Latest news with #Reaper
Korea Herald
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
From boo to boohoo: Korean ghosts tug at heartstrings worldwide
From K-pop demons to grim reapers, Korean ghost lore captivates audiences with emotionally rich tales of sorrow, justice and healing Korea's traditional grim reapers, known as jeoseung saja, are gaining global recognition following their portrayal as key antagonists in the Netflix hit "Kpop Demon Hunters." The film follows shaman heroines who battle demons while performing as K-pop idols. Within two months of its release, it soared to become the fourth most-streamed movie on the platform, propelled by sustained global buzz. 'There's a growing sense that traditional Korean imagery feels more approachable and enjoyable, largely because Korean culture is now viewed so favorably and familiarly worldwide,' said culture critic Jung Duk-hyun. 'This positive perception plays a major role in making Korean folklore feel trendy and hip to global audiences.' Clad in dark robes and high-brimmed hats, these grim reapers exude a unique presence and emotional complexity, earning popularity rivaling the protagonists. Far from being purely malevolent, they are portrayed as tormented figures — a reflection of han, a uniquely Korean concept of unresolved sorrow that permeates much of the country's ghost lore. Han is the emotional pain that lingers after a traumatic experience, preventing one from moving on. In Korean supernatural tales, this sentiment explains why spirits remain earthbound — not to terrorize, but to seek closure for injustices or deep regrets. This emotional nuance distinguishes Korean folklore from some of the more dualistic ghost narratives in the West. Rather than evil for evil's sake, Korean spirits are often driven by sorrow, guilt, or betrayal. In "Kpop Demon Hunters," Jinu — the leader of the K-pop boy band Saja Boys — embodies this layered grief. Though transformed into a demon after abandoning his family, his actions stem from guilt and pain, not malice. 'The reapers, especially Jinu, show characteristics of Korean ghosts,' said Jung. 'Korean spirits are often defined not by violence, but by han — a sorrow that compels them to seek understanding from the living rather than inflict harm without reason.' This storytelling tradition casts the supernatural not as monstrous, but as deeply human. In the 'Legend of Arang' from Miryang, for example, a young woman's ghost haunts magistrates not to frighten them, but to seek justice for her death during an attempted assault. Adaptations of such folklore in modern dramas and films often preserve this emotional complexity, blending traditional themes with contemporary storytelling. TvN's 2016 hit series "Dokkaebi (Goblin)" reimagines Korean mythology in a modern setting, exploring han through two central figures: the Goblin, cursed with immortality, and the Reaper, who guides souls to the afterlife. Both characters are burdened by past sins. The Goblin is haunted by those he failed to save, while the Reaper is tormented by having ordered the Goblin's execution in a past life. Their inability to move on mirrors the unresolved sorrow central to Korean ghost stories. This emotional depth continues to shape contemporary content. The SBS series "The Haunted Palace" received praise for portraying diverse spirits shaped by the circumstances of their deaths. The show achieved an 11 percent viewership rating by focusing on the living engaging with spirits' emotional wounds, not just confronting the supernatural. At the heart of Korean ghost narratives is the idea that spirits find peace through communication, not confrontation. In "Kpop Demon Hunters," even in his demon form, Jinu seeks to share his pain, not inflict it. 'Unlike Western fantasy, which often resolves conflict through exorcism, Korean stories are about listening to the dead and helping them release unresolved sorrow,' Jung noted. This storytelling approach invites audiences to empathize with the supernatural and participate in a journey toward healing. Culture critic Kim Heon-sik attributed the growing global fascination with Korea's supernatural traditions to their unique visual and emotional elements. 'Their distinct Korean identity makes them more intriguing,' he said. 'And by integrating ghostly elements into pop culture, especially K-pop, they've become even more appealing.' Kim also emphasized that the success stems in part from subtlety. 'When nationalism or symbolic depth is overemphasized, it can alienate audiences. What made these stories resonate is that they left room for interpretation — letting viewers explore and connect on their own terms.'
