Members of South Korea’s conservative civic groups rally in Seoul on Feb. 11, 2016, to condemn North Korea for launching a long-range rocket, a move widely believed to be a de facto test-firing of a long-range ballistic missile. (Yonhap)
A U.S. veteran of the 1950-53 Korean War views a stone monument listing those killed in the conflict during a visit to the War Memorial of Korea in Seoul’s Yongsan Ward on Feb. 2, 2016. He is part of a group of 40 people comprising veterans affiliated with the California National Guard’s 40th Infantry Division and their families. During the three-year conflict, the veterans helped build Gapyeong High School in Gapyeong, northeast of Seoul. (Yonhap)
This image, captured on Feb. 7, 2016 from the North’s Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station, shows a document signed the previous day by the country’s leader Kim Jong-un authorizing the launch of the “Kwangmyongsong-4” satellite. North Korea said in a special broadcast it has succeeded in placing the satellite into orbit. The rocket launch is widely viewed as a disguised ballistic missile test. (Yonhap)
A Japanese macaque, also known as a snow monkey because it lives where it snows for several months every year, takes a moment of relief from a cold snap in a man-made spa at the Everland Resort zoo in Yongin, south of Seoul, on Feb. 1, 2016. The subzero weather returned over the weekend after a brief break from record-setting freezing weather in late January. (Yonhap)
A water tank on the rooftop of a residential building in Suwon, south of Seoul, was found partially destroyed on Feb. 2, 2016, after what police say was a heavy bundle of propaganda leaflets from North Korea fell on it. Police said they retrieved some 30,000 leaflets that criticized the South Korean president and extolled the North’s recent nuclear test. Pyongyang has been sending propaganda material across the border after Seoul, in retaliation against the Jan. 6 nuclear detonation, resumed anti-North broadcasts though border loudspeakers. (Photo provided by the Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency) (Yonhap)
Seen above is one of the photos of South Korean actress Lee Young-ae published by local magazine JLook in its February edition. Lee remains a top celebrity of “hallyu,” or Korean pop culture, after rising to her starring role in the 2004 megahit drama “Daejanggeum” that gained Asia-wide fame. Lee, who does not make many public appearances, is coming back after a 10-year hiatus from marriage and rearing twins in the new drama “Saimdang, the Herstory,” which will air simultaneously in South Korea and China in the second half of this year. (Photo provided by JLook) (Yonhap)
Maj. Gen. Thomas Vandal (R), the new commander of the U.S. Eighth Army, and his predecessor Lt. Gen. Bernard Champoux (C) walk alongside Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, U.S. Forces Korea commander, during a ceremony at Seoul’s Yongsan Garrison on Feb. 2, 2016, to mark his inauguration and the predecessor’s departure. (Yonhap)
A threat memo found at Incheon International Airport, released by the police on Jan. 31, 2016, says in Arabic, “This is the last warning to you. God will punish.” The memo was found on Jan. 29 at the airport, the country’s main gateway, west of Seoul, inside a box that initially was suspected of carrying explosives. It was later found to hold two butane canisters taped to a water bottle. The memo was printed and had grammatical errors, according to the police. (Photo provided by the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency) (Yonhap)
South Korean and U.S. marines run through a snow-covered field carrying each other over their shoulders at a mountain training center in Pyeongchang, east of Seoul, on Jan. 28, 2016. The marines from the two countries conducted the joint drill, set in extreme cold winter conditions, to enhance their combined military capability. The U.S. maintains about 28,500 troops in South Korea as a deterrent against North Korea after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. (Yonhap)
The house shown in the photo, owned by Lee Myung-hee, chief of the Shinsegae Group, is the most expensive “standard” private home in the country, according to the appraisal released by the land ministry on Jan. 28, 2016. Standard houses are selected samples whose prices serve as the basis against which other houses are appraised. The official price of Lee’s house, with 2,861.83-square-meter floor space that sits on 1,758.9 square meters of land in central Seoul, was valued at 12.9 bilion won (US$10.7 million). Lee is the daughter of Lee Byung-chull, the founder of Samsung Group, and the younger sister of Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee. (Yonhap)
