Squid Game director explains why season three will be the last
Squid Game director Hwang Dong-hyuk told Entertainment Weekly: “The story that I both wanted to tell and that I am capable of telling through Gi-hun, it has been told with season three.”
His recent interview comes ahead of the smash hit Korean drama premiering its second season on Netflix on 26 December.
Gi-hun, played by Lee Jung-jae, is the show’s main character, who won $45.6 billion last season after being abducted and forced to play deadly variations of children’s games.
“Honestly, when I was first working on the first season, I didn’t have any plans or thoughts about there ever being further seasons,” Hwang said. “In Korea, it’s not very common for series to have multiple seasons, and also because season one was so incredibly demanding. “
Even this seems an understatement, as the director has previously described how he lost six teeth due to stress during the production of Squid Game season one.
Dong-hyuk explained that he saw a future for the series, but without him developing it.
“I do remember when I was finishing up my scripts for the first season, towards the end, I did have this vague idea.
“And I got to thinking about creating seasons two and three, firstly because of the huge success of season one as well as there being just so much anticipation and expectation for the story to further develop by the fans.”
Both fans and critics alike have held the show’s first season in high esteem. It made history at the Emmys, as the first non-English show to be nominated and win; it received a total of 14 nods and six awards. Season two has even earned Golden Globes nominations, despite it not being out yet.
“I wanted to tell the story of what happened to Gi-hun after where we leave him at the end of season 1 and what he does, what kind of actions he takes in order to put a stop to these games”, he said.
“As creator, writer, and director, it was almost my mission or my role to further tell that story. And I wanted to repay all of the love that we had received in one way or another.”
“The desire to put a closure to the story that I began to tell arose after we worked on season one.” Continuing that: “In terms of why did I decide to end the story with season three, I think that the story I wanted to tell came to a full closure at the end of season three.”
Squid Game season two premiers 26 December on Netflix.
Myanmar soldiers ‘forced to take meth’ to stay sharp
The ruling junta in Myanmar made conscripts take drugs to stay sharp on the battlefield and reduce their sensitivity to violence, soldiers captured by rebel forces alleged.
Five captured soldiers, identified in a video released by the rebel Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, alleged that the junta supplied army stations with methamphetamines.
They were forcibly recruited by the military after clashes broke out between the junta and ethnic rebels following the February 2021 coup that wrested power from Aung San Suu Kyi’s government, the soldiers claimed.
The civil war intensified late last year after the Three Brotherhood Alliance, comprising the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Arakan Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, launched offensives against the army and quickly captured towns and military bases in border areas.
One of the soldiers, identified in the video as Private Poe Htoo, claimed they were given methamphetamines and told to torch “suspicious houses” in the eastern Kayah state.
“We had to torch houses that obstructed our field of vision as well as houses where uniforms were found,” another soldier said in the video, referring to the uniforms of rebel groups, The Irrawaddy reported.
Last year Amnesty International accused the military of perpetrating indiscriminate attacks on civilians and using banned cluster munitions in its fight against ethnic minority insurgents, calling for an investigation of suspected war crimes.
The soldiers alleged that they were given meth tablets, locally known as Ya ba, to combat sleepiness on sentry days.
“The major also sometimes uses drugs,” one of the soldiers said.
The Myanmar military has long been accused of involvement in the production and trade of drugs including methamphetamine and heroin.
The rebel forces reportedly seized 1,300 soap boxes filled with heroin during their takeover of Pinlebu town in Sagaing.
Instability and violence in the country has enabled the production of cheap Ya ba, and escalated the drug crisis in Southeast Asia.
Southeast Asia and East Asia are awash in methamphetamine and other synthetic drugs, the UN office on drugs and crime said in a report earlier this year. It traced their source largely to the border region known as the Golden Triangle where Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos meet.
Shan state in northern Myanmar in particular is reported to have a growing number of methamphetamine labs.
The UN report said the amount of methamphetamines seized across East and Southeast Asia reached a record 190 tonnes in 2023. Nearly 89 per cent of the drugs came from Southeast Asia and mainly the Golden Triangle.
The Independent has reached out to Myanmar’s defence ministry and the Kayah State administration for comment.
Nagasaki survivor calls for world free from nuclear weapons
A survivor of the 1945 Nagasaki nuclear blast has accepted this year’s Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of a group representing survivors of the US atomic bombings, and called for a world free from nuclear weapons.
Terumi Tanaka, 92, is one of the three co-chairs of Nihon Hidankyo, a group for those who lived through the US atomic bomb attacks on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, and demanded “actions from governments“ to achieve a nuclear-free world.
