SEOUL — South Korea today marked several key historical events that have shaped the nation, from cultural milestones to pivotal political developments.
According to Yonhap News Agency, historical records, on this day in 1920, Korea's national sports council conducted the country's inaugural baseball championship for junior and senior high school students at Seoul's Baejae High School. Additionally, the Korean Language Society announced the first orthography for the Korean language on November 3, 1933, a significant step in the standardization of the language.
On November 3, 1983, the government of Burma, known today as Myanmar, cut diplomatic ties with North Korea. This decision followed the Rangoon bombing on October 9, where North Korean agents were blamed for an attack that resulted in the death of 17 South Korean officials accompanying then-President Chun Doo-hwan.
In a groundbreaking labor movement event, unionized government workers in South Korea staged their first nationwide walkout on this date in 2002. The strike marked a significant moment in South Korea’s history of labor rights.
Further, on November 3, 2013, North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun, a ruling party publication, criticized South Korea’s inter-Korean trust-building policy. The article asserted that the policy was designed to spark confrontation and was based on hostile intentions.
Fast forwarding to 2016, President Park Geun-hye on this day announced her willingness to submit to an investigation over a corruption scandal involving her confidante. The scandal led to an impeachment motion that was passed by the National Assembly on December 9 and later upheld by the Constitutional Court on March 10, 2017, leading to her removal from office.
The nation also remembered actor Shin Sung-il, who passed away on November 3, 2018, at the age of 81 due to lung cancer. Shin was a cinematic icon, heralded as the leading heartthrob of South Korea's film industry during the 1960s and 70s.
Lastly, on November 3, 2019, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states, along with South Korea and five other countries, concluded negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a significant Asia-Pacific trade agreement, cementing closer economic ties within the region.
These events, ranging from cultural to international relations, highlight the historical breadth of developments that have occurred on this day in South Korea’s past.