Read A History of Korea Online
Authors: Jinwung Kim
11 July 1894 | Japan demands that Chos |
15 July 1894 | Chos |
23 July 1894 | Japanese troops drive the pro-Chinese faction out of the government |
25 July 1894 | Japanese warships attack Chinese forces at Asan Bay, initiating the Sino-Japanese War |
27 July 1894 | The new pro-Japanese government undertakes the Kabo ky |
15 September 1894 | Japanese forces rout Chinese forces at Pyongyang, winning the Sino-Japanese War |
16 November 1894 | Tonghak forces again take up arms |
22 January l895 | The Tonghak peasant war ends |
17 April 1895 | Japan and China conclude Treaty of Simonoseki, ending the Sino-Japanese War |
8 October 1895 | Queen Min assassinated by the Japanese |
26 October 1895 | Chos |
30 December 1895 | Compulsory order issued for Korean males to cut their traditional Korean topknot |
11 February 1896 | Kojong and the crown prince make their way to the Russian legation in Seoul; Russia supplants Japan as the dominant power in Chos |
7 April 1896 | S |
2 July 1896 | S |
20 February 1897 | Kojong moves out of Russian legation |
12 August 1897 | Chos |
11 October 1897 | Kojong proclaims establishment of Great Han Empire |
29 October 1898 | Independence Club convenes mass meeting of officials and citizenry at Chongno intersection |
4 November 1898 | Kojong orders dissolution of Independence Club |
10 February 1904 | Japan launches surprise attack on Russian naval forces at Port Arthur in Manchuria, initiating Russo-Japanese War. |
23 February 1904 | Japan forces Chos |
18 May 1904 | Chos |
21 August 1904 | Chos |
22 February 1905 | Japan forcibly incorporates Korean island of Tok-to into its territory, renames it Takeshima |
29 July 1905 | Taft-Katsura Memorandum provides for secret understanding of U.S. recognition of Japan’s paramount interests in Chos |
12 August 1905 | Great Britain recognizes Japan’s special interests in Chos |
5 September 1905 | Treaty of Portsmouth officially ends Russo-Japanese War |
17 November 1905 | Chos |
2 March 1906 | Ito Hirobumi, chief mastermind of Japan’s imperialism in Chos |
29 January 1907 | Koreans launch campaign to repay national debt incurred by Chos |
22 April 1907 | Kojong dispatches secret envoys to Second World Peace Conference, scheduled to be held in The Hague in June |
20 July 1907 | Kojong abdicates throne to his son, Sunjong |
24 July 1907 | Chos |
31 July 1907 | Japan disbands Chos |
26 October 1909 | An Chung-gun assassinates Ito Hirobumi at the Harbin railroad station in Manchuria |
22 August 1910 | Japan and Chos |
29 August 1910 | Chos |
13 August 1912 | Japanese Government-General launches land survey of Korean-owned farmlands |
5 November 1918 | Japanese Government-General completes land survey |
8 February 1919 | Some 600 Korean students gather at |
1 March 1919 | Declaration of Independence proclaimed, initiating March First Movement |
13 April 1919 | Korean nationalists establish Korean Provisional Government in Shanghai |
10 September 1919 | Saito Makoto, new governor-general, proclaims “Cultural Policy” |
4-7 June 1920 | Korean Independence Army, led by Hong Pom-do, defeats a Japanese army contingent in a battle at Fengwu-dong, southeastern Manchuria |
21-26 October 1920 | A Japanese force suffers crushing defeat by Korean independence fighters, led by Kim Chwa-jin, in a battle at Qingshan-li, southeastern Manchuria |
17 April 1925 | Korean Communist Party established. |
10 June l926 | State funeral of the last Chos |
15 February 1927 | Right- and left-wing Korean nationalists form a united nationalist organization, the Sin’ganhoe |
27 December 1928 | Korean Communist Party dissolved |
3 November 1929 | Kwangju Student Movement erupts |
15 May 1931 | Sin’ganhoe dissolved |
29 April 1932 | Yun Pong-gil hurls bomb at high-ranking Japanese military officials at Hungkou Park, Shanghai, killing or wounding more than ten |
1 April 1938 | National General Mobilization Law promulgated, imposing mandatory Japanese war conditions on Koreans |
11 February 1940 | Name Order, requiring Koreans to adopt Japanese names, goes into effect |
