11/17)

2017        Mar 15, A federal jury in Chicago convicted South Korean CEO Heon Seok Lee of defrauding municipal governments into using federal money on wastewater-treatment equipment they were falsely told was made in America.
    (AP, 3/17/17)

2017        Mar 16, South Korea-based Hyundai said it is recalling nearly 978,000 cars in the US because the front seat belts could detach in a crash and fail to hold people.
    (AP, 3/16/17)

2017        Mar 17, In South Korea US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said US policy of strategic patience with North Korea's nuclear and missile programs has ended, warning that military action would be "on the table" if Pyongyang elevated the threat level.
    (Reuters, 3/17/17)

2017        Mar 23, A 6,800-ton South Korean ferry was hoisted to the surface nearly three years after it capsized and sank in violent seas off the country's southwestern coast. More than 300 people died when the Sewol sank on April 16, 2014.
    (AP, 3/23/17)

2017        Mar 29, South Korea-based Samsung introduced the Galaxy S8, its first major smartphone release since some of its Note7 smartphones spontaneously caught fire.
    (SFC, 3/30/17, p.C3)

2017        Mar 31, South Korea's embattled former President Park Geun-hye was jailed in a scandal that has set off a political firestorm and led to the arrests and indictments of dozens of high-profile figures.
    (AP, 3/31/17)
2017        Mar 31, The Stella Daisy cargo ship being used by a South Korean shipping company went missing in seas near Uruguay with 16 Filipino and 8 South Korean crew members. Two Filipino sailors were rescued on April 1.
    (AP, 4/1/17)(AFP, 4/2/17)

2017        Apr 10, China and South Korea agreed to slap tougher sanctions on North Korea if it carries out nuclear or long-range missile tests, as a US Navy strike group headed to the region in a show of force.
    (Reuters, 4/9/17)

2017        Apr 16, US Vice President Mike Pence began a 10-day, four-nation tour of the Asia-Pacific, arriving in South Korea hours after the North conducted a failed missile launch.
    (AP, 4/16/17)

2017        Apr 17, South Korean prosecutors charged ousted president Park Geun-hye and Lotte Group chairman Shin Dong-bin with bribery in the latest twist to a corruption scandal that rocked the country for months.
    (Reuters, 4/17/17)

2017        Apr 21, The new Samsung Galaxy S8 phone started shipping for about $750 — $100 more than the iPhone 7 and last year's Galaxy S7 when it launched. A larger sibling, the S8 Plus, goes for about $850.
    (AP, 4/18/17)

2017        Apr 19, A Danish court upheld a decision by the public prosecutor in Copenhagen to allow the extradition of Chung Yoo-ra (20), the daughter of Choi Soon-sil, the former confidante of South Korea's ousted president, to face prosecution in her home country.
    (AP, 4/19/17)

2017        Apr 21, The  Military Human Rights Center for Korea said South Korea's army is hunting down and prosecuting gay servicemen after a video of two male soldiers having sex was posted on the internet earlier this year.
    (AP, 4/21/17)

2017        Apr 23, China's foreign minister called for the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula amid rising tension over North Korea's missile and nuclear programs.
    (AFP, 4/23/17)

2017        Apr 25, South Korean presidential frontrunner, Moon Jae-in, outraged persecuted sexual minority groups by saying during a TV debate that he opposes homosexuality.
    (SFC, 4/27/17, p.A2)

2017        Apr, The population of South Korea was about 50 million.
    (Econ, 4/15/17, p.34)

2017        May 1, In South Korea six people died and more than 20 were injured when a crane collapsed at a Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard.
    (Reuters, 5/1/17)

2017        May 5, North Korea accused the US Central Intelligence Agency and South Korea's intelligence service of a plot to attack its "supreme leadership" with a bio-chemical weapon and said such a "pipe-dream" could never succeed.
    (Reuters, 5/5/17)

2017        May 9, South Koreans elected left-leaning former human rights lawyer Moon Jae-In in a presidential election held after a scandal led to the impeachment of the country's previous leader.
    (AFP, 5/9/17)

2017        May 10, South Korea's new liberal President Moon Jae-in was sworn in and vowed to immediately tackle the difficult tasks of addressing North Korea's advancing nuclear ambitions and soothing tensions with the United States and China.
    (Reuters, 5/10/17)

2017        May 23, South Korea's military fired warning shots at a suspected drone from North Korea amid tension over Pyongyang's latest missile test which drew international condemnation and a warning from China. A day later South Korea's military said the unidentified object was probably a balloon carrying Pyongyang's propaganda leaflets.
    (AP, 5/23/17)(AP, 5/24/17)

2017        May 31, Chung Yoo-ra (20), extradited from Denmark, returned to South Korea in a hoodie and handcuffs to face questions about the massive corruption scandal centered on her mother and the country's ousted president. She was to be questioned about bribery allegations involving corporate giant Samsung as well as her studies at a prestigious Korean university. Chung Yoo-Ra was freed on June 3.
    (AP, 5/31/17)(AP, 6/3/17)

2017        Jun 3, South Korea said on it will raise the bird flu alert level to the second highest after small flocks of farm birds tested positive for the H5N8 virus, the first in the country since early April.
    (Reuters, 6/3/17)

2017        Jun 6, South Korea raised the national bird flu alert to its highest level, as it ordered more than 180,000 chickens, ducks and other birds be culled. The first case in this outbreak of the virus was confirmed in the southern island of Jeju on June 2, and four more cases have been confirmed in different locations across the country.
    (AFP, 6/7/17)

2017        Jun 7, South Korea said it will set up an environmental review before allowing four more launchers to be added to a contentious US missile defense system meant to cope with North Korean threats.
    (AP, 6/7/17)

2017        Jun 8, South Korea's former health minister was convicted of pressuring the country's pension fund to support a controversial Samsung merger, in one of the first rulings on key players in the corruption scandals that ensnared the country's ousted president and Samsung's heir.
    (AP, 6/8/17)
2017        Jun 8, Marcus Flowers (50) of Enterprise, Alabama, a contracting representative for the US Army, pleaded guilty in Los Angeles to a federal bribery charge involving fraudulent invoices submitted by South Korean contractors.
    (AP, 6/9/17)

2017        Jun 10, In Texas South Korean Yekwon Sunwoo (28) emerged from 30 competitors to claim the $50,000 award and a gold medal in the 15th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, held every four years in Fort Worth.
    (AP, 6/11/17)

2017        Jun 13, South Korean police on Tuesday detained a 25-year-old graduate student for allegedly placing a concealed explosive device that injured a professor today at a university office in Seoul.
    (AP, 6/13/17)

2017        Jun 23, A South Korean court sentenced Choi Soon-sil, a longtime friend of ousted Pres. Park Geun-hye to three years in prison for using her presidential ties to unlawfully get her daughter into the prestigious Ewha Woman’s Univ. Choi owned 36 properties with a personal wealth said to be 23 billion won.
    (SFC, 6/24/17, p.A2)(Econ, 3/18/17, p.36)

2017        Jun 24, South Korean President Moon Jae-in invited North Korea to the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, saying sports could serve as a peace maker.
    (AFP, 6/24/17)
2017        Jun 24, In South Korea thousands of protesters marched near the US embassy in Seoul, accusing President Donald Trump of "forcing" South Korea to deploy the controversial THAAD missile defence system opposed by China.
    (AFP, 6/24/17)

2017        Jun 28, North Korea said it has issued a standing order for the execution of former South Korean President Park Geun-hye and her spy chief for a plot to assassinate its leader, and it demanded that the South hand the pair over.
    (Reuters, 6/28/17)

2017        Jun 29, In Washington, DC, South Korea's president held talks with congressional leaders and a White House dinner with President Donald Trump as he looked to reassure Washington that he will coordinate closely on dealing with the threat from North Korea.
    (AP, 6/29/17)

2017        Jun 30, Pres. Donald Trump met at the White House with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Trump says that he will start to reduce the US trade deficit by renegotiating a trade deal with South Korea. Trump called for a determined response to North Korea after talks with Moon Jae-in where he stressed the importance of their alliance but took aim at Seoul over trade and sharing the cost of defense.
    (AP, 6/30/17)(Reuters, 7/1/17)

2017        Jul 10, After four and a half years as YouTube's most seen video, "Gangnam Style" slipped late today to number two, replaced by "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth. The song was a tribute to Paul Walker, an actor in "The Fast and Furious" film franchise who died in a car wreck.
    (AP, 7/11/17)

2017        Jul 15, In South Korea thousands of people celebrated gay rights with song, dance and a march in Seoul, amid rain and boisterous protests by conservative Christians.
    (AFP, 7/15/17)

2017        Jul 17, South Korea proposed military talks with North Korea, the first formal overture to Pyongyang by the government of President Moon Jae-in, to discuss ways to avoid hostile acts near the heavily militarized border.
    (Reuters, 7/17/17)

2017        Jul 19, A report by a Seoul-based non-government group said North Korea carries out public executions on river banks and at school grounds and marketplaces for charges such as stealing copper from factory machines, distributing media from South Korea and prostitution.
    (Reuters, 7/19/17)

2017        Jul 27, A South Korean court convicted Kim Ki-choon, a former presidential chief of staff, and Kim Jong-deok, the former culture minister, for blacklisting thousands of artists and denying them state support because they were believed to be unfriendly to ousted Pres. Park Geun-hye. Jong-deok was sentenced to three years in prison and Jong-deok to two years.
    (SFC, 7/28/17, p.A5)

2017        Aug 17, South Korea-based Hyundai Motor said it plans to launch early next year a second-generation hydrogen fuel cell vehicle that will travel more than 580 km (360 miles) between fill-ups under Korean standards.
    (AP, 8/17/17)
2017        Aug 17, Thai law enforcement officials arrested Kim South Korean Hyoung-joon, suspected of involvement in trafficking of Thai women into South Korea's sex industry.
    (AP, 8/18/17)

2017        Aug 21, South Korean and US forces began computer-simulated military exercises amid tension over North Korea's weapons programs.
    (Reuters, 8/21/17)

2017        Aug 25, A South Korean court sentenced Lee Jae-yong (49), the billionaire chief of Samsung, to five years in prison for crimes that helped topple the country's president.
    (AP, 8/25/17)

2017        Aug 26, In South Korea thousands of supporters of ousted President Park Geun-hye marched in Seoul to protest a court ruling that appeared to support key corruption charges against her.
    (AP, 8/26/17)

2017        Aug 29, Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's largest automaker, said it has halted auto production at its plants in China as tensions between Seoul and Beijing over a US anti-missile system hurt its sales and left it unable to pay a supplier.
    (AP, 8/29/17)

2017        Aug 30, South Korea's Supreme Court said a former worker in a Samsung LCD factory who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis should be recognized as having an occupationally caused disease, overturning lower court verdicts that held a lack of evidence against the worker.
    (AP, 8/30/17)

2017        Sep 1, US President Donald Trump agreed with South Korean President Moon Jae-in to revise a joint treaty capping the development of the South's ballistic missiles, amid a standoff over North Korea's missile and nuclear tests.
    (Reuters, 9/1/17)
2017        Sep 1, Tuna fishing countries reached an agreement to gradually rebuild severely depleted bluefin stocks, while still allowing nations like Japan to catch and consume the fish following a week-long meeting in South Korea.
    (SFC, 9/2/17, p.A4)

2017        Sep 5, South Korean warships conducted live-fire exercises at sea in a second straight day of military swagger from a nation still rattled by the North's biggest-ever nuclear test.
    (AP, 9/5/17)

2017        Sep 11, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that Egypt's defense minister, on a visit to Seoul, announced that his country has cut military ties with North Korea.
    (AP, 9/12/17)

2017        Sep 15, This was the official release date for South Korea-based Samsung’s new smartphone, the Galaxy Note 8, for $960.
    (http://tinyurl.com/yamff5g4)(Econ, 9/16/17, p.58)

2017        Sep 25, Unilver, an Anglo-Dutch behemoth, said it will buy Carver Korea, a Korean beauty firm for 2.27 billion euros.
    (Econ, 9/30/17, p.61)

2017        Oct 13, South Korea and China agreed to extend their currency swap deal, easing concerns the deal would fall through due to tensions over a US missile defense system. The two Asian countries renewed the deal worth 64 trillion won or 360 billion yuan ($57 billion) for another three years.
    (AP, 10/13/17)

2017        Nov 3, Ousted South Korean president Park Geun-Hye's own political party expelled her as it sought to distance itself from the sprawling corruption scandal that led to her impeachment.
    (AFP, 11/3/17)

2017        Nov 5, Thousands of South Koreans protested against an upcoming visit by Donald Trump and called for peace as the US President begins an Asian tour dominated by North Korea's nuclear program.
    (AFP, 11/5/17)

2017        Nov 7, President Donald Trump, speaking in South Korea, said tougher gun laws would not have prevented a mass shooting at a south Texas church, arguing that more restrictions might have led to more casualties.
    (AP, 11/7/17)

2017        Nov 11, The leaders of China and South Korea agreed on the need to manage the security situation on the Korean peninsula in a stable way and to resolve North Korea-related tensions peacefully after the APEC summit meeting in Vietnam.
    (Reuters, 11/11/17)

2017        Nov 20, South Korea's spy agency told lawmakers that North Korea has punished two of its top military officers, including one widely seen as its second-most powerful official, during a highly unusual inspection of the military's powerful political bureau.
    (AP, 11/20/17)

2017        Dec 3, A South Korean fishing boat collided with a refueling vessel and capsized, leaving at least 13 people dead and two missing in waters off the port city of Incheon.
    (AP, 12/3/17)

