TIMELINE
2333 BC: First Korean kingdom, Gojoseon, is founded 57 BC–
AD 668: Korea is divided into three kingdoms 1231: Mongol invasions begin
1394: Hanyang, modern-day Seoul, on the Han River, becomes the capital of the Chosŏn dynasty
1592: Japan invades Korea
1905: Japan annexes the Korean Peninsula 1910–45: Japanese colonial government takes away land, forces Koreans to take Japanese-style names, use the Japanese language and worship at Shinto shrines; Korean guerrillas fight for independence
1945: Second World War ends, Japan defeated; Korean Peninsula divided at the 38th parallel; the US occupies the South, the Soviet Union the North 1948: Republic of Korea created
1950–53: Korean War 1950s–
1980s: Freedoms of South Koreans are restricted; periods of martial law
1988: Seoul Olympics and South Korea holds its first free parliamentary elections 1991: North and South Korea join the UN 1993: Kim Young Sam becomes the first freely elected president
1996: South Korea joins the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
1998: Sunshine Policy — economic and humanitarian aid to North Korea
2006: North Korea’s first nuclear test; Ban Kimoon is elected UN Secretary (until 2016) 2007: North and South restart high-level talks; Us–south Korean free-trade deal signed; passenger train crosses border for the first time in 56 years
2012: North tests long-range rocket; US agrees to increase the range of the South’s ballistic missiles to 800 kilometres; South elects first female president, Park Geun-hye 2016: President Park Geun-hye impeached after political scandal
2017: Centre-left’s Moon Jae-in elected president, with a focus on improving relations with the North
2018: North and South march under the same flag at South’s Winter Olympics; Kim Jongun is first North Korean leader to enter the South, meeting President Moon Jae-in for talks; updated Us–south Korea trade deal; Park Geun-hye is sentenced to 24 years in prison; on 12 June, US President Donald Trump meets North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore