Today in Korean history

Oct. 2

1966 -- At the request of West Germany, the South Korean government under then President Park Chung-hee dispatches 251 female nurses to the European nation, which experienced a shortage of workers amid the country's rapid economic growth.

1988 -- The 24th Summer Olympic Games close in Seoul. Among 159 participating countries, which sent a total of 8,473 athletes, South Korea finished fifth in the medal tally, winning 12 gold, 10 silver and 11 bronze medals.

2003 -- South Korean slugger Lee Seung-yeop, then playing for the Samsung Lions, hits his 56th home run of the season, breaking the previous Asian single-season record set by Japan's baseball hero Sadaharu Oh. Lee later played two seasons for the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan's Pacific League before signing with the Yomiuri Giants of the Japanese Central League.

2007 -- President Roh Moo-hyun meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang after walking across the heavily fortified border for the second-ever summit between the two Koreas. Kim made a surprise public appearance to greet Roh in a welcoming ceremony in front of the April 25 Hall of Culture.

The three-day summit produced a slew of agreements to build a permanent peace regime on the peninsula and enhance economic exchanges, such as reopening cross-border railroads that were severed during the Korean War and expanding the joint industrial park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong.

Roh was the first South Korean leader to travel overland to North Korea. His predecessor, Kim Dae-jung, traveled by air across the West Sea for the first inter-Korean summit with Kim Jong-il in 2000.

2012 -- A senior North Korean diplomat warns of nuclear war on the peninsula, saying it has become the most dangerous zone in the world.

Addressing a U.N. General Assembly session under way, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Pak Kil-yon put the blame on South Korea's conservative Lee Myung-bak government for "the worst" inter-Korean ties in recent history.

2013 -- South Korea and the United States ink a joint military plan that outlines how to handle the North Korean nuclear threat and weapons of mass destruction to strengthen the American nuclear umbrella on the Korean Peninsula in light of the communist state's third nuclear test.

2016 -- A magnitude 3.0 aftershock jolts South Korea's southern city of Gyeongju.

2019 -- North Korea fires a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) from waters off its east coast. The missile flew around 450 kilometers at a maximum altitude of about 910 km off the east coast near Wonsan, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
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