2017        Dec 5, South Korean prosecutors formally charged former spy chiefs Nam Jae-joon and Lee Byung-kee, who were arrested last month over suspicions they used their agency's funds to make illegal payments to former President Park Geun-hye.
    (AP, 12/5/17)
2017        Dec 5, The European Union put 17 non-EU countries on a blacklist of those it deems guilty of unfairly offering tax avoidance schemes. They Included: American Samoa, Bahrain, Barbados, Grenada, Guam, South Korea, Macau, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Namibia, Palau, Panama, St. Lucia, Samoa, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia and United Arab Emirates. Over 40 more were put on a "grey list" to be monitored until they are fully committed to reforms.
    (AP, 12/5/17)

2017        Dec 10, South Korean media reported that the government will impose new unilateral sanctions against nuclear-armed Pyongyang.
    (AFP, 12/10/17)

2017        Dec 11, South Korea added 20 North Korean groups, several banks and 12 individuals to its sanctions list in a largely symbolic move that is part of efforts to cut off funding for the North's weapons programs.
    (AP, 12/11/17)

2017        Dec 18, In South Korea boy band SHINee singer Kim Jong-hyun, better known by the stage name Jonghyun, was found unconscious at a residence hotel in Seoul and was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. Police called it a possible suicide.
    (AP, 12/18/17)

2017        Dec 19, South Korean researchers said a series of recent cyber attacks has netted North Korean hackers millions of dollars in virtual currencies like bitcoin, with more attacks expected as international sanctions drive the country to seek new sources of cash. Bitcoin was trading at over $19,104 per bitcoin at one point today, up from less than $1,000 at the beginning of 2017. Youbit, a bitcoin exchange, announced it had suffered another cyber attack that cost it 17 percent of its assets, forcing the exchange to halt operations and file for bankruptcy.
    (Reuters, 12/19/17)

2017        Dec 21, South Korean soldiers fired 20 warning machine gun rounds, turning back North Korean soldiers apparently pursuing a comrade who had earlier dashed across the rivals' shared border. It is the fourth time this year a North Korean soldier has defected across the world's most heavily armed border.
    (AP, 12/21/17)
2017        Dec 21, Cho Hyun-ah, the former Korean Air executive, will avoid jail as South Korea's top court upheld her suspended prison term for her onboard "nut rage" tantrum that delayed a flight in 2014.
    (AP, 12/21/17)
2017        Dec 21, In central South Korea a fire broke out at an eight-story building in the city of Jecheon, killing 29 people and injuring 29 others.
    (AP, 12/21/17)

2017        Dec 22, In South Korea Shin Kyuk-Ho (95), the wheelchair-bound founder of South Korea's embattled Lotte retail conglomerate, was convicted of embezzlement and breach of duty and sentenced to four years in prison.
    (AFP, 12/22/17)

2017        Dec 24, South Korean police arrested the owner and the manager of a building where 29 people died in a fire last week, accusing the pair of multiple safety lapses, including blocked exits and malfunctioning sprinkler systems.
    (Reuters, 12/25/17)

2017        Dec 28, South Korea said it "humbly accepts" there is no evidence North Korea diverted wages paid to its workers by South Korean firms in a now-closed border industrial park to bankroll its weapons programs as the previous government asserted.
    (Reuters, 12/28/17)
2017        Dec 28, Bitcoin fell more than 11 percent after South Korea said it would ban anonymous trading of virtual currencies and crack down on money laundering activities using them.
    (AFP, 12/28/17)

2017        Dec 29, South Korea said that it was holding a Hong Kong-flagged ship and its crew members for allegedly violating UN sanctions by transferring oil to a North Korean vessel on October 19.
    (AP, 12/29/17)

2017        Dec 31, South Korean authorities said they have seized a Panama-flagged oil tanker suspected of evading international sanctions by trading with North Korea. The 5,100-ton KOTI was detained two weeks ago at the South's port of Pyeongtaek-Dangjin and its crew were being investigated over the alleged ship-to-ship transfers.
    (AFP, 12/31/17)

2017        The South Korean documentary film “Our President” covered the early political career of former Pres. Rho Moo-hyun (2002-2009), who committed suicide in 2009.
    (Econ 6/3/17, p.33)
2017        PUBG Corp., a subsidiary of South Korean video game company Bluehole developed and published PlayerUnknowns' Battlegrounds (PUBG), an online multi-player video game. PUBG soon sold publishing rights in China to Tencent. In 2019 the governments of Iraq and Jordan banned the game, but their decisions proved ineffective.
    (Econ, 4/18/20, p.35)(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayerUnknown%27s_Battlegrounds)
2017        In South Korea an indoor farming company rented a tunnel from the government and transformed it into a "smart farm," where fruits and vegetables grow hydroponically — with no soil — in vertically stacked layers inside, illuminated by neon-pink LEDs instead of sunlight. The tunnel, about 190 km (120 miles) south of Seoul, was built in 1970 for one of South Korea's first major highways. Once a symbol of the country's industrialization, it closed in 2002.
    (AP, 8/30/18)
2017        Some 54,000 American servicemen and their families were stationed in Japan. Some 28,500 were stationed in South Korea.
    (Econ, 4/22/17, SR p.10)

2018        Jan 2, South Korea proposed high-level talks with Pyongyang on January 9, after the North's leader Kim Jong-Un called for better relations and said his country might attend the Winter Olympics in the South.
    (AFP, 1/2/18)

2018        Jan 3, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reopened a key cross-border communication channel with South Korea for the first time in nearly two years as the rivals explored the possibility of sitting down and talking after months of acrimony and fears of war.
    (AP, 1/3/18)

2018        Jan 4, South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co. said it will begin selling its first self-driving vehicles by 2021 in partnership with US based self-driving technology startup Aurora Innovation Inc. Hyundai and Volkswagen each said they're partnering with Aurora Innovation, a US autonomous vehicle tech firm led by former executives from Google, Tesla and Uber.
    (AP, 1/4/18)

2018        Jan 5, North Korea agreed to hold official talks with the South next week, the first in more than two years, hours after the United States and South Korea delayed a military exercise amid a standoff over the North's nuclear and missile programs.
    (Reuters, 1/5/18)

2018        Jan 8, The rival Koreas took steps toward reducing their bitter animosity during rare talks, as North Korea agreed to send a delegation to next month's Winter Olympics in South Korea, hold talks on lowering tension along their border and reopen a military hotline.
    (AP, 1/9/18)(SFC, 1/9/ 18, p.A4)

2018        Jan 10, US President Donald Trump told his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in he is open to talking with North Korea as the two leaders spoke by telephone.
    (Israel, 1/10/18)

2018        Jan 11, South Korea’s justice minister said that South Korea plans to ban crypto currency trading, but the presidential office said later that a ban is under review, though no policy changes have been made. Bitcoin slid 8 percent, to $13,698, according to Coindesk. Etherium, another popular digital currency, fell 2.1 percent, to $1,222.
    (AP, 1/11/18)

2018        Jan 13, The rival Koreas agreed that their talks next week will address a North Korean art troupe's visit to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in the South, rather than the participation of the nation's athletes.
    (AP, 1/14/18)

2018        Jan 15, The two Koreas met for the second time in a week as they try to hammer out details for the North's participation in next month's Games. The two sides agreed that North Korea's delegation to the Winter Olympics in South Korea will include a 140-member art troupe, while discussions continued over fielding a joint women's hockey team.
    (AP, 1/15/18)

2018        Jan 17, The rival Koreas agreed to form their first unified Olympic team and have their athletes parade together for the first time in 11 years during the opening ceremony of next month's Winter Olympics in South Korea.
    (AP, 1/17/18)

2018        Jan 20, The International Olympic Committee North Korea will send 22 athletes to next month's Winter Games in the South, approving a landmark deal between two nations still officially at war.
    (AFP, 1/20/18)

2018        Jan 21, Hyon Song Wol, the head of a hugely popular North Korean girl band, crossed the heavily fortified border into South Korea as part of an official delegation, triggering a media frenzy as she checked potential venues for performances during next month's Winter Olympics.
    (AP, 1/21/18)

2018        Jan 23, European Union finance ministers agreed to remove eight jurisdictions from the bloc's blacklist of tax havens, one month after the list was set up. Barbados, Grenada, South Korea, Macao, Mongolia, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates joined Panama as jurisdictions delisted following commitments made at a high political level to remedy EU concerns.
    (Reuters, 1/23/18)

2018        Jan 24, South Korea-based Hyundai said it is recalling nearly 88,000 cars in the US because an electrical short in the antilock brake system could cause engine compartment fires in certain 2006 Sonatas and 2006 through 2011 Azeras.
    (AP, 1/24/18)

2018        Jan 25, Female hockey players from the rival Koreas were paired up with each other to form their first-ever Olympic squad during next month's Pyeongchang Winter Games.
    (AP, 1/25/18)

2018        Jan 26, In South Korean flames and toxic smoke swept through a hospital in Miryang city, killing at least 37 people and injuring more than 140. The fire was most likely caused by an electrical fault in the first-floor emergency room.
    (Reuters, 1/26/18)(AP, 1/27/18)

2018        Jan 29, South Korea's unification ministry said North Korea has canceled a joint cultural performance with South Korea scheduled for Feb. 4 blaming South Korean media for encouraging "insulting" public sentiment regarding the North. The performance was to be held in the North Korean territory of Mount Kumgang.
    (Reuters, 1/29/18)

2018        Feb 5, In South Korea Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong was freed after an appeals court gave him a 2 ½-year suspended jail sentence for corruption in connection with a scandal that toppled the country's president.
    (AP, 2/5/18)
2018        Feb 5, A 23-member advance team of North Koreans arrived in South Korea to prepare for the North's participation in the Pyeongchang Olympics.
    (AP, 2/5/18)

2018        Feb 6, South Korean authorities deployed 900 military personnel at the Pyeongchang Olympics after the security force was depleted by an outbreak of norovirus.
    (AP, 2/6/18)
2018        Feb 6, A North Korean ferry arrived in South Korea on Tuesday carrying a 140-strong orchestra to perform during the Winter Olympics, taking advantage of a rare sanctions exemption from Seoul 16 years after its previous visit but greeted by angry protests.
    (Reuters, 2/6/18)

2018        Feb 7, In South Korea a 229-member strong, all-female cheering section arrived from North Korea for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
    (AP, 2/7/18)

2018        Feb 9, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's younger sister took her place among dignitaries from around the world, including US Vice President Mike Pence, at the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in an unprecedented visit to South Korea.
    (AP, 2/9/18)

2018        Feb 10, In South Korea the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said a summit between her brother and South Korean President Moon Jae-in would pave the way for a fast improvement in ties that would make "yesterday seem like a long time ago." The Koreans suffered an 8-0 shutout by Switzerland in Pyeongchang as around 200 of North Korea's famed "army of beauties" charmed a crowd of 3,600 besotted locals with nostalgic oldies -- and even broke out a Mexican wave. Lim Hyo-jun won the men's 1,500-meter final, giving South Korea its first gold medal of the Pyeongchang Games.
    (AP, 2/10/18)(AFP, 2/10/18)

2018        Feb 13, In South Korea Choi Soon-sil, a confidante accused of collaborating with former President Park Geun-hye for personal gain, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for bribery and other crimes. The Seoul Central District Court also sentenced Shin Dong-bin, the chairman of the Lotte Group (South Korea's fifth-largest conglomerate), to 2 ½ years in prison for bribery in the same case.
    (AP, 2/13/18)

2018        Feb 19, In South Korea a doping case involving a medal-winning Russian curler rocked the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. Alexander Krushelnitsky's failed drug test came to light a week after he won mixed doubles bronze with his wife, Anastasia Bryzgalova.
    (AFP, 2/19/18)

2018        Feb 22, North Korea's 22 athletes wrapped up their competition at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics without a finish higher than 13th.
    (AP, 2/22/18)

2018        Feb 23, South Korean lawmakers protested over a visit by top North Korean Gen. Kim Yong Chol for the Pyeongchang Olympics, labelling him a war criminal over the 2010 sinking of a warship and calling for his execution.
    (AFP, 2/23/18)
2018        Feb 23, The Trump administration imposed sanctions on more than 50 vessels, shipping companies and trade businesses in its latest bid to pressure North Korea over its nuclear program. Ivanka Trump told South Korea's president that she will use her visit to the Winter Olympics to advocate maximum pressure on North Korea to halt its nuclear program.
    (AP, 2/23/18)

2018        Feb 25, In South Korea the overtly political 2018 Winter Olympics closed very much as they began, with humanity's finest athletes marching exuberantly across the world stage.
    (AP, 2/25/18)
2018        Feb 25, In South Korea Russian hockey players won their first hockey gold medal since 1992 with a 4-3 win over Germany.
    (AP, 2/25/18)
2018        Feb 25, North Korean envoy Kim Yong Chol, making a rare visit to South Korea, said that his country was willing to open talks with the United States.
    (AP, 2/25/18)

2018        Mar 5, A South Korean delegation met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, after arriving in the North on a visit aimed at encouraging North Korea and the US to talk.
    (Reuters, 3/5/18)

2018        Mar 6, South Korea's presidential office announced that North Korea and South Korea have agreed to hold a summit next month at a truce village inside the Demilitarized Zone that divides their countries.
    (AP, 3/6/18)
2018        Mar 6, A senior South Korean official, after returning from the North, said North Korean leader Kim Jung Un has expressed a willingness to discuss nuclear disarmament with the US and impose a moratorium on nuclear and missile tests during such talks.
    (AP, 3/6/18)
2018        Mar 6, In South Korean Ahn Hee-jung, the governor of South Chungcheong province, resigned after his secretary publicly accused him of raping her, making him the highest-profile South Korean man taken down by the #MeToo movement. He had been seen as a leading presidential contender.
    (AP, 3/6/18)

