Today in Korean history

Dec. 13

1863 -- Emperor Gojong ascends to the throne at the age of 12 to become the 26th monarch of the Joseon Dynasty. His reign lasts until 1907, but his wife, Empress Myeongseong, is killed by Japanese assassins in 1895. Japan later annexes the country and rules the peninsula for 36 years until Korea's liberation at the end of World War II.

1990 -- President Roh Tae-woo visits the Soviet Union.

2002 -- U.S. President George W. Bush apologizes to South Korean President Kim Dae-jung by phone for the deaths of two South Korean schoolgirls run over by a U.S. military vehicle.

2013 -- North Korea's Korean Central News Agency announces that Jang Song-thaek, the disgraced uncle of the North's state leader Kim Jong-un, has been executed after a military trial found him guilty of "the anti-party, counter-revolutionary factional" charges.
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