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Korean History on a Page In series
Revisit significant past events and issues through The Korea Herald
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Korean History on a Page In series
Revisit significant past events and issues through The Korea Herald
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When Koreans lost a first lady
"History through The Korea Herald” revisits significant events and issues over seven decades through articles, photos and editorial pieces published in the Herald and retell them from a contemporary perspective. – Ed. Aug. 15 is a national holiday marking Korea’s liberation from 35 years of Japanese colonial rule in 1945. But the historic day for South Koreans turned into a nightmare 48 years ago in 1974, when then-first lady Yuk Young-soo was killed by a bullet meant fo
March 22, 2023 - 17:52:21
Kim Dae-jung kidnapping: How future Nobel laureate nearly fell victim to junta
Kim Dae-jung, an opposition leader with a knack for public speeches, was the biggest threat to the military junta led by Park Chung-hee. Later, he served as the President of South Korea and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. This file photo from 1973 was originally published in The Korea Herald.An opposition leader was abducted while in exile in a foreign land. His captors bound him up and weighed him down with heavy stones, preparing to throw him from a ship into the sea. It was then that fate
March 16, 2023 - 10:06:37
The short-lived inter-Korean detente during early '70s
The 1970s was apparently an embodiment of paradox. The world’s two superpowers were at fierce competition with one another while also engaging in detente diplomacy on the surface amid a proxy war in Vietnam dragging on through the first half of the decade. On the Korean Peninsula, the two Koreas -- separated by the 38th parallel -- agreed on their first-ever accord, only to be followed by the most volatile confrontations. The July 4 South-North Joint Statement, or Communique of 1972, was t
March 8, 2023 - 17:37:56
Daeyeongak Hotel fire, a nightmare on Christmas
On Christmas morning in 1971, a devastating fire broke out at the 21-story Daeyeongak Hotel in Seoul. It was filled with locals and foreigners who had spent Christmas Eve at the lavish hotel, which had only opened two years prior. When the blaze was finally brought under control after nearly eight hours, it was unclear immediately how many lives had been lost. Although over 100 were rescued, a far larger number was feared to have been killed. The next day's front page of The Korea Herald is
March 2, 2023 - 10:31:38
Capture of US spy ship symbolizes US-N. Korea tensions
Deep in the heart of the North Korean capital Pyongyang, moored along the Pothong River Canal, is a US Navy ship that is featured as an exhibition of the "Victorious War Museum." The ill-fated vessel is USS Pueblo, the only active ship on the commissioned roster of the American Navy now held captive by another country. On Jan. 23, 1968, the world’s most powerful military was dealt an unexpected blow by the hands of a tiny communist state, when Pyongyang attacked the US Navy intel
Feb. 22, 2023 - 16:16:42
NK commandos’ failed attempt to assassinate Park Chung-hee in 1968
"History through The Korea Herald” revisits significant events and issues over the seven decades through articles, photos and editorial pieces published in the Herald and retell them from a contemporary perspective. – Ed. It was one of the most daring infiltrations by North Koreans into South Korea after the war of 1950-53 -- 31 commandos on a mission to break into the presidential office in Seoul and assassinate then President Park Chung-hee. On the night of Jan. 21, 1968,
Feb. 16, 2023 - 12:01:56
Hero or villain? Park Chung-hee leaves behind complicated legacy
"History through The Korea Herald” revisits significant events and issues over the seven decades through articles, photos and editorial pieces published in the Herald and retell them from a contemporary perspective. – Ed. Last Wednesday, President Yoon Suk Yeol visited the birthplace of Park Chung-hee, a military strongman who ruled South Korea with an iron fist for nearly two decades until 1979, calling him “a great leader.” A day before Yoon’s visit to Gumi
Feb. 8, 2023 - 15:26:02
Censored April Revolution reporting and history of press freedom
Among the first actions by South Korea's founding President Syngman Rhee, after his administration mowed down protesters in what would later be known as the "Bloody Tuesday," was to call for patriotism. The front page of the April 21, 1960, edition for The Korean Republic -- forerunner of The Korea Herald -- carried the initial reaction by the Rhee administration to the April 19 Revolution, which eventually led to Rhee’s resignation. Thousands of students had poured out onto
Jan. 25, 2023 - 14:49:32
Nuclear weapons and South Korea
“History through The Korea Herald” revisits significant events and issues over the seven decades through articles, photos and editorial pieces published in the Herald and retell them from a contemporary perspective. – Ed. In its Aug. 16, 1957 edition, The Korea Herald, then called The Korea Republic, carried a story titled “Atom arms now being sent here,” based on what the country’s envoy to the US learned from the Washington government. In this front page a
Jan. 18, 2023 - 17:46:09
Is reunification of Korea still a goal, 70 years on?
“History through The Korea Herald” revisits significant events and issues over the seven decades through articles, photos and editorial pieces published in the Herald and retell them from a contemporary perspective. – Ed. “Re-unification of Korea is goal, Rhee,” says the front page of The Korea Herald, then called The Korean Republic, in its founding edition on Aug. 15, 1953. To today’s Koreans, this message from the late inaugural President Syngman Rhee may
Jan. 11, 2023 - 17:32:30
70 years and growing: Korea Herald's legacy and beyond
Before there was The Korea Herald, there was The Korean Republic. On Aug. 15, 1953, a four-page tabloid began publication with a mission of telling the world South Korean stories from South Koreans’ perspective. For a small, impoverished nation that was just setting out to rebuild the ruins of the war, the world was a hostile place, where superpowers -- the US and the now-defunct Soviet Union -- dominated the global agenda and the voices of smaller countries were too often muffled even w
Jan. 2, 2023 - 10:01:40