2018        Mar 9, In South Korea veteran actor Jo Min-ki (53), who was under investigation for alleged sexual abuse of his students, was found dead in Seoul. Police were investigating multiple claims that Jo sexually abused his students when he was a professor at Cheongju University in central South Korea.
    (AP, 3/9/18)

2018        Mar 12, Japan and South Korea agreed that maximum pressure must be maintained on North Korea until it takes concrete action toward addressing concerns about its nuclear weapon and missile programs.
    (Reuters, 3/12/18)

2018        Mar 18, The Pyeongchang Winter Paralympics closed with a dazzling ceremony featuring light shows, dancing and music.
    (AFP, 3/18/18)

2018        Mar 22, A South Korean court approved an arrest warrant for ex-President Lee Myung-bak over a range of corruption allegations, making him the latest in a series of leaders embroiled in scandals and other problems after leaving office.
    (AP, 3/22/18)
2018        Mar 22, US Pres. Donald Trump authorized initial exemptions for the EU, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, South Korea, Canada and Mexico from looming steel and aluminum tariffs.
    (AP, 3/23/18)

2018        Mar 23, South Korea arrested and jailed former Pres. Lee Myung-bak (76) over a range of corruption allegations.
    (SFC, 3/23/18, p.A3)

2018        Mar 26, South Korea said it has agreed to further open its auto market to the United States as the two countries prepare to amend their six-year-old trade agreement following complaints by President Donald Trump.
    (AP, 3/26/18)
2018        Mar 26, The United Arab Emirates said that one of four nuclear reactors at its debut plant has been completed as it moves closer to becoming the first Arab nation to produce atomic power. Visiting South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed toured the $20-billion Barakah plant constructed by a consortium led by the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO).
    (AFP, 3/26/18)

2018        Mar 27, Kidnappers in waters off Ghana hijacked a fishing boat and steered it toward the waters of Nigeria before using a speed boat to move three South Koreans working on the boat elsewhere.
    (AP, 3/31/18)

2018        Mar 31, South Korea said it has deployed a naval vessel from its regional anti-piracy effort to help in the search after a fishing boat was hijacked by pirates off Ghana.
    (Reuters, 3/31/18)
2018        Mar 31, Some of South Korea's biggest pop stars flew to North Korea for rare performances that highlight the sudden thaw in inter-Korean ties after years of tensions over the North's nuclear ambitions.
    (AP, 3/31/18)

2018        Apr 5, A South Korean pilot was killed when his F-15K fighter jet crashed into a mountain in the country's rural south. The co-pilot remained missing and was also presumed dead.
    (AP, 4/5/18)

2018        Apr 6, A South Korean court jailed former President Park Geun-hye for 24 years and fined her 18 billion won ($16.9 million) after finding her guilty of charges including bribery, abuse of power and coercion in a scandal that exposed webs of corruption between political leaders and the country's conglomerates.
    (Reuters, 4/6/18)

2018        Apr 7, North and South Korea held talks over establishing a telephone hotline between their leaders and other communication issues ahead of a rare summit between the rivals later this month.
    (AP, 4/7/18)

2018        Apr 9, South Korean prosecutors formally charged jailed ex-President Lee Myung-bak with a range of corruption charges, making him the country's fourth leader to face a criminal trial in about two decades.
    (AP, 4/9/18)

2018        Apr 16, In South Korea Korean Air Lines said it has suspended Cho Hyun-min, aka Emily Cho, one of its chairman's daughters from her marketing work after she threw a tantrum at a business meeting last month, triggering public outrage and a police investigation. She is the younger sister of another Korean Air executive whose onboard "nut rage" outburst delayed a flight in 2014.
    (AP, 4/16/18)
2018        Apr 16, Hong Kong authorities said that a South Korean businessman accused of murdering his wife and son in a five-star hotel killed himself while in pre-trial custody. Media identified the man as Kim Min-ho (43), the chief executive officer of the South Korean franchise of the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Police had arrested Kim in January for allegedly killing his wife and son at Hong Kong's Ritz-Carlton hotel.
    (AP, 4/16/18)

2018        Apr 20, North and South Korea installed a direct phone line between their leaders as they prepare for the first summit since 2007.
    (Reuters, 4/20/18)

2018        Apr 23, South Korea halted anti-North Korea propaganda broadcasts across their tense border as officials from the two Koreas met again to work out details of their leaders' upcoming talks, expected to focus on the North's nuclear program.
    (AP, 4/23/18)
2018        Apr 23, South Korea-based Korean Air Lines said that two daughters of its chairman will resign from their executive positions amid mounting public criticism over the women's behavior and allegations that the family engaged in smuggling.
    (AP, 4/23/18)

2018        Apr 27, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in set aside a year that saw them seemingly on the verge of war, grasped hands and strode together across the cracked concrete marking the Koreas' border. Kim became the first North Korean leader to visit South Korean territory. The leaders pledged in a joint statement to rid their peninsula of nuclear weapons.
    (AP, 4/27/18)

2018        May 1, In South Korea thousands of labor union members rallied in downtown Seoul for a higher minimum wage and other demands.
    (AP, 5/1/18)
2018        May 1, North and South Korea dismantled huge loudspeakers used to blare Cold War-style propaganda across their tense border, as South Korea's president asked the United Nations to observe the North's planned closing of its nuclear test site.
    (AP, 5/1/18)

2018        May 4, Hundreds of Korean Air Lines Co. pilots, cabin crew and other workers staged a rally in Seoul saying they can't take any more abuse from the company's founding family.
    (AP, 5/4/18)

2018        May 5, North Korea readjusted its time zone to match South Korea's and described the change as an early step toward making the longtime rivals "become one" following a landmark summit.
    (AP, 5/5/18)

2018        May 9, In Japan leaders from China, Japan and South Korea held their first three-way summit in more than two years, demonstrating a spirt of cooperation despite continuing differences over North Korea and other issues. Japan and China agreed on to set up a security hotline to defuse any maritime confrontations between the two Asian powers.
    (AP, 5/9/18)(Reuters, 5/9/18)

2018        May 10, The United Nations human rights investigator on North Korea called on for six South Korean nationals in custody there to be freed, voicing concern over conditions of their detention.
    (Reuters, 5/10/18)

2018        May 17, North Korea strongly criticized South Korea over ongoing U.S.-South Korean military exercises and said it will not return to talks with its rival until Seoul resolves its grievances.
    (AP, 5/17/18)

2018        May 19, North Korea reiterated its demands for South Korea to send back 12 North Korean restaurant workers who came to the South in 2016, saying such a move would demonstrate Seoul's willingness to improve relations.
    (AP, 5/20/18)
2018        May 19, Two North Koreans defected to South Korea early today after they were found in a boat in the Yellow Sea.
    (Reuters, 5/19/18)

2018        May 22, North Korean media stepped up their rhetorical attacks on South Korea and joint military exercises with the United States, warning that a budding detente could be in danger.
    (AP, 5/22/18)

2018        May 26, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korea's president, Moon Jae-in, met at a border truce village. They discussed carrying out the peace commitments they reached in their first summit, as well as Kim's potential meeting with Pres. Trump.
    (AP, 5/26/18)
2018        May 26, South Korea held its first ever drag parade, a small but significant step for rights activists in a country that remains deeply conservative when it comes to gender and sexuality.
    (AP, 5/27/18)

2018        May 27, South Korean 7-member boyband phenomenon BTS became the first K-Pop group to rise to the top of the US album charts, a vivid illustration of the genre's growing global appeal.
    (AFP, 5/28/18)

2018        Jun 1, North and South Korea agreed to hold military and Red Cross talks later this month on reducing tensions and resuming reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.
    (AP, 6/1/18)

2018        Jun 13, South Korea held regional elections. The ruling party of President Moon Jae-in was expected to win a sweeping victory.
    (Reuters, 6/13/18)

2018        Jun 14, North and South Korea agreed to fully restore their cross-border communication lines after holding rare high-level military talks on reducing tensions.
    (AP, 6/14/18)

2018        Jun 15, A senior South Korean presidential official said that Washington and Seoul have begun discussions on temporarily suspending the massive "Ulchi Freedom Guardian" exercises that usually take place in August and possibly other joint drills while nuclear diplomacy with North Korea continues.
    (AP, 6/15/18)

2018        Jun 19, US and South Korean defense officials formally suspended a major joint military exercise in hopes of advancing nuclear negotiations with North Korea.
    (AP, 6/19/18)

2018        Jun 20, South Korea urged North Korea to present a plan with concrete steps toward denuclearization, raising the pressure on its leader Kim Jong Un as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a visit designed to convey the countries' growing closeness.
    (AP, 6/20/18)

2018        Jun 22, North and South Korea agreed to hold temporary reunions of families divided by the 1950-53 Korean War as they boost reconciliation efforts amid a diplomatic push to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis.
    (AP, 6/22/18)
2018        Jun 22, Russian President Vladimir Putin and visiting South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed to support "efforts to establish complete denuclearization on the Korean peninsula" following the US-North Korea summit last week.
    (Reuters, 6/22/18)

2018        Jun 23, In South Korea former prime minister Kim Jong-pil (92), the founder of South Korea's spy agency, died. His political skills helped him serve twice as prime minister, first under dictator boss Park Chung-hee (1971-1975) and under Kim Dae-jung (1998-2000), a man his agency had kidnapped in 1973.
    (AP, 6/23/18)

2018        Jun 26, North and South Korea agreed to jointly study ways to improve North Korea's outdated railways and link them with the South.
    (AP, 6/26/18)
2018        Jun 26, Estonia signed a deal to buy South Korean artillery in a 46 million-euro ($54 million) deal. The contract with Seoul-based weapons producer Hanwha Land Systems is for 12 K9 Thunder howitzers, training, maintenance and spare parts.
    (AP, 6/26/18)

2018        Jun 29, The United States formally ended seven decades of military presence in South Korea's capital with a ceremony to mark the opening of a new headquarters farther from North Korean artillery range.
    (AP, 6/29/18)

2018        Jul 1, North and South Korea reopened a maritime communication channel, with vessels from the two countries making radio contact for the first time in a decade.
    (Reuters, 7/1/18)

2018        Jul 4, The rival Koreas began two days of friendly basketball games in Pyongyang in their latest goodwill gesture amid a diplomatic push to resolve the nuclear standoff with North Korea.
    (AP, 7/4/18)

2018        Jul 7, Thousands of South Korean women gathered in Seoul to demand stronger government action to fight the spread of intimate photos and video taken by hidden cameras.
    (AP, 7/7/18)

2018        Jul 10, South Korea suspended its summertime civil defense drills aimed at preparing against a North Korean attack to keep alive a positive atmosphere for nuclear diplomacy with the North.
    (AP, 7/10/18)

2018        Jul 20, A South Korean court sentenced former President Park Geun-hye to an additional eight years for abusing state funds and violating election laws. She was already serving a 24-year prison term over a massive corruption scandal that led to her removal from office last year.
    (AP, 7/20/18)

2018        Jul 23, In South Korea the body of Roh Hoe-chan (61), a prominent liberal lawmaker of the small opposition Justice Party, was found dead near a Seoul apartment building. He had been embroiled in a corruption scandal and left a suicide note of apology.
    (AP, 7/23/18)
2018        Jul 23, Japan recorded its highest temperature ever as a deadly heat wave continued to grip a wide swath of the country and nearby South and North Korea. Over the last two weeks more than 40 people have died in Japan and about 10 in South Korea.
    (AP, 7/23/18)

2018        Jul 31, North and South Korea held military talks to build trust.
    (Reuters, 7/31/18)

2018        Aug 4, In South Korea tens of thousands of women staged a mass rally in Seoul to protest against spycam porn, urging tougher punishments for peeping Toms as anger over the growing scourge boils over.
    (AFP, 8/4/18)

2018        Aug 8, South Korea-based Samsung Electronics said it plans to spend a whopping $22 billion over the next three years on artificial intelligence, auto components and other future businesses as the company maps out its strategy under the restored leadership of Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong.
    (AP, 8/8/18)

2018        Aug 10, South Korea said a total of 35,000 tons of North Korean coal and pig iron worth $5.8 million illegally entered its ports last year, in possible violations of UN sanctions.
    (AP, 8/10/18)

2018        Aug 14, People in South Korea and Taiwan unveiled monuments and staged protests to mark Japan's wartime use of "comfort women", a euphemism for girls and women forced to work in Japan's wartime brothels.
    (Reuters, 8/14/18)

2018        Aug 20, About 200 South Koreans and their family members crossed the border for three days of meetings with their North Korean relatives.
    (AP, 8/21/18)

2018        Aug 24, A South Korean high court extended the 24-year prison sentence of former President Park Geun-hye for corruption in office. The Seoul High Court handed out a 25-year prison sentence after concluding Park took more money in bribes than initially believed.
    (AP, 8/24/18)
2018        Aug 24, More than 300 South Koreans traveled to the North's Diamond Mountain resort for three days of meetings with their long-lost relatives in a second round of temporary reunions of family members separated for decades by the Korean War.
    (AP, 8/24/18)

2018        Aug 26, In Indonesia a crew comprising South Koreans and North Koreans won the 500-meter dragon boat final at the Asian Games co-host city of Palembang. This was the first gold medal by a combined Koreas team at a major multi-sport event.
    (AP, 8/26/18)

