Timeline of Korean history


This is a timeline of Korean history.

Early history

Proto-Three Kingdoms

Three Kingdoms

  • 42 AD: Traditional date for the founding of Gaya by Suro.
  • 53: Goguryeo begins to become a centralized kingdom under Taejo's reign.
  • 234: Baekje begins to become a centralized kingdom under Goi's reign.
  • 244: Goguryeo is defeated by Cao Wei in the Goguryeo–Wei War.
  • 313: Goguryeo destroys Lelang Commandery, ending the last of the four Han Chinese commanderies established by the Han Dynasty.
  • 356: Silla becomes a centralized kingdom under Naemul's reign.
  • 371: Baekje's King Geunchogo invades Goguryeo and kills King Gogugwon.
  • 372: Under Sosurim, Goguryeo imports Buddhism from Former Qin of China and adopts it as state sponsored religion.
  • 372: Sosurim also establishes Korea's first National Confucian Academy.
  • 384: Chimnyu of Baekje officially adopts Buddhism.
  • 392: Gwanggaeto the Great of Goguryeo begins his reign, expanding Goguryeo into a major regional power.
  • 413: Jangsu of Goguryeo erects the Gwanggaeto Stele.
  • 433: Baekje and Silla form an alliance against Goguryeo's aggression.
  • 475: Goguryeo attacks Baekje and captures Hanseong. Baekje moves its capital south to Ungjin due to Goguryeo's pressure.
  • 494: Last remains of Buyeo absorbed by Goguryeo.
  • 498: Baekje attacks Tamna, which enters into a tributary relationship with Baekje as a result.
  • 512: Silla vassalizes Usan.
  • 520: Silla formalizes the Bone-rank system, an aristocratic rank system that acted as a caste system under the reign of Beopheung of Silla.
  • 527: Silla formally adopts Buddhism after Beopheung of Silla executes Ichadon, a Buddhist convert who had tried to persuade the king to adopt Buddhism. Before he was executed, Ichadon predicted that milk colored blood would spill from his body after his death. This supposed miracle allegedly occurred according to the Samguk yusa and convinced Silla's royal court to adopt Buddhism as its state religion.
  • 538: Baekje moves its capital to Sabi.
  • 553: Silla attacks Baekje, breaking the alliance.
  • 562: Silla completes annexation of Gaya.
  • 598: First of a series of major Sui dynasty attacks in the Goguryeo–Sui War, which ends in 614 in a costly defeat for Sui.
  • 612: Goguryeo repulses second Sui invasion at the Salsu.
  • 631: Goguryeo builds the first Cheolli Jangseong following Tang incursions into Goguryeo's northwestern border.
  • 645: First campaign in the Goguryeo–Tang War.
  • 648: Silla establishes alliance with Tang.
  • 660: Baekje falls to the Silla-Tang forces.
  • 662: As a result of the fall of Baekje, Tamna enters into a tributary relationship with Silla.
  • 663: Battle of Baekgang, the remnants of Baekje allied with Japanese expeditionary forces are defeated by the Silla-Tang alliance, ending all hopes for the restoration of the kingdom.
  • 668: Goguryeo falls to the Silla-Tang forces.

