Aug. 12

1966 -- In an editorial in its main newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, North Korea promulgates the policy of "juche," meaning self-reliance, claiming ideological independence from its allies -- the Soviet Union and China -- at that time.

1971 -- South Korea's National Red Cross suggests to its North Korean counterpart a joint campaign to locate separated family members in both parts of the Korean Peninsula. The two sides met a year later to discuss the project but failed to reach an agreement. The family reunion project materialized decades later, in a 2000 summit meeting between President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, who agreed to regularly hold the humanitarian event.

1993 -- In a move to fight corruption, President Kim Young-sam puts into effect the "real-name financial system," banning transactions under phony or borrowed names and requiring that all individuals use their real names to open bank accounts or purchase stock. The previous nonregulation policy provided a haven for money laundering and tax evasion.

1999 -- Workers from South and North Korea play a friendly football match in the North's capital of Pyongyang.

2002 -- South and North Korea hold their seventh round of ministerial talks in Seoul.

2010 -- Andre Kim, one of South Korea's most popular fashion designers, dies at age 75 at a Seoul hospital, where he was being treated for pneumonia.

2021 -- South Korea and Turkey sign their first currency swap agreement, in a move to boost trade between the two nations.

2022 -- President Yoon Suk Yeol grants special pardons to nearly 1,700 people to mark Liberation Day, including Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong and Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin. Former President Lee Myung-bak was not included on the list.

2025 -- The Seoul Central District Court issues an arrest warrant for former first lady Kim Keon Hee, who has been accused of involvement in a stock manipulation scheme, election meddling and bribery. Kim and her husband, former President Yoon Suk Yeol, became the first former presidential couple to be detained simultaneously.

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