Countries South Korea Seoul | History by KabAstro

Events in Seoul History

1897-02-01 Shinhan Bank, the oldest bank in South Korea, opens in Seoul.

US Enters Korean War

1950-06-27 North Korean troops reach Seoul, causing the UN to ask member states to aid South Korea. Harry Truman orders the US Air Force and Navy into the Korean conflict.

1950-06-28 North Korean forces capture Seoul, South Korea in opening phase of the Korean War
1950-09-15 US troop land on Wolmi-Do island off of Seoul
1950-09-26 UN troops in Korean War recapture South Korean capital of Seoul
1951-01-04 Korean War: Chinese forces recapture Seoul
1951-03-12 Communist troops driven out of Seoul
1951-03-15 UN forces recapture Seoul, the fourth and final time the city changes hands in the Korean War
1955-10-04 Rev Sun Young Moon leaves prison in Seoul
1971-12-25 Worst hotel fire in history kills 163 at Taeyokale Hotel in Seoul
1974-11-02 78 die when the Time Go-Go Club in Seoul, South Korea burns down. Six of the victims jumped to their deaths from the seventh floor after a club official barred the doors after the fire started.
1981-09-30 International Olympic Committee votes to award Seoul, South Korea as host of the 1988 Summer Olympic Games
1983-05-10 Lee Chin Yong performs 170 continuous chin-ups in Seoul
1986-09-14 Bomb explosion on airport Kimpo at Seoul, 5 killed
1988-01-11 USSR announces it will participate in Seoul Summer Olympics
1988-09-17 24th Olympic games open at Seoul, Korea

Olympic Games

1988-09-19 American diver Greg Louganis smashes his head on diving board during the 3m springboard preliminaries at the Seoul Olympics; recovers to qualify for the final which he wins the following day

1988-09-19 Australian swimmer Duncan Armstrong sets world record 1:47.25 to win the 200m freestyle gold medal at the Seoul Olympics; beats Anders Holmertz of Sweden by 0.64
1988-09-19 British swimmer Adrian Moorehouse wins 100m breaststroke gold medal in 1:02.04 at the Seoul Olympics; edges Károly Güttler of Hungary by 0.01
1988-09-19 US women's all-round gymnastics team is controversially penalised 0.5 after compulsory round at the Seoul Olympics; substitute an alternate athlete on uneven bars medal podium; Americans finish 4th just 0.3 behind East Germany
1988-09-20 American diver Greg Louganis wins the 3m springboard gold medal at the Seoul Olympics after famously hitting his head on the board the previous day
1988-09-21 East German swimmer Silke Hörner sets world record 2:26.71 to win the 200m breaststroke gold medal at the Seoul Olympics; first of 2 gold (4 x 100m medley relay)
1988-09-21 Hungarian swimmer Tamás Darnyi sets world record 4:14.75 to win the 400m individual medley at the Seoul Olympics; also wins 200m I/M gold for the medley double

Olympic Gold

1988-09-21 Suriname swimmer Anthony Nesty wins 100m butterfly at the Seoul Olympics; Suriname's first gold; first black to win individual Olympic swim gold medal; thwarts Matt Biondi's attempt at 7 gold medals

1988-09-22 American swimmer Janet Evans sets a world record 4:03.85 to win the 400m freestyle gold medal at the Seoul Olympics; 3rd gold medal of the Games (400m I/M, 800m)
1988-09-22 American swimmer Matt Biondi wins the blue ribband 100m freestyle gold medal in Olympic record 48.63 at the Seoul Games; beats countryman Chris Jacobs & Stéphan Caron of France
1988-09-22 Soviet gymnast Vladimir Artemov wins individual all-round gold medal at the Seoul Olympics; follows his teams all-round victory; wins 4 gold for the Games
1988-09-23 Americans Christopher Jacobs, Troy Dalbey, Tom Hunter & Matt Biondi swim world record 3:16.53 to win 4 x 100m freestyle relay at the Seoul Olympics
1988-09-23 East German swimmer Uwe Dassler sets world record 3:46.95 to win 400m freestyle gold medal at the Seoul Olympics; edges Australian Duncan Armstrong by 0.2s

