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)

I had a feeling this was a hoax and sure enough it was:

Police have apprehended a suspect who allegedly planted a fake explosive device with a threatening letter written in Arabic at Incheon International Airport.

The Incheon International Airport Police said Thursday that they detained the 36-year-old Korean man, surnamed Yu, at 11:30 p.m., Wednesday, at his home in Guro, Seoul.

The action came five days after he left the package containing a butane gas canister in a men’s bathroom at the airport on Jan. 29.

“Yu admitted that he made the box at home based on methods described in a film, and left it in the restroom,” Chung Sung-chae, head of the airport police, said in a press briefing. “He said he did so out of a grudge toward society.” [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

The horrible crime where parents in Bucheon killed and dismembered their 7-year old son led to a nationwide investigation of kids who stopped attending school.  This investigation caused police to uncover another horrible crime:

The mummified body of a girl who stopped attending middle school more than 10 months ago was discovered by police in a room surrounded by air fresheners Wednesday.

The Bucheon Sosa Police Precinct on Wednesday arrested the girl’s parents on suspicions of child abuse and murder. Under questioning, the father, a 47-year-old pastor surnamed Lee, admitted to beating the 13-year-old for five hours with a broomstick on March 17 last year. He and the stepmother, surnamed Baek, later found the daughter dead, covered her in blankets and kept the body inside their house for over 10 months.

Baek’s 39-year-old younger sister was also arrested Wednesday on suspected abuse charges.

The girl did not get along with her stepmother, aged 40, and lived with her step-aunt starting in 2012. She ran away from the step-aunt’s home on March 15 last year and called on a former elementary school teacher. The teacher brought her to her parents.

“I asked her why she had run away from her aunt’s home, hit her with a broomstick and a drying rack to discipline her, and told her to go to sleep,” Lee told police in the first round of questioning. “I took a nap in another room and woke up to find her dead.”

Lee and Baek refused to provide a statement on why they kept the body in a room in the house for nearly a year.

The discovery was the result of an ongoing police investigation of 220 children who have been missing from school for unknown reasons. The investigation was sparked by the case of an 11-year-old girl who had been held captive by her parents and starved for two years in Incheon last December. Police have already discovered another grisly find: the remains of a 7-year-old boy were found in his parents’ freezer years after he had stopped attending school. That incident also occurred in Bucheon, Gyeonggi.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

https://twitter.com/W7VOA/status/694541365074472960

Independent lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo speaks after being elected to jointly lead the People’s Party, a breakaway group from the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, with his ally Chun Jung-bae at a convention to mark the launch of the new party in the central city of Daejeon on Feb. 2, 2016. (Yonhap)

It would not be surprising if this facility is in fact being built to manufacture hydrogen bomb ingredients considering the Kim regime’s state goal of building a hydrogen bomb.  With that said I think the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) may want to get a different acronym to describe themselves with:

North Korea is forging ahead with construction of a new nuclear facility believed to be designed to separate isotopes from spent fuel, such as tritium, a key ingredient for hydrogen bombs, a U.S. research institute said.

The Institute for Science and International Security said in a report released Monday that satellite imagery taken on Jan. 25 of the North’s Yongbyon nuclear complex shows “external construction signatures” at the new facility site, such as vehicles, construction material, and earth displacement activities.

“The precise purpose of this site remains unknown. However, it is of interest because the signatures visible through a historical analysis of satellite imagery are consistent with an isotope separation facility, including tritium separation,” ISIS said.

“This assessment is shared not only by an expert ISIS consulted but also by a government expert we consulted who has long experience in assessing activities at the Yongbyon site,” it said.

In September, ISIS first raised the possibility that the new facility could be an isotope separation plant.

If confirmed as such, the facility would separate isotopes from spent nuclear fuel rods from the 5-megawatt reactor, the North’s main plutonium-producing reactor, the institute said at the time. Though the reactor is not an ideal producer of isotopes, it can be used in that way, it added.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

The President of the Korean state run English channel Arirang TV appears to have been enjoying some lavish meals on the Korean taxpayer’s dime:

The president of the state-run English broadcaster Arirang TV was accused Monday of fiddling his expenses on an overseas trip, including a lavish caviar meal.

Rep. Choi Min-hee of the main opposition Minjoo Party said Bang Suk-ho, president of Arirang TV, used a corporate credit card to pay for personal expenses during a business trip to New York City last September. Bang traveled to the United States to cover President Park Geun-hye’s address at the United Nations General Assembly, which Arirang aired live.

According to Choi’s office, Bang spent $930 at a restaurant specializing in caviar in New York City on Sept. 24, the first day of his trip, and later expensed the meal, saying it was a meeting with the head of the Korean Cultural Service in New York City.

On Sept. 27, 2015, Bang visited the Woodbury Common Premium Outlets shopping mall in Central Valley, New York, and used his corporate credit card for food. He expensed that meal saying that it was a meeting with Seo Sok-min, an official at the United Nations headquarters.

According to the Kyunghyang Shinmun newspaper, both officials denied sharing meals with Bang or even meeting him.

Arirang TV said Monday that Bang did not misappropriate corporate money during his New York City trip, but mistakes were made when the expenses were filed. [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the Chinese are attempting to stop the expected North Korean rocket launch by sending an envoy to North Korea which was likely prompted by reports that the ROK was considering deploying the THAAD missile defense system to Korea:

China’s top nuclear envoy made a surprise visit to North Korea on Tuesday, a news report said, amid rising tensions over the North’s fourth nuclear test last month.

Wu Dawei, China’s top delegate to the long-stalled six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program, flew into Pyongyang in the afternoon, Japan’s Kyodo News agency reported.

China is currently under international pressure to exert its leverage on North Korea to make sure Pyongyang ends its nuclear program.

Wu is expected to meet with North Korean officials over the Jan. 6 nuclear test, which Pyongyang claims was a successful detonation of a hydrogen bomb.

The test has raised security tensions in the region to a new high, with the U.N. Security Council pushing to adopt another sanctions resolution against Pyongyang.

South Korea appears to be inching closer to introducing an advanced U.S. missile defense system to counter the threats posed by North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Seems #NorthKorea satellite launch brewing for Kim Jong Il's bday. ITU notification submitted. Here we go

— Jenny Town (@j3nnyt0wn) February 2, 2016

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)