July 29
1948 — The 14th Olympic Games opens in London, with South Korea sending a delegation for the first time. The Korean Peninsula was liberated from Japanese colonial rule in 1945 after 36 years of occupation.
1983 — South Korea’s population tops 40 million, making it the third most densely populated country in the world.
2000 — A 25-member North Korean delegation arrives in Seoul for inter-Korean ministerial talks. The two sides agreed to hold bilateral ministerial meetings on a regular basis, reopen liaison offices in the border village of Panmunjom and establish an “inter-Korean reconciliation week” to mark the Aug. 15 Liberation Day.
2002 — Ven. Pomnyun, a South Korean monk, is named one of the winners of the Ramon Magsaysay Award, the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize, for his humanitarian achievements.
2009 — Lee Charm is named chief of the Korea National Tourism Organization, becoming the first naturalized Korean to take a top government post in South Korea.
2011 — South Korea notifies Japan of an entry ban on a planned visit to Ulleung Island by four lawmakers of Japan’s opposition Liberal Democratic Party. Seoul officials called the planned trip a move to reassert Tokyo’s claims to South Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo, located about 90 kilometers east of Ulleung.
2017 — North Korea says it successfully launched another intercontinental ballistic missile, called the Hwasong-14, late at night the previous day, following its first test on July 4.
2018 — North Korean athletes competing in the Asian Games in Indonesia arrive in South Korea for joint training with South Koreans. The two Koreas planned to assemble unified teams in canoe’s dragon boat racing, women’s basketball and three events in rowing at the Asian Games set for Aug. 18-Sept. 2.
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