Monday Briefing: A plane crash in South Korea killed 179

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December 30, 2024

	By Gaya Gupta

Good morning. We’re covering a deadly plane crash in South Korea and how Israel dismantled Hezbollah.

Plus, Falun Gong’s money engine.

The scene of the crash at Muan International Airport on Saturday. Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

A plane crash in South Korea killed nearly everyone on board

A Boeing 737-800 plane operated by Jeju Air crashed while landing at an airport in South Korea yesterday, killing 179 of the 181 people on board. It was the worst aviation disaster involving a South Korean airline in almost three decades, officials said.

The flight, which had taken off from Bangkok, was landing at Muan International Airport in the country’s southwest when it crashed around 9 a.m. local time. Footage of the accident shows a white and orange plane speeding down a runway on its belly until it hits a barrier and explodes. Two crew members were rescued from the tail section.

Officials were investigating what caused the tragedy, including why the plane’s landing gear appeared to have malfunctioned, whether birds had struck the jet, or if bad weather had been a factor. Follow live updates here.

The airport in Muan had warned the pilots about a potential bird strike as they were landing, a director of aviation policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. The plane issued a mayday alert shortly afterward and then crash-landed, he added, saying later that the plane’s black boxes — which could help determine the cause of the crash — had been recovered.

What’s next: The crash is the first major test for Choi Sang-mok, South Korea’s acting president, who was appointed the interim leader on Friday after the previous acting president was impeached.

Hezbollah supporters at the site where Hassan Nasrallah was killed in Israeli airstrikes. Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York Times

Behind the dismantling of Hezbollah

Right up until he was assassinated, Hassan Nasrallah did not believe that Israel would kill him. He brushed away warnings to go to a more secure location on Sept. 27, the day he was killed, thinking Israel had no interest in a full-scale war.

But Israeli spy agencies were tracking his every movement — and had been doing so for years. The death of Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s feared leader who for decades commanded a Lebanese militia in its fight against the Israeli state, was the result of two decades of methodical intelligence.

A Times investigation, based on interviews with more than two dozen current and former Israeli, American and European officials, reveals the extent to which Israeli spies had penetrated Hezbollah: They recruited people to plant listening devices in Hezbollah bunkers, tracked meetings between a commander and his four mistresses, and had near-constant visibility into the movements of its leaders. Read more here.

A photograph released by Azerbaijan shows President Ilham Aliyev and his wife, Mehriban Aliyeva, at a funeral ceremony for crew members. Reuters

Azerbaijan blames Russia for plane crash last week

The leader of Azerbaijan directly blamed Russia for the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet last week, calling on Moscow to accept responsibility and offer compensation to victims. President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview that the vague apology issued by President Vladimir Putin a day earlier would not suffice to preserve friendly relations between the countries.

The Embraer 190 airliner was traveling from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to Grozny, in southern Russia, on Wednesday, but was diverted after encountering interference with its navigation system. It crashed in Kazakhstan, resulting in the deaths of 38 people on board, more than half of whom were Azerbaijani citizens. Azerbaijani and U.S. officials said they believed that the plane was most likely shot down by a Russian air defense missile.

For more: Flight attendants and a passenger described the moments before the plane went down.

Elon Musk in Washington, D.C. earlier this month. Benoit Tessier/Reuters

Middle East

Business

Sports

David Davies/Press Association, via Associated Press

Taiwan Bistro, a stir-fry restaurant, is popular with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company employees. Cassidy Araiza for The New York Times

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, a global tech giant, brought thousands of people from Asia to the Phoenix suburbs to work at a plant that the Biden administration helped fund. But now the future of the factory — and the lives of its workers — may rest on whether Trump tries to undercut government aid for the company or impose new restrictions on foreign workers.

Lives lived: Shyam Benegal, whose heavy-hitting features that addressed social issues were some of India’s best-loved films, died at 90.

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The New York Times

How Shen Yun tapped religious fervor to make millions

Over the past decade, the dance group Shen Yun Performing Arts has made money at a staggering rate. By the end of last year, it had more than a quarter of a billion dollars, an extraordinary sum for a nonprofit dance group from Orange County, N.Y.

Shen Yun is operated by Falun Gong, the persecuted Chinese religious movement, and its success flows in part from its ability to pack venues worldwide — while exploiting young, low-paid performers with little regard for their health or well-being. But it also is a token of the power that Falun Gong’s founder, Li Hongzhi, has wielded over his followers.

In the name of fighting communism and obeying Li’s mystical teachings, they have created a global network to glorify him and enrich his movement. Under his leadership, Shen Yun has become a repository of vast wealth for Falun Gong, often accumulating money at the expense of its loyal adherents, a Times investigation found. Read it here.

David Malosh for The New York Times

Cook: Shrimp dumplings with saffron shallot sauce are inspired by the chef Shamim Popal’s upbringing in Afghanistan.

Watch: The Malaysian war movie “Conquer: Lahad Datu” is one of five action movies to stream now.

Resolve: Try these five approaches to eating and drinking in the new year.

Travel: Here’s how to pick a good safari.

Play: Spelling Bee, the Mini Crossword, Wordle and Sudoku. Find all our games here.

That’s it for today. See you tomorrow. — Gaya

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