Mr Tanaka accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on his organisation’s behalf at a formal ceremony in Oslo’s City Hall on Tuesday. He used his speech to shine a spotlight on abuses of nuclear power by aggressive nations engaged in conflicts around the world, pointing to Russia and Israel specifically.
“The nuclear superpower Russia threatens to use nuclear weapons in its war against Ukraine, and a cabinet member of Israel, in the midst of its unrelenting attacks on Gaza in Palestine, even spoke of the possible use of nuclear arms,” Mr Tanaka said. “I am infinitely saddened and angered that the nuclear taboo threatens to be broken.”
Calling for an end to the use of nuclear weapons, he said: “I hope that the belief that nuclear weapons cannot – and must not – coexist with humanity will take firm hold among citizens of the nuclear weapon states and their allies, and that this will become a force for change in the nuclear policies of their governments.”
Mr Tanaki recounted the pain and trauma he witnessed in 1945 in an interview with The Independent last month. He was just 13 when the 10,000lb atomic bomb “Fat Man” was dropped on Nagasaki on 9 August 1945, landing around 3.2km from his family home. The scenes from that day would be “imprinted on his brain” forever, he said.
“I was lying down reading a book and then suddenly there was just light everywhere. Everything was completely white around me, and I heard this huge sound. It was like nothing I had ever experienced in my life but of course, I could sense that something very dangerous was happening.”
The US bombings of the two Japanese cities on 6 and 9 August in 1945 killed 214,000 people, leading to Japan’s surrender and the end of the Second World War.
Mr Tanaka said he went to ground zero and walked around the city for days looking for five of his relatives.
“Three days later, you could still see hundreds of bodies everywhere, and the injured were just crouching in the shadows not receiving any care or attention at all. This is not a situation the human race should be living in. This is not what humans should be doing to each other.”
In his address in Oslo on Tuesday, he said that Nihon Hidankyo’s movement had undoubtedly played a major role in creating a “nuclear taboo” – cementing the idea that such weapons must never be used again.
“However, there still remain 12,000 nuclear warheads on Earth today, 4,000 of which are operationally deployed, ready for immediate launch,” he said.
South Korea’s president defends martial law amid impeachment calls
South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol has defended his recent declaration of martial law, framing it as a necessary move to safeguard the nation’s democracy.
This comes as the country’s parliament announced receiving a new joint motion from six opposition parties seeking to impeach the president.
Earlier in the day, President Yoon vowed to remain in office despite allegations of rebellion and insurrection.
“I will fight to the end,” Mr Yoon declared in a televised address, “to prevent the forces and criminal groups that have been responsible for paralysing the country’s government and disrupting the nation’s constitutional order from threatening the future of the Republic of Korea”.
The embattled president’s remarks came just hours before the liberal Democratic Party submitted a fresh impeachment motion against him, accusing him of overstepping his authority.
The National Assembly said the main opposition Democratic Party and five smaller opposition parties submitted the impeachment motion on Thursday afternoon.
The parties say they aim put the motion to a floor vote on Saturday.
Parliament on Thursday also passed motions to impeach national police chief Cho Ji Ho and justice minister Park Sung Jae, suspending them from official duties, over their enforcement of martial law.
Mr Yoon, however, insisted that his actions were lawful, claiming his decision was aimed at countering what he described as a “parliamentary dictatorship” by the opposition.
The opposition Democratic Party quickly dismissed Mr Yoon’s statement as “an expression of extreme delusion” and “a declaration of war against the people”. Kim Min Seok, head of a party task force, accused the president of attempting to incite riots by far-right forces.
The National Assembly launched a probe against Mr Yoon’s martial law decree after a commander testified he received direct orders from the president to detain lawmakers.
“If the testimony is true, it means that the president was attempting to stop the National Assembly from voting to lift martial law – that is, to make it impossible for the parliament to exercise its power by force,” speaker Woo Won-shik told reporters Wednesday, reported the Korean Herald.
Mr Woo confessed that on the night of martial law he was forced “to climb over a wall to get inside” the assembly as the police blocked access.
Special Warfare Commander Lieutenant Kwak Jong Geun told the Assembly on Tuesday that president ordered him to “break open the door” and “drag lawmakers out” before chamber reached enough votes against martial law declaration.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s ruling party on Thursday picked Kweon Seong-dong, a veteran politician close to President Yoon, as its new floor leader. After being elected, Mr Kweon said he will prepare for “a presidential election that could possibly be soon held”.
The controversy erupted on 3 December when Mr Yoon invoked martial law, deploying fewer than 300 soldiers to the National Assembly.
