It makes sense that both these leaders would want to make official visits with President Lee since they will both be in Gyeongju for the APEC summit:

U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are both likely to pay state visits to South Korea during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gathering later this month, diplomatic sources said Thursday. 

Seoul is in talks with Washington and Beijing over the arrangements for the highly anticipated trips by the two leaders and is fine-tuning details to host both with a state visit, the sources said.

A state visit is the highest form of diplomatic visit by a foreign head of state, during which the host country extends the utmost ceremonial protocol, including an elaborate official welcome with military honors and a state banquet.

If realized, their visits would take place in Gyeongju, the host city for APEC in southeastern South Korea, rather than Seoul, possibly in a simplified manner in terms of the protocol, considering the schedules coinciding with the multilateral gathering, the sources said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The popular U.S. burger chain In-N-Out held a one day pop-up store in Gangnam where people waited up to five hours for a burger:

In-N-Out pop-up store in southern Seoul on Oct. 15. [CHO YONG-JUN]

The customer first in line arrived at 3 a.m., according to the restaurant manager of Schedule Cheongdam. 
  
They lined up in Apgujeong in southern Gangnam on Wednesday, not for some boutique store, a K-pop pop-up event or a Michelin-starred restaurant, but for In-N-Out. 
  
However, there were only 500-or-so burgers prepared and by the time this reporter visited the restaurant, five minutes before 2 p.m., they were all long gone. 
  
In-N-Out returned to Korea — for just a half a day — on Wednesday as a half-day pop-up store. Despite being the fifth time the popular American hamburger chain has opened a pop-up store in the country, it still didn’t stop Koreans from lining up for the burgers.

“I’ve tasted many different burger brands, but I never had In-N-Out until today, and they are really good,” Cho Ha-young, a 22-year-old customer who waited for almost five hours for the In-N-Out pop-up on Wednesday, told the Korea JoongAng Daily.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but In-N-Out hosts one day pop-up stores every 2-3 years in order to maintain their trademark in Korea. If they didn’t do this some other restaurant could use the name In-N-Out in Korea.

For all the people complaining about the U.S. selling aircraft to Qatar and other Muslim nations, here is the alternative China sells them the aircraft instead:

Indonesia’s top defense official said Wednesday that Jakarta will acquire at least 42 Chinese-made Chengdu J-10C fighter jets, marking the country’s first non-Western aircraft purchase deal. Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin told reporters in the capital, Jakarta, t

hat Indonesia would soon buy fighter jets from China as part of a plan to modernize its military. Analysts said the deal could touch regional sensitivities and have geopolitical implications. “They will be flying over Jakarta soon,” Sjamsoeddin said. He declined to provide further details of the purchase.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link

It is kind of ironic that past liberal ROK administrations tore down many anti-tank barriers on the South Korean side of the DMZ and now the Kim regime are putting up their own barrier on the north side of the DMZ:

Satellite images obtained by a South Korean lawmaker show that the North is constructing a roughly 6-mile-long anti-tank barrier resembling the Cold War-era Berlin Wall, a lawmaker in Seoul said this week.

Four concrete barriers, each about 1 ½ miles long, are being built along the border with South Korea, according to a Tuesday news release from Rep. Yu Yong-weon of the conservative, main opposition People Power Party. The images were taken at an unspecified date by ICEYE, a Finland-based satellite company that has launched 44 satellites since 2018. The firm has offices in Japan, Poland, Spain and the United States, according to its website.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Could we end up seeing a repeat of the 2008 mad cow riots in South Korea if Trump pressures the ROK to accept wider US beef imports?:

 The owner of a high-profile cow farm in South Gyeongsang Province is opposed to wider imports of U.S. beef. 

Byun Jung-il believes that allowing the import of some kinds of American beef would increase the risk of Korean consumers being exposed to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), a zoonotic infection also known as mad cow disease. Korea has had a ban on the import of beef from U.S. cows aged 30 months or older in place since 2008, following widespread protests over the safety of such imports. 

The Donald Trump administration, amid ongoing tariff negotiations with Korea, is seeking to turn the tables by demanding that Seoul lift the ban. Both countries reached an initial agreement in late July to leave the bilateral livestock trade conditions intact. However, subsequent ministerial meetings between Seoul and Washington suggest that the issue remains on the table.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but who in the US is dieing from mad cow disease? ROK consumers should probably be more concerened about the hormones and antibiotics given to US cattle than mad cow disease. However, the ROK ranchers probably give their cattle the same shots.

This bill is coming from the same party that supported unions such as the KCTU conducting violent protests during the prior Yoon administration, but now wants to criminalize protests by citizens speaking out against China:

Korea’s ruling party has introduced a new bill that would prohibit rallies considered to promote hate or discrimination, in response to an increase in anti-China protests ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s anticipated visit to Seoul later this month.

The bill, proposed by Rep. Kim Tae-nyeon of the liberal Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and 12 other progressives, seeks to outlaw rallies aiming to “incite or promote discrimination or hatred” targeting specific races, nationalities or other groups.

This follows a spike in anti-China protests in areas like Seoul’s Myeong-dong and Daerim, where demonstrators have chanted slogans such as “China Out.” Tensions fueled by such gatherings prompted the Chinese Embassy in Seoul to recently issue a safety advisory for its nationals, sparking diplomatic concerns as government officials here prepare for the first visit by a Chinese leader in over a decade for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.