Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.
Even without a denuclearization deal it appears that President Trump is going to continue to try and keep a friendly relationship with Kim Jong-un:
U.S. President Donald Trump has congratulated North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on his birthday, South Korea’s top presidential security adviser said Friday after returning from his trip to Washington, D.C.
Chung Eui-yong, head of Cheong Wa Dae’s national security office, had a brief meeting with Trump at the White House during the three-day visit.
Trump had some congratulatory words for Kim on the occasion of his Jan. 8 birthday and asked President Moon Jae-in to deliver the message, according to the Cheong Wa Dae official.
“As far as I know, the message was conveyed to North Korea yesterday in an appropriate manner,” Chung told reporters at Incheon International Airport.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
It appears the prosecutors office is trying to quickly seize what evidence they can to support their corruption investigations before the new ROK Justice Minister completely gets it shut down:
Cheong Wa Dae expressed strong regret Friday over state prosecutors’ attempt at what it called a reckless search of the presidential office.
Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office in the morning sent a team of investigators to Cheong Wa Dae with a search warrant for the office of a unit that handles policies related to support for provincial governments.
It was part of an intensive probe into allegations that President Moon’s aides had meddled in the 2018 Ulsan mayor election in which Song Cheol-ho, Moon’s longtime friend, won.
Prosecutors failed to enforce the warrant due to Cheong Wa Dae’s refusal to cooperate.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
Here is a very odd story of a son’s body being used as a bargaining chip for payment by a Seoul hospital:
An Alabama couple was locked in a web of bureaucracy as they fought for a week to retrieve their son’s body after he died Jan. 2 in a South Korean hospital, leaving a $24,000 bill for his care.
Gregory Allen, a 31-year-old civilian employee at the Child Development Center on the Army’s Yongsan Garrison, died during open-heart surgery after he arrived on Dec. 30 at Soon Chun Hyang University hospital in Seoul in a disoriented state.
Allen’s parents flew to Seoul as soon as they heard Gregory had fallen ill and found him on Jan. 1 the intensive care unit. The official cause of death was pulmonary embolism, his parents said.
“We were shocked,” said his father, Leroy Allen Jr., a retired soldier from Madison, Ala., who had served in South Korea.
He and his wife, Margie, had little time to grieve. They said hospital officials handed them the bill and demanded payment before Gregory’s body would be released.
They gave the hospital $3,000 but didn’t have the rest. Gregory Allen’s insurance policy covered 80% of the cost, but it took time to process the claim.
“This was like 3 o’clock in the morning and they’re asking me for $21,000,” Gregory’s father told Stars and Stripes in an interview Tuesday. “Now they’re charging 90,000 won (about $80) every day that he’s sitting in that freezer in that hospital until that $21,000 is paid off.”
Stars & Stripes
You can read more at the link.
Osan Airbase’s A-10 aircraft have just had an upgrade that will allow them to continue to support USFK into the 2030’s:
All but one of nearly two dozen Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs in South Korea have completed wing upgrades that should extend the service life of the close combat support jet well into the 2030s.
The new wings are designed to last up to 10,000 flight hours without a major inspection. The upgrade includes a new wiring harness created for easier wing removal and to reduce the chance of damaging the wing during the process.
“Most of our airplanes [at Osan] have between 9,000 to 12,000 airframe hours. They are old, but this upgrade is helping us to keep going. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of the airplanes go 16,000 hours,” Senior Master Sgt. Dustin Schwartz, lead production superintendent for the 25th Aircraft Maintenance Unit, 51st Fighter Wing, told Stars and Stripes on Wednesday.
Stars & Stripes
You can read more at the link.
It will be interesting to see how domestic streaming companies handle the big global streaming companies entering the Korean market:
The video streaming wars are heating up, as the existing players prepare for new, highly competitive entrants. With Apple and Disney seen coming to Korea in a serious way, Netflix, Wavve and Watcha are digging in and consolidating their positions.
Since Monday, homegrown Wavve has been charging new users to its streaming service only 100 won (9 cents) for the first month. This comes just after a recent offer of 4,000 won for the first three months. Wavve is a joint video-on-demand platform of three terrestrial broadcasters, KBS, MBC and SBS.
Netflix will partner with local production houses to increase Korean-language content, while other competitors are beefing up their offerings and providing cinema-level viewing experiences at home.
Joong Ang Ilbo
You can read more at the link.