North–South States period and Later Three Kingdoms

Goryeo

  • 936: Goryeo completes the reunification of the Later Three Kingdoms, absorbing the entirety of Hubaekje and parts of former Balhae territory.
  • 937: Tae Kwanghyŏn, the last Crown Prince of Balhae, flees to Goryeo with a great portion of the Balhae royalty and aristocracy and settles with tens of thousands of Balhae households there.
  • 938: Goryeo subjugates Tamna.
  • 956: Emperor Gwangjong forces major land and slavery reforms, and in 958 implements civil service examinations.
  • 979: According to the Goryeosa, tens of thousands of Balhae refugees from Jeongan flee to Goryeo, marking the largest Balhae migration since the 936 exodus.
  • 986: Jeongan falls to the Liao Dynasty.
  • 993: The first of three Goryeo–Khitan Wars.
  • 1010: The second ravages the northern border.
  • 1018: The third, Khitan successfully repelled.
  • 1033: Goryeo builds the second Cheolli Jangseong, also known as the Goryeo Jangseong, a massive wall running along the northern border.
  • 1135: Buddhist monk and geomancer Myocheong rebels in a failed attempt to move the capital to Pyongyang and pursue aggressive expansion against the Jin Dynasty.
  • 1145: Kim Pusik compiles the Samguk sagi, Korea's oldest extant history text.
  • 1170: Yi Ŭi-bang overthrows Uijong of Goryeo, beginning a century of military rule known as the Goryeo military regime
  • 1231: The Mongol invasions of Korea begin
  • 1234: Ch'oe Yun-ŭi's Sangjeong Gogeum Yemun is published, world's first metal-block printed text.
  • 1251: Goryeo completes the Tripitaka Koreana, the most comprehensive and oldest intact version of the Buddhist canon in Chinese script
  • 1268: Mongol peace treaty is signed which Mongols agree to protect them the best they can.
  • 1270: Goryeo signs a peace treaty with the Mongols, beginning an 80-year period of Yuan overlordship. The Sambyeolcho Rebellion lasts for three more years.
  • 1274: Goryeo helps the Mongol Empire during the Mongol invasions of Japan
  • 1285: Il-yeon compiles the Samguk yusa, record of history and legends
  • 1356: Goryeo regains its independence under the reign of King Gongmin of Goryeo and momentarily conquers Liaoyang
  • 1388: General Yi Sŏng-gye, ordered to engage China in a border dispute, turns his troops against the Goryeo court.

Joseon

Imjin War

  • 1592: The Imjin War begins.
  • * 4th month. All the palaces in Seoul are burnt down.
  • * 1597: The Chŏngyu War begins.
  • 1593: The war causes the Kyegap Famine to begin. It lasts until 1594.
  • 1597: António Corea, a Korean slave kidnapped and taken to Japan, is sold to an Italian master. He is then taken to Italy at latest by 1600, and becomes possibly the first Korean to set foot in Europe.

