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Jeju Air ‘Black Box’ Data Missing from Last 4 Minutes before Crash, South Korea Ministry Says

This undated handout photo taken at an undisclosed location and released on January 1, 2025 by South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport shows the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) retrieved from Jeju Air flight 2216 which crashed killing 179 people. (Handout / South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport / AFP)
This undated handout photo taken at an undisclosed location and released on January 1, 2025 by South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport shows the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) retrieved from Jeju Air flight 2216 which crashed killing 179 people. (Handout / South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport / AFP)
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Jeju Air ‘Black Box’ Data Missing from Last 4 Minutes before Crash, South Korea Ministry Says

This undated handout photo taken at an undisclosed location and released on January 1, 2025 by South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport shows the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) retrieved from Jeju Air flight 2216 which crashed killing 179 people. (Handout / South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport / AFP)
This undated handout photo taken at an undisclosed location and released on January 1, 2025 by South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport shows the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) retrieved from Jeju Air flight 2216 which crashed killing 179 people. (Handout / South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport / AFP)

The flight data and cockpit voice recorders on the Jeju Air jet that crashed on Dec. 29 stopped recording about four minutes before the airliner hit a concrete structure at South Korea's Muan airport, the transport ministry said on Saturday.

Authorities investigating the disaster that killed 179 people, the worst on South Korean soil, plan to analyze what caused the "black boxes" to stop recording, the ministry said in a statement.

The voice recorder was initially analyzed in South Korea, and, when data was found to be missing, sent to a US National Transportation Safety Board laboratory, the ministry said.

The damaged flight data recorder was taken to the United States for analysis in cooperation with the US safety regulator, the ministry has said.

Jeju Air 7C2216, which departed the Thai capital Bangkok for Muan in southwestern South Korea, belly-landed and overshot the regional airport's runway, exploding into flames after hitting an embankment.

The pilots told air traffic control the aircraft had suffered a bird strike and declared emergency about four minutes before it crashed into the embankment exploding in flames. Two injured crew members, sitting in the tail section, were rescued.

Two minutes before the Mayday emergency call, air traffic control gave caution for "bird activity". Declaring emergency, the pilots abandoned the landing attempt and initiated a go-around.

But instead of making a full go-about, the budget airline's Boeing 737-800 jet took a sharp turn and approached the airport's single runway from the opposite end, crash-landing without landing gear deployed.

Sim Jai-dong, a former transport ministry accident investigator, said the discovery of the missing data from the crucial final minutes was surprising and suggests all power including backup may have been cut, which is rare.

The transport ministry said other data available would be used in the investigation and that it would ensure the probe is transparent and that information is shared with the victims' families.

Some members of the victims' families have said the transport ministry should not be taking the lead in the investigation but that it should involve independent experts including those recommended by the families.

The investigation of the crash has also focused on the embankment, which was designed to prop up the "localizer" system used to assist aircraft landing, including why it was built with such rigid material and so close to the end of the runway.

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World

US Plan Sees Ukraine Joining EU in 2027, Official Says

Artillerymen of the 152nd Separate Jaeger Brigade fire a howitzer towards Russian troops, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the frontline town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine December 11, 2025. (Reuters)
Artillerymen of the 152nd Separate Jaeger Brigade fire a howitzer towards Russian troops, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the frontline town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine December 11, 2025. (Reuters)
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US Plan Sees Ukraine Joining EU in 2027, Official Says

Artillerymen of the 152nd Separate Jaeger Brigade fire a howitzer towards Russian troops, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the frontline town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine December 11, 2025. (Reuters)
Artillerymen of the 152nd Separate Jaeger Brigade fire a howitzer towards Russian troops, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the frontline town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine December 11, 2025. (Reuters)

Ukraine could join the European Union as early as January 2027 under the latest US plan to end the war with Russia, a senior source familiar with the matter told AFP on Friday.

The complicated EU accession process usually takes years and requires a unanimous vote from all 27 members of the bloc, and some countries, most notably Hungary, have consistently voiced opposition to Ukraine joining.

