My apologies for omitting the deeper historical connection. Indeed if memory serves me correctly the Turkish Brigade was the third or fourth largest foreign contingent during the war, suffered the third most casualties (they were a combat brigade that spilled and shed blood, not behind-the-lines support), and the second most buried on Korean soil (the UN cemetery in Busan has a very large memorial in addition to several other monuments in the country).

As someone who has worn a uniform with multiple flags, the term 'blood brothers' does not come lightly, and there is no question on the veracity of this term among military personnel when it comes to nations that have made the ultimate sacrifice on the Korean peninsula. Also the 2023 earthquakes were big news in Korea, with many celebrities participating in fundraising in addition to the formal aid sent by the government, all done with many references to the blood debt.

However I was also referring to the more recent acceleration in developments between the two governments such as the new Turkish main battle tank containing some Korean-built components and designs, collaboration on naval shipbuilding, and the new quiet intelligence sharing agreements (this last one is pretty significant but obviously not talked about loudly). There is also a new push for collaboration on the respective countries' biotechnology investment programs which I am quite curious to see play out.

Going back to the thread topic:

While I have experienced good service on the IST-ICN route in both Y and J consistently, perhaps due to the cultural/historical/economic reasons above, I did feel there has been some additional improvement as well. One small example is that I enjoy taking peeks out the window (only when the person next to me has their eyeshades on, and never more than a portion of the shade up enough for me to look through with most of my body blocking the light). Previously I would be asked (politely) to please close the shades if a cabin crew member were to see this at all. This time I noticed them walking past, and scanning to see if my opening the window was actually disturbing other passengers before just moving on quietly.

There was also a Portuguese woman and her two small toddlers in my row on this flight. I know TK likes to take some special attention towards children, but they pulled off J service for minors exceptionally well this time. They presented both of them little backpack gifts (almost in a coordinated ceremonial way from both sides of the aisle) at the start of the flight, made sure to kneel down to eye level when addressing them directly every time, spent quite a bit of time discussing personalized meal options, and continuously checked in on the mother whenever she was awake. I will also add that while they were not seated in my section so I couldn't see their interactions, there was a rather large amount of children on this flight in the J cabin (including a Saudi family with six small children I was in line with at the gate before they preboarded) so the time and effort that went into providing extra service to children was probably quite significant on this flight.

Granted I've seen some great service geared towards children on other airlines as well. But if I am ever to travel with small children in J I think TK, even if they have other faults, would be my first choice.