• 1979

    • - 1st issue of the quarterly magazine Seonmisul
    • - 1st auction of Korean Modern Art
    • - Art Method of the four Korean Artists Exhibition
    • - Korean Modern Art: 1950s Western Paintings Exhibition
    • - Korea Arts and Culture Education Service opened Arko Art Center
    • - Invitational Exhibition for 14 Korean Artists
    • - Korean Art: Today’s Method 1 Exhibition

    • - Shin Sun-ho of the Yulsan Group was brought into custody.
    • - US President Carter visited Korea.
    • - Oil shock: a 50 percent increase in oil product prices
    • - Female workers of YH went on strike at the New Democratic Party headquarters.
    • - Kim Young-sam, the president of the New Democratic Party, was expelled from the National Assembly.
    • - The incident of the South Korean National Liberation Front Preparation Committee was disclosed.
    • - Public demonstration against dictatorship in Busan and Masan
    • - President Park was assassinated by Kim Jae-gyu.
    • - The Coup d’état of December 12
    • - Choi Kyu-hah was inaugurated as the 10th President.

    • - US and China established a diplomatic relationship.
    • - The CD was invented.

  • 1978

    • - The Dong-A Art Festival established the JungAng Fine Arts Prize.
    • - 20 Years of Korean Art Exhibition
      • Exhibition of Beji Performance with Gloves Korean
    • - Contemporary Ceramics Exhibition
    • - Invitational Exhibition of 10 Asian-style painters
    • Invitational Exhibition of Park Rea-hyun
    • - Korean traditional ink painter No Su-hyon died.
    • - Actress Choi Eun-hee went missing in Hong Kong.
    • - Parliamentary Election of the 2nd National Council for Unification
    • - The only candidate President Park Chung-hee was reelected as president.
    • - Opening of Sejong Center for the Performing Arts Establishment of the Academy of Korean Studies.

    • - Annie Hall by Woody Allen
    • - Treaty of Amity between Vietnam and the Soviet Union.

  • 1977

    • - Touring Exhibition of Korean Painting in Europe
    • - First issue of the Korean Art Annual
    • - Foundation of the Korean Figurative Sculpture Association
    • - Three Dimension of 10 Artists Exhibition
    • - 1st Exhibition of 11 Artists with Different Methods
    • - 1st Exhibition of Point
    • - 1st issue of the Monthly magazine Misulgwa Saenghwal (Art and Life)
    • - Huh Baek-ryun died.
    • - Korea’s first nuclear reactor, Gori nuclear reactor No. 1, began operation.
    • - A train carrying gunpowder exploded at Iri Station.
    • - Korea’s exports reached USD10 billion.
    • - Ko Sang-don reached the summit of Mt. Everest.
    • - Winter Woman and Rocky were box-office hits.
    • - Tokens began to be used for buses.

    • - Charlie Chaplin died.

  • 1976

    • - 1st issue of the Gyegganmisul (Quarterly Art Magazine)
    • - Foundation of Galleries Association of Korea
    • - Invitational Exhibition of Eight Contemporary Artists
    • - Exhibition of Four Artists’ Event
    • - Guche Duo Exhibition
    • - Death of painters Park Rae-hyun and Byun Kwan-sik
    • - March 1 Statement for Democracy & National Salvation at the mass to celebrate the March
    • - Liberation Movement at Myeong-dong Cathedral
    • - Axe murder incident in the Korean Demilitarized Zone (Panmunjom)
    • - Discovery of Chinese merchant ship from the 14th Century in the sea near Shinan, Jeollanam-do.
    • - Wrestler Yang Jung-Mo won the gold medal at the Olympics Games in Montreal.
    • - 54 celebrities who smoked marijuana were banned on broadcasting.

    • - First flight of the Concorde passenger jet
    • - Zhou Enlai died.

  • 1975

    • - 1st exhibition of Ecole de Seoul was held.
    • - 75 Kkarimic Exhibition
    • - 1st Seoul Contemporary Art Festival
    • - 1st issue of Hanguk-misul (Art of Korea)
    • - Exhibition of Sculptor Jeon Loi-jin
    • - Commemorative exhibition of the 10th anniversary of Park Soo geun’s death
    • - Kim Whan-ki Retrospective
    • - National vote on the Yushin Constitution
    • - Emergency Measures No. 9 to allow arrests without a warrant.
    • - The suspicious death of Chang Chun-ha, a Korean independence and democracy activist
    • - Private broadcasting companies banned pop songs & improved late night shows.
    • - Yuh Jae-doo became the WBA champion.
    • - Korean pop songs Wae Bulloe (Why Do You Call Me?) and Bulkkot (Flame) were banned.
    • - Smokers of imported cigarettes were faced with imprisonment for up to 10 years.
    • - Death of film director Lee Man-hee and actors Yoo Bong-chun and Huh Jang-gang.