He argued the move was intended to maintain order and prevent the opposition from derailing the democratic process. However, critics have labelled it an assault on constitutional governance, leading to political chaos and widespread protests demanding his removal.
Earlier this week, Mr Yoon’s former defence minister was arrested for allegedly orchestrating the martial law plan and abusing his power.
Prosecutors have also accused Kim Yong Hyun, ousted defence minister, of advising the president to deploy troops to block parliamentary votes on the decree. Mr Kim, currently in custody, reportedly attempted to take his own life but was stabilised after intervention by detention centre officials.
Despite widespread criticism, Mr Yoon dismissed accusations that his actions amounted to rebellion, labelling the opposition party “anti-state forces” and a “monster” threatening South Korea’s constitutional framework.
“The opposition is now doing a knife dance of chaos, claiming that the declaration of martial law constitutes an act of rebellion. But was it really?” he questioned during his address.
Opposition lawmakers, who hold a majority in parliament, have vowed to push for Mr Yoon’s impeachment with weekly motions until he is removed from office. Their initial attempt last weekend was thwarted when members of the ruling party boycotted the vote. This week, however, Han Dong Hoon, leader of Mr Yoon’s own conservative party, openly called on party members to support the impeachment effort, saying it had become clear the president would not step down voluntarily.
If the impeachment motion passes, the case would move to South Korea’s constitutional court, where a two-thirds majority would be required to permanently remove Mr Yoon from office.
Mr Yoon’s speech was expected to deepen a divide inside the PPP. When Mr Han Dong Hun, a critic of the president, called Mr Yoon’s statement “a confession of rebellion” during a party meeting, the president’s loyalists angrily jeered and called on him to stop speaking. Mr Han urged party members to vote in favour of Mr Yoon’s impeachment. Opposition parties and even some PPP members say the martial law decree was unconstitutional.
South Korean law allows the president to declare martial law only during wartime or similar emergencies. They argue that deploying troops to seal the National Assembly to suspend its political activities amounted to rebellion because the constitution doesn’t give a president such rights in any situation.
Police, prosecutors and other agencies are investigating whether Mr Yoon and others involved in imposing martial law committed rebellion, abuse of power and other crimes. Earlier this week, the Justice Ministry banned Mr Yoon from leaving the country, but it’s still unclear if they would be able to detain or arrest him. A conviction for rebellion carries a maximum penalty of death.
Since losing control of parliament in a landslide election earlier this year, Mr Yoon’s administration has struggled to push its agenda, relying instead on vetoing opposition-proposed legislation. His martial law decree, however, has heightened the political crisis, with many questioning the future stability of the country’s democracy.
As the president faces intensifying calls to resign, he maintained he would not evade accountability. “I will not avoid my legal and political responsibilities,” he stated, indicating a prolonged battle ahead in South Korea’s escalating political turmoil.
Additional reporting by agencies
Taliban refugee minister killed in Kabul bombing
The Taliban’s acting minister of refugees and repatriation, Khalil Haqqani, was killed in a suicide bombing in Kabul on Wednesday.
Haqqani, a senior member of the powerful Haqqani network and uncle of the Taliban’s interior minister and senior leader Sirajuddin Haqqani, was handling the refugee crisis in Afghanistan.
He was killed on Wednesday in a suicide attack inside the ministry, Taliban officials said, confirming the death of a senior figure in the hardline Islamist regime of Afghanistan. The blast took place when Haqqani was leaving after the noon prayers.
At least three of Haqqani’s bodyguards were killed and eight others wounded in the suicide bombing, officials said.
His death was described as a great loss by the Taliban’s chief spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid who called him a “tireless holy warrior who spent his life defending Islam”.
He is the most high-profile casualty of a bombing in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021. Haqqani was last seen in a meeting on Wednesday morning with deputy prime minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.
The Taliban security personnel prohibited filming and photography and blocked the road leading to the blast site. However, an unverified video showed several of the leaders gathering around to pay tribute to Haqqani. The Independent has not verified the authenticity of the video.
The suicide attack was claimed by the Isis on its Aamaq website.
The Haqqani network is a Taliban-affiliated group of militants that operates from the Pakistan and Afghanistan region and has close ties to the Taliban leadership in Kabul, with many in ministerial roles in the country after Nato withdrawal. The Haqqani network is also close to the al-Qaeda leadership after the assassination of Osama Bin Laden.
According to the US rewards for justice, Haqqani carried a bounty reward of $5m for being part of the US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organisation. He was accused of fundraising on behalf of the Taliban and providing support to the Taliban operating in Afghanistan after 2001.
