2003Feb, 18
Nearly 200 people die in the Daegu subway fire in South Korea.
The Daegu subway fire occurred on February 18, 2003, when an arsonist set fire to a train, killing 192 people and injuring 151 others at the Jungangno Station of the Daegu Metropolitan Subway in Daegu, South Korea. The fire had spread across two trains within minutes. It remains the deadliest deliberate loss of life in a single incident in South Korean peacetime history, succeeding the previous record set by a 1982 mass shooting.
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Events on 2003
- 17Mar
2003 invasion of Iraq
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Robin Cook, resigns from the British Cabinet in disagreement with government plans for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. - 7Apr
Saddam Hussein
U.S. troops capture Baghdad; Saddam Hussein's regime falls two days later. - 27Aug
North Korea and weapons of mass destruction
The first six-party talks, involving South and North Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, convene to find a peaceful resolution to the security concerns of the North Korean nuclear weapons program. - 12Sep
Pan Am Flight 103
The United Nations lifts sanctions against Libya after that country agreed to accept responsibility and recompense the families of victims in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. - 12Nov
2003 invasion of Iraq
Iraq War: In Nasiriyah, Iraq, at least 23 people, among them the first Italian casualties of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, are killed in a suicide bomb attack on an Italian police base.