  • 1974

    • - Magazine Hyundae-misul (Contemporary Art) published its first issue.
    • - Korea Young Artists Association was founded.
    • - Launching of Chyeongnyeonmisul (Young Arts)
    • - AG held 1st Seoul Biennale
    • - AG was dissolved.
    • - Inaugural Exhibition of Seoul 70, a group of painters and sculptors who graduated from Seoul National University
    • - 1st Daegu Contemporary Art Festival
    • - Foundation & the 1st exhibition of the Korea New Art Group
    • - Special Exhibition of Picasso at Deoksugung Palace
    • - Kim Whan-ki died.
    • - Emergency Measures (No. 1 to No. 4)
    • - Arrest of students attached to Minchunghakryun(National Federation of Democratic Youth-Students)
    • - Seoul Metropolitan Subway Line 1 began operation.
    • - An assassination attempt by Mun Se-gwang on the President resulted in the death of First Lady.
    • - The New Democratic Party held a temporary party convention and elected Kim Young-sam as the head of the party.
    • - Universities in Korea were closed due to a demonstration against the government.

    • - Nixon resigned.
    • - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was deported.

  • 1973

    • - Korea Modern Art from 1957-1972 Exhibition
    • - The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art was moved to Deoksugung Palace.
    • - The 3rd Group Exhibition
    • - Korea Contemporary Art Joint Exhibition (Sigonghoe, Origin and the Korea Contemporary Sculptors Association)
    • - 100 Active Korean Artists Exhibition
    • - Sculptor Kwon Jin-kyu committed suicide.
    • - Establishment of the Korean Broadcasting System(KBS)
    • - Korean troops left Vietnam.
    • - June 23 Statement by Park Chung-hee
    • - POSCO was established.
    • - Kim Dae-jung was kidnapped.
    • - Oil crisis, ban on delux cars
    • - A team led by Lee Ailesa won at the World Table Tennis Championships.

    • - The Suez Crisis broke out.

  • 1972

    • - 60 Years of Korea Modern Art Exhibition
    • - 1st Esprit Exhibition
    • - 1st Exhibition of Salon des Indépendants
    • - Inaugural Exhibition of the Visual Information Design Association of Korea
    • - 1st Korea-Japan International Art Exchange Exhibition
    • - Painter Lee Sang-beom died.
    • - Korea Branch of Amnesty International
    • - The July 4 North-South Joint Statement was announced.
    • - The North and South Korean representative of North-South Red Cross Conference visited Seoul and Pyeongyang.
    • - The October Yushin Constitution. Emergency martial law was imposed across South Korea.
    • - A national vote on constitutional amendment
    • - Park Chung-hee became the 8th President and constitutional amendment was passed illegally.
    • - Jikji, the world’s oldest extant book printed with Goryeo movable metal type, was found in Paris.

    • - The Watergate Affair
    • - Munich Massacre

  • 1971

    • - Exhibition of 6 Masters of Korean Painting
    • - Inaugural Exhibitinon of Space & Time (ST)
    • - AG 71 Exhibition
    • - 1st Pyohyun Group (Expressionists) exhibition
    • - 1st Korea Contemporary Print Competition
    • - Korean artists participated in the Triennale-India
    • - The groundbreaking of Yeouido 5.16 Plaza
    • - Park Chung-hee won the 7th presidential election.
    • - The 8th General Election was held.
    • - Reunions for displaced families on Korean Peninsula was proposed by the Korean Red Cross.
    • - A riot by special unit of soldiers on Silmido Island
    • - The Garrison Act was imposed around Seoul, and the leader of a student demonstration was expelled.
    • - The Royal Tomb of King Muryeong was discovered.

    • - The Nixon Doctrine
    • - Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev died.

  • 1970

    • - 1st National Art Competition (Kim Whan-ki won the Grand Prize)
    • - 1st Seoul International Printing Biennale
    • - 1st Exhibition of Shincheje (New System)
    • - The 4th Group was formed.
    • - The Korea Design & Packaging Center was established.
    • - 1st AG Exhibition
    • - 1st Group-X Exhibition
    • - Painter Lee Bong-sang died.
    • - The Wawoo Apartment collapsed.
    • - The Saemaul Undong (New Community Movement) started.
    • - The Gyeongbu Expressway began operation.
    • - The August 15 declaration on the unification of South and North Korea was announced.
    • - The New Democratic Party designated Kim Dae-jung as a presidential candidate.
    • - Jeon Tae-il from the Cheonggye Clothing Labor Union committed suicide by self-immolationat the age of 22 in protest of the poor working conditions in South Korean factories.
    • - The government complex was completed.
    • - A trial was conducted regarding the imprisonment of Kim Ji-ha, who wrote Ojeok (Five Bandits) to criticize the government.
    • - The zip code system started.
    • - Assassination of Jeong Insuk
  •               Arts
  •           Social and cultural events
  •        Abroad

This content was originally published in Korean in the special feature of Wolganmisool Vol. 367 (August 2015) and with their Kind permission is translated and published by KAMS.

Recently Search Word