Late Joseon period

Korean Empire

Japanese colonial period

  • 1911
  • * The 105-Man Incident occurs, in which the Japanese arrest over 700 Koreans in connection to alleged assassination attempts on the Governor-General of Korea, Terauchi Masatake.
  • * The Korean enclave Sinhanch'on is established in Vladivostok in Russia. It becomes a hub of the Korean independence movement until it is dissolved in 1937.
  • * Kwŏnŏphoe, which became the de facto representative organization for Koreans in the Russian Empire, is founded in Sinhanch'on. They secretly operate the and build an army using Russian government funds, but are eventually dissolved in 1917 after Japanese pressure on Russia.
  • 1915: 9 September – 30 October. The Chōsen Industrial Exhibition is held at the former royal palace Gyeongbokgung.
  • 1919
  • * 21 January. Gojong suddenly dies. He was and is still widely believed to.
  • * 1 February. The is issued in Manchuria. It is the first such declaration of independence issued by Koreans, although its existence was then and remains relatively unknown.
  • * 8 February. Inspired by the promotion of self-determination laid out in the Fourteen Points statement, Korean independence activists in Japan publish a February 8 Declaration of Independence. This directly inspires a similar act in Korea three weeks later.
  • * 1 March. With the proclamation of the Korean Declaration of Independence, the March First Movement begins.
  • * 11 April. The Korean Provisional Government is established in exile in Shanghai, and Syngman Rhee is elected its first leader.
  • * 15 April. The Jeamni massacre occurs, during which Japanese soldiers lure Korean civilians into a church, kill them, and burn the building to destroy their bodies.
  • * September. Governor-General of Chōsen Hasegawa Yoshimichi resigns and Saitō Makoto replaces him. The period of "" begins.
  • * 27 October. The kino-drama, Righteous Revenge, widely considered the first Korean film, premieres at Dansungsa. This marks the anniversary of the modern Korean Film Day, although whether it is truly the first Korean film has been disputed.
  • 1920
  • * As part of the policies, permission is granted for several Korean-owned newspapers to be founded. The Chosun Ilbo is established on 5 March and The Dong-A Ilbo on 1 April.
  • * 4 April. The Shinhanchon Incident occurs, in which an estimated several hundred Koreans are massacred by the Japanese army in Vladivostok, Far Eastern Republic.
  • * 4–6 June. The Battle of Samdunja occurs between Korean rebels and the Empire of Japan.
  • * 6–7 June. The Battle of Fengwudong occurs between Korean rebels and the Empire of Japan.
  • * September. The controversial Hunchun incident. Japanese authorities claim Korean rebels attacked a Japanese consulate in Manchuria on this date, but debate continues as to what happened.
  • * October. The Gando Massacre occurs in Manchuria, where Japanese soldiers kill, rape, and steal from thousands of Korean civilians.
  • * 21–26 October. The Battle of Qingshanli between the Imperial Japanese Army and the Korean Independence Army takes place. Both sides claim victory.
  • * November. The first time a Korean journalist is killed while reporting: The Dong-a Ilbo journalist is killed by Japanese soldiers while investigating a Japanese massacre of Koreans in Hunchun, Manchuria.
  • 1921
  • * June. The first golf course in Korea is established at Hyochangwon by the Japanese colonial government. The tombs of Joseon royal family members are controversially left directly on the course.
  • * 28 June. The Free City Incident occurs, where Soviet forces kill Korean militants who refuse to surrender to them.
  • 1922
  • * The Chōsen Art Exhibition is held for the first time. After 1945, it was succeeded by the.
  • * 10 December. An Chang-nam becomes the first Korean to fly a plane in Korea.
  • 1923
  • * 1 March. The Koryo-saram newspaper Sŏnbong is established. It changed names to the Lenin Kichi in 1938 and Koryo Ilbo in 1991., it is the oldest active Korean-language newspaper outside of the Korean peninsula.
  • * 1 September. In the immediate aftermath of the Great Kantō earthquake in Japan, the Kantō Massacre occurs, and thousands of ethnic Koreans and others are massacred based on false rumors.
  • * 1 December. The Government-General of Chōsen Library is established as part of the cultural rule movement. It is eventually succeeded by the National Library of Korea after liberation.
  • 1924: 9 April. The Chōsen Folk Art Museum is established at Gyeongbokgung.
  • 1925: February. Kwon Ki-ok becomes the first female Korean aviator after attending a pilot training school in China.
  • 1926
  • * 10 June. The June Tenth Movement pro-independence protests occur and are suppressed.
  • * 1 October. The Government-General of Chōsen Building is completed in Gyeongbokgung.
  • 1929:
  • * 12 September – 31 October. The Chōsen Exhibition is held at Gyeongbokgung.
  • * 30 October. The Gwangju Student Independence Movement begins, and is suppressed soon afterwards.
  • 1931: The Korean Patriotic Organization is founded.
  • 1932
  • * 9 January. The Sakuradamon incident occurs, in which KPO member Lee Bong-chang fails in his attempt to assassinate Emperor Hirohito in Tokyo.
  • * 29 April. The Hongkou Park Incident occurs, in which Yun Bong-gil sets off a bomb in a park in Shanghai, killing several Japanese colonial and military leadership. In the aftermath, the KPG is forced to flee Shanghai.
  • * Japan begins the "comfort women" program, in which civilian women were coerced or forced into prostitution for the Japanese military. By the end of World War II, an estimated 100,000–200,000 Korean women would be forced into sexual slavery by Imperial Japan.
  • 1935: 3 November. Runner Sohn Kee-chung becomes the first Korean to win an Olympic gold medal, and sets a world record time. He receives a sapling as a gift from German leader Adolf Hitler, which is now in Sohn Kee-chung Park in Seoul. However, Sohn begrudgingly competed as an athlete of the Empire of Japan. The Dong-A Ilbo removes the Japanese flag from his uniform in an image, which leads to retaliation from the colonial government.
  • 1937
  • * 4 June. Kim Il Sung leads 150–200 guerrillas in the Battle of Pochonbo.
  • * September. The deportation of Koreans in the Soviet Union occurs, in which roughly 172,000 Koryo-saram are forced to move from the Russian Far East to Central Asia. Many die on the journey.
  • * November/December. The KPG flees Nanjing just weeks before the Nanjing Massacre.
  • 1938
  • * 1 March. Samsung is established in Daegu.
  • * The Governor-General of Korea enacts the Sōshi-kaimei policy, under which Koreans are pressured and incentivized to adopt Japanese-style names.
  • 1939
  • * The State General Mobilization Law is passed, and millions of Koreans are forcefully conscripted to work for Japan. Tens of thousands die due to poor work conditions.
  • * The KPG settles in Chongqing, where they would remain until the end of the war.
  • 1940
  • * The Japanese colonial government enacts the One Province, One Company policy, under which both Japanese and Korean newspapers are forced to consolidate or close. The pro-Japanese Maeil Sinbo becomes the only major Korean-language newspaper left in Korea.
  • * 1 September. The Chōsen Grand Exposition is held.
  • * 17 September. The KPG establishes the Korean Liberation Army, a guerrilla army that was intended to eventually fight to liberate the Korean peninsula.
  • * Kim Il Sung and a few surviving rebels escape from China into the USSR.
  • 1942: October. The Korean Language Society incident occurs, under which members of the Korean Language Society are arrested and tortured on suspicion that they are Korean independence activists.
  • 1943:
  • * 27 November. The Cairo Declaration between China, the United States, and the United Kingdom announces the intention of the Allies to liberate Korea after World War II, but place it under a trusteeship. This both excites and angers Koreans.
  • 1944: Starting in 1944, Japan started the conscription of Koreans into the armed forces.
  • 1945
  • * 8 February. At the Yalta Conference, Roosevelt secretly proposes to Joseph Stalin that Korea be placed under a three-way trusteeship, and Stalin mostly agrees.
  • * May. The Eagle Project, a joint operation between the KPG and the United States Office of Strategic Services, begins. The mission is halted in late August.
  • * July. It is decided during the Potsdam Conference and announced via the Potsdam Declaration that the Cairo Declaration's terms on Korea would be affirmed.
  • * 24 July. The occurs at the building Bumingwan in Seoul.
  • * 11 August. The General Order No. 1, drafted by the United States, specified the division of Korea at the 38th parallel. Stalin did not object to the terms.
  • * 11 August. Soviet troops begin their first military operation in Korea, and land in Unggi County. Chŏng Sangjin is the only ethnic Korean among the Soviet troops there.
  • * 13–17 August. The Seishin Operation is fought between the Soviet Union and Japan, with the Soviets winning.