Sports History

1988-09-23 Portuguese world champion Rosa Mota runs 2:25:40 to score a famous Olympic marathon win over Australian Lisa Martin at the Seoul Games

World Record

1988-09-24 American heptathlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee sets new world record 7,291 points to win the gold medal at the Seoul Olympics; East Germans Sabine John & Anke Behmer take the minor medals

Track and Field Athlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee

1988-09-24 American swimmer Matt Biondi sets world record 22.14 to win the 50m freestyle gold medal at the Seoul Olympics; his 4th of 5 gold medals for the Games

World Record

1988-09-24 Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson breaks his own 100m world record with a time of 9.79 at the Seoul Olympics; disqualified 3 days later for use of drug stanozolol; Carl Lewis awarded gold and world record 9.92

Olympic Sprinter and Long jumper Carl Lewis

1988-09-24 East German cyclist Christa Luding-Rothenburger wins silver medal in the women's track sprint at the Seoul Olympics; first athlete to win medals at Summer & Winter Games in same year; won speed skating gold in Calgary
1988-09-24 Soviet gymnast Vladimir Artemov shares horizontal bar gold medal with teammate Valeri Liukin at the Seoul Olympics; also wins the parallel bars event to take his gold medal haul to 4 for the Games
1988-09-24 Swimmer Silke Hörner wins her second gold medal of the Seoul Olympics as part of the victorious East German 4 x 100m medley relay team
1988-09-24 West German swimmer Michael Gross wins 200m butterfly in Olympic record 1:56.94 at the Seoul Games; third career gold medal

Sports History

1988-09-25 American sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner wins women's 100m in Olympic record 10.54; beats teammate Evelyn Ashford by 0.29; 1st leg of sprint double at Seoul Games

1988-09-25 Americans sweep the medals in the long jump at the Seoul Olympics; Carl Lewis wins his second gold of the Games with leap of 8.72m ahead of teammates Mike Powell & Larry Myricks
1988-09-25 East German swimmer Kristin Otto swims Olympic record 25.49 to win the 50m freestyle gold at the Seoul Olympics; her 6th gold medal of the Games
1988-09-25 Hungarian swimmer Tamás Darnyi wins the 200m individual medley gold medal at the Seoul Olympics in world record 2:00.17; wraps up medley double at the Games
1988-09-25 Phoebe Mills finishes third in the balance beam at the Seoul Olympics to become the first American female gymnast to win a medal at a fully attended Games
1988-09-25 Romanian gymnast Daniela Silivaș wins 3 gold medals in one day at the Seoul Olympics; balance beam, floor exercise & uneven bars events; records record equalling 7 perfect scores of 10
1988-09-25 Super swimmer Matt Biondi wins his 5th gold medal of the Seoul Olympics anchoring the victorious American 4 x 100m medley relay team
1988-09-26 Soviet throwers sweep the medals in the hammer throw at the Seoul Olympics; Sergey Litvinov wins gold with an Olympic record 84.80m ahead of teammates Yuriy Sedykh & Jüri Tamm
1988-09-27 American diver Greg Louganis wins the 10m platform gold medal at the Seoul Olympics; wraps up diving double after also taking out the 3m springboard gold
1988-09-27 Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson is disqualified from the Seoul Olympics 100m after his urine sample found to contain steroid stanozolol; American Carl Lewis awarded gold medal and world record 9.92
1988-09-27 East German cyclist Olaf Ludwig wins the men's road race in 4:32:22 at the Seoul Olympics; beats West German pair Bernd Gröne & Christian Henn
1988-09-28 American athletes go 1-2-3 in the 400m at the Seoul Olympics with Steve Lewis taking the gold medal in 43.87 ahead of teammates Butch Reynolds & Danny Everett
1988-09-28 Australian Debbie Flintoff-King wins the 400m hurdles gold at the Seoul Olympics in 53.17, just 0.01 ahead of Tatyana Ledovskaya of the Soviet Union
1988-09-28 Despite totally dominating his sport for 14 years, Ukrainian pole vaulter Sergey Bubka wins his only Olympic gold medal with a vault of 5.90m at the Seoul Games
1988-09-29 American athlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee wins her second gold medal of the Seoul Olympics by taking the long jump with an Olympic record leap of 7.40m; previously won the heptathlon
1988-09-29 American sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner sets women's 200m world record 21.34; completes sprint double at the Seoul Olympics
1988-09-29 East German athlete Christian Schenk beats countryman Torsten Voss by 89 points to win the decathlon gold medal at the Seoul Olympics; Canadian Dave Steen is another 71 points back in third place
1988-09-29 US men's basketball team beats Australia 78-49 to take the bronze medal at the Seoul Olympics; last time US represented by a team that doesn't feature NBA players
1988-09-29 US retain women's basketball title at he Seoul Olympics with a 77-70 win over Yugoslavia; star guard Teresa Edwards top scores for the Americans with 18 points
1988-09-30 Soviet Union beats Yugoslavia 76-63 to win the men's basketball gold medal at the Seoul Olympics; US finishes 3rd; final time US field non-NBA team
1988-10-01 Canadian synchronised swimmer Carolyn Waldo teams with Michelle Cameron to win the duet gold medal at the Seoul Olympics; wraps up double having won individual title
1988-10-01 Flamboyant American sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner wins her third gold medal of the Seoul Olympics anchoring the victorious US 4 x 100m relay team

