Today in Korean history

April 27

1926 -- King Yeongchin, the second son of King Gojong of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), succeeds King Seonjong during Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. He had lived and studied in Japan since the age of 11, and his marriage to a Japanese aristocrat was arranged.

1949 -- The South Korean National Assembly passes a bill on farmland reform for the redistribution of land previously owned by Japanese colonizers and the registration of all landowners.

1960 -- Foreign Minister Heo Jeong takes over as head of state after President Rhee Syng-man steps down following a nationwide student uprising on April 19 against Rhee's authoritarian regime and corruption among his aides.

1971 -- President Park Chung-hee extends his term of office, defeating opposition leader Kim Dae-jung in a presidential election. After taking control of the nation in a 1961 military coup, Park revised the Constitution several times to prolong his rule. Park was assassinated in 1979 by his intelligence chief.

1989 -- The government announces a plan to develop new residential areas in Bundang and Ilsan, on the outskirts of Seoul.

1992 -- South Korea establishes diplomatic ties with Tajikistan.

1993 -- Novelist and unification activist Hwang Suk-young is arrested on charges of violating the National Security Law.

1999 -- Allegations are made that a number of politicians and public officials bribed military officials to get their sons exempted from mandatory military service. About 100 people are arrested.

2000 -- French automaker Renault acquires Samsung Motors and renames it Renault Samsung Motors.

2002 -- Roh Moo-hyun, a former human rights lawyer, wins the ruling Millennium Democratic Party's nomination to run in the presidential election in December.

2003 -- Inter-ministerial meetings between South and North Korea open in Pyongyang.

2005 -- The National Assembly passes a special law on the sustainable use and maintenance of the Dokdo islets, following a March 16 ordinance by Japan's Shimane Prefecture to designate Feb. 22 as the day of Takeshima, the Japanese name for the Korean islets in the East Sea. Japan also claims sovereignty over the islets.

2013 -- South Korean workers at a joint industrial park in North Korea begin to return home as the government decided to pull all of its nationals out of the Kaesong Industrial Complex following Pyongyang's rejection of an offer for dialogue. Tensions over Kaesong had risen as North Korea unilaterally withdrew all of its 53,000 workers hired by small-scale South Korean firms operating there on April 9.

2018 -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in holds a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in the Joint Security Area of Panmunjom. At the historic summit, the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and also agree to reduce their conventional weapons pending the outcome of their joint efforts to reduce military tensions and promote a lasting peace on the peninsula.

2021 -- Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk, former Catholic archbishop of Seoul, dies at age 89.
(END)