Eighth Army has a new commander:

 Lt. Gen. Willard “Bill” Burleson III assumed command of the Eighth Army on Friday, stressing the need for U.S. and South Korean troops “to train rigorously and realistically” to maintain readiness on the divided peninsula.

Wearing a camouflage mask to match his uniform and ward off the coronavirus, Burleson accepted the Eighth Army colors from Lt. Gen. Michael Bills during a ceremony in a gym on Camp Humphreys, the Army’s main headquarters in South Korea.

The change of command occurred amid fears of renewed tensions as U.S.-led nuclear talks with North Korea have stalled. Many experts have predicted that the North may conduct a missile test or another provocation in connection with the upcoming U.S. presidential election.

“Eighth Army’s presence here in Korea and in the Pacific certainly sends a strong signal, not just to the Republic of Korea but to our regional allies on the United States commitment to deterring our potential adversaries,” Burleson said during the ceremony, which was streamed live on Facebook.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Sounds like the ROK government is trying to spin a narrative of progress in regards to restarting denuclearization talks with North Korea even though nothing is happening:

South Korea and the United States have formed a “better foundation” for the declaration of an official end to the Korean War, South Korea’s top nuclear envoy said Wednesday.

“Since we had very broad and meaningful discussions, I believe a better foundation that will continue to serve us better in the future has been created,” Lee Do-hoon told reporters when asked whether the countries were able to reach a mutual understanding on the need to declare a formal end to the Korean War.

Lee’s trip to the U.S. came shortly after South Korean President Moon Jae-in urged international efforts to declare an official end to the 1950-53 Korean War, which he said would provide a security guarantee the North has long sought, and thus prompting the communist state to give up its nuclear ambitions.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but in my opinion nothing is getting done with North Korea until after the election. Even Kim Jong-un realizes this and has been very quiet these past few months.

A Korean court now says that Korean conservatives can hold a car parade with restrictions that make it nearly worthless to hold:

 A Seoul court has approved a drive-thru rally involving less than 10 vehicles amid worries that mass gatherings could undercut South Korea’s fight against the new coronavirus.

The ruling by the Seoul Administrative Court clears the way for conservative activists to hold a small-scale drive-thru rally in Seoul this weekend.

The court allows nine people — each in their cars — to hold a rally for two hours, but they are banned from lowering their car windows or chanting slogans during the rally.

The participants are also required not to have any face-to-face meeting or contact before and after the rally in a move to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but what they will probably do is put speakers on the outside of their cars and blare slogans that way. It will be interesting to see if the Moon administration that is desperate to squash dissent will try to arrest these people if they did that.

While the Moon administration is busy trying to arrest conservatives for holding a car parade, in other news Koreans are traveling home for the Chuseok holiday packing trains, buses, and the highways.

According to the ROK government the fishery official murder by North Korea had over $282,000 in gambling debts which is likely what motivated him wanting to defect:

 South Korea said Tuesday that a government official slain by North Korean sailors wanted to defect, concluding that the man, who had gambling debts, swam against unfavorable currents with the help of a life jacket and a floatation device and conveyed his intention of resettling in North Korea.

Senior coast guard officer Yoon Seong-hyun said at a televised briefing that there was a “very low possibility” that the man could have fallen from a ship or tried to kill himself because he was putting on a life jacket when he was found in North Korean waters last week.

Yoon said tidal currents at the time would also make it extremely difficult for him to drift into North Korean waters naturally.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but the man’s family says they believe he accidentally fell into the water and was not trying to defect.

This is something I had been wondering about because if the fishery official was floating in the water for six hours before being shot by the North Koreans, why didn’t anyone try to rescue him?:

South Korea’s defense ministry said Wednesday there were no such words as “shoot to kill or fire” in the military’s initial intelligence on North Korea’s killing of a South Korean fisheries official in the West Sea. 

The ministry also expressed regret over some reports that said the South’s military took no action despite hearing the North’s order to kill the official. 

“What happened during the incident in which (the North) shot (the South Korean fisheries official) and burned (his body) was determined after a considerable lapse of time by analyzing pieces of intelligence,” the ministry said. 

It also said the military did not know all of the facts of the incident in real time. 

In line with the ministry’s remarks, the South Korean presidential office Cheong Wa Dae denied the reports that the government had full awareness of the situation but did not suitably respond to it.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this leads me to believe that the ROK military must have cameras and listening devices placed in certain areas or unmanned aerial reconnaissance that they can download as needed to view imagery from in that area.