Today in Korean history
Quick Look
On November 12 across decades, South Korea marked events including Park Chung-hee's 1961 Tokyo stop to normalize Japan relations, the 1992 groundbreaking of Incheon International Airport, the 2008 death of Judge Park Choon-ho, President Park Geun-hye's 2014 Myanmar summit visit, the 2015 Sewol ferry captain's life sentence confirmation, the 2016 Seoul protests demanding President Park's resignation, and the 2019 HDC Hyundai bid for Asiana Airlines.
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Why It Matters
This is a historical timeline of events that occurred on November 12 in South Korea across multiple decades, covering diplomatic, infrastructure, judicial, political, and business developments.
Nov. 12
1961 -- Park Chung-hee, chairman of the Supreme Council of National Reconstruction, stops in Tokyo on his way back from the United States and agrees with leaders there to normalize relations between South Korea and Japan.
1992 -- Ground is broken on Incheon International Airport on Yeongjong Island, just off the port city of Incheon, 27 kilometers west of Seoul.
2008 -- Park Choon-ho, the first South Korean to serve as a judge at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, dies at age 78 after battling cancer.
2014 -- President Park Geun-hye visits Myanmar to attend the ASEAN-plus-three summit that also includes the leaders of China and Japan, and the East Asia Summit, an 18-nation forum grouping the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) plus its eight dialogue partners -- South Korea, China, Japan, the United States, Russia, Australia, India and New Zealand.
2015 -- The Supreme Court confirms life imprisonment for Lee Joon-seok, the captain of the Sewol ferry, which sank off the country's southwestern coast in April 2014, claiming 304 lives, mostly high school students on a field trip. The top court convicted Lee of murder for willfully neglecting his duty as a captain to evacuate passengers.
2016 -- Hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets in Seoul in numbers not seen in decades for the latest massive rally to demand President Park Geun-hye's resignation over the growing scandal involving her confidante.
2019 -- A consortium led by construction firm HDC Hyundai Development Co. is named the preferred bidder to acquire Asiana Airlines, South Korea's second-largest air carrier.
