Today in Korean history

April 30

1946 -- The Military Language School, established by U.S. forces stationed in
South Korea to teach English to local soldiers, closes after about five months of
operation. The school in western Seoul was also aimed at providing instruction on
American military methods to South Korea, which had regained sovereignty from
Japanese colonial rule the previous year.

1951 -- The South Korean National Assembly passes a bill to disband the homeland
defense forces, an emergency force of 500,000 men drafted to fight North Korean
communists. The forces were sent home on May 12 following criticism that they
lacked sufficient leadership and military resources to operate efficiently.

1957 -- A group of Koreans who were held in Tokyo prisons for over a decade due
to war crimes during World War II are released. They had been drafted by the
Japanese colonial regime, mostly in the 1940s, to fight for Japan.

1959 -- The Kyunghyang Shinmun, a Seoul-based daily newspaper, is forced to stop
publishing due to its criticism of South Korea's regime.

1966 -- South Korea signs a cultural treaty with Mexico.

1978 -- The South Korean government announces a law which designates all areas
within 12 nautical miles of the country's coast as South Korea's territorial
waters.

1982 -- The United Nations acknowledges South Korea's territorial waters within
12 nautical miles of the coast and its fishing waters within 200 miles of the
coast.

1989 -- The wife of the Joseon Dynasty's King Yeongchin, Lee Bang-ja, passes
away. She was originally a member of the Japanese royal family.

1992 -- South Korea establishes diplomatic ties with Tanzania.

1994 -- A five-member family, led by the father Yeo Man-cheol, defects from North
Korea to South Korea.

2003 -- In honor of the inauguration of President Roh Moo-hyun, the government
releases a total of 1,424 prisoners who had been convicted of violating labor
laws.
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