I wonder if the jets have “Dokdo is Our Land” painted on the side of them 😉  :

Six South Korean F-16 jet fighters have made an emergency landing at a U.S. military base in Tokyo after a refueling aircraft malfunctioned, U.S. Forces Japan officials said Thursday.

U.S. Forces Japan spokesman Air Force Lt. Col. Kenneth Hoffman said the aircraft are headed to Alaska to participate in the annual Red Flag exercise.

The emergency landing was forced by “a mechanical issue with an air-to-air refueler that was scheduled to support their movement,” Hoffman said.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

This AP article stresses what I have been saying for years, that the Kim regime is not crazy or suicidal, but rather quite rational in regards to their pursuit of ICBMs and nuclear weapons:

Early one winter morning, Kim Jong Un stood at a remote observation post overlooking a valley of rice paddies near the Chinese border.

The North Korean leader beamed with delight as he watched four extended range Scud missiles roar off their mobile launchers, comparing the sight to a team of acrobats performing in unison. Minutes later the projectiles splashed into the sea off the Japanese coast, 620 miles from where he was standing.

It was an unprecedented event. North Korea had just run its first simulated nuclear attack on an American military base.

This scene from March 6, described in government propaganda, shows how the North’s seemingly crazy, suicidal nuclear program “. Rather, this is North Korea’s very deliberate strategy to ensure the survival of its ruling regime.

Back in the days of Kim Il Sung, North Korea’s “eternal president” and Kim Jong Un’s grandfather, the ruling regime decided it needed two things to survive: reliable, long-range missiles and small, but potent, nuclear warheads. For a small and relatively poor country, that was, indeed, a distant and ambitious goal. But it detonated its first nuclear device on Oct. 9, 2006.

Today, North Korea is testing advanced ballistic missiles faster than ever — a record 24 last year and three in just the past month. With each missile and each nuclear device, it becomes a better equipped, better trained and better prepared adversary. Some experts believe it might be able to build a missile advanced enough to reach the United States’ mainland with a nuclear warhead in two to three years.  [Associated Press]

You can read more at the link, including the scenarios that anyone against developing missile defense systems needs to consider.

Mt. Surak is the large mountain that rises above Camp Stanley.  This fire though appears to be burning on the northern Seoul area of the mountain opposite from the camp:

A big fire broke out on Mount Surak in northern Seoul Thursday, firefighters said, with no casualties having been reported so far.

Firefighters said they were struggling to contain the fire that started at around 9:08 p.m., with a long ribbon of fire forming near the top of a ridge.

The exact cause of the wind-fed forest fire is not yet known, but the size of the blaze is quite large, they added.   [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

This is playing out like I expected, the Moon Jae-in administration will make protests and complaints domestically to appease their base that was against the THAAD deployment, but ultimately will not change it and just blame the last administration for deploying it:

President Moon Jae-in said Wednesday South Korea’s ongoing probe of the delivery of a U.S. missile defense system is not intended to reverse its deployment agreement between the two countries but to conduct it with appropriate domestic procedures, according to the presidential office.

Moon ordered a probe on Tuesday into the “undisclosed” delivery of four additional launchers of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system after the defense ministry failed to report it to the presidential policy advisory panel in a recent briefing.

During a meeting with visiting U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, he said South Korea will continue to host the THAAD under the correct domestic procedures.

“Procedures over THAAD are entirely domestic ones; we do not intend to change the existing decision or send a different message to the U.S.,” Moon told Durbin at the presidential office, according to presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Kazakh Leaps to Death from New Flyover Park https://t.co/pFBQI7HOBq pic.twitter.com/szMLP3i8pM

— The Chosun Ilbo (@EnglishChosun) May 31, 2017

This photo, taken on May 30, 2017, shows a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) launcher installed upright at a golf course in Seongju, about 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul. On the same day, President Moon Jae-in ordered a special probe into what the presidential office called the secret or undisclosed entry of four THAAD launchers into the country under the missile defense system deployed here. (Yonhap)

Look who is finally back home:

The daughter of former President Park Geun-hye’s close friend involved in a corruption scandal returned to South Korea on Wednesday after she was extradited from Denmark where she was in custody for five months.

Chung Yoo-ra, the 21-year-old daughter of Choi Soon-sil, arrived at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, at around 2:40 p.m. She was arrested by local authorities on a flight from Amsterdam where she transferred.

She denied any knowledge of the allegations against her, including inappropriate academic favors and financial support, during a brief news conference at a security area at the airport.

“I don’t know anything about what happened between my mother and the former president but on my personal level, I feel that it is unfair,” she said.

“(People) say that I received all this special treatment, but there isn’t much that I know,” she said. “I keep trying to put the puzzle pieces together, but it does not work all the time.”  [Yonhap]

Here is my favorite line from her interview with the media:

Regarding the university’s decision to revoke her admission, Chung said she “understandably accepts” it.

“I don’t even know what my major is and I never really wanted to go to university, so I don’t have much to say about the nullification of admission,” she said.

It seems the school is really the one at fault here not Chung.  If they were willing to let in Chung based on who her mom is that is the university’s problem.  As far as the alleged criminal activity her mom is accused of I have yet to see any evidence that Chung was in on it.  This all seems like a show to parade her around to the public in handcuffs.  I would not be surprised if later she is quietly released after the media attention dies down.

I think it is important to remember these tests are in a highly controlled environment, but I think without a doubt it does increase confidence in the only system the US currently has to defend against the North Korean ICBM threat:

The Pentagon announced that the United States on Tuesday tested for the first time its intercontinental ballistic missile defense system, a system designed to foil the types of missiles Kim Jong-un and North Korea have been looking to develop.

According to Reuters, the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) interceptor test took place today at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The test was a success.

“We improve and learn from each test, regardless of the outcome. That’s the reason we conduct them,” Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said Tuesday. “The system that we test today is a developmental system that’s being flown for the first time and we look forward to understanding the results so we continue to mature the system and stay ahead of the threat.”

I have been watching Korean movies for many years and enjoy the storylines that are often very different than what is typically seen in Hollywood movies.  In an effort to help readers who may have not seen many Korean movies, the below list is my attempt to help identify the best ones to watch.  I am sure there are other great movies that I have missed, please share your recommendations in the comments section.

1. The Taebaek Mountains (1994): This film directed by one of Korea’s most famous directors, Im Kwon-taek, skillfully shows how the differing ideologies before and during the Korean War impacted a small Korean village.  This movie was released all the way back in 1994 and it is still the best movie about the Korean War and in the best Korean movie that I have seen yet.

2. Memories of Murder (2003): This movie is based on the true story about how a serial killer murdered young Korean women in the rural city of Hwaseong from 1986-1991.  The movie follows a bumbling lead detective played by the famed Korean actor Song Kang-ho as he teams with an experienced Seoul detective to track down the killer.  This movie is in my opinion the best crime and thriller movie ever released by South Korea.

3. The Man From Nowhere (2010):  An ex-ROK Special Forces member is living a quiet life as a pawn shop owner in Seoul when a child he befriends is kidnapped by gangsters.  The kidnapping unwittingly draws the man played by the popular young actor Won Bin into a conflict with the gangsters in this fast paced movie that is arguably Korea’s best action movie.

4. Castaway On The Mooon (2009): This movie is my favorite Korean comedy.  It is about a suicidal man who decides to become a castaway on Bamseom island in the middle of the Han River that runs through Seoul.  He ultimately ends up falling in love with an agoraphobic woman who is addicted to Cyworld, which is an early Korean version of Facebook.

5. Lady Vengeance (2005): This film directed by the famed Park Won-chook is part of his vengeance trilogy that includes another one of my favorite movies, Old Boy.  Famed actress Lee Young-ae known for her sweet drama roles takes on a completely different character as a woman consumed with revenge after being jailed for 13-years for a murder she did not commit.  I actually liked this film better than Old Boy, but both are fantastic movies.

6. Old Boy (2003): This thriller may be the most well known Korean movie with western audiences and for good reason due to its many plot turns that keeps people guessing.  The movie directed by the famed Park Chan-wook, features a man being kidnapped and imprisoned in a hotel room cell for 15 years before being mysteriously released.  After being released the man tries to figure out who imprisoned him and why?  With all the plot turns, this is a movie that needs to be watched twice to really appreciate everything going on.

7. Seopyeonje (1993): This old movie is another classic film directed by Im Kwon-taek. The movie follows the lives of a family of traditional folk music singers known as “pansori” as they try to make a living in the modern world. The movie is beautifully filmed and heartbreaking to see the suffering that one woman goes through to become a great pansori singer.