2018        Aug 27, In South Korea a special counsel said Kim Kyoung-soo, a close political ally of Pres. Moon Jae-in had conspired with a team of online bloggers to illegally influence public opinion before Moon's election last year.
    (SFC, 8/28/18, p.A3)

2018        Sep 6, Seoul officials said North Korea's Kim Jong Un has given his first time line for denuclearization, aiming for the end of US President Donald Trump's first term, prompting thanks from Trump who said they would "get it done together".
    (Reuters, 9/6/18)

2018        Sep 7, North Korea and South Korea asked the United Nations to circulate the "Panmunjom Declaration on Peace, Prosperity and Reunification of the Korean Peninsula" as an official UN document.
    (AP, 9/8/18)

2018        Sep 8, South Korea's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said a South Korean man (61) has been diagnosed with the potentially deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) after a business trip to Kuwait. The infectious disease swept South Korea in 2015 leading to 38 fatalities.
    (Reuters, 9/8/18)

2018        Sep 14, North and South Korea opened their first liaison office near their tense border to facilitate better communication and exchanges ahead of their leaders' summit in Pyongyang next week. On June 16, 2020, North Korea blew up the facility.
    (AP, 9/14/18)(Econ., 6/20/20, p.31)

2018        Sep 18, In North Korea South Korean President Moon Jae-in began his third summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. A 52-member "special" civilian entourage accompanied Moon Jae-in to promote civil exchanges and engagement with younger Koreans.
    (AP, 9/18/18)

2018        Sep 19, The leaders of North and South Korea announced a wide range of agreements which they said were a major step toward peace on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea agreed to permanently dismantle a launch pad and an engine-testing facility at its northwestern rocket-firing center in the presence of international experts.
    (AP, 9/19/18)

2018        Sep 20, South Korean President Moon Jae-in returned home from a whirlwind three-day summit with Kim Jong Un. Moon said the North Korean leader wants the US secretary of state to visit Pyongyang soon for nuclear talks, and also hopes for a quick follow-up to his June summit with President Donald Trump.
    (AP, 9/20/18)

2018        Oct 1, South Korea's Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon told parliament the estimates on the size of North Korea's nuclear arsenal range from 20 bombs to as many as 60.
    (AP, 10/2/18)
2018        Oct 1, North and South Korea began removing mines and other explosives at two sites inside their heavily armed border as part of their recent tension-reduction steps.
    (AP, 10/1/18)

2018        Oct 4, A South Korean government delegation arrived in North Korea for a joint celebration of the anniversary of a 2007 summit and to possibly hold further peace talks.
    (AP, 10/4/18)
2018        Oct 4, In South Korea this year's Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) opened with a movie portraying the plight of a North Korean defector and the unlikely family she formed during her harrowing journey.
    (AFP, 10/4/18)

2018        Oct 5, A South Korea court jailed former President Lee Myung-bak for 15 years for corruption, making him the latest in a string of high-profile political and business leaders ensnared by graft charges.
    (Reuters, 10/5/18)

2018        Oct 13, South Korea's Busan Film Festival closed after screening 324 films from 79 countries across its varied 10-day program, which included 115 world premieres, with just over 195,000 people attending.
    (AFP, 10/12/18)

2018        Oct 15, North and South Korea continued their push for peace with high-level talks that resulted in a host of agreements, including a plan by the rivals for a groundbreaking ceremony this year on an ambitious project to connect their railways and roads.
    (AP, 10/15/18)

2018        Oct 16, The rival Koreas and the US-led United Nations Command met to discuss efforts to disarm a military zone the rivals control within their shared border under a peace agreement between the two countries.
    (AP, 10/16/18)

2018        Oct 22, South Korean officials said the two Koreas have completed removing land mines planted at their shared border village as part of efforts to disarm the area located inside the world's most heavily fortified border.
    (AP, 10/22/18)
2018        Oct 22, A South Korean lawmaker said North Korea imported at least $640 million worth of luxury goods from China last year, in defiance of UN sanctions outlawing such trade over North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.
    (Reuters, 10/22/18)

2018        Oct 26, The North and South Korean militaries agreed to completely destroy 22 front-line guard posts by the end of November as they discussed their next steps in implementing a wide-ranging military agreement signed last month to reduce tensions.
    (AP, 10/26/18)

2018        Oct 30, South Korea's Supreme Court ruled that Nippon Steel should compensate four South Koreans $89,000 for forced labor during Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula before the end of World War II. Japanese PM Shinzo Abe said the ruling violated a 1965 treaty between Seoul and Tokyo that was accompanied by Japanese payments to restore diplomatic ties.
    (AP, 10/30/18)(SFC, 2/14/19, p.A5)

2018        Nov 1, South Korea's top court ruled that South Korean men can legally reject their mandatory military service on conscientious or religious grounds without punishment.
    (AP, 11/1/18)

2018        Nov 5, South Korea soccer international Lee Chang-min was involved in a car crash that left one person dead and two injured on Jeju Island.
    (AP, 11/10/18)

2018        Nov 9, In South Korea a fire that likely blocked a crucial exit at a low-cost dormitory-style housing facility in central Seoul killed at least seven people and injured 11 others. The residents were mostly manual laborers who made their living on day-to-day jobs.
    (AP, 11/9/18)

2018        Nov 10, The North and South Korean militaries completed withdrawing troops and firearms from 22 front-line guard posts as they continue to implement a wide-ranging agreement reached in September to reduce tensions across the world's most fortified border.
    (AP, 11/10/18)

2018        Nov 11, South Korean military transport aircraft began a tangerine airlift to North Korea, the first of a gift of 200 tons of the fruit from the southern island of Jeju.
    (Reuters, 11/11/18)

2018        Nov 15, South Korea exploded a front-line guard post, sending plumes of thick, black smoke into the sky above the border with North Korea, in the most dramatic scene to date in the rivals' efforts to reduce animosities.
    (AP, 11/15/18)

2018        Nov 16, A senior North Korean official on a visit to South Korea called for Japan to apologize for the wartime forced labor of thousands of Koreans.
    (AP, 11/16/18)

2018        Nov 21, South Korea said it will dissolve a foundation funded by Japan to compensate South Korean women who were forced to work in Japan's World War II military brothels. The widely expected decision, if carried out, would effectively kill a controversial 2015 agreement to settle a decades-long impasse over the sexual slavery issue. Japan still hasn't acknowledged legal responsibility for atrocities during its colonial occupation of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.
    (AP, 11/21/18)
2018        Nov 21, Interpol, an international body that connects police from 194 countries, elected South Korean Kim Jong Yang as its new president. He defeated Russian Alexander Prokopchuk in a vote amid US-led warnings that Russia would try to use the position to hunt down political opponents and fugitive dissidents.
    (AP, 11/21/18)

2018        Nov 23, A South Korean court ruled that the government must pay 80 million won ($70,700) to three men who were enslaved on salt farms in remote islands off the country's southwest coast for several years.
    (AP, 11/23/18)

2018        Nov 24, South Korea said that the United Nations Security Council granted an exemption to sanctions that will allow surveys on North Korean railroad sections the Koreas want to connect with the South.
    (AP, 11/24/18)

2018        Nov 26, UNESCO said Korean wrestling was added to a list of "Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity" on the basis of an application by the two Koreas.
    (AP, 11/26/18)

2018        Nov 27, South Korea's top public prosecutor apologized over what he described as a botched investigation into the enslavement and mistreatment of thousands of people at a vagrants' facility in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1989 Park In-keun, the owner of the now-closed Brothers Home, was acquitted from serious charges amid an obvious cover-up orchestrated at the highest levels of government.
    (AP, 11/27/18)(SFC, 4/18/20, p.A2)

2018        Nov 29, South Korea's top court ordered Japanese company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to financially compensate 10 Koreans for forced labor during Tokyo's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, in the second such ruling in a month that again drew quick, vehement protests from Japan.
    (AP, 11/29/18)
2018        Nov 29, South Korea sent about 50 tons of insecticide to North Korea to help stop a pine tree disease from spreading.
    (AP, 11/29/18)

2018        Nov 30, A South Korean train rolled into North Korea for the first time in a decade as the countries began joint surveys on northern railway sections they hope someday to connect with the South.
    (AP, 11/30/18)

2018        Dec 1, A North Korean soldier fled across a heavily fortified border to defect to South Korea.
    (AP, 12/1/18)

2018        Dec 7, In South Korea a former military intelligence chief was found dead in a suspected suicide. Former Defense Security Command head Lee Jae-su was being investigated by state prosecutors for allegedly ordering the illegal surveillance of families of people killed in a 2014 ferry sinking.
    (AP, 12/7/18)
2018        Dec 7, South Korean prosecutors charged four people with illegally importing North Korean coal via Russia in violation of UN sanctions.
    (AP, 12/10/18)

2018        Dec 12, Dozens of North and South Korean soldiers crossed over the world's most heavily armed border as they inspected the sites of their rival's front-line guard posts to verify they'd been removed.
    (AP, 12/12/18)

2018        Dec 18, South Korean fire department officials said that three teenage boys were presumed dead and seven other boys were being treated for injuries after they were found unconscious at a motel in the seaside town of Gangneung.
    (AP, 12/18/18)

2018        Dec 24, South Korea said it will fine BMW 11.2 billion won ($9.9 million) and file a criminal complaint against the company with state prosecutors over an allegedly botched response to dozens of engine fires reported in the country. BMW has apologized and recalled some 172,000 vehicles of 65 different models in July and October over the fires.
    (AP, 12/24/18)

2018        Dec 26, North and South Korea broke ground on an ambitious project to modernize North Korean railways and roads and connect them with the South, but without progress in nuclear negotiations, regular trains won't be crossing the border anytime soon.
    (AP, 12/26/18)

2018        Dec 28, The South Korean Unification Ministry said the personal information of 997 North Koreans who defected to South Korea has been leaked after unknown hackers got access to a resettlement agency's database.
    (Reuters, 12/28/18)

2019        Jan 8, A South Korean court approved a request by plaintiffs in a wartime forced labor case to seize part of the local assets of Japan's Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp.
    (Reuters, 1/8/19)

2019        Jan 14, In Michigan Hyundai of South Korea scored two out of three wins in the North American Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle of the Year awards, as the Detroit auto show's press previews officially got underway.
    (AP, 1/14/19)

2019        Jan 16, South Korean officials said they have stopped businessmen from bringing North Korean paintings into the country that a report said were purchased at an art studio under UN sanctions.
    (AP, 1/16/19)

2019        Jan 21, It was reported that more South Korean female skaters are accusing their coaches of sexually abusing them, following claims by two-time Olympic champion Shim Suk-hee that her former coach had repeatedly raped her.
    (AP, 1/21/19)

2019        Jan 23, In South Korea former senior prosecutor Ahn Tae Geun was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of banishing a junior prosecutor after she tried to expose his sexual misconduct.
    (SFC, 1/24/19, p.A2)

2019        Jan 30, In South Korea Kim Kyoung-soo, the governor or South Gyeongsang and a political ally of President Moon Jae-in, received a two-year prison term for his involvement in an online opinion rigging scandal.
    (AP, 1/30/19)

2019        Jan, In South Korea Kim Yong-kyun (24) died after being sucked into a coal conveyor belt. He was working as a contractor at a power plant 110 km (70 miles) south of Seoul. His death triggered uproar in South Korea where critics say work safety is compromised for temporary or contract workers.
    (AFP, 2/9/19)

2019        Feb 1, A South Korean appeals court sentenced former provincial governor Ahn Hee-jung (54) to 3½ years in prison on charges of sexually abusing his secretary.
    (AP, 2/1/19)

2019        Feb 10, South Korea and the United States struck a new deal that increases Seoul's contribution for the cost of the American military presence on its soil.
    (AP, 2/10/19)

2019        Feb 20, Samsung unveiled its new foldable smartphone in San Francisco. The Galaxy Fold will sell for $1980 when it is released on April 26.
    (SFC, 2/21/19, p.D1)

2019        Feb 28, South Korea-based Hyundai and Kia added more than a half-million vehicles to 3 ½-year string of US recalls for engine failures and fires.
    (AP, 2/28/19)

2019        Mar 1, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said his government plans to discuss with the United States the possibility of restarting joint inter-Korean economic projects to induce nuclear disarmament from North Korea, which insisted it had asked only for partial sanctions relief in exchange for shutting down its main nuclear complex.
    (AP, 3/1/19)

2019        Mar 3, South Korea and the US said they are eliminating their massive springtime military drills and replacing them with smaller exercises in what they call an effort to support diplomacy aimed at resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis. They agreed to replace the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle drills with a shorter "Dong Maeng" or "Alliance" exercise which kicked off this week.
    (AP, 3/3/19)(AFP, 3/7/19)

2019        Mar 6, South Korean President Moon Jae-in proposed a joint project with China to use artificial rain to clean the air in his country, where an acute increase in pollution has caused alarm.
    (AP, 3/6/19)

2019        Mar 7, South Korea's military said it is carefully monitoring North Korean nuclear and missile facilities after the country's spy agency told lawmakers that new activity was detected at a research center where the North is believed to build long-range missiles targeting the US mainland.
    (AP, 3/7/19)

2019        Mar 8, South Korea and the US formally signed a deal on Seoul's increased payment for the US troop deployment, amid worries about the future of the countries' decades-long military alliance.
    (AP, 3/8/19)

2019        Mar 20, South Korean police said they have arrested two men for using illegal spy cameras at motels to film and livestream videos of about 1,600 guests, raking in about 7 million won ($6,200) over the past three months.
    (Reuters, 3/21/19)

