1929 — Gyeongseong University, founded in 1924 by Japan, graduates its first students. After the end of World War II, the university was closed in 1946 and was later merged with other colleges into Seoul National University.

1949 — Korea establishes an embassy in Washington.

1989 — Rev. Mun Ik-hwan visits North Korea without the permission of the South Korean government, where he meets the North’s leader, Kim Il-sung. On his return to South Korea, Rev. Mun was arrested and placed in prison.

2007 — Swimmer Park Tae-hwan wins the men’s 400-meter freestyle title at the World Aquatics Championships in Melbourne, becoming the first South Korean to win a world swimming title. Park clocked 3:44.30 to beat Grant Hackett of Australia and Yury Prilukov of Russia.

2017 — The Sewol ferry is lifted from the sea bed and placed onto the floating deck of a semisubmersible ship as the first step to salvage the ship, which had been about 40 meters under water. The 145-meter-long, 6,825-ton vessel capsized off the sou
thwestern coast of the peninsula near the island of Jindo while en route to the resort island of Jeju on April 16, 2014. Its sinking, one of the worst maritime disasters in South Korea’s history, left 304 people dead, including nine still missing.

2023 — Cha Jun-hwan wins the silver medal in the men’s singles at the International Skating Union World Figure Skating Championships at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, becoming the first South Korean man to win a medal at the annual competition. Cha scored a personal-best 296.03 points to finish in second place, behind Shoma Uno of Japan, who had 301.14 points.

Source: Yonhap News Agency