Olympic Gold

1988-10-01 Steffi Graf beats Gabriela Sabatini 6-3, 6-3 to win the women's singles tennis gold medal at the Seoul Olympics; clinches first and only Golden Slam in history (Grand Slam & Olympics)

1988-10-01 The inaugural Olympic table tennis program concludes in Seoul with China and South Korea each winning 2 titles
1988-10-01 The Soviet women's 4 x 400m relay team runs world record 3:15.17 to beat a star-studded US team and win the Olympic gold medal in Seoul; Tatyana Ledovskaya, Olga Nazarova, Mariya Pinigina & Olga Bryzgina
1988-10-01 Yuri Savichev scores in extra time as the Soviet Union beats Brazil 2-1 to win the men's football gold medal at the Seoul Olympics

Olympic Gold

1988-10-02 Future world heavyweight boxing champion Lennox Lewis, representing Canada, wins super-heavyweight gold medal at the Seoul Olympics; beats American Riddick Bowe by 2nd round TKO

1988-10-02 Gelindo Bordin of Italy wins the men's marathon in 2:10:32 at the Seoul Olympics; beats world champion Douglas Wakiihuri of Kenya by 15 seconds
1988-10-02 New Zealand horseman Mark Todd wins individual eventing gold medal aboard Charisma at the Seoul Olympics; his 2nd consecutive gold after winning in 1984
1988-10-02 South Korean light middleweight boxer Park Si-hun is controversially awarded the Seoul Olympic gold medal after appearing well beaten by future 4 weight class world champion Roy Jones Jr
1994-10-21 Hana bridge is Seoul Korea crashes, 32+ die
1994-11-29 Seoul, Korea, celebrated the 600th anniversary of its founding