5 days ago
- Politics
The Canadian drone industry is spinning up — with lessons from Ukraine
It's been 24 years since what is widely considered the first lethal drone strike: a Predator UAV attack on an al-Qaeda vehicle convoy in Afghanistan just nine weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks. The strike killed Mohammed Atef, son-in-law of Osama bin Laden and head of the group's military operations, and made clear to all that 21st century warfare was going to see a large role for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Large, expensive fixed-wing drones such as the Predator and Reaper still have their place. Canada has ordered a fleet of similar drones (new window) expected to be up and running in 2033. But the war in Ukraine has shifted the focus away from multimillion-dollar UAVs to much cheaper, smaller and sometimes disposable drones. Enlarge image (new window) Bill Blair, at the time the minister of defence, announced last year that Canada would be providing more drones to Ukraine. While those drones were built by a Dutch company, Canadian firms are developing their own products — and taking lessons from the rapidly advancing technology. Photo: The Canadian Press / Nathan Denette Like militaries around the world, the Canadian Armed Forces saw the Ukraine conflict transform from what was largely an artillery war just 18 months ago into a nightmarish contest between buzzing machines and the operators who guide them. It's revolutionizing a part of the battle space, says Royal Canadian Air Force Lt.-Col. Chris Labbé, who heads the forces' Joint Counter Uncrewed Aircraft Systems Office. You'll see different scholars or analysts talk now about the 'air littoral' — really the space between the ground and 1,000 metres in the air, maybe above that. That space used to be dominated by helicopters, said Labbé. But the Nagorno-Karabakh war (new window) , and then the war in Ukraine, have accelerated advances in drone warfare. The Canadian military is determined to keep pace with that change, he said. A cottage arms industry Nearly everything about smaller drones represents a change in direction in military thinking and industrial production. For decades, procurement has trended toward ever higher prices and longer timelines. The F-35, for example, is a weapons system so complicated and expensive that multiple countries had to buy in and invest in advance. Drones don't need giant factories with sophisticated production lines. Instead, said Tom Barton of Janes Defence in London, Ukraine has decentralized production into small workshops. Some of the ways that guys in their garages are actually streamlining 3D printing and turning out quantities of these UAVs, you wouldn't have thought was imaginable up to now, Barton said. WATCH | Drone capable of carrying an injured soldier: Début du widget . Passer le widget? Fin du widget . Retour au début du widget? He says the Russians have also farmed out 3D printing and fabricating to an army of home-based engineers. Their wide distribution makes it impossible to shut production down through bombing or missile strikes. Labbé says the Ukrainian drone-builders also experiment and share results, driving rapid improvements in surveillance and strike capabilities. The speed at which that innovation happens is absolutely blistering, he said. Labbé said that to further spur innovation, Ukraine has instituted a rewards system for front-line units whereby those who have more success receive points that they can use to buy new drone-related kit online. Throwing down a challenge The Canadian Forces would like to capture some of that same innovative energy, and to that end have issued a series of challenges to Canadian drone makers through the program Innovative Solutions Canada (ISC). The industry has noticed the change, says Philip Reece, CEO of InDro Robotics — in both the amount of money up for grabs and how quickly the government reviews submissions. They come back with some pretty well thought out questions, and then it moves through to testing first and then procurement, he said. WATCH | More about the Canadian drone industry: A challenge currently posted (new window) by ISC invites makers to submit an attritable interceptor drone, capable of attacking enemy drones from several hundred grams to several hundred kilograms that can operate from just above ground level to altitudes over 3,000 metres and reaching speeds in excess of 200 km/h. The language of the challenge invites designers to seek creative and innovative solutions for drone interception beyond contacting their target with an explosion. The Sandbox Examples of that new approach have already been tested at a site called the Sandbox in Suffield, Alta., including a successful test of a directed energy weapon that caused a target drone to burst into bright green flames in mid-air and crash to the ground. Another interceptor drone tested at the Sandbox hovered above its target and dropped a net, ensnaring the propellers of the target drone. Another area of furious research and development inspired by the Ukraine war is the command and control of UAVs in a battlespace where radio and even GPS