Key Events in Korean Peninsula History from 1972 to 2013

Sept. 13

1972 -- The two Koreas hold their second round of Red Cross talks.

1991 -- The Koreas separately apply for membership in the United Nations. They were approved five days later to join the world's largest body.

1996 -- The Pusan International Film Festival, the first international film festival in South Korea, opens in the southeastern port city of Busan. The city changed the spelling of its name in 2001 to comply with a new government-devised Romanization system, but the film festival kept the former name.

2003 -- Typhoon Maemi hits South Korea, leaving nearly 120 people dead and 13 missing. Property damage was tallied at 4.2 trillion won (US$4 billion).

2004 -- North Korea says an explosion that occurred on Sept. 9 in the northern part of the country was related to the construction of a hydroelectric power station. The huge blast and mushroom cloud in Yanggang Province raised speculation that a nuclear device was detonated.

2005 -- The fourth round of six-party talks aimed at resolving the dispute over North Korea's nuclear weapons program resumes in Beijing. In the session, the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia issued a joint statement in which the North committed to abandoning its nuclear weapons program in exchange for economic and political incentives from the other parties.

2013 -- Embattled Prosecutor General Chae Dong-wook resigns after being dogged by allegations that he had a child through an extramarital affair.