Famous People from Seoul

1910-09-14 Yi Sang, Korean author and poet (Dying Words, Wings, Child’s Bone), born in Jongro, Seoul (d. 1937)
1922-09-21 Lee Hee-ho, Korean activist and first lady for her husband President Kim Dae-jung, born in Seoul, Japanese Korea (d. 2019)
1932-07-20 Nam June Paik, Korean avant-garde composer, and video artist (Medium is the Medium; hommage à john cage), born in Seoul, Korea (d. 2006)
1939-03-27 Jay Kim, U.S. House of Representatives from California, born in Seoul, South Korea
1944-03-19 Myung-Wha Chung, Korean concert cellist (Chung Trio), and educator, born in Seoul, Japanese Korea
1945-04-12 Lee Jong-wook, Korean Director-General of the World Health Organization, born in Seoul, South Korea (d. 2006)
1948-03-26 Kyung-Wha Chung, Korean violinist (Chung Sisters), born in Seoul, Korea
1953-01-22 Myung-Whun Chung, South Korean pianist and conductor (Chung Trio), born in Seoul, South Korea
1959-12-08 Jim Yong Kim, South Korean-American physician, anthropologist and President of the World Bank, born in Seoul, South Korea
1960-10-25 Hong Sang-soo, South Korean filmmaker (Right Now, Wrong Then), born in Seoul
1962-01-22 Choi Min-sik, South Korean actor, born in Seoul, South Korea
1962-08-20 Dong-Wook Song, South Korean tennis player, born in Seoul, South Korea
1963-08-23 Park Chan-wook, South Korean filmmaker (Joint Security Area, Thirst), born in Seoul
1966-08-18 Kang Soo-yeon, South Korean actress (The Surrogate Woman, Come Come Come Upward), born in Seoul, South Korea (d. 2022) [1]
1968-08-18 Lee Seung-yeon, South Korean actress, born in Seoul, South Korea
1968-11-01 Park Shin-yang, South Korean actor (The Letter, A Promise), born in Gonghang-dong, Seoul

1969-02-12 Hong Myung-Bo, Korean footballer, born in Seoul, South Korea
1969-12-02 Pavel Loskutov, Estonian long distance athlete (Frankfurt Marathon 1999, 2001; JoongAng Seoul Marathon 2003-04), born in Valka, Latvia
1970-10-08 Soon-Yi Previn, Korean-American actress (Hannah and Her Sisters), born in Seoul, South Korea
1971-01-31 Lee Young Ae, South Korean actress, born in Seoul, South Korea
1971-10-12 Ahn Jae Wook, South Korean actor, composer and singer, born in Donam-dong, Seongbuk District, Seoul, South Korea (d. 1971)
1972-02-21 Seo Taiji [Jeong Hyeon-Cheol], Korean rock-pop and hip-hop musician, singer, and songwriter, born in Seoul, South Korea
1972-07-28 Yeom Jeong-ah, South Korean actress (A Tale of Two Sisters), born in Seoul
1972-08-29 Bae Yong Joon, South Korean actor, born in Seoul, South Korea
1973-02-11 Jeon Do-yeon, Korean actress, born in Seoul, South Korea
1973-09-06 Greg Rusedski, Canadian-British tennis star (1995 Seoul), born in Montreal, Quebec
1973-11-07 Yunjin Kim, South Korean-American actress (Sun-Lost), born in Seoul, South Korea
1974-12-07 Kang Full, South Korean webcomic artist, born in Seoul, South Korea
1975-02-17 Sung-Hee Park, Korean tennis star (1993 Futures-Seoul), born in Pusan, Korea
1976-04-13 Yu Ji-tae, South Korean actor, born in Seoul
1976-05-27 Richard Park, Seoul Kor, NHL center (Pitts Penguins)

1976-10-05 Song Seung-hun, South Korean actor, born in Seoul, South Korea
1977-01-08 Lee Yoo-jin, Korean actress, born in Seoul, South Korea
1977-02-27 Ji Sung, South Korean actor, born in Seoul, South Korea
1977-05-05 Choi Kang-hee, South Korean actress (Sweet Buns), born in Seoul, South Korea
1978-07-09 Linda Park, Korean-born American actress (Stra Trek: Enterprise), born in Seoul, South Korea
1979-02-22 Lee Na-young, South Korean actress, born in Seoul, South Korea
1979-06-27 Kim Gyu-ri, South Korean actress, born in Seoul, South Korea
1979-06-28 Ha Ji-won, South Korean actress (Damo), born in Seoul, South Korea
1979-10-10 Kangta [Ahn Chil Hyun], South Korean lead singer (H.O.T.), born in Seoul, South Korea
1979-10-11 Bae Doona, South Korean model and actress, born in Seoul, South Korea
1980-04-17 Lee Hyun-il, South Korean badminton player, born in Seoul
1980-05-25 Jae Hee, South Korean actor (Sassy Girl Chun-hyang), born in Seoul, South Korea
1980-07-26 Lee Dong-gun, South Korean actor, born in Gangnam District, Seoul
1980-11-02 Kim So-yeon, South Korean actress, born in Seoul, South Korea
1981-10-30 Jun Ji-hyun, South Korean actress (My Sassy Girl), born in Seoul, South Korea

