Today in Korean historyJune 101917 -- Korean independence fighters based in Hawaii , led by Park Yong - man , establish a military band named the Great Joseon People ' s Army . 1926 -- Residents of Seoul stage street marches against the Japanese colonial regime to coincide with the state funeral of Sunjong , the last emperor of the Joseon Dynasty . 1952 -- The United Nations Command , established to support South Korea against North Korea in the civil war that started in 1950 , puts down a revolt by prisoners of war at a jail on Geoje Island , off South Korea ' s southeastern coast . The jail accommodated about 150 , 000 North Korean soldiers and 30 , 000 Chinese . The prisoners were set free in 1953 , when the Korean War ended with an armistice . 1962 -- The government implements its second currency reform , converting the basic monetary unit to the " won " from the " hwan " and devaluing it 10 to 1 . 1987 -- Students take to the streets in a massive pro - democracy movement against the then military - backed government of Chun Doo - hwan . The rally was triggered by the government ' s crackdown for years on people ' s call for democracy and public fury over the torture death of student protester Park Jong - chul . 1988 -- Pohang Iron and Steel , now POSCO , is listed on the Korea Stock Exchange . 1989 -- The Ministry of Construction announces 22 districts of a total 24 million square meters for residential development . 1993 -- North Korea test - fires a missile with a 1 , 000 - km range in the East Sea . 2010 -- The Naro - 1 , South Korea ' s first locally assembled space rocket carrying a scientific satellite , explodes about two minutes into flight . 2016 -- South Korea and the United Nations Command ( UNC ) send troops to crack down on illegal Chinese fishing boats in neutral waters around the mouth of the Han River between the two Koreas . The military operation marked the first of its kind to take place in the estuary region , where the Han River meets the Yellow Sea , after its designation as a no man ' s land in the Armistice Agreement following the 1950 - 53 Korean War . 2018 -- U . S . President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong - un arrive in Singapore for their historic summit over Pyongyang ' s denuclearization . 2019 -- Lee Hee - ho , the widow of former President Kim Dae - jung , dies at the age of 96 , after battling liver cancer . Lee served as chair of the Kim Dae Jung Peace Center , which was founded by her husband to promote inter - Korean reconciliation and world peace , and fight global poverty . ( END )