President Kim Dae-jung took part in the first inter-Korean summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang. They released a five-point joint statement aimed at increasing economic and social exchanges, as well as holding reunions for families separated since the division of the country before the 1950-53 Korean War. The meeting marked an easing of tensions on the Korean Peninsula after decades of hostility. Images of the two leaders shaking hands drew global attention and raised hopes f

A 1,200-ton South Korean Navy vessel, the Cheonan, sank off the country’s west coast near the maritime border with North Korea on March 26, 2010, killing 46 of the 104 sailors on board. The remaining 58 crew members were rescued. The ship broke in two following a powerful explosion in its stern and sank rapidly, sending shockwaves through the military and public. A government probe later concluded that a torpedo fired from a North Korean submarine caused the sinking, though Pyongyang denied resp

Google’s artificial intelligence program AlphaGo defeated South Korean Go master Lee Se-dol 4-1 in a five-game match in Seoul in 2016, marking a historic milestone in AI development. Developed by Google DeepMind, AlphaGo used deep neural networks and reinforcement learning, improving through self-play rather than relying solely on brute-force calculation. Given Go’s complexity and its demand for human intuition, experts had predicted such a breakthrough was still years away. The result stunned b

Figure skater Kim Yu-na captured South Korea’s first Olympic figure skating gold at the 2010 Vancouver Games, setting a world record with 228.56 points. A two-time world champion, she went on to win silver at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, before retiring later that year. Her success made her a national icon, inspiring a new generation of skaters and elevating the sport’s popularity nationwide.