signals are easily jammed. Enlarge image (new window) A Ukrainian interceptor FPV drone is seen in July. Photo: Reuters / Valentyn Ogirenko The Russians were the first to realize that they could defeat jamming by attaching spools of fibre optic cable to their drones. Command signals travel along that hair-thin filament, rather than through the air where they can be jammed. Ukraine recently flew a drone with a 50-kilometre-long fibre optic spool. Those innovations in turn drove innovation in the counter-drone world, said Reece. Now they're doing more kinetic response, he said. Radio and GPS jamming just doesn't cut it anymore when you've got a drone that's got fibre optics. So that's definitely been moving forward very fast. Air, land and sea Canadian drone development is not confined to the air. The navy adapted its Hammerhead naval gunnery targets to create an explosive-laden marine attack drone (new window) . It was tested successfully (and explosively) last month. Labbé says Ukrainian drone and anti-ship missile operations in the Black Sea are an incredible achievement that speaks highly of the potential of uncrewed systems. WATCH | Navy tests marine attack drone: Début du widget . Passer le widget? Fin du widget . Retour au début du widget? He says a current interest is in the area of mid-sized aerial drones, weighing hundreds of kilograms, that can evacuate a casualty on a stretcher or supply forward troops from rear areas. And Reece said his company is experimenting with land-based drones that can move faster than a car and work with air-based drones for reconnaissance. They can also go ahead and set up mesh networks, so secure communications that can't be hacked can be moved forward, he said. One of the advantages of drones is that they often cost a lot less than their targets — acting as a battlefield equalizer against opponents with greater strength in vehicles, aircraft and vessels. Barton said drones in Ukraine have been used to knock out elements of expensive Russian air defence systems, and that a well-equipped drone force with sufficient skilled operators would make even the strongest opponent hesitate to launch an armoured attack. He said that for a country like Canada with vast borders to defend, drones are potentially a great solution. Canadian drones for Europe? Drones could also offer a way into European defence procurement agreements that Canada would like to access, if Canada can develop an industry that produces drones desirable for European militaries. Now is the inflection point between drones and robots and AI, said Reece. Canada knows we are. You can see by all of the responses, commercial and government, that now is the time to move forward. Reece says Canada is in a strong position partly because Transport Canada has been ahead of most national regulators in recognizing the potential of the industry and creating conditions permissive enough to allow drone use to flourish. We've got the skills here, we've got the know-how and we've certainly got the need, he said. So if we're already ahead in drones and robots and we can keep pace with AI, putting those together definitely makes us an international powerhouse. Evan Dyer (new window) · CBC News · Senior Reporter Evan Dyer has been a journalist with CBC for 25 years, after an early career as a freelancer in Argentina. He works in the Parliamentary Bureau and can be reached at
Time of India
28-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War final arc ending explained (no filler recap)
Source: IMDB After years of build-up and fan anticipation, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War finally delivered its explosive conclusion. If you've just watched the finale and your brain's spinning from the sheer amount of plot twists, hidden powers, and time skips, don't worry. This article breaks down the ending in simple terms, no filler or fluff. Just what happened, why it mattered, and what it means for Ichigo and the future of the Soul Society. Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – Ichigo vs Yhwach explained Source: IMDB The final fight between Ichigo Kurosaki and Yhwach was less about brute force and more about fate. By this point, Yhwach had absorbed the Soul King, gained godlike power, and started reshaping the world in his own vision. His ultimate goal? A future where death doesn't exist, but neither does free will. Pretty on paper, terrifying in practice. Ichigo, who had already mastered his Quincy, Hollow, and Shinigami powers, stood as the only one capable of resisting Yhwach. But Yhwach's power to see and rewrite the future made it nearly impossible to defeat him. That is, until Uryu Ishida, Yhwach's chosen heir, revealed the one weakness in his abilities: a silver arrow made from the blood of Quincy victims that could temporarily strip Yhwach of his powers. Uryu's surprise attack gave Ichigo just enough time to strike. His broken zanpakuto suddenly restored itself, allowing him to finally land the finishing blow and end the thousand-year war. Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – Aizen's return and hidden role Source: IMDB One of the most unexpected and satisfying twists was the return of Sosuke Aizen. Yes, that Aizen, the man who once tried to overthrow the Soul King himself. Still imprisoned in the lowest levels of Soul Society, Aizen agreed to fight alongside Ichigo to stop Yhwach, mostly because he wasn't about to let someone else play god. Using his illusion-based powers, Aizen managed to briefly fool Yhwach, creating the opening that Uryu and Ichigo needed. It was poetic in a way: the former villain becoming the final push in defeating the new one. And of course, Aizen remained as smug and cryptic as ever. Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War time skip and new generation Source: IMDB After Yhwach's defeat, we get a calm, time-skipped epilogue set ten years later. Ichigo and Orihime are now married and have a son, Kazui Kurosaki, who's already showing mysterious spiritual powers. Meanwhile, Rukia and Renji also have a daughter, Ichika Abarai, who's training as a Soul Reaper. The peaceful ending is interrupted just slightly when Kazui casually destroys a leftover remnant of Yhwach's energy, hinting that even after death, the former king's influence still lingers. But more importantly, it shows that the next generation is more powerful than ever and ready for whatever comes next. What Yhwach really wanted in Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Source: IMDB Yhwach wasn't just a villain for the sake of it. His twisted dream was to erase the line between life and death, merging all realms into one where no one feared dying. But the cost was individuality, freedom, and choice. He wanted a world without suffering, but also without emotion. Ichigo's victory symbolised the opposite: embracing complexity, duality, and the messy beauty of being alive. Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – Is this really the end? Source: IMDB The Thousand-Year Blood War arc closes the main story of Bleach with a sense of closure and maturity. But is it truly over? Maybe not. In 2021, Tite Kubo released a new one-shot teasing the 'Hell Arc,' featuring older versions of Ichigo and hints that Soul Society's past sins may return to haunt it. Whether that becomes an anime continuation or stays as manga-only content, one thing's clear: Bleach still has more stories left in the tank. Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War delivered an ending full of action, nostalgia, and poetic full-circle moments. Ichigo's final battle wasn't just a clash of swords, it was about identity, destiny, and accepting every part of who you are. And with the next generation already shaking up the spirit world, the legacy of Bleach is far from over. Also read | New to anime? Here are the best beginner-friendly anime series to start with
Newsweek
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Newsweek
US Military Plans Reaper Drone Operations Near China, North Korea
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The United States will reportedly deploy the MQ-9 armed reconnaissance drone, commonly known as the Reaper, to South Korea amid growing threats from China and North Korea. The U.S. Seventh Air Force—which commands air operations in South Korea—told Newsweek that it could not discuss potential or planned operations as a matter of policy. Newsweek has contacted the Chinese Defense Ministry for comment via email. The North Korean Embassy in China did not immediately respond to a written request for comment. Why It Matters Following the Korean War and the signing of a mutual defense treaty, the U.S. military has approximately 28,500 personnel—along with associated armaments such as fighter aircraft—in South Korea to deter provocations and attacks by nuclear-armed North Korea. While facing North Korea's growing military threat—including through the development of a drone that closely resembles America's Reaper aircraft—South Korea has also been challenged by China's maritime activities in the disputed waters between the two countries. What To Know Citing military officials, South Korean newspaper The Chosun Daily reported on Monday that, beginning in September, the MQ-9 drone is scheduled for a three-month extended rotational deployment in South Korea, during which it will be stationed at Kunsan Air Base. The Reaper drone, which is designed to conduct a range of missions—from intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance to precision strikes—has been featured in exercises held in South Korea, including its first live-fire drill on the Korean Peninsula in April 2024. A United States MQ-9 Reaper drone approaches the runway at Kunsan Air Base in South Korea on October 23, 2024. A United States MQ-9 Reaper drone approaches the runway at Kunsan Air Base in South Korea on October 23, 2024. Staff Sgt. Daniel Brosam/U.S. Air Force "Our personnel are equipped and prepared to carry out their missions with precision and professionalism," the U.S. Seventh Air Force told Newsweek, adding that the unit remains in a state of readiness while sustaining and strengthening the alliance with South Korea. The planned deployment, if confirmed, would mark the U.S. drone's longest stint in the allied country to date, according to the report. This