• 1866 Byunginyangyo: 8 of 10 French missionaries and 500 converts killed; French send punitive expedition.
• 1871 Shinmiyangyo: USS General Sherman penetrates to Pyongyang seeking trade, ignoring local warnings; fires on crowd and is destroyed. Six-ship flotilla sent to investigate touches off "weekend war" that kills 3 Americans and 350 Koreans.
• 1876 Japan imposes "western-style" treaty of Kangwha, with provisions for extra-territoriality and access to ports.
• 1882 US negotiates Shufeldt treaty, opening flow of trade and American missionaries into Korea.
• 1894-1895 Sino-Japanese War ends Chinese influence in Korea.
• 1897 King Kojong flees to Russia.
• 1904-5 Russo-Japanese War ends Russian claims to Korean peninsula.
• 1905 Taft-Katsura Agreement: US recognizes Japanese claims to Korea; Japan recognizes US possession of Phillippines.
• 1910 Japan annexes Korea

• 1945 After the Second World War, the US and the USSR jointly occupy Korea, divided into Northern and Southern zones at the 38th parallel. Elections in the North bring Kim Il-Sung to power; in the South, the US installs Syngman Rhee as President but delays elections.
• 1950 North Korea attacks and drives South Korean armies to the southern tip of the peninsula before American forces, commanded by Douglas MacArthur, land near Seoul and eventually push toward the Yalu River (and China). China then intervenes massively, and a stalemate eventually sets in near (once again) the 38th parallel.
• 1965 Korean-Japanese Normalization Treaty: Japan recognizes South Korean government and provides $800 million in economic aid.

• 1968 Sixty-Eight nations (including the US and the USSR) sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT); Japan signs in 1970; S. Korea signs in 1975; N. Korea signs in 1985; China signs in 1992.
• 1980s North Korea carries out a variety of kidnappings and terrorist acts targeting both S. Korea and Japan.
• 1994 Geneva Accord provides economic aid to North Korea in return for its agreement to freeze its nuclear program.
• 1998 North Korea launches Taepo-Dong missile over northern Japan.
• 2002 Two girls are killed in a traffic accident by a truck driven by US mariles, sparking widespread protests of US forces in S. Korea.
• 2003 North Korea threatens to end the armistice (with S. Korea) if the US imposes sanctions because of its nuclear program.
• 2005 North Korea declares possession of nuclear weapons.

Department of International Relations
Florida International University
University Park Campus
11200 SW 8th Street
Miami, Florida 33199