2019        Mar 21, In South Korea K-pop singer and television celebrity, Jung Joon-young, was arrested over accusations he shared his secret sex videos.
    (Reuters, 3/21/19)

2019        Mar 22, North Korea abruptly withdrew its staff from a liaison office with South Korea, a development that is likely to put a damper on ties between the countries and further complicate global diplomacy on North Korea's nuclear program.
    (AP, 3/22/19)

2019        Apr 3, A South Korean coast guard official said the 5,160-ton P-PIONEER has been prevented from leaving Busan port since October over allegations that it was used to supply diesel to North Korea through two ship-to-ship transfers in September 2017 in international waters in the East China Sea.
    (AP, 4/3/19)

2019        Apr 5, South Korean firefighters managed to extinguish most of a massive forest fire that ripped through the mountainous northern coast, destroying 135 homes and forcing more than 4,000 to flee the region that hosted the 2018 Winter Olympics. Two deaths were reported.
    (AP, 4/5/19)

2019        Apr 8, Cho Yang-ho (70), Korean Air's chairman, died of an illness in Los Angeles. His leadership included scandals such as his daughter's infamous incident of "nut rage". He had been indicted on multiple charges, including embezzlement and tax evasion.
    (AP, 4/8/19)

2019        Apr 11, South Korea's Constitutional Court ordered the easing of the country's decades-old ban on most abortions, one of the strictest in the developed world. Abortions have been largely illegal in South Korea since 1953, though convictions for violating the restrictions are rare.
    (AP, 4/11/19)
2019        Apr 11, US Pres. Donald Trump and visiting South Korean Pres. Moon Jae-in met and agreed on the importance of nuclear talks with North Korea.
    (AP, 4/12/19)

2019        Apr 12, The World Trade Organization upheld South Korea's import ban on Japanese seafood from areas affected by the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima.
    (AP, 4/12/19)

2019        Apr 15, Saudi Aramco said it has reached an agreement to acquire a $1.25 billion stake in South Korean refiner Hyundai Oilbank that would provide Saudi Arabia's state-run oil company with a dedicated outlet for its crude to South Korea.
    (AP, 4/15/19)

2019        Apr 17, In South Korea a 42-year-old man set his apartment in Jinju on fire and fatally stabbed five neighbors as they attempted to flee.
    (AP, 4/18/19)

2019        Apr 26, In South Korea K-pop and drama star Park Yu-chun (32) was arrested on charges of buying and using illegal drugs, the latest in a series of scandals to hit the South Korean entertainment business.
    (AP, 4/26/19)

2019        May 16, The US State Department cleared $313.9 million in possible sales of air defense missiles to South Korea, as tensions re-emerged on the Korean peninsula.
    (Reuters, 5/18/19)

2019        May 17, South Korea decided to allow its businesspeople to visit their factories at an industrial park in North Korea that was shut down by Seoul's previous conservative government in 2016 following a North Korean nuclear test.
    (AP, 5/17/19)
2019        May 17, A South Korea appeals court extended the jail term imposed on cult leader Pastor Lee Jaerock (75) for raping female followers, sentencing him to 16 years behind bars. He was convicted last year of raping eight women more than 40 times.
    (AFP, 5/17/19)
2019        May 17, South Korea said that it would provide $8 million in humanitarian aid to North Korea's malnourished children and pregnant women.
    (SFC, 5/18/19, p.A2)

2019        May 20, South Korea vowed to move quickly on plans to provide $8 million worth of medical and nutritional aid for North Korean children through UN agencies while it also considers sending broader food aid to the country, which says it is suffering its worst drought in decades.
    (AP, 5/20/19)

2019        May 24, South Korea said it's discussing security issues regarding its 5G, or fifth generation, cellphone networks with the United States following a report the Trump administration is demanding that Seoul join a "war" against Huawei.
    (AP, 5/24/19)

2019        May 25, In France South Korean director Bong Joon-ho's raucous social satire "Parasite," about a poor family of hustlers who find jobs with a wealthy family, won the Cannes Film Festival's top award, the Palme d'Or.
    (AP, 5/25/19)

2019        May 29, In Hungary a sightseeing boat carrying at least 32 South Korean tourists sank in a matter of seconds on the Danube river after colliding with a larger cruise ship during an evening downpour. Seven people were confirmed dead and seven were rescued, all of them South Koreans. Hungarian police soon detained the captain of the cruise ship.
    (AP, 5/30/19)(SFC, 5/30/19, p.A2)(Reuters, 5/31/19)

2019        May 31, South Korea said that it is scrambling to prevent the spread of the highly contagious African swine fever on its pig industry after North Korea confirmed an outbreak at a farm near its border with China.
    (AP, 5/31/19)
2019        May 31, A South Korean newspaper reported that North Korea executed a senior envoy involved in nuclear negotiations with the US as well as four other high-level officials [see July 16].
    (AP, 5/31/19)

2019        Jun 5, South Korea said that North Korea has so far ignored its calls for joint efforts to stem the spread of highly contagious African swine fever following an outbreak near North Korea's border with China.
    (AP, 6/5/19)

2019        Jun 10, Lee Hee-ho (b.1921), a South Korean feminist activist who fought for democracy against dictatorships alongside her husband and future President Kim Dae-jung, died.
    (AP, 6/11/19)
2019        Jun 10, Britain said it had concluded a trade deal with South Korea to maintain links after Brexit.
    (AFP, 6/10/19)

2019        Jun 11, The South Korea-based human rights group Transitional Justice Working Group said it has identified hundreds of spots where witnesses claim North Korea carried out public executions and extrajudicial state killings as part of an arbitrary and aggressive use of the death penalty that is meant to intimidate its citizens.
    (AP, 6/11/19)

2019        Jun 14, In South Korea Yang Hyun Suk, the founder of one of the most successful K-Pop music agencies, stepped down amid accusations that he tried to cover up alleged drug use by one of the company's artists.
    (AP, 6/14/19)

2019        Jun 18, South Korea said two of four North Korean fishermen, who were rescued June 15 off a boat drifting in South Korean waters, will remain in the country after expressing their desire to defect. The two other fishermen were sent back to North Korea through an inter-Korean village.
    (AP, 6/18/19)

2019        Jun 19, South Korea said it plans to send 50,000 tons of rice to North Korea through the World Food Program, in its second aid package announced in past weeks as it seeks to help with North Korean food shortages and improve bilateral relations.
    (AP, 6/19/19)

2019        Jun 26, South Korean President Moon Jae-in met with visiting Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, who promised to help with possible fuel shortages in case of supply disruptions caused by tensions in the Middle East. South Korea and Saudi Arabia signed an $8.3 billion economic co-operation pact during Salman's first visit to Seoul.
    (AP, 6/26/19)(AFP, 6/26/19)

2019        Jun 29, US Pres. Donald Trump arrived in Seoul ahead of a trip to the Demilitarized Zone the following day and a possible third meeting with the North's Kim Jong Un.
    (AFP, 6/29/19)

2019        Jun 30, US Pres. Donald Trump met with North Korea's Kim Jong Un at the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea becoming the first American president to set foot in North Korea. Trump announced that he and Kim had agreed to resume stalled talks on denuclearization in the coming weeks.
    (AP, 6/30/19)

2019        Jul 1, Japan imposed restrictions on exports used by South Korea's chip and smartphone companies, ramping up long-simmering tensions between the US allies over the use of forced labor during World War Two. Seoul quickly hit back, saying the measures violated international law and threatening to raise the issue at the World Trade Organization.
    (AFP, 7/1/19)

2019        Jul 2, In South Korea Park Yoo-chun, a former member of the boy band JYJ, received a 10-month suspended sentence for illegal drug use. The Suwon District Court also ordered the 33-year-old star to undergo probation and treatment.
    (AP, 7/2/19)

2019        Jul 6, Choe In-guk (73) arrived in Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, to dedicate the rest of his life to Korean unification at the guidance of leader Kim Jong Un. Choe is the son of former South Korean Foreign Minister Choe Dok-shin, who defected to North Korea with his wife in 1986.
    (AP, 7/8/19)(SFC, 7/9/19, p.A4)

2019        Jul 16, South Korean intelligence said Kim Hyok Chol, a North Korean nuclear negotiator who was reported to have been executed over the failure of the February Hanoi summit between Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump, is still alive.
    (The Telegraph, 7/16/19)

2019        Jul 17, Two South Korean and 15 Russian crew members were aboard a Russia-flagged fishing boat when it was detained by North Korea. North Korea is holding six other South Koreans it has detained in recent years for alleged attempts to build underground Christian churches inside the North and other anti-state charges.
    (AP, 7/24/19)

2019        Jul 25, North Korea fired two short-range missiles into the sea in its first weapons launches in more than two months and an apparent effort to pressure Washington as the two sides struggle to restart nuclear negotiations. South Korea said the two weapons were a new type of ballistic missile.
    (AP, 7/25/19)

2019        Jul 26, South Korea's central bank said North Korea's economy shrank in 2018 for a second straight year, and by the most in 21 years, as it was battered by international sanctions aimed at stopping its nuclear program and by drought.
    (Reuters, 7/26/19)

2019        Jul 28, Two South Koreans and 15 Russians returned to South Korea about 10 days after their boat drifted into North Korean waters.
    (AP, 7/28/19)

2019        Jul 29, South Korea said it's returning three North Koreans who crossed the Koreas' sea border aboard a wooden fishing boat over the weekend in line with their wishes.
    (AP, 7/29/19)

2019        Jul 31, South Korea's military said North Korea conducted its second weapons test in less than a week, firing two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast in a move observers said could be aimed at boosting pressure on the United States as the rivals struggle to set up fresh nuclear talks.
    (AP, 7/31/19)
2019        Jul 31, A North Korean soldier crossed the demilitarized zone into South Korea late today and was taken into Seoul’s custody.
    (The Telegraph, 8/1/19)

2019        Aug 2, The trade row between Japan and South Korea escalated when Japan removed South Korea from a favored trading nations list, prompting Seoul to warn it would not be defeated again by its neighbor, laying bare decades-old war time animosity.
    (Reuters, 8/3/19)

2019        Aug 5, South Korea and Washington began annual joint military exercises, defying warnings from Pyongyang that the war games will jeopardize nuclear negotiations between the United States and North Korea.
    (AFP, 8/5/19)

2019        Aug 7, President Donald Trump said that South Korea has agreed to pay the United States "substantially more" for protection against North Korea and that talks have begun to further increase payments.
    (AP, 8/7/19)

2019        Aug 12, South Korea said it plans to drop Japan from its "white list" of countries with fast-track trade status from September, a tit-for-tat move that deepens a diplomatic and trade rift between the two countries. Japan announced earlier this month that it was removing South Korea from its own "white list" of countries that have enjoyed minimum trade restrictions.
    (Reuters, 8/12/19)

2019        Aug 14, Thousands of South Koreans protested outside Japan's embassy in Seoul and city officials unveiled a new memorial to wartime 'comfort women' at the center of a row over the two countries' shared history.
    (Reuters, 8/14/19)

2019        Aug 16, North Korea bluntly criticized South Korean President Moon Jae-in for continuing to hold military exercises with the US and over his rosy comments on inter-Korean diplomacy, and said Pyongyang has no current plans to talk with Seoul. Hours later South Korea's military detected two projectiles North Korea fired into the sea to extend a torrid streak of weapons display that's apparently aimed at pressuring Washington and Seoul over their joint drills and slow nuclear negotiations.
    (AP, 8/16/19)

2019        Aug 21, Japan and South Korea agreed on the need for dialogue to resolve a feud over compensating Korean wartime workers that has spilled into trade, and put a deep chill on ties between Washington's two biggest Asian allies.
    (Reuters, 8/21/19)

2019        Aug 22, South Korea said it will terminate its military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan amid intensifying trade and diplomatic disputes with Tokyo.
    (The Telegraph, 8/22/19)
2019        Aug 22, Britain and South Korea signed a continuity deal to ensure the two nations continue to trade on preferential terms after Britain leaves the EU.
    (Bloomberg, 8/22/19)

2019        Aug 23, South Korea said it will share military intelligence with Japan through the United States after terminating a pact that enabled the two key Washington allies to exchange such information directly.
    (AFP, 8/23/19)

2019        Aug 29, It was reported that Japan has approved shipment of hydrogen fluoride used in making computer chips to South Korea for the first time since imposing tighter export controls in July.
    (Reuters, 8/29/19)

2019        Sep 6, Dozens of flights were canceled and parks were closed in South Korea as powerful Typhoon Lingling gained momentum on its path toward the Korean Peninsula.
    (AP, 9/6/19)

2019        Sep 7, Typhoon Lingling hit South Korea and swept along the country's coast, toppling trees, grounding planes and causing at least three deaths before moving on to North Korea. At least 3 people were killed.
    (AP, 9/7/19)

2019        Sep 17, South Korea reported its first cases of African swine fever, becoming the latest country hit by the disease that has killed pigs from China to North Korea, pushing up pork prices worldwide.
    (AFP, 9/17/19)

2019        Sep 23, South Korea's agriculture ministry said it has confirmed a third case of African swine fever at a hog farm in a city near Seoul after the country's first outbreak of the deadly virus last week.
    (Reuters, 9/23/19)

2019        Oct 2, In South Korean Lee Chun-jae (56) confessed to killing nine women between 1986 and 1991 in what is known as the infamous Hwaseong murders. He also confessed to five additional murders unconnected to the Hwaseong series following DNA evidence that linked him to four of the murder cases. He is currently serving a life sentence for raping and killing his sister-in-law in 1994.
    (Insider, 10/4/19)

