KE flies from ICN to XIY on Fridays, Saturdays, and Wednesdays at 840a. Overnight in ICN or not, this is far better than the PEK connection.

I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier.

Very good plan. Moondog, as usual, is a genius on this stuff. Mom, check with KE and see if you can rework your plan with a Friday night stay in ICN (hotel at your expense) and then to XIY Saturday morning, with KE keeping custody of your checked luggage throughout. Even if it costs you a bit more. It should still be able to be done as a connection so your two free checked bags per person applies throughout the entire distance from USA to XIY. You might have to arrange it as an open jaws USA-ICN-XIY then PEK-ICN-USA, and just do the XIY-PEK on separate arrangement.