The US designated Haqqani as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in 2011.
Last month, Haqqani had condemned neighbouring countries for mistreating Afghanistan refugees and urged them to not expel Afghans seeking refuge outside of the Taliban-led country.
He also issued a plea to fleeing Afghans to return to the country under the Taliban, claiming that their hardline Islamic rule of Sharia will be used to govern them and that “security is established”.
Experts pointed to the timing of Haqqani’s killing inside his ministry, challenging the security claimed by the group.
The attack came days after Sirajuddin Haqqani gave a contentious speech criticising the Taliban leader for his authoritarian decision-making – exposing cracks in the ties between the two power groups.
The timing could fuel speculation that the suicide bombing was an inside job, said Ibraheem Bahiss, an analyst with Crisis Group’s South Asia programme. But he added that a civil war among the Taliban is not expected.
India tells Putin it is facing ‘enormous pressure’ over Ukraine war
India’s defence minister, Rajnath Singh, reaffirmed to Russian president Vladimir Putin that their bilateral relationship remained strong despite the “enormous pressure” of global geopolitical challenges.
Mr Singh concluded a three-day visit to Moscow on Wednesday that was focussed on getting the Russians to expedite the export of the S-400 missile system. The delivery of the weapons system was delayed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
India’s diplomatic and trade ties with Russia have persisted despite Western pressure on New Delhi to pull away from Moscow due to its war in Ukraine.
“Friendship between our countries is higher than the highest mountain and deeper than the deepest ocean,” the minister told Mr Putin on Tuesday.
“Despite the fact that there are geopolitical challenges and there is enormous pressure on India of a public and private nature,” he said, “India has made a conscious decision that it will not only continue close contacts with Russia but will also deepen and expand our cooperation.”
India has avoided directly criticising Russia for its invasion of Ukraine but called for dialogue and diplomacy to resolve the conflict.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky had called on Indian prime minister Narendra Modi in October to use his influence on Mr Putin to push for an end to the war. Mr Zelensky said Mr Modi has “huge influence” on Mr Putin and can take a “real step”.
Russia has been a key partner for India since the Cold War era and they have continued to expand cooperation in defence, nuclear energy, oil, and space exploration despite Western pressure.
Mr Singh met Russian defence minister Andrey Belousov for the 21st session of the Inter-Governmental Commission on Military and Military Cooperation.
He pressed Russia to expedite the delivery of the remaining two units of the S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missile system, a critical component of India’s air defence modernisation programme.
The $5bn (£3.8bn) deal signed in 2018 to acquire five S-400 regiments was one of India’s most significant military procurements. The deal faced scrutiny by Western countries and the threat of US sanctions, which Delhi eventually managed to have waived off.
Delhi has received three units of the missile system and two more are scheduled to be delivered by the end of 2025. The Covid pandemic and the Ukraine war disrupted Russian defence production and export chains, causing delays in the delivery to India.
Mr Singh also attended the commissioning ceremony for India’s latest naval vessel at the Kaliningrad shipyard on Monday. INS Tushil, a stealth guided missile frigate, was one of the four vessels contracted by India from Russia in 2018. “The ship is a proud testament to India’s growing maritime strength and a significant milestone in long-standing bilateral relations with Russia,” Mr Singh said.
India, the world’s biggest importer of weapons, has depended heavily on Russia for its defence needs, with Moscow its biggest defence partner.
The Ukraine war has cast a shadow on the defence partnership, however, with data showing a steady decline in India’s military equipment orders with Russia and a pivot to Western suppliers.
Russia accounted for about 36 per cent of India’s arms imports last year, a sharp decline from 76 per cent in 2009, according to a report released in March this year by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a think tank focused on conflict, arms trade and disarmament.
Māori tribes in New Zealand appeal to King Charles for intervention
Representatives from over 80 Māori tribes have appealed directly to King Charles III, urging him to intervene in New Zealand’s domestic policies amid escalating tensions over the government’s approach to Māori rights.
The National Iwi Chairs Forum, a collective of tribal leaders, has penned an open letter to the monarch, expressing alarm over what they describe as ongoing breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi – New Zealand’s founding document signed in 1840 by Māori chiefs and the British Crown. The treaty is considered pivotal in protecting Māori rights.
“We’ve had 184 years of pandering to the decency and goodwill of the government, and it is not reciprocated,” Mr Aperahama Edwards, chair of the Ngāti Wai tribe and a forum leader, was quoted as saying by The Guardian. “The thinking here is to bring [these issues] to the attention of King Charles with the hope he can intervene.”