Division of Korea

  • 1945
  • * 15 August. The surrender of Japan and the liberation of Korea. The Korean peninsula is haphazardly divided along the 38th parallel into the Soviet Civil Administration in the North and the United States Army Military Government in Korea in the South.
  • * 3 September. The head of the Pyongyang branch of the Communist Party of Korea, Hyŏn Chun-hyŏk, is assassinated, likely by the right-wing terrorist group Daedongdan.
  • * 6 September. Before both trusteeships are well-established, Lyuh Woon-hyung establishes an independent People's Republic of Korea that incorporates both left- and right-leaning politicians. However, its activities are quickly suppressed and it never gains recognition from either the USSR or US.
  • * 19 September. Kim Il Sung returns to the Korean peninsula with the Soviets.
  • * 10 October. The League of Koreans in Japan is established.
  • * December. At the Moscow Conference, negotiations to reunify Korea fail. Instead, Korea is placed under a four-way trusteeship, by the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, and China for five years. This leads to protest and anger in the Korean peninsula.
  • 1946
  • * 4 January. Cho Man-sik, Kim's main rival for leadership in the North, is removed from office and placed under house arrest by the Soviets.
  • * 8 February. The Provisional People's Committee of North Korea is established, and Kim Il Sung is made its chairman. While it supposedly represents all political groups in the North, it is dominated by the Soviet-backed Communist Party.
  • * 1 July. North Korea creates its first film: Our Construction.
  • * December. A coalition is made in the North among all major political parties, including representatives of left-leaning parties in the South. This coalition is again dominated by the Communists.
  • 1947
  • * Hyundai is established, initially as a construction company.
  • * 19 July. Lyuh Woon-hyung, whom some Americans had been eyeing as a more moderate alternative candidate for leadership in the South, is assassinated by a member of the far-right terrorist group the White Shirts Society.
  • * 14 November. The United Nations passes General Assembly Resolution 112, which creates the United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea. The Soviets dispute the authority of the commission and ignore it.
  • 1948
  • * April. Protests occur in Jeju that lead to the Jeju Uprising and are violently suppressed by 1949. The estimated death toll is uncertain, but a significant portion of the population is killed. This event and its aftermath significantly threaten the Jeju language, which as of 2023, is considered critically endangered.
  • * 10 May. Despite significant controversy, elections for the National Assembly are held in South Korea, and Syngman Rhee becomes its chair.
  • * 15 August. Establishment of South Korea with Syngman Rhee as president.
  • * 9 September. Establishment of North Korea with Kim Il Sung as premier.
  • * October. The Yeosu–Suncheon rebellion occurs. While being shipped off to Jeju to suppress the unrest, left-leaning soldiers launch a rebellion in South Jeolla Province. Thousands are killed.
  • * 20 November. The South Korean National Assembly passes the National Security Law. The law has been consistently criticized for its broad scope and historical use by South Korean dictatorships to quash political resistance.
  • 1949: 26 June. Kim Ku is murdered in his home by Ahn Doo-hee. The exact motives behind the murder still remain unclear.
  • 1950
  • * 30 January. After months of negotiations, Stalin finally relents to Kim's requests to launch an invasion of the South, but makes it conditional on whether Kim can convince Mao to support the effort.
  • * April. Mao agrees to support Kim in the invasion.

