Today in Korean history

Nov. 21

1972 -- A constitutional revision proposed by then President Park Chung-hee is
adopted with 91.5 percent support in a national referendum. The "Yushin"
(revitalizing reform) constitution prolonged the dictatorial rule of Park, a
former army major general who seized power in a 1961 coup, until he was
assassinated by his intelligence chief Kim Jae-kyu on Oct. 26, 1979.

1997 -- South Korea, hit hard by the Asian financial crisis, appeals to the
International Monetary Fund for help in bailing out its economy. The IMF arranged
a record US$58 billion bailout package for the country.

2003 -- The executive board members of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development
Organization -- South Korea, the United States, Japan and the European Union --
decide to freeze a project to build two light-water reactors in North Korea for
one year from December 2003 pending the resolution of tensions over the North's
nuclear weapons program. The consortium was established in 1995 to supply the
reactors in return for the North halting the program and eventually dismantling
it.
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