move comes as the U.S. Air Force is set to complete the withdrawal of its South Korea-based A-10 attack aircraft by September 30. The replacement of the A-10 attack aircraft—which is designed to counter armored vehicles such as tanks—with a surveillance-focused aerial platform reflects the Pentagon's intention to deter both North Korea and China, a South Korean military official told The Chosun Daily. According to the U.S. Air Force, the Reaper aircraft is remotely controlled by a pilot and a sensor operator, with a flight range of 1,150 miles. The drone is capable of carrying up to 3,750 pounds of payload, including eight Hellfire laser-guided air-to-ground missiles. What People Are Saying Yang Uk, research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in South Korea, told The Chosun Daily: "The MQ-9 has strike capabilities, but it is fundamentally a surveillance platform." The U.S. Air Force wrote in a fact sheet of the MQ-9 drone: "The Reaper is employed primarily as an intelligence-collection asset and secondarily against dynamic execution targets. Given its significant loiter time, wide-range sensors, multi-mode communications suite, and precision weapons, it provides a unique capability to perform strike, coordination, and reconnaissance against high-value, fleeting, and time-sensitive targets." What Happens Next It remains to be seen whether the U.S. will deploy additional aircraft to South Korea to bolster its capabilities around the Korean Peninsula. In late June, a number of upgraded F-16 fighter jets were relocated from Misawa Air Base in Japan to Osan Air Base in South Korea.
Sydney Morning Herald
19-07-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Drones are now key to winning wars. The US makes hardly any
On a patch of dirt in the vast wilderness in Alaska, a long-range drone roared like a lawnmower as it shot into the sky. It scanned the ground for a target it had been programmed to recognise, and then dived, attempting to destroy it by crashing into it. But it missed, landing about 25 metres away. On another attempt, a drone nose-dived at launch. On a subsequent try, a drone crashed into a mountain. These drones weren't flown by amateur hobbyists. They were launched by drone manufacturers paid by a special unit of the Department of Defence as part of an urgent effort to update US capabilities. For four days last month, they tested prototypes of one-way drones by trying to crash them into programmed targets, while soldiers tried to stop the drones with special electronic equipment. 'If we had to go to war tomorrow, do we have what we need? No.' Trent Emeneker, Defence Innovation Unit The exercise aimed to help American defence contractors and soldiers get better at drone warfare. But it illustrated some of the ways in which the US military could be unprepared for such a conflict. The nation lags Russia and China in manufacturing drones, training soldiers to use them and defending against them, according to interviews with more than a dozen US military officials and drone industry experts. 'We all know the same thing. We aren't giving the American war fighter what they need to survive warfare today,' said Trent Emeneker, project manager of the Autonomy Portfolio at the military's Defence Innovation Unit, which organised the exercise in Alaska and paid for the development of the drone prototypes that flew there. Loading 'If we had to go to war tomorrow, do we have what we need? No. What we are trying to do is fix that.' Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has acknowledged that the country has fallen behind, and he announced a series of new policies and investments in drones that he vowed would close the gap. In a video released on Thursday, he cited outdated rules and procurement processes as making it too difficult for commanding officers to buy drones and train their soldiers to use them. 'While our adversaries have produced millions of cheap drones,' he said, 'we were mired in bureaucratic red tape.' The video came on the heels of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump last month called 'Unleashing American Drone Dominance', which directs federal agencies to fast-track approvals for American drone manufacturers and protect the US drone supply chain from 'undue foreign influence'. But it will take time and money to grow a domestic industry capable of producing enough drones to meet the needs of the US military. Although the United States has excelled in developing large, complex unmanned aircraft such as the Predator and Reaper drones, which cost tens of millions of dollars apiece, today's conflicts have been dominated by swarms of smaller, inexpensive drones that are largely produced with components from China. Loading The Defence Department did not respond to requests for comment. Drones have become a weapon of choice on modern battlefields. In the early days of the war in Ukraine, soldiers beat back the Russian invasion by adding deadly modifications to the Mavic, a drone sold to hobbyists by DJI, a Chinese company that is the world's largest drone manufacturer. Versions of the Mavic cost between $US300 and $US5000 ($460 to $7650), according to online retailers. DJI, of Shenzhen, China, accounts for about 70 per cent of all commercial drones sold globally for hobby and industrial use, such as aerial photography, package delivery and weather research. The privately held company sells its equipment to customers in the United States – there's even an authorised store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan – but US law bars the military from buying Chinese drones. The company declined to share market data, but industry experts estimate DJI's output far exceeds that of any other drone manufacturer. Enter Silicon Valley investors who have been pouring money into American drone companies, anticipating that the Defence Department will place a large order for American-made drones. Peter Thiel's Founders Fund has invested more than $US1 billion ($1.5 million) in Anduril Industries, an American defence technology company that specialises in advanced autonomous systems. Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr, joined the board of Unusual Machines, another US drone maker, last year. About 500 companies manufacture drones in the United States, producing fewer than 100,000 a year, says Ryan Carver, communications manager for the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International, a non-profit organisation of industry professionals. But many are start-ups without a track record of production or sales. Founders jockey for the chance to show off their wares to military units that are beginning to work with drones. The changes Hegseth announced on Thursday, which make it easier for commanders to buy drones, will intensify that competition. But the exercise in Alaska showed how hard it can be to develop homegrown drone capabilities. Loading The first two days of testing were full of setbacks. Two companies were testing prototypes of a long-range unmanned craft that could fly for hours, navigate without GPS or a human operator, and crash into a target that it had been trained to recognise. They were among four finalists, out of more than 100 applicants, to get the money from the Defence Innovation Unit to develop the systems. Two other companies were set to test their prototypes in Ukraine. The craft made by Dragoon, a start-up in Tucson, Arizona, experienced engine trouble and then issues with navigation. It failed to hit a target. But on the final day, it recognised a target – an M113 armoured personnel carrier – and swooped down to crash into it. The hit was considered a success, even though the target had not been the one intended. 'We have got a lot of work to do to make it operational, for sure,' said Jason Douglas, one of three co-founders of Dragoon. 'But those were huge steps.' AeroVironment fared worse. At first, its drone failed to launch. Then one crashed into a mountain after its navigation system was blocked, narrowly missing a group of soldiers who stood with their jamming equipment. Although one of its drones flew long distances and successfully crashed into a target with the help of GPS, the prototype never hit a target once its GPS was blocked. Paul Frommelt, a spokesperson for the company, noted the exercise was a chance to collect data on 'an experimental variant of one of our products'. The soldiers who participated in the exercise, most of them from the Electromagnetic Warfare Platoon of the Army's 11th Airborne Division, experienced their own problems. On a mountaintop, they set up six tall electronic jammers, which looked like slender microphones attached to black tripods. They emitted radio signals intended to overpower the signals sent by the drone operators. But those jammers – some of which were designed more than a decade ago to fight the war on terror – had hardly any effect. Neither did the backpacks containing newer drone-disarming equipment that some soldiers wore. The team had a drone-buster, too – a huge gunlike device that looked like something from the movie Ghostbusters. But no one bothered to try it. 'That thing never worked,' one man said. Over time, the soldiers improved. By the fourth day of the exercise, they had figured out how to use their jamming equipment more effectively. A black suitcase-sized box called a Magpie worked particularly well, they said. But Lieutenant Colonel Scott Smith, director for the non-lethal effects section of the 11th Airborne Division, said the exercise highlighted how much more work Americans needed to do to prepare for a conflict involving drones. 'Their equipment just doesn't have the desired effect against the latest technology,' he said. Chris Bonzagni, a drone industry consultant with Contact Front Technologies who helped put on the Alaska test, said many of the American drones that were initially delivered to Ukraine failed on the battlefield because they were outdated or easily jammed by the Russians. 'In Ukraine, the companies delivering tech to the war fighters are with them all the time, observing firsthand what is working and what is not,' he said. Ukraine has also become a drone-making hub because its soldiers and engineers are forced to master drone technology to survive, something Americans have not experienced yet.
