Today in Korean history

Oct. 26

1895 -- The Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) introduces the Gregorian calendar, replacing the lunar calendar.

1950 -- South Korean and U.S.-led U.N. troops advance to the border with China during the 1950-53 Korean War. About 1 million Chinese soldiers later intervened, temporarily turning the tide of the war in North Korea's favor. The war ended with an armistice.

1979 -- President Park Chung-hee is assassinated by his intelligence chief Kim Jae-kyu, ending the president's 18-year rule. Park's presidency featured rapid economic development but also an authoritarian rule that delayed the development of the nation's democracy.

1996 -- North Korean Kim Kyeong-ho's family defects to South Korea.

2004 -- Two square-shaped holes in a two-layer wire fence, which forms the southern boundary of the 4-kilometer-wide Demilitarized Zone bisecting the two Koreas, are found near Cheorwon, a town near the center of the 248-kilometer-long border running roughly along the 38th parallel.

2009 -- Disgraced cloning scientist Hwang Woo-suk is sentenced to a suspended jail term for embezzling research funds and breaching bioethics laws.
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