The idea of a speedy accession is included in the latest version of a US-led plan to end the war, which would also see Ukraine cede land to Russia, and has triggered a diplomatic frenzy across Europe in recent weeks.

"It's stated there but it's a matter for negotiation, and the Americans support it," the senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, referring to the US plan.

Washington has the leverage needed to convince leaders opposed to Ukraine's membership to change their stance, President Volodymyr Zelensky told journalists, including AFP, on Thursday.

"The United States can take steps to unblock our path to the European Union," he said, adding that "the US president has various levers of influence and that this will have an effect on those who are currently blocking Ukraine."

Kyiv has long strived for EU membership and has been implementing reforms since a pro-European 2014 revolution but has struggled to eradicate endemic corruption -- a core prerequisite for joining the bloc.

After completing a diplomatic tour across Europe last week, Zelensky was due in Berlin on Monday for more talks on the plan, full details of which have not been released.

"If the security situation allows, he'll be there", the senior official told AFP.

- A long road -

Moscow on Friday indicated it was suspicious about the efforts to amend the US plan, which it has largely been supportive of and heeded to most of its core demands.

"We have an impression that this version, which is being put forward for discussion, will be worsened," Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told the Kommersant business daily.

"It'll be a long process," he added, saying that Moscow had not seen an updated version of the plan since discussions between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Moscow last week.

Zelensky said Thursday that Washington wants only Ukraine, not Russia, to withdraw its troops from parts of the eastern Donetsk region, where a demilitarized "free economic zone" would be installed as a buffer between the two armies.

Russia, which has the numerical advantage in manpower and weapons, has been grinding forward on the battlefield for months, notching up its quickest advance for a year in November.

However on Friday, Ukraine claimed to have retaken two settlements near Kupiansk -- a strategically important city and a key railway hub in the northeast of the country.

Zelensky visited the troops near Kupiansk to congratulate them -- and recorded a video of himself on a road at the entrance to the southwest of the city.

The Russian army currently occupies about 20 percent of Ukrainian territory in the east and south, which has been decimated by years of fighting.

The war has killed tens of thousands and forced millions to flee their homes.

World

Strong Quake Causes Small Tsunami Waves Off Northeastern Japan

People stroll along Marunouchi Naka-dori Street illuminated with winter lights Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
People stroll along Marunouchi Naka-dori Street illuminated with winter lights Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
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Strong Quake Causes Small Tsunami Waves Off Northeastern Japan

People stroll along Marunouchi Naka-dori Street illuminated with winter lights Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
People stroll along Marunouchi Naka-dori Street illuminated with winter lights Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A 6.7 magnitude earthquake shook northeastern Japan and caused small tsunami waves but no apparent damage Friday, days after a stronger quake in the same region.

Friday's quake occurred off the east coast of Aomori prefecture, in the north of Honshu, the main Japanese island, at a depth of 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) at 11:44 a.m., according to the Japan Meteorological Agency, which issued a tsunami advisory that was lifted about two hours later.

Small waves were reported in Hokkaido and Aomori prefectures, but no serious damage or injuries were reported, according to The Associated Press.

The quake followed a 7.5 magnitude earthquake Monday that caused injuries, light damage and a small tsunami on Japan's Pacific coast.

At least 34 people were injured in that quake, power was knocked out temporarily in places, and tsunami waves more than 2 feet (0.6 meters) above tide levels were measured in Kuji port in Iwate prefecture.

Authorities had warned of possible aftershocks.

Officials said after Monday's quake there was also a slight increase in the risk of a megaquake, at magnitude 8 or stronger, and a possible tsunami occurring along Japan’s northeastern coast from Chiba, just east of Tokyo, to the northernmost main island of Hokkaido.

The agency urged residents in the area to monitor their emergency preparedness, reminding them that the caution is not a prediction of such a strong earthquake.

