Condolences to all the family and friends of these ROK Air Force personnel:

The Air Force said Saturday it is holding a joint funeral for four pilots who were killed in a collision of two KT-1 trainer jets the previous day. 

The funeral is taking place for three days from Saturday at the Air Force 3rd Training Wing in Sacheon, about 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, and a ceremony will be held Monday. 

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Park In-ho paid his tribute to the deceased in the morning, and Defense Minister Suh Wook will visit the funeral later in the day, according to military officials. 

On Friday, two Air Force KT-1 trainer jets collided in midair and crashed near the base, killing all four pilots aboard the planes. Each jet carried a trainee pilot and a flight instructor.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.

This all should have happened many years ago, so it will be interesting to see if Yoon is able to get any traction on moving more of the government to Sejong City:

The incoming administration of President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is moving to elevate the status of Sejong City, an administrative town 144 kilometers south of Seoul, as illustrated by the transition committee’s plan to transfer major components of the National Assembly to Sejong and set up a second presidential office there by 2027, according to government officials Thursday. 

Setting up the second presidential office and a legislative building in Sejong was a key campaign pledge of Yoon, a vision he said would cement the sparsely populated city as the administrative capital where a number of central government ministries and state-run organizations will be relocated.

The city houses 47 central administrative organizations, 16 state think tanks and 24 government-affiliated institutions. About 20 key government organizations remain in Seoul including the foreign, defense, unification and gender equality ministries.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but the move the Sejong City reminds me a lot of the move to Camp Humphreys by USFK. That move took much longer than it should of because people were comfortable at Yongsan Garrison in Seoul and thus no urgency to complete the move. There is probably few people working in the Korean government that want to move out of Seoul as well to a rural area as well.

The U.S. and ROK militaries will work to update OPLAN’s that reflect the changes in capabilities the North Koreans have demonstrated with their nuclear and missile programs:

 The top military officials of South Korea and the United States have signed a document directing the update of joint wartime contingency plans, Seoul officials said Thursday, following North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch last week.

Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Gen. Won In-choul and his U.S. counterpart, Gen. Mark Milley, inked the Strategic Planning Directive (SPD) during their talks in Hawaii on Wednesday (local time), according to South Korea’s JCS.

The SPD signing is bound to accelerate a previously agreed-upon process to rewrite the allies’ wartime operation plans (OPLANs).

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It must be a slow news day if the first lady’s wardrobe is the top story:

First lady Kim Jung-sook has been hit with accusations of abusing public funds for clothing and accessories, and for instances of acting as a tourist rather than participating in the customary official events of Korean first ladies during state visits. 

The sudden emergence of a “wardrobe scandal” has prompted people to scramble online to gather photos of Kim at public events. With the photos showing her in an array of outfits, some raised questions about whether she purchased the clothes using her personal funds.

The allegation was first stoked by a March 25 Facebook post made by a lawyer named Shin Pyeong. The lawyer said he had supported President Moon Jae-in’s candidacy for the 2017 presidential election, but then turned his back on President Moon later and joined President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s election camp earlier this year.

In the post, Shin raised the allegation that Kim’s wardrobe has a jaw-dropping monetary value, and urged her to return her clothes when Moon’s tenure ends in early May. 

Later on the day of the post, a civic group filed a complaint against Kim with the National Police Agency accusing her of embezzlement from the national coffers. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but I guess we will see if anything comes of this.

I guess we will see how long this regulation lasts since the incoming Yoon administration is opposing it:

A ban on coffee shops and restaurants offering disposable plastic cups will be reinstated on April 1, but the incoming administration of Yoon Suk-yeol is already objecting.     
   
The ban on disposable cups, which was first instituted in 2018, was temporarily lifted during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the Environment Ministry, stores that fail to comply face fines of up to 3 million won ($2,400).    
   
In June, a system in which retailers have to pay for returned empty bottles and cans will be implemented.    
   
The transition team for the Yoon government has asked for the disposable cup ban to be put off.   

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.