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The Joint Security Area (JSA) at Panmunjom is the only portion of the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) where North and South Korean forces stand face-to-face.<br/><br/> The JSA is used by the two Koreas for diplomatic engagements and, until March 1991, was also the site of military negotiations between North Korea and the United Nations Command (UNC).
An image showing the Korean peninsula at night in the year 2012. A composite image, constructed using cloud-free night images taken by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite.<br/><br/> These photographs were taken with the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), and the composite was published by NASA on December 5, 2012.
Park Chung-hee (14 November 1917 – 26 October 1979) was a South Korean president and military general who led South Korea from 1961 until his assassination in 1979.<br/><br/> Park seized power through a military coup d'état that overthrew the Korean Second Republic in 1961 and ruled as a military strongman at the head of the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction until his election and inauguration as the President of the Korean Third Republic in 1963.<br/><br/> In 1972, Park declared martial law and recast the constitution into a highly authoritarian document, ushering in the Korean Fourth Republic. After surviving several assassination attempts, including two operations associated with North Korea, Park was eventually assassinated on 26 October 1979 by Kim Jae-gyu, the chief of his own security services. He had led South Korea for 18 years.
Park Chung-hee (14 November 1917 – 26 October 1979) was a South Korean president and military general who led South Korea from 1961 until his assassination in 1979.<br/><br/> Park seized power through a military coup d'état that overthrew the Korean Second Republic in 1961 and ruled as a military strongman at the head of the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction until his election and inauguration as the President of the Korean Third Republic in 1963.<br/><br/> In 1972, Park declared martial law and recast the constitution into a highly authoritarian document, ushering in the Korean Fourth Republic. After surviving several assassination attempts, including two operations associated with North Korea, Park was eventually assassinated on 26 October 1979 by Kim Jae-gyu, the chief of his own security services. He had led South Korea for 18 years.
Park Chung-hee (14 November 1917 – 26 October 1979) was a South Korean president and military general who led South Korea from 1961 until his assassination in 1979.<br/><br/> Park seized power through a military coup d'état that overthrew the Korean Second Republic in 1961 and ruled as a military strongman at the head of the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction until his election and inauguration as the President of the Korean Third Republic in 1963.<br/><br/> In 1972, Park declared martial law and recast the constitution into a highly authoritarian document, ushering in the Korean Fourth Republic. After surviving several assassination attempts, including two operations associated with North Korea, Park was eventually assassinated on 26 October 1979 by Kim Jae-gyu, the chief of his own security services. He had led South Korea for 18 years.
Park Chung-hee (14 November 1917 – 26 October 1979) was a South Korean president and military general who led South Korea from 1961 until his assassination in 1979.<br/><br/> Park seized power through a military coup d'état that overthrew the Korean Second Republic in 1961 and ruled as a military strongman at the head of the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction until his election and inauguration as the President of the Korean Third Republic in 1963.<br/><br/> In 1972, Park declared martial law and recast the constitution into a highly authoritarian document, ushering in the Korean Fourth Republic. After surviving several assassination attempts, including two operations associated with North Korea, Park was eventually assassinated on 26 October 1979 by Kim Jae-gyu, the chief of his own security services. He had led South Korea for 18 years.
The May 16 coup was a military coup d'état in South Korea in 1961, organized and carried out by Park Chung-hee and his allies who formed the Military Revolutionary Committee, nominally led by Army Chief of Staff Chang Do-yong after the latter's acquiescence on the day of the coup.<br/><br/> The coup rendered powerless the democratically elected government of Yun Bo-seon and ended the Second Republic, installing a reformist military Supreme Council for National Reconstruction effectively led by Park, who took over as Chairman after General Chang's arrest in July.<br/><br/> The coup was instrumental in bringing to power a new developmentalist elite and in laying the foundations for the rapid industrialization of South Korea under Park's leadership, but its legacy is controversial for the suppression of democracy and civil liberties it entailed, and the purges enacted in its wake.
Syngman Rhee (April 18, 1875 – July 19, 1965) was a Korean statesman and the first president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea as well as the first president of South Korea. His three-term presidency of South Korea (August 1948 to April 1960) was strongly affected by Cold War tensions on the Korean peninsula.<br/><br/> Rhee was regarded as an anti-Communist and a strongman, and he led South Korea through the Korean War. His presidency ended in resignation following popular protests against a disputed election. He died in exile in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Japan began to force Korea out of the Manchu Qing Dynasty's traditional sphere of influence into its own in the 1870s. As a result of the Sino-Japanese War (1894–5), the Qing Dynasty had to give up such a position according to the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which was concluded between China and Japan in 1895. That same year, Korean Empress Myeongseong was assassinated by Japanese agents.<br/><br/> In 1897, the Joseon dynasty proclaimed the Korean Empire (1897–1910), and King Gojong became Emperor Gojong. This brief period saw the partially successful modernisation of the military, economy, real property laws, education system, and various industries, influenced by the political encroachment into Korea of Russia, Japan, France, and the United States.<br/><br/> Imperial Japan assumed control over Korea from 1910 until its defeat in 1945 ended World War II. Korea was one state until 1948, when it was split into North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea), and South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea.
Comfort women were women and girls forced into a prostitution corps created by the Empire of Japan during World War II. The name 'comfort women' is a translation of a Japanese name <i>ianfu</i> (慰安婦). Ianfu is a euphemism for <i>shōfu</i> (娼婦) whose meaning is 'prostitute'.<br/><br/> Estimates vary as to how many women were involved, with numbers ranging from as low as 20,000 to as high as 400,000, but the exact numbers are still being researched and debated. Many of the women were from occupied countries, including Korea, China, and the Philippines, although women from Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia and other Japanese-occupied territories were used for military brothels.<br/><br/> Stations were located in Japan, China, the Philippines, Indonesia, then Malaya, Thailand, Burma, New Guinea, Hong Kong, Macau, and French Indochina. A smaller number of women of European origin from the Netherlands and Australia were also involved.
The May 16 coup was a military coup d'état in South Korea in 1961, organized and carried out by Park Chung-hee and his allies who formed the Military Revolutionary Committee, nominally led by Army Chief of Staff Chang Do-yong after the latter's acquiescence on the day of the coup.<br/><br/> The coup rendered powerless the democratically elected government of Yun Bo-seon and ended the Second Republic, installing a reformist military Supreme Council for National Reconstruction effectively led by Park, who took over as Chairman after General Chang's arrest in July.<br/><br/> The coup was instrumental in bringing to power a new developmentalist elite and in laying the foundations for the rapid industrialization of South Korea under Park's leadership, but its legacy is controversial for the suppression of democracy and civil liberties it entailed, and the purges enacted in its wake.
Park Chung-hee (14 November 1917 – 26 October 1979) was a South Korean president and military general who led South Korea from 1961 until his assassination in 1979.<br/><br/> Park seized power through a military coup d'état that overthrew the Korean Second Republic in 1961 and ruled as a military strongman at the head of the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction until his election and inauguration as the President of the Korean Third Republic in 1963.<br/><br/> In 1972, Park declared martial law and recast the constitution into a highly authoritarian document, ushering in the Korean Fourth Republic. After surviving several assassination attempts, including two operations associated with North Korea, Park was eventually assassinated on 26 October 1979 by Kim Jae-gyu, the chief of his own security services. He had led South Korea for 18 years.<br/><br/> Yoon Bo-seon (August 26, 1897 – July 18, 1990) was a Korean independence activist and politician, who served as the second President of South Korea from 1960 to 1962 before being replaced by the Park Chung-hee as a result of the May 16 coup in 1961.