This is nothing new because both countries have conducted these joint flights before, but still this is not a very neighborly thing to do threatening your neighbors like this:

Two Chinese and six Russian warplanes entered South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) without notice Wednesday, prompting the Air Force to scramble fighters to the scene, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

The planes’ entry into the KADIZ came as South Korea is pushing to strengthen its alliance with the United States amid an intensifying Sino-U.S. rivalry, while maintaining its opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The JCS said the warplanes flew across the KADIZ but did not violate South Korea’s territorial air.

At 5:48 a.m., two Chinese H-6 bombers flew into the KADIZ from an area 126 kilometers northwest of Ieo Islet, a submerged rock south of the southern island of Jeju, and they left the KADIZ at 6:13 a.m.

At 6:44 a.m., the bombers reentered the KADIZ from an area northeast of South Korea’s southern port city of Pohang and exited the zone at 7:07 a.m.

Then six Russian aircraft — four TU-95 bombers and two SU-35 fighters — as well as two Chinese H-6 bombers flew into the KADIZ from an area 200 km northeast of the South’s Ulleung Island at 12:18 p.m. and exited the zone at 12:36 p.m.

The two countries appeared to have engaged in a combined air exercise, observers said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This horrible woman will hopefully face justice in New Zealand for allegedly killing her two kids:

A 42-year-old woman, who is suspected of killing her two children, has been extradited to New Zealand. 

According to the Ministry of Justice, Tuesday, the woman, surnamed Lee, is a New Zealand citizen of Korean descent and was handed over along with evidence to the New Zealand authorities the previous day at Incheon International Airport.

The woman came into the spotlight in August after a family in Auckland found the bodies of a 10-year-old girl and a seven-year-old boy in two suitcases they purchased with other “abandoned goods” at an online auction. Police believe that the bodies had been kept there for several years.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Here is a very cool event that the ROK Air Force is participating in:

The Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) will participate in a humanitarian airlift mission of the U.S. Air Force (USAF), the military branch said, Tuesday. 

According to the ROKAF, a C-130 transport aircraft and some 30 pilots and crewmembers of the 15th Special Missions Wing departed earlier in the day for Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, where the U.S. Pacific Air Forces will host Operation Christmas Drop from Dec. 4 to 9. 

Operation Christmas Drop is an annual USAF tradition of packaging and delivering food, supplies, educational materials and toys for delivery to more than 55 remote islands in the South-East Pacific. The ROKAF has participated in the humanitarian mission since last year at the invitation of the USAF. 

“The Korean Air Force will deliver food, medicine and other items necessary for survival to people of more than 10 islands in the Micronesia region,” Air Force Col. Choi Youn-seok said. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

I mean really what is South Korea going to do in response to a nuclear test that hasn’t already been done in the past? The only thing I see getting the Kim regime’s attention and more importantly President Emperor Xi’s attention, is if the ROK develops their own nuclear capability, which I doubt the U.S. will support. That leaves the ROK with its usual response options of show of forces which has not deterred the North Koreans:

President Yoon Suk-yeol said any new nuclear test by North Korea will be met with an international response “not seen in the past” and called on China to play a greater role to deter the North’s provocations.

Yoon made the remarks in an interview with Reuters, released Tuesday, amid growing concerns the North could conduct its seventh nuclear test after a series of recent missile launches.

Should the North forge ahead with a test, Yoon vowed a response “not seen in the past” by South Korea and its partners.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

2045 is a long ways off so I will believe it when I see it, however I do agree the space economy will be the next big economic driver for those who have the technology to access it:

Korea will launch a space mission to Mars no later than 2045, according to a roadmap for the nation’s space mission unveiled by President Yoon Suk-yeol on Monday. 

“A country having a space mission will lead the world economy and be able to resolve challenges human beings are facing,” Yoon said during an event to announce the country’s roadmap for the space economy at the JW Marriot Hotel in Seoul.

The space economy refers to the economy beyond our planet, including exploring deep space, extracting resources that are rare on Earth and developing technologies necessary for space exploration.

“The dream of becoming a powerhouse in space is not distant. It will be an opportunity and hope for children and the youth,” he added.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This poll seems pretty biased when people who face losing their jobs are being surveyed:

More than 83 percent of unionized civil servants support punishing and sacking Interior Minister Lee Sang-min for the bungled emergency response to the deadly crowd crush in Seoul’s neighborhood, their union said Monday.

The results came in a poll conducted among members of the Korean Government Employees’ Union from Tuesday through Thursday, asking civil servants to rate the Yoon Suk-yeol government’s policies in a seven-point questionnaire. About 38,000 of the union’s 120,000 took part in the survey.

Of those who responded, 83.4 percent said the interior minister should be fired and punished as one responsible for the deadly crowd crush on Oct. 29, the union said.

Nearly 93 percent opposed the government’s workforce downsizing plan, while its push to privatize some public service sectors drew objections from 87.9 percent. Almost 90 percent objected to the government pushes to expand work hours and have differentiated minimum wages for different business sectors.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but it is in my opinion nothing more than virtue signaling to fire the Interior Minister for failed crowd control measures. So every time there is a festival, concert, etc. in Korea in the future, the Interior Minister has to show up and direct crowd control to avoid be held responsible for it going wrong?