Korean War

  • 1950
  • * 25 June. The Korean War begins with a surprise attack from the North. While minor border skirmishes had happened prior to the war, they are not comparable in scale of the invasion the North launches. The First Battle of Seoul begins with the deaths of hundreds of civilians; Seoul falls within a few days.
  • * 7 July. The UN Security Council creates the United Nations Command under the United States to support the South. Over the following years, tens of thousands of soldiers from a number of countries fight for the South.
  • * 26 to 29 July. The No Gun Ri massacre occurs. Unarmed South Korean civilians near the village of Nogeun-ri are deliberately killed by the US Army; the death toll and cause of the massacre is disputed.
  • * August. UN forces are driven back to the south-east corner of the Korean Peninsula.
  • * September. The Battle of Inchon occurs after UN Troops make a surprise amphibious landing on the west coast. Despite the death toll, the UN resolution's original goal of returning to the status quo borders, and the concerns of the US's allies that China or the USSR could enter the war, MacArthur and Rhee decide to push North and reunify the peninsula. The UN approves this on 7 October, and troops move North on 9 October. This prompts the Chinese to begin planning a counteroffensive.
  • * 19 October. Chinese forces as the People's Volunteer Army under Peng Dehuai secretly enter the North.
  • * 27 November. Chinese forces launch a massive offensive from the North, which puts the UN and ROK forces into a full retreat.
  • * 6 December. The Chinese retake Pyongyang.
  • * December. The National Defense Corps incident begins and lasts until February 1951. The Rhee government drafts hundreds of thousands of civilians into a militia, but fail to provide them adequate supplies. Tens of thousands die or disappear.
  • 1951
  • * 4 January. The North and China take Seoul.
  • * 31 January the UNSC votes unanimously to cease interest in the conflict, per UNSC Resolution 90.
  • * 15 March. Seoul is retaken by the ROK and UN Forces.
  • * July. Armistice talks begin. While the establishment of a demilitarized zone and the creation of an armistice commission are agreed on, the talks stall on the issue of prisoner exchanges. Over the following two years of more stalled talks, the US and UN Forces drop more bombs on North Korea than the Allies did on Germany and Japan in World War II. Both the North and the South commit atrocities against their own citizens and civilians on the other side. Over a million and up to two million Koreans die.
  • 1953
  • * January. The South Korean newsreel Korean News is established. It serves as an arm of the South Korean government until it closes in 1994.
  • * 27 July. The Korean War is halted by the Korean Armistice Agreement that has remained in force until now.

Modern period