2019        Oct 9, In South Korea tens of thousands of protesters staged demonstrations, including in downtown Seoul, over a growing corruption scandal involving a newly-appointed justice minister Cho Kuk. Demonstrators saw the investigation into Cho as politically motivated and called on the Moon administration to follow through with promised reforms. Cho's family faced probes into irregular investments and his children's' favorable treatment in university admission.
    (Reuters, 10/12/19)

2019        Oct 14, It was reported that South Korea is deploying snipers to the Demilitarized Zone with orders to shoot any wild boar that are seen in the buffer zone with North Korea before they can bring more cases of African swine fever into the South.
    (The Telegraph, 10/14/19)

2019        Oct 29, North Korea rejected South Korea's request for working-level talks to discuss the possible demolition of South Korean-made hotels and other facilities at the North's Diamond Mountain resort that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wants removed. North Korea said face-to-face meetings would be unnecessary and repeated its stance that details should be worked out through document exchanges.
    (AP, 10/29/19)

2019        Nov 4, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe had an 11-minute conversation on the sidelines of an international conference in Bangkok, the first time they had met in more than a year. They reaffirmed the principle of resolving pending bilateral issues through dialogue.
    (Reuters, 11/6/19)(SFC, 11/15/19, p.A2)

2019        Nov 7, South Korea handed two men, understood to both be in their 20s, to North Korean officials at the border truce village of Panmunjom. The two men had admitted that they and another member of the vessel’s crew had killed a boat captain in late October because he had been abusive. The men added that they then killed the other 15 crew of the ship and threw their bodies overboard. The men asked for asylum in South Korea but, after a three-day investigation, the request was denied.
    (The Telegraph, 11/7/19)

2019        Nov 17, In Thailand Jeong Kyeong-doo, the South Korean minister of defence, and his Chinese counterpart, Wei Fenghe, agreed to set up more military hotlines and to push ahead with a visit by Mr Jeong to China next year to “foster bilateral exchanges and cooperation in defence”.
    (The Telegraph, 11/18/19)
2019        Nov 17, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the United States and South Korea have indefinitely postponed a joint military exercise in an “act of goodwill” toward North Korea.
    (AP, 11/17/19)   

2019        Nov 18, South Korean and US officials resumed talks to narrow a $4 billion gap in how much they want Seoul to pay for the cost of hosting the American military amid public protests of "highway robbery" against sharply increased US demands.
    (Reuters, 11/18/19)

2019        Nov 21, North Korea rejected an invitation for leader Kim Jong Un to attend a planned summit in South Korea next week with Southeast Asian nations, saying it would be "pointless" due to strained ties with Seoul.
    (AP, 11/21/19)

2019        Nov 22, South Korea made a last-minute decision to stick with its critical intelligence-sharing deal with Japan, a dramatic reversal after months of frigid relations complicated by painful, wartime history.
    (Reuters, 11/22/19)

2019        Nov 24, In South Korea Koo Hara (28), a former member of a top K-pop girl group, was found dead at her home in southern Seoul.
    (Reuters, 11/24/19)

2019        Dec 5, General Motors Co and South Korea's LG Chem said they will invest $2.3 billion to set up an electric vehicle battery cell joint venture plant in Ohio, creating one of the world's largest battery facilities.
    (Reuters, 12/5/19)

2019        Dec 23, The leaders of China and South Korea said that they look forward to improved ties following a protracted disagreement over the deployment of a US anti-missile system that Beijing considers a threat.
    (AP, 12/23/19)
2019        Dec 23, South Korea-based Hyundai Engineering and Construction (HDEC) said it had suspended construction of the bridge, which will connect the Chilean island of Chiloe to the mainland, accusing the government of bad faith for seeking to increase the scope of the project without additional remuneration.
    (Reuters, 12/24/19)

2019        Dec 24, The leaders of Japan and South Korea signaled they wouldn’t let relations spin out of control even as they made little progress in resolving disputes that have plunged relations to new depths. The two began their 45-minute meeting on the sidelines of a trilateral summit hosted by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Chengdu.
    (AP, 12/24/19)

2020        Jan 2, In South Korea the Mr. Trot reality TV show, an audition show for singers who perform trot music, began airing. It was the male version of the popular Miss Trot. By the end of the year Mr. Trot was the highest rated show in cable television history of South Korea. Trot music emerged in the early 20th century and blends traditional Korean music with elements of the Japanese and popular songs of the era. A "Mr. Trot" film followed later this year.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Trot)(Econ., 11/7/20, p.35)

2020        Jan 14, South Korean President Moon Jae-in faced a barrage of questions about purges of prosecutors looking into corruption in his administration, in the latest sign that the scandals could weigh on upcoming national elections.
    (Bloomberg, 1/14/20)

2020        Jan 19, In South Korea Lotte Group founder Shin Kyuk-ho (98) died. He started manufacturing chewing gum in 1948 in Japan and built the business into South Korea's No.5 conglomerate with interests ranging from retail to chemicals.
    (Reuters, 1/19/20)

2020        Jan 21, A South Korean announced that its anti-piracy unit has temporarily expanded its mission to the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global oil route at the center of soaring tensions between Iran and the United States.
    (AP, 1/21/20)

2020        Jan 22, South Korea's first known transgender soldier pleaded to be allowed to continue serving after the military decided to discharge her for undergoing gender reassignment surgery. Tank driver Byun Hui-su, held a news conference at which she asked military leaders to reconsider their decision and let her serve as a female soldier.
    (AP, 1/22/20)

2020        Feb 2, The US military command in South Korea instituted a 14-day self quarantine for any troops who recently traveled to China, adding that an outbreak in that country of a new coronavirus could harm military readiness.
    (Reuters, 2/1/20)

2020        Feb 9, In Hollywood "Parasite," a suspenseful South Korean film, became the first non-English movie to win best picture. It also won the Oscar for best international film, original screenplay and best director. Joaquin Phoenix and Renee Zellweger picked up the Oscars for best actor and actress. Brad Pitt and Laura Dern won the supporting actor and actress categories.
    (Good Morning America, 2/10/20)

2020        Feb 10, Japan launched a second complaint at the World Trade Organization over support South Korea gives its shipbuilding industry, intensifying a wider dispute between the two Asian countries.
    (Reuters, 2/10/20)

2020        Feb 17, South Korea's Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co Ltd said it has resolved a dispute with the Chilean government over a $740 million suspension bridge in a deal that had required it to "give up its rights" in various areas. The company said it has given ground on unspecified areas to allow the stalled project to get back on track.
    (Reuters, 2/17/20)

2020        Feb 20, South Korea reported its first death from the new virus while the mayor of a southeastern city urged its 2.5 million people to stay inside as infections linked to a church congregation spiked. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed 22 additional cases of the virus, raising the total in South Korea to 104.
    (AP, 2/20/20)

2020        Feb 21, South Korea's government banned major rallies in its capital and declared a health emergency in its fourth largest city as 100 new virus cases were reported, bringing the country's total to 204.
    (AP, 2/21/20)

2020        Feb 22, South Korea reported an eight-fold jump in viral infections with 433 cases mostly linked to a church and a hospital.
    (AP, 2/22/20)
2020        Feb 22, A South Korean Air flight with 188 passengers that landed at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport was taxied away from the allotted terminal while authorities allowed only 11 Israelis to enter the country. The next day the plane returned to South Korea with the rest of the passengers.
    (AP, 2/23/20)

2020        Feb 23, South Korea raised its infectious disease alert to its highest level due to the coronavirus outbreak. South Korea announced 169 more cases of the new virus, bringing the country’s total more than 760. The country also reported three more fatalities, raising its death toll to six.
    (Reuters, 2/23/20)(AP, 2/23/20)(NY Times, 2/24/20)
2020        Feb 23, South Korean health authorities said that 18 of the 39 South Koreans from the southeastern region who had made a group pilgrimage to sites in Israel later tested positive for the virus.
    (AP, 2/23/20)

2020        Feb 24, South Korea reported 833 confirmed cases with 8 dead. Health officials reported 231 new cases of COVID-19. A military spokesperson said there were 13 confirmed COVID-19 cases among the troops.
    (NBC News, 2/24/20)
2020        Feb 24, Mongolia's National Emergency Commission halted all flights from South Korea and will block entry through its borders until March 2 as it steps up its efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
    (Reuters, 2/24/20)

2020        Feb 26, In South Korea the coronavirus has infected 1,260 people. 20 South Korean soldiers and one American have tested positive.
    (AP, 2/26/20)(Reuters, 2/26/20)

2020        Feb 27, South Korea reported 334 additional cases of the new coronavirus.
    (Reuters, 2/27/20)

2020        Feb 28, South Korea confirmed 256 more cases, bringing total to 2,022, doubling in two days and raising alarm about the worst outbreak outside of neighboring China.
    (Bloomberg, 2/28/20)

2020        Feb 29, South Korea reported its biggest surge in new coronavirus cases with 3,150 infections as 813 more patients were reported. Three women in the Daegu area died of the illness, taking the national toll to 17.
    (AFP, 2/29/20)

2020        Mar 1, In South Korea the number of coronavirus cases is now at 3,736 with 21 deaths tied to the Shincheonji religious sect. The founder of the sect and 11 others have just been charged with murder.
    (The Daily Beast, 3/1/20)(Reuters, 3/1/20)

2020        Mar 2, South Korea reported 599 new cases of coronavirus, raising its total to 4,355. The death toll rose to 26. South Korea sought murder charges against leaders of Shincheonji Church, to which most of South Korea's cases have been traced.
    (Reuters, 3/2/20)

2020        Mar 3, South Korea’s health ministry reported 374 more cases of the novel coronavirus, taking the country’s tally to 5,186.
    (Bloomberg, 3/3/20)

2020        Mar 4, South Korea reported 516 new coronavirus cases. It now had had more than 5,600 cases and 32 deaths.
    (Business Insider, 3/4/20)
2020        Mar 4, North Korea's Kim Jong Un sent South Korean President Moon Jae-in a letter expressing condolences over the coronavirus outbreak. This was the North Korean leader’s first public overture to his counterpart in more than four months.
    (Bloomberg, 3/5/20)

2020        Mar 5, South Korea reported 760 new coronavirus cases. South Korea confirmed 6,088 coronavirus cases, with a death toll of 37.
    (Reuters, 3/5/20)
2020        Mar 5, It was reported that six US military individuals in South Korea have tested positive for COVID-19.
    (AP, 3/5/20)

2020        Mar 6, South Korea reported 505 additional cases, down from a high of 851 on March 3. The US military confirmed its seventh case among those stationed there.
    (AP, 3/6/20)(Reuters, 3/6/20)

2020        Mar 7, South Korea's coronavirus cases jumped above 7,000, up by 448 from the previous day. The death toll rose by two to 46.
    (Reuters, 3/7/20)

2020        Mar 8, South Korea's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 272 new coronavirus cases, for a total of 7,313 in the country. Two further deaths took the toll to 50.
    (Reuters, 3/8/20)

2020        Mar 9, South Korea reported 165 new coronavirus cases, bringing the national tally to 7,478, while the death toll rose by one to 51.
    (Reuters, 3/9/20)
2020        Mar 9, South Korea-based Daily NK reported that around 200 North Korean soldiers from several branches of the military have died from symptoms that may have been caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
    (https://tinyurl.com/r85wkr7)(Daily NK, 3/12/20)

2020        Mar 11, South Korea confirmed a total of 114 coronavirus infections, taking the country's total to 7,869. A new cluster of infections was discovered in a call center office building in Seoul.
    (AP, 3/12/20)(Econ, 3/14/20, p.48)

2020        Mar 12, South Korea reported fewer than 120 new coronavirus cases, but authorities warned that a new cluster in Seoul could see the infection spread in the capital.
    (AFP, 3/12/20)

2020        Mar 13, South Korea recorded 110 new coronavirus cases, compared with 114 a day earlier, taking the national tally to 7,979, with the death toll rising by five to 72 as of late today.
    (AP, 3/13/20)

2020        Mar 15, South Korea reported 76 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours, an all-time low since Feb. 20, when the country saw a surge of over 500 in four days. The country’s total tally stands at 8,162 with a total of 75 deaths.
    (Bloomberg, 3/15/20)

2020        Mar 16, South Korea reported 74 new coronavirus cases bringing its total to 8,236.
    (Reuters, 3/16/20)

2020        Mar 22, South Korea reported 98 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total to 8,897. The number of deaths rose by two to 104.
    (Bloomberg, 3/22/20)

2020        Mar 24, In South Korea police revealed the identity of a man accused of running a range of porn channels on a Telegram chat app. Cho Jumin (24) had charged up to 30,000 subscribers between $200 and $1,200, most of which was collected in bitcoin, for access to his "nth rooms".
    (Econ, 3/28/20, p.34)

2020        Mar 27, South Korea reported 146 new coronavirus cases. That brought total infections in South Korea to 9,478, with a death toll of 151, up from 139.
    (Reuters, 3/27/20)

2020        Apr 1, In South Korea US Gen. Robert B. Abrams announced the furlough of 9,000 South Koreans who worked for the local American military forces.
    (Economist, 4/4/20, p.29)

2020        Apr 4, South Korea reported 94 more cases of coronavirus in 24 hours, bringing the total to 10,156.
    (Bloomberg, 4/4/20)

2020        Apr 6, South Korea reported fewer than 50 new coronavirus cases for the first time since its peak in late February.
    (AP, 4/6/20)