1981-11-06 Lee Dong Wook, South Korean actor, born in Seoul, South Korea
1982-09-25 Hyun Bin, South Korean actor, born in Seoul, South Korea
1983-12-21 Steven Yeun, Korean American actor (The Walking Dead; Minari), born in Seoul, South Korea
1984-02-10 Kim Hyo-jin, South Korean actress, born in Seoul, South Korea
1984-04-19 Lee Da-Hae, South Korean actress (My Girl), born in Seoul, South Korea
1985-01-05 Yoon So-yi, South Korean actress, born in Seoul, South Korea
1985-01-17 Kangin [Kim Young-woon], South Korean singer, dancer, actor and DJ (Super Junior), born in Seoul, South Korea
1985-04-26 Nam Gyu-Ri, Korean singer (member of See Ya), born in Seoul, South Korea
1985-11-23 Ahn Hyun-Soo, South Korean short track skater, born in Seoul, South Korea
1986-01-22 Lee Pa-ni, South Korean model, born in Seoul, South Korea
1986-07-17 Dana, Korean [Hong Sung-mi] South Korean singer and actress (TSZX), born in Seoul, South Korea
1987-02-10 Choi Si Won, Korean singer (Super Junior), born in Seoul, South Korea
1987-08-21 Kibum [Kim Ki-bum], South Korean actor (Rainbow Romance), and pop singer (Super Junior, 2003-06), born in Seoul, South Korea
1987-10-28 Choi Na-yeon, South Korean golfer (US Open 2012), born in Seoul, South Korea
1987-11-04 T.O.P. [Choi Seung-hyun], Korean singer-songwriter (Big Bang) and actor, born in Seoul, South Korea
1988-04-28 Jiyai Shin, South Korean golfer (Women's British Open 2008, 12; US Open 2023 runner-up), born in Seoul, South Korea
1988-06-13 In-Kyung Kim, South Korean golfer (British Open 2017), born in Seoul, South Korea

Inbee Park (36 years old)

1988-07-12 South Korean golfer (7 major titles; US Open 2008, 13), born in Seoul, South Korea

1988-08-18 G-Dragon [Kwon Ji-Yong], Korean rapper (Big Bang), born in Seoul, South Korea
1989-07-28 Amy Yang, South Korean golfer (US Open 2012, 15 runner-up), born in Seoul, South Korea
1990-04-08 Jonghyun [Kim Jong-hyun], South Korean singer-songwriter, radio host, and author (SHINee), born in Jung District, Seoul, South Korea (d. 2017)
1990-06-29 Ryu So-yeon, South Korean golfer (US Open 2011, ANA Inspiration 2017), born in Seoul, South Korea
1993-01-21 Sei Young Kim, South Korean golfer (PGA Women's C'ship 2020; LPGA 72-hole scoring record 257), born in Seoul, South Korea
1993-03-30 Lee Mi-hyang, South Korean golfer (ANA Inspiration 2019 runner-up), born in Seoul, South Korea
1993-09-21 Park Sung-hyun, South Korean golfer, (US Open 2017; Women's PGA C'ship 2018), born in Seoul, South Korea
1995-07-07 Ko Jin-young, South Korean golfer (ANA Inspiration, Evian C'ship 2019), born in Seoul, South Korea
1995-07-14 Kim Hyo-joo, South Korean golfer (Evian C'ship 2014), born in Seoul, South Korea