1 December 1943 | Cairo Declaration, issued by the United States, Great Britain, and China, proclaims that Korea should become free and independent “in due course” |
8 February 1945 | At Yalta Conference, United States calls for a trusteeship for Korea of 20 to 30 years |
26 July 1945 | At Potsdam Conference, United States and Great Britain issue Potsdam Declaration, threatening Japan with “prompt and utter destruction” if it does not surrender |
6 August 1945 | United States drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima |
8 August 1945 | Soviet Union declares war on Japan; Soviet armies invade Manchuria |
9 August 1945 | United States drops atomic bomb on Nagasaki |
15 August 1945 (Korea time) | Japan surrenders unconditionally to Allied powers; Korea is liberated; Yo Un-hyong organizes Committee for the Preparation of Korean Independence in Seoul |
17 August 1945 | Cho Man-sik establishes South P’y |
22 August 1945 | Soviet forces march into Pyongyang and arrange merger of South P’y |
25 August 1945 | Local branches of the Committee for the Preparation of Korean Independence authorized to take over administrative powers of Japanese Government-General by the Soviet command in Pyongyang |
2 September 1945 | Formal Japanese surrender signed |
6 September 1945 | Yo Un-hy |
7 September 1945 | General Douglas MacArthur formally establishes U.S. control in Korea south of 38th parallel |
8 September 1945 | U.S. 24th Corps, commanded by Lieutenant General John R. Hodge, arrives in Korea |
9 September 1945 | Lieutenant General Hodge accepts formal surrender of Japanese forces in Seoul |
11 September 1945 | United States announces the creation of the United States Army Military Government in Korea; Pak H |
16 September 1945 | Rightists form Korean Democratic Party in Seoul |
25 September 1945 | Kim Il-sung arrives in W |
10 October 1945 | Governor-General Archibald Arnold denies legitimacy of Korean People’s Republic, declaring that U.S. Military Government is the only lawful government south of the 38th parallel |
16 October 1945 | Syngman Rhee returns to Korea |
25 October 1945 | Syngman Rhee founds Central Council for the Rapid Realization of Korean Independence |
17 December 1945 | Kim Il-sung named first secretary of North Korean Branch Bureau of Korean Communist Party. |
16-26 December 1945 | Foreign ministers of United States, Great Britain, and Soviet Union meet in Moscow and agree to implement a five-year trusteeship by the three states, plus China; United States and Soviet Union establish joint commission to form an interim Korean administration, in consultation with the Korean people |
29 December 1945 | News of the Moscow agreement reaches Korea |
31 December 1945 | Anti-trusteeship strikes and demonstrations staged throughout Korea |
2 January 1946 | Korean Communist Party alters its stand and supports trusteeship |
15 January 1946 | South Korean Constabulary established |
8 February 1946 | North Korean Interim People’s Committee established as governing body under the Soviet occupation, with Kim Il-sung as chairman |
14 February 1946 | U.S. Military Government creates South Korean Representative Democratic Council as advisory body |
15 February 1946 | Democratic People’s Front formed in the U.S. zone |
5 March 1946 | North Korean Interim People’s Committee initiates social and economic reforms, including land reform |
20 March 1946 | U.S.-Soviet Joint Commission has first meeting in Seoul |
8 May 1946 | U.S.–Soviet Joint Commission adjourns indefinitely |
28 August 1946 | North Korean Workers Party established |
25 September 1946 | South Korean railroad workers strike, initiating the “October People’s Resistance” |
1 October 1946 | Serious rioting in Taegu |
7 October 1946 | Left-Right Coalition Committee, a moderate coalition, established by Kim Kyu-sik and Y |
23 November 1946 | South Korean Workers Party established |
12 December 1946 | South Korean Interim Legislative Assembly convenes |
20 February 1947 | North Korean People’s Committee, highest executive governing body, created under Kim Il-sung |
22 March 1947 | Leftist labor union calls for general workers’ strike throughout southern Korea |
21 May 1947 | The U.S.–Soviet Joint Commission reconvenes in Seoul |