Seoul: In 1902, the missions of Germany, France, and Russia engaged in clandestine discussions at the Russian residence in Seoul. These secret talks focused on strategies to acquire operating rights to Korean railways and mines, amid intense competition from Western countries, China, and Japan seeking to profit from Korea. The historical context underscored Korea's loss of sovereignty to imperial Japan in 1910, which lasted until the country's liberation 35 years later.
According to Yonhap News Agency, another significant event occurred in 1904 when the first group of Koreans emigrated to Hawaii from the western port of Incheon. This group of 120 emigrants left their colonized homeland in search of a better life, primarily working on sugar cane plantations in the U.S. islands. The Korean diaspora expanded significantly in the 1950s, with over 1 million ethnic Koreans now residing in the United States.
In 1944, during World War II, imperial Japan imposed a rice collection order on Korean farmers, compelling them to send their produce to Japan, which was heavily investing in its military. Additionally, brass household items were collected to manufacture weapons, leading many Korean farmers to seek refuge in northeastern China or other regions to sustain their families.
The year 1992 marked a diplomatic milestone when South and North Korea agreed to standardize the Romanization system for the Korean alphabet. In 1994, a significant political dialogue took place when North Korean leader Kim Il-sung met with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter in Pyongyang and agreed to meet his South Korean counterpart. However, Kim Il-sung's death a month later postponed an inter-Korean summit until June 15, 2000.
In 1995, Seoul and Pyongyang held a vice-ministerial meeting in Beijing to discuss South Korea's rice aid to the North. South Korea has been a major provider of food and energy assistance to North Korea. Five years later, in 2005, South Korea's Unification Minister Chung Dong-young met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang during an event marking the fifth anniversary of the inter-Korean summit of June 2000.
In 2012, a collaborative effort between local governments from South Korea and the U.S., along with the Korean American community, resulted in the establishment of a monument in New York state. This monument, located at the Veterans Memorial at Eisenhower Park in Nassau County, honors the Korean women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II.
Finally, in 2020, North Korea announced plans to redeploy troops to the now-closed inter-Korean industrial complex in Kaesong and the Mount Kumgang tourist zone. This decision was in response to anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent across the border by defectors and activists in South Korea. However, the "military action plans" were suspended following a decision by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un a week later.