The two-page letter highlights concerns about legislative changes introduced by New Zealand’s rightwing coalition government, which critics argue have rolled back Māori rights. These include curbing the use of the Māori language in public services, dismantling health institutions designed to address inequities, and introducing a controversial bill that could radically alter treaty interpretations.
Earlier last month, around 10,000 people took to the street, marching towards Wellington to oppose the bill that seeks to redefine the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. First signed in 1840 between the British Crown and more than 500 Maori chiefs, the treaty lays down how the two parties agreed to govern. The interpretation of clauses in the document still guide legislation and policy.
The Act New Zealand party, a junior partner in the ruling centre-right coalition government, unveiled the bill, which it had promised during last year’s election. The party has criticised the sharing of some governance matters between the state and Maori, arguing non-Indigenous citizens are losing out because of policies designed to uplift Maori.
But Maori and their supporters say the bill undermines the rights of the country’s Indigenous people, who make up about 20 per cent of the population of 5.3 million.
Coalition partners the National Party and New Zealand First are only supporting the legislation through the first of three readings. Both parties have said they will not support it to become legislation, meaning it will almost certainly fail.
Prime minister Christopher Luxon previously reaffirmed that his National Party would not support the bill’s progress beyond the first reading.
However, the forum in its letter accuses the government of attacking the treaty, with policies that risk disconnecting Māori children from their heritage, threatening the protection of land and sea resources, and reducing the Waitangi Tribunal’s role. The tribunal investigates treaty breaches and has previously criticised the government’s direction.
Māori leaders fear these measures have fuelled anti-Māori rhetoric and soured their relationship with the Crown.
Professor Margaret Mutu, a forum chair and academic at the University of Auckland, described the policies as “a serious violation of the treaty” and called on the King to remind the government of its obligations.
The letter begins by recognising King Charles’s familial ties to Māori leadership and the legacy of Queen Victoria, who oversaw the treaty’s signing. It references the King’s 2022 Commonwealth address, where he spoke of acknowledging historical injustices and building a future that benefits all citizens.
“As a constitutional monarch of the Crown and a descendant of Queen Victoria, we seek your intervention to ensure that the government does not diminish the Crown’s honour,” the letter states, adding that signatories are united in their “grave concerns” for the future of Māori families.
Additional reporting by agencies
Japan Airlines offers to deliver your luggage when you visit Tokyo
Japan Airlines has offered to deliver your luggage to your hotel when you visit Tokyo — for a reasonable price.
The airline announced the launch of its same-day delivery service in a press release on December 5. The baggage delivery service, which costs 4,500 yen ($29 USD) per suitcase, is available to foreign travelers arriving at terminal three at Haneda Airport.
Japan Airlines explained the new initiative is designed to address congestion issues in Tokyo’s public transportation.
“The service aims to provide a seamless and stress-free travel experience by ensuring that tourists can enjoy their time in Tokyo without the burden of carrying heavy luggage,” the press release read. “By offering this service, JAL is committed to enhancing the convenience and comfort of foreign visitors, contributing to a more enjoyable and efficient travel experience.”
The same-day delivery service covers 14 districts throughout Tokyo, including Shinjuku, Shinagawa, Chiyoda, Chuo, Minato, Koto, Ota, Shibuya, Taito, Toshima, Bunkyo, Sumida, Meguro, and Edogawa.
However, travelers — including Japanese residents — arriving in Tokyo must apply for the service ahead of time. According to the Japanese Airlines website, all passengers are required to “make a reservation and payment using the 2D barcode on the poster in front of the ‘JAL ABC counter’ located in the arrival lobby.”
“After completing the application, issue a baggage sticker from the issuing machine next to the poster, attach it to your suitcase, and then check it in at the ‘JAL ABC counter’ located in the arrival lobby,” the airline said.
The delivery destination is restricted to hotels only. For those who check-in to the delivery service before 4 p.m. local time, they will receive their luggage at their hotel by 8 p.m. Meanwhile, travelers who arrive at the airport between 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., their baggage will be delivered by 10 p.m.
The same-day delivery service is just the latest initiative from Japan Airlines encouraging travel throughout the country. In September, the company announced it will be offering international passengers complimentary domestic flights to any destination within Japan.
Now, a passenger arriving from Singapore could fly into Tokyo and jet off on a domestic flight to Sapporo in northern Japan for no extra fees. However, visitors must book an international flight with Japan Airlines and a corresponding domestic flight in the same reservation, as separate domestic bookings will not be eligible.
Only passengers departing from the following countries can receive the offer: U.S., Canada, Mexico, Thailand, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, India, China, and Taiwan.