2020        Apr 10, South Korea reported 27 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, the fewest in about seven weeks. Early voting began for all 300 National Assembly seats. South Korean officials reported 91 patients thought cleared of the new coronavirus had tested positive again.
    (Bloomberg, 4/10/20)(Reuters, 4/10/20)

2020        Apr 13, South Korea reported that at least 116 people initially cleared of the new coronavirus had tested positive again. Officials suggested they would soon look at easing strict recommendations aimed at preventing new outbreaks. South Korea reported only 25 new cases overall.
    (Reuters, 4/13/20)

2020        Apr 15, South Korea held national elections. President Moon Jae-in’s ruling coalition scored the largest parliamentary election victory since the end of military-backed rule more than three decades ago, signaling to global leaders that a strong pandemic response can win votes. The ruling Democratic Party of Korea and its satellite group won 180 places in the 300-seat National Assembly. Defector Thae Yong Ho, a former senior North Korean diplomat, won a constituency seat in the elections.
    (Bloomberg, 4/15/20)(Bloomberg, 4/16/20)(AP, 4/16/20)

2020        Apr 19, South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it confirmed eight new coronavirus cases in a 24-hour period, the lowest since Feb. 20. This raised the total to 10,661 cases and 234 deaths.
    (Bloomberg, 4/19/20)(SFC, 4/20/20, p.A4)

2020        Apr 22, South Korean health authorities said patients who tested positive for novel coronavirus after recovering from their first bout of the illness appeared to be far less infectious the second time round.
    (Reuters, 4/22/20)

2020        Apr 23, In South Korea Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don (71) resigned after admitting to sexual misconduct. A female public servant had accused him of sexual assault in his office.
    (SFC, 4/24/20, p.A2)

2020        Apr 26, South Korea's large churches reopened, requiring worshipers to keep their distance and wear masks.
    (Reuters, 4/26/20)

2020        Apr 29, In South Korea a fire at the construction site of a 4-story warehouse in Icheon killed 38 people.
    (SFC, 4/30/20, p.A2)

2020        Apr 30, South Korea reported that for the first time since the virus’s Feb. 29 peak, it had no new domestic cases and just four cases among people who came in from outside the country.
    (NY Times, 4/30/20)

2020        May 2, In South Korea a man (29) visited five nightclubs and bars in Seoul's Itaewon entertainment neighborhood in a single night before testing positive for the virus on Mas 6. More than 100 infections soon appeared linked to the nightspots.
    (AP, 5/12/20)

2020        May 3, South Korea recorded just 13 new coronavirus cases and no deaths.
    (The Week, 5/3/20)
2020        May 3, North Korean gunfire hit a Southern guard post, prompting Seoul's soldiers to return fire a few minutes later and broadcast warnings. On May 26 the United Nations Command (UNC) said the shooting was a violation of the 1953 armistice agreement. The last time the two sides exchanged fire on the border was in 2014.
    (AFP, 5/26/20)

2020        May 5, South Korea reported no new locally transmitted infections of the novel coronavirus and just three imported cases over the past 24 hours.
    (ABC News, 5/5/20)

2020        May 6, South Korea reported no new locally transmitted infections of the novel coronavirus and just two imported cases over the past 24 hours -- its lowest daily tally in 78 days.
    (ABC News, 5/6/20)
2020        May 6, South Korea’s spy agency that the coronavirus pandemic has likely taken a heavy toll on North Korea, forcing leader Kim Jong Un to avoid public activities and his people into panic buying for daily necessities.
    (AP, 5/6/20)

2020        May 9, In South Korea the mayor of Seoul ordered all the capital’s bars and nightclubs shut down indefinitely after many of the 34 new coronavirus infections were traced to a single nightlife district. Cases had lingered at around ten or below for weeks.
    (NY Times, 5/10/20)(Business Insider, 5/17/20)

2020        May 10, South Korea reported 34 new coronavirus cases. Of the new cases, 26 were domestically transmitted infections and eight were imported cases.
    (Reuters, 5/10/20)

2020        May 17, South Korea reported five new domestic cases of coronavirus, all linked to a cluster of cases centered around bars and nightclubs in the capital which has raised fears in the country of a fresh wave of contagion.
    (Reuters, 5/17/20)

2020        May 18, South Korea reported 15 new cases of the coronavirus and one more death, bringing its totals to 11,065 cases and 263 fatalities.
    (SFC, 5/19/20, p.A7)

2020        May 26, South Korea reported 19 new coronavirus cases, mostly from the Seoul area.
    (SFC, 5/27/20, p.A4)

2020        May 27, South Korea reported 40 new coronavirus cases, its biggest daily jump in about 50 days. The country has significantly relaxes its rigid social distancing rules as a result of waning coronavirus cases. South Korea now has a total of 11,265 confirmed cases with 269 deaths.
    (AP, 5/27/20)

2020        May 28, South Korea reported its biggest jump in coronavirus cases in more than 50 days. The Korean Centers for Disease Control reported 79 newly diagnosed COVID-19 cases.
    (AP, 5/28/20)(Good Morning America, 5/28/20)

2020        May 30, South Korea reported 39 new cases of the coronavirus. South Korea has confirmed 11,441 cases and 269 deaths.
    (SSFC, 5/31/20, p.A7)

2020        May 31, South Korea reported 27 new cases of the coronavirus as the government pushed to allow businesses to access vast amounts of personal information and to ease restrictions holding back emerging technologies.
    (SFC, 6/1/20, p.A5)

2020        Jun 1, South Korea reporter 24 new coronavirus cases linked to a group of churches near Seoul. The country has reported 11,503 cases and 271 deaths.
    (SFC, 6/2/20, p.A3)
2020        Jun 1, South Korea-based Celltrion said its experimental antibody COVID-19 treatment demonstrated an up to 100-fold reduction in viral load of the disease in animal testing, saying it aims to start human clinical trials in late July.
    (AP, 6/2/20)

2020        Jun 3, South Korea reported 49 new cases of COVID-19 bringing the national total to 11,590 and 273 deaths.
    (SFC, 6/4/20, p.A5)

2020        Jun 4, South Korea said it planned to push new laws to ban activists from flying anti-Pyongyang leaflets over the border after North Korea threatened to end an inter-Korean military agreement reached in 2018 to reduce tensions if Seoul fails to prevent the protests.
    (AP, 6/4/20)

2020        Jun 7, South Korea reported 57 additional cases of the coronavirus taking the country's total to 11,776 cases, with 273 deaths.
    (SFC, 6/8/20, p.A4)

2020        Jun 9, North Korea announced that it is severing all official communication links with the South. Analysts said the move was aimed at manufacturing a crisis on the divided peninsula. Pyongyang has refused to engage with Seoul for months, with few if any conversations on the lines aside from test calls.
    (AFP, 6/9/20)

2020        Jun 10, South Korea’s government said that it will press charges against two activist groups that have been floating anti-Pyongyang leaflets and bottles filled with rice to North Korea.
    (AP, 6/10/20)

2020        Jun 11, In South Korea two North Korean defector-run groups targeted for legal action by South Korean authorities said they intend to continue sending propaganda leaflets and humanitarian aid into North Korea, despite criticism from governments in both countries.
    (Reuters, 6/11/20)
2020        Jun 11, South Korean health officials reported 45 new cases of the coronavirus raising national totals to 11,947 and 276 deaths.
    (SFC, 6/12/20, p.A6)

2020        Jun 12, South Korea reported 56 new cases of the coronavirus bringing the national totals to 12,003 cases and 277 deaths.
    (SFC, 6/13/20, p.A6)

2020        Jun 14, South Korea convened an emergency security meeting and urged North Korea to uphold reconciliation agreements, hours after the North threatened to demolish a liaison office and take military action against its rival.
    (AP, 6/14/20)
2020        Jun 14, South Korea confirmed 34 more coronavirus cases raising the country's total to 12,085 cases and 277 deaths.
    (SFC, 6/15/20, p.A5)

2020        Jun 16, North Korea blew up a building where its officials and their South Korean counterparts had recently worked side by side, after weeks of threats to end the détente that has existed on the Korean Peninsula for the past two years. The liaison office was opened in 2018 as the first channel for full-time, person-to-person contact between the Koreas.
    (NY Times, 6/16/20)

2020        Jun 20, South Korea recorded 67 new coronavirus cases, the largest 24-hour increase in about three weeks. Many cases have been linked to exposure in nightlife outlets.
    (AP, 6/20/20)
2020        Jun 20, State news agency KCNA said North Korea is gearing up to send propaganda leaflets over its southern border, denouncing North Korean defectors and South Korea.
    (AP, 6/20/20)

2020        Jun 22, North Korea said it has readied thousands of balloons and millions of leaflets in preparation for "retaliatory punishment" against South Korea.
    (AP, 6/22/20)
2020        Jun 22, A South Korean group launched hundreds of thousands of leaflets by balloon across the border into North Korea late today, despite repeated warnings from the North that it will retaliate against such actions. Activist park Sang-hak said his organization flew huge balloons carrying 500,000 leaflets, 2,000 one-dollar bills and small books into North Korea.
    (AP, 6/22/20)(SFC, 6/24/20, p.A2)

2020        Jun 24, The remains of 147 South Korean soldiers killed in the Korean War were sent back to their homeland from Hawaii, where they were previously sent by the North following their discovery over the past three decades.
    (AP, 6/24/20)
2020        Jun 24, North Korea said it will 'postpone' plans for military action against South Korea.
    (AP, 6/24/20)

2020        Jun 25, South Korea reported 28 new coronavirus cases, mostly associated with nightlife, churches, a huge e-commerce warehouse and door-to-door sales.
    (AP, 6/25/20)

2020        Jun 26, South Korea police raided the Seoul office of Park Sang-hak, an activist and North Korean refugee, whose anti-North Korea leafleting campaign has intensified tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said that Park will be summoned soon for an investigation.
    (AP, 6/26/20)

2020        Jul 6, In South Korea Son Jong-woo (24), the operator of the largest child pornography web site ever uncovered, walked free from prison after a court in Seoul ruled that he could not be extradited to the US to face additional charges. Son had completed his 18-month term in April but was immediately detained again after a US federal grand jury indicted him on nine charges.
    (The Telegraph, 7/6/20)

2020        Jul 9, Authorities in South Korea searched for Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, who vanished amid sexual harassment allegations after giving his daughter a message that she described as sounding like a will. The body of Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon (64) was soon discovered on a hill in northern Seoul, several hours after his daughter reported him missing.
    (AP, 7/9/20)(NY Times, 7/10/20)

2020        Jul 11, The South Korean army announced the death of former army Gen. Paik Sun-yup (99). He was celebrated as a major war hero for leading troops in several battle victories against North Korean soldiers during the 1950-53 Korean War.
    (AP, 7/11/20)

2020        Jul 21, South Korea's SK Bioscience said it has agreed to manufacture AstraZeneca's experimental COVID-19 vaccine to help the British company build global supplies of the vaccine that has shown promise against the new coronavirus.
    (Reuters, 7/21/20)

2020        Jul 25, South Korea reported more than 100 new coronavirus cases for the first time in four months. The 113 new cases included 36 workers returning from Iraq and 32 crew members of a Russian freighter.
    (AP, 7/25/20)

2020        Jul 29, South Korea's Green Cross Corp said it has sought regulatory approval for Phase II trials of an experimental COVID-19 blood plasma treatment drug.
    (AP, 7/29/20)

2020        Aug 1, In South Korea prosecutors arrested Lee Man-hee (89), the leader of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a secretive religious sect linked to more than 5,200 of the country's approximately 14,300 confirmed cases. He has denied charges of hiding members and underreporting gatherings to avoid broader quarantines. Mr Lee is also suspected of embezzling about 5.6 billion won (£3.6 million) in church funds, including about five billion won that he allegedly used to build a retreat.
    (AP, 8/1/20)

2020        Aug 2, South Korea reported 30 new coronavirus cases, raising its total to 14,366 with 301 deaths, but said only eight were acquired in the country.
    (AP, 8/2/20)

2020        Aug 3, Officials issued a "serious" crisis warning in South Korea after a weekend of heavy rainfall caused floodwaters to overtake cities across the region. In Seoul the Han River spilled into the streets. At least 12 people have been reported killed and another 13 missing due to the heavy rainfall.
    (AccuWeather, 8/4/20)

2020        Aug 7, South Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said local biotech firm Genexine Inc has received regulatory approval for a Phase I human clinical trial of its experimental coronavirus treatment drug.
    (AP, 8/7/20)

2020        Aug 11, South Korea's Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co Ltd said it received Indian regulatory approval to test its anti-parasitic niclosamide drug to treat COVID-19 patients in an early-stage human trial.
    (Reuters, 8/11/20)

2020        Aug 13, South Korea confirmed plans to start building its first aircraft carrier next year as tensions grow in the Indo-Pacific region between the US and China and the question of North Korea’s nuclear ambitions remains unresolved.
    (The Telegraph, 8/13/20)

2020        Aug 14, More than a quarter of South Korea’s medical clinics closed for a one-day strike in protest at government plans to train new doctors, as the country reported the highest number of domestic coronavirus cases since the end of March.
    (Reuters, 8/14/20)

2020        Aug 15, South Korea reported 166 newly confirmed coronavirus cases, the highest daily jump in five months.
    (SSFC, 8/16/20, p.A11)

2020        Aug 16, South Korea reported 279 new confirmed infections, the highest 24-hour jump since early March.
    (The Week, 8/16/20)

2020        Aug 21, South Korea reported 324 new cases of the coronavirus. The recent surge of infections now appears to be spreading nationwide.
    (SFC, 8/22/20, p.A5)