World

US Slaps Sanctions on Maduro Relatives as Venezuela War Fears Build

(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on August 7, 2025 shows US President Donald Trump (L) in Washington, DC, on July 9, 2025, and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (R) in Caracas on July 31, 2024. (Photo by Jim WATSON and Federico PARRA / AFP)
(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on August 7, 2025 shows US President Donald Trump (L) in Washington, DC, on July 9, 2025, and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (R) in Caracas on July 31, 2024. (Photo by Jim WATSON and Federico PARRA / AFP)
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US Slaps Sanctions on Maduro Relatives as Venezuela War Fears Build

(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on August 7, 2025 shows US President Donald Trump (L) in Washington, DC, on July 9, 2025, and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (R) in Caracas on July 31, 2024. (Photo by Jim WATSON and Federico PARRA / AFP)
(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on August 7, 2025 shows US President Donald Trump (L) in Washington, DC, on July 9, 2025, and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (R) in Caracas on July 31, 2024. (Photo by Jim WATSON and Federico PARRA / AFP)

The US Treasury imposed new sanctions Thursday against three of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro's relatives as well as six companies shipping the South American country's oil.

The move came as the White House said it will bring an oil tanker seized by American forces off the Venezuelan coast to a port in the United States, adding to growing fears of open conflict between the two countries, reported AFP6.

Washington took control of the tanker in a dramatic raid that saw US forces rope down from a helicopter onto the vessel in an operation that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said was aimed at Maduro's "regime."

Treasury officials said three nephews of Maduro's wife, Cilia Flores, were being slapped with sanctions, labeling two of the men "narco-traffickers operating in Venezuela."

"Nicolas Maduro and his criminal associates in Venezuela are flooding the United States with drugs that are poisoning the American people," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

President Donald Trump's administration has been piling pressure on Venezuela for months with a major naval buildup in the region that has been accompanied by strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats that have killed close to 90 people.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Thursday expressed support during a phone call with his ally Maduro, but with Moscow's forces tied down in a grinding war in Ukraine, its capacity to provide aid is limited.

"The vessel will go to a US port and the United States does intend to seize the oil," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told journalists of the tanker.

"We're not going to stand by and watch sanctioned vessels sail the seas with black-market oil, the proceeds of which will fuel narco-terrorism of rogue and illegitimate regimes around the world."

Earlier on Thursday, Noem told a congressional hearing that the tanker operation was "pushing back on a regime that is systematically covering and flooding our country with deadly drugs" -- a reference to US allegations of narcotics smuggling by Maduro's government.

A video released Wednesday by US Attorney General Pam Bondi showed American forces descending from a helicopter onto the tanker's deck, then entering the ship's bridge with weapons raised.

Bondi said the ship was part of an "illicit oil shipping network" that was used to carry sanctioned oil.

- 'Blatant theft' -

Venezuela's foreign ministry said it "strongly denounces and condemns what constitutes blatant theft and an act of international piracy."

"They kidnapped the crew, stole the ship and have inaugurated a new era, the era of criminal naval piracy in the Caribbean," Maduro said at a presidential event on Thursday, adding: "Venezuela will secure all ships to guarantee the free trade of its oil around the world."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday expressed concern over the escalating tensions and urged restraint.

"We are calling on all actors to refrain from action that could further escalate bilateral tensions and destabilize Venezuela and the region," his spokesperson said.

US media reported that the tanker had been heading for Cuba -- another American rival -- and that the ship was stopped by the US Coast Guard.

Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Thursday he questioned the legality of the tanker seizure and that "any president, before he engages in an act of war, has to have the authorization of the American people through Congress."

"This president is preparing for an invasion of Venezuela, simply said. And if the American people are in favor of that, I'd be surprised," Durbin told CNN.

Washington has accused Maduro of leading the alleged "Cartel of the Suns," which it declared a "narco-terrorist" organization last month, and has offered a $50 million reward for information leading to his capture.

Trump told Politico on Monday that Maduro's "days are numbered" and declined to rule out a US ground invasion of Venezuela.

The Trump administration alleges that Maduro's hold on power is illegitimate and that he stole Venezuela's July 2024 election.

Maduro -- the political heir to leftist leader Hugo Chavez -- says the United States is bent on regime change and wants to seize Venezuela's oil reserves.