8. Shiri (1999): This older action flick is arguably the first movie that caught the eye of western audiences.  This was because Shiri was filmed with a Hollywood like budget and action style that western audience were familiar with.  This fast paced movie is about an investigator trying to hunt down a female North Korean sleeper agent within South Korea.  The hunt leads to exposing a massive terrorism plot that the investigator tries to stop.

9. My Sassy Girl (2001): This is one of the funniest South Korean comedies I have seen.  It is about a boy who meets a drunken girl at a subway platform.  The two eventually begin dating, but the girl’s bizarre behavior proves to be very challenging at keeping the relationship together.

10. JSA: Joint Security Agency (2000): Three of South Korea’s most well known movie stars, Lee Young-ae, Song Kang-ho, and Lee Byung-hun star in this tensioned filled movie about a Swiss military investigator sent to Panmunjom to investigate the killing of two North Korean soldiers by a ROK Army private stationed on Korea’s Demilitarized Zone.

11. Marathon(2005):  South Korean movies are well known for being tear jerkers and this movie is one of the best.  The movie is about the real life story of Bae Hyeong-jin, an autistic boy who’s odd behavior growing up was very challenging for his mother who never gave up on him.  Bae would ultimately find solace in running.  He became a good enough runner that his mom pushed him to meet the goal of running a marathon in under 3 hours.

12. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring (2003): This movie is one of the most beautifully filmed Korean movies I have seen.  The movie is about a Buddhist monk that lives in a monastery that floats on a lake.  The film shows the seasons of life that the monk lived through from childhood to old age to reach the point in life where he found himself floating on a lake.

13. Tae Guk Gi – The Brotherhood of War (2004): This war movie is known as Korea’s “Saving Private Ryan”. Much of the filming techniques used in the movie are similar to Spielberg’s style. However, the plots of the two movies are very different since Taeguki follows the story of how two brothers end up fighting against each other during the Korean War.

14 Attack the Gas Station (1999): This older Korean comedy is about gang of unemployed young punks who out of boredom decide to rob a gas station and hold its owner and employees hostage after finding little money to steal.  The inept punks decide they can make more money by selling people gas instead. As the thugs sell gas they meet many different types of customers, some good and some bad, but their ineptness running a gas station soon gets them into more trouble and a lot of laughs along the way.

15. Silmido (2003): Probably the most incredible thing about this Korean action film is that the events depicted in it actually happened.  The movie depicts how a commando unit of ex-cons were brutally trained to infiltrate North Korea and kill Kim Il-sung.  However, before they can be sent to execute their mission peace talks between the two countries begin and the commandoes are left imprisoned on Silmido island.  Tired of being imprisoned they decide to escape their island prison and launch a battle through the streets of Seoul in 1971.

16. Northern Limit Line (2015): This movie shows the tragic events leading up to and during the 2nd Battle of Yeonpyeong where six ROK sailors were killed and 18 more wounded by an North Korean ambush across the maritime border between the two countries known as the Northern Limit Line. The movie does not get into the post-incident politics of this ambush which were nearly as disgraceful as the attack itself.

17. Chunhyang (2000): This is yet another Im Kwon-taek film on my list. This movie is based on an old Korean folk tale from 18th century Korea about a girl named Chunhyang who secretly marries the son of a regional governor. Her husband leaves for Seoul with his dad and the new governor wants Chunhyang for himself. She refuses his advances and is imprisoned and flogged by the governor. The movie is told through the traditional pansori folk music technique which really adds to the drama of the movie.

18. Silenced (2011): This is another movie based on real life events when students at the Gwangju Inhwa School for the hearing-impaired were victims of repeated sexual assaults by the faculty.  The film depicts how the Korean court process victimized the abused children all over again.  A disturbing movie made even more disturbing by the fact it really did happen.

19. Mother (2009): This movie is about how a Korean mother fights to prove that her mentally challenged son is innocent of murdering a young girl. The movie is very well acted and like many Korean movies of this genre it has a plot twist at the end.

20. The Chaser (2008): This thriller is loosely based on the real life Korean serial killer Yoo Young-chul.  The movie follows how an ex-detective turned pimp tries to track down the person who has last seen his missing prostitutes.  If anyone is wondering a group of pimps in real life really did track down the serial killer since the cops put little effort into the case.  Note that this movie is extremely violent and bloody so it may not be for everyone.

Moon Jae-in begins long, arduous task of rebuilding the Sunsh … and never mind. https://t.co/thOeOUA539

— Joshua Stanton (@freekorea_us) May 30, 2017