2020        Aug 22, South Korea announced new measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus as officials reported 332 newly confirmed cases, marking the ninth straight day of triple-digit increases.
    (SSFC, 8/23/20, p.A10)

2020        Aug 26, In South Korea doctors in the greater Seoul area joined physicians in other parts of the country in a 3-day strike against government plans to boost the number of medical students. Health officials ordered the doctors of return to work.
    (SFC, 8/27/20, p.A6)

2020        Aug 27, South Korea reported 441 new coronavirus cases, its highest singe-day total in months.
    (SFC, 8/28/20, p.A6)

2020        Aug 30, South Korea reported its 17th day of triple-digit rises in coronavirus infections. The national tally rose to 19,699 cases of the new coronavirus and 323 COVID-19 deaths.
    (Reuters, 8/30/20)

2020        Sep 3, Typhoon Maysak ripped through South Korea’s southern and eastern coasts with tree-snapping winds and flooding rains, knocking out power to more than 270,000 homes and leaving at least one person dead.
    (AP, 9/3/20)
2020        Sep 3, It was reported that Lee Young-guk (57) has published the book “I was Kim Jong-il’s bodyguard.” Here he claims that he began a ten-year stint in the security team of current leader Kim Jong-un’s late father in 1978, after which he became a military adviser from 1988 to 1991. Mr. Lee faced, now in Canada, faced deportation to South Korea.
    (The Telegraph, 9/3/20)

2020        Sep 4, South Korea said it will extend elevated social distancing restrictions for another week after reporting 198 new coronavirus cases.
    (SFC, 9/5/20, p.A5)

2020        Sep 7, South Korea-based Samsung Electronics said it had won a $6.64 billion order to provide wireless communication solutions to Verizon in the United States.
    (Reuters, 9/7/20)
2020        Sep 7, Typhoon Haishen to a tropical storm late today as it made landfall near the North Korean coastal city of Hamhung. In South Korea, at least two people were missing as the storm barreled through South Korea’s southern and eastern regions.
    (AP, 9/7/20)

2020        Sep 8, South Korea's Celltrion Inc said it will begin commercial production of its experimental treatment for COVID-19 this month, as it pushes ahead with clinical trials of the antibody drug.
    (Reuters, 9/8/20)

2020        Sep 16, South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co Ltd said it had delivered the world's first very large container ship powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Singapore's Eastern Pacific Shipping Pte Ltd.
    (Reuters, 9/16/20)

2020        Sep 17, South Korea said it has approved Celltrion Inc's experimental COVID-19 treatment for Phase 2/3 clinical trials, as the firm plans to seek a conditional approval of the antibody drug for an emergency use.
    (Reuters, 9/17/20)

2020        Sep 23, South Korea's Defense Ministry said a South Korean official (47), who disappeared off a government ship near the disputed sea boundary with North Korea this week, may be in North Korea.
    (AP, 9/23/20)

2020        Sep 24, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said North Korea shot and burned the body of a South Korean official who disappeared from a government boat earlier this week.
    (NBC News, 9/24/20)

2020        Sep 25, North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, offered a rare apology for the killing of a South Korean official by soldiers from the North. The victim was apparently trying to defect to the North.
    (NY Times, 9/25/20)

2020        Oct 4, Lee Hyo-jae (95), South Korean champion of women’s rights, died in Changwon.
    (NY Times, 11/14/20)

2020        Oct 7, A South Korean MP confirmed that North Korea's former acting ambassador to Italy defected to the South after disappearing from the mission in Rome two years ago. Senior diplomat Jo Song-gil vanished with his wife in November 2018 and reportedly sought asylum, while his daughter was said to have been repatriated to the authoritarian state.
    (AP, 10/7/20)

2020        Oct 12, South Korean drugmaker Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co Ltd said that it had received regulatory approval for Phase 1 clinical trials of its anti-parasitic niclosamide drug to treat COVID-19 patients.
    (Reuters, 10/12/20)
2020        Oct 12, South Korean drugmaker Celltrion Inc said it has received regulatory approval for Phase 3 clinical trials of CT-P59, an experimental COVID-19 treatment. The drug is directed against the surface of the virus and designed to block it from locking on to human cells.
    (Reuters, 10/12/20)

2020        Oct 13, South Korea reported 102 new cases of the coronavirus brining its total cases to 24,805 and 434 deaths.
    (SFC, 10/14/20, p.A6)

2020        Oct 15, Shares of Big Hit Entertainment, the company that manages the boy band BTS, began trading in South Korea. Last year the company reported a profit of $86 million.
    (SFC, 10/15/20, p.C1)

2020        Oct 25, In South Korea Lee Kun-hee (78), head of Samsung, died. He had turned the maker of knock-off electronics into a technology powerhouse.
    (Econ., 10/31/20, p.57)

2020        Oct 26, South Korea's Celltrion Inc said it has received emergency use authorisation (EUA) from the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for its rapid COVID-19 testing kit Sampinute, which boosted shares of the company and its affiliates.
    (Reuters, 10/26/20)

2020        Oct 29, South Korea's top court upheld a 17-year prison sentence for former President Lee Myung-bak (78)  in a final ruling for a range of corruption crimes before and during his 2008-2013 presidency.
    (SFC, 10/30/20, p.A4)

2020        Nov 10, South Korea's agriculture ministry said t had confirmed the highly pathogenic H5N8 strain of bird flu in samples from wild birds in the central west of the country and issued its bird flu warning. The virus was discovered in samples collected from wild birds last week.
    (Reuters, 11/10/20)

2020        Nov 13, South Korea began fining people who fail to wear masks in public as it reported 191 new coronavirus cases, with daily infections continuing to creep higher. South Korea reported 205 new coronavirus cases as of midnight. The total number of infections now stood at 28,338 with 492 deaths.
    (Reuters, 11/13/20)

2020        Nov 17, South Korea said it will impose stricter social distancing rules for the greater Seoul area a month after easing them. Officials warned of an even bigger crisis if anti-COVID-19 efforts fail to dampen a spike in new cases.
    (Reuters, 11/17/20)

2020        Nov 18, South Korea reported 313 new daily COVID-19 cases, the highest number since August, as cluster infections continued to emerge from offices, medical facilities and small gatherings, prompting authorities to tighten social distancing rules.
    (Reuters, 11/18/20)

2020        Nov 23, South Korea reported another daily rise of more than 200 new coronavirus cases, a day before tighter social distancing rules to blunt a third wave of infections take effect.
    (Reuters, 11/23/20)

2020        Nov 24, South Korean boy band BTS snagged the first ever Grammy nomination for a K-pop band, taking the worldwide sensation a step closer to winning the music award.
    (Reuters, 11/24/20)

2020        Nov 26, In South Korea the Seoul Central District Court found Cho Ju-bin (25) guilty of violating laws to protect minors from sexual abuse and of making a profit from producing and selling abusive footage. He had overseen a group of 38 accomplices who befriended and then blackmailed at least 74 women into sharing explicit videos that were then posted in pay-per-view internet chat rooms. Cho was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
    (The Telegraph, 11/26/20)

2020        Nov 27, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered at least two people executed, banned fishing at sea and locked down the capital, Pyongyang, as part of frantic efforts to guard against the coronavirus and its economic damage.
    (AP, 11/27/20)

2020        Dec 1, South Korea’s parliament passed a new law to allow globally renowned pop stars to postpone their mandatory military service and avoid disrupting their careers at the height of their game.
    (The Telegraph, 12/1/20)

2020        Dec 3, South Korean drugmaker Daewoong Pharma said it had sought regulatory approval for Phase II trials of its anti-parasite niclosamide drug to treat COVID-19 patients, sending its shares up nearly 6%.
    (Reuters, 12/3/20)

2020        Dec 4, South Korea's capital, Seoul, announced unprecedented restrictions shuttering most establishments and shops at 9 p.m. and cutting back public transportation operations by 30% in the evenings, as daily coronavirus cases hit a nine-month high.
    (Reuters, 12/4/20)

2020        Dec 5, It was reported that South Korea-based Kia is recalling nearly 295,000 vehicles in the US because the engines can stall or catch fire. Engine failure and fire problems with Hyundais and Kias have plagued the companies for more than five years.
    (AP, 12/5/20)

2020        Dec 7, South Korean President Moon Jae-in called for expanded coronavirus testing and more thorough tracing as the country struggles to control its latest and largest wave of infections.
    (Reuters, 12/7/20)

2020        Dec 9, South Korea reported 590 deaths related to COVID-19 over the last 24 hours as well as 20,815 new daily infections.
    (SFC, 12/10/20, p.A7)

2020        Dec 11, It was reported that South Korea-based Hyundai Motor Group and its chairman have agreed to buy a controlling stake in Boston Dynamics from SoftBank Group Corp in a deal that values the US-based robot maker at $1.1 billion. The deal would give the company and its chief a combined 80% stake in Boston Dynamics, while Softbank will retain 20%.
    (AP, 12/11/20)

2020        Dec 12, In South Korea protests erupted as sex offender Cho Doo-soon (69) was released from prison at the end of his sentence for raping and seriously injuring a young girl in 2008, a crime which caused revulsion across the country.
    (The Telegraph, 12/13/20)
2020        Dec 12, South Korea reported a record 950 daily coronavirus cases, exceeding the late February peak of 909, with the president calling the country's third wave of COVID-19 an "emergency".
    (Reuters, 12/12/20)
2020        Dec 12, South Korea's agriculture ministry issued a temporary nationwide standstill order for poultry farms and related transport in a bid to contain a wider spread of the highly pathogenic H5N8 bird flu.
    (Reuters, 12/12/20)

2020        Dec 13, South Korea set another record for its daily coronavirus tally with 1,030, as authorities struggle to suppress the virus's spread.
    (AP, 12/13/20)

2020        Dec 14, South Korea’s parliament approved contentious legislation criminalizing the flying of propaganda leaflets by balloon toward North Korea, despite fierce criticism that the country is sacrificing freedom of expression to improve ties with the rival North.
    (AP, 12/14/20)

2020        Dec 15, South Korean health authorities said doctors can administer pharmaceutical maker Celltrion Inc's candidate COVID-19 antibody treatment to patients with life-threatening conditions. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety approved CT-P59 under its patient treatment scheme on Dec. 11.
    (Reuters, 12/15/20)

2020        Dec 17, A South Korean man who spent 20 years behind bars for a murder he didn’t commit cleared his name in court after one of the country’s most notorious serial killers confessed to the 1988 rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl. Yoon Seong-yeo (53) had been sentenced to life in prison and was released on parole in 2009.
    (AP, 12/18/20)

2020        Dec 18, South Korea reported 1,062 new cases of the coronavirus, its third straight day over 1,000. The national caseload rose to 47,515 with 645 deaths.
    (SFC, 12/17/20, p.A5)
2020        Dec 18, Indonesia and a unit of South Korean firm LG Group signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on a $9.8 billion electric vehicle (EV) battery investment deal.
    (Reuters, 12/29/20)

2020        Dec 20, South Korea reported a record 1,097 new coronavirus cases, including an outbreak in a Seoul prison that infected 188 as the country's latest wave of COVID-19 worsens.
    (Reuters, 12/20/20)

2020        Dec 21, South Korea reported 24 more virus-related deaths in the country’s highest daily fatalities since the pandemic began. The government added a total of 926 new cases, taking the country’s total to 50,591 including 698 deaths. Gatherings of more than five people will be banned in the capital region from Dec. 23 to Jan. 3, as an elevated step to suppress what authorities call an “explosive” surge in coronavirus infections.
    (AP, 12/21/20)(Reuters, 12/21/20)

2020        Dec 27, South Korea said it will extend social distancing measures introduced to try to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic for another six days, to Jan. 3, even as it continues to report near-record numbers of new cases each day.
    (Reuters, 12/27/20)

2020        Dec 29, South Korean authorities scrambled to contain a cluster of coronavirus infections in a Seoul prison as inmates waved signs through barred windows pleading for help. South Korea recorded 1,050 new cases nationally as of midnight, bringing the total case tally to 59,773 and death toll to 879.
    (Reuters, 12/30/20)
2020        Dec 29, American troops stationed in South Korea received the first doses of coronavirus vaccine to be administered in the country.
    (Reuters, 12/29/20)

2020        South Korea's population stood at about 52 million.
    (Econ., 7/11/20, p.28)

2021        Jan 2, South Korea said it will expand a ban on private gatherings larger than four people to include the whole country, and extend unprecedented social distancing rules in Seoul and neighboring areas until Jan. 17.
    (Reuters, 1/2/21)

2021        Jan 3, A South Korean health official said that a third wave of the novel coronavirus is being contained, as it reported the lowest number of new infections in nearly four weeks with the help of tougher restrictions during the New Year holiday season. South Korea expanded a ban on private gatherings larger than four people to the whole country, and extended unprecedented social distancing rules in greater Seoul as the number of daily cases bounced back to more than 1,000 in four days.
    (Reuters, 1/3/21)

2021        Jan 5, In South Korea the number of deaths linked to the coronavirus passed 1,000, while an increasing number of gym owners said they would reopen in protest against strict social distancing rules.
    (Reuters, 1/5/21)
2021        Jan 5, The Iranian government accused South Korea of holding more than £5 billion of its money “hostage” in its banks, a day after its revolutionary guards stormed and captured a Korean tanker in the Persian Gulf.
    (The Telegraph, 1/5/21)

2021        Jan 6, South Korea rolled out mass testing for 52 prisons in the country after a massive prison outbreak and decided to extend flight suspensions from Britain for two weeks as part of efforts to prevent the spread of coronavirus infections.
    (Reuters, 1/6/21)

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