I guess the Malaysians are not very considered about a state actor using biological weapons inside their international airport:

He stressed that Malaysia is “very suitable for interacting with Korea,” given his country’s English-speaking human resources and stable politics.

Reflecting Malaysia’s diplomatic pragmatism, the prime minister also said the country is reaching out to North Korea as well. 

The Southeast Asian country is preparing to reopen its embassy in Pyongyang, partially closed since the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s estranged half-brother at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in February 2017.

“We want to be friendly with all countries in the world … Even North Korea can provide some trade for us. We don’t like confrontation,” he said. 

He described the talk of the North Korean government being behind the assassination as “suspicion” and said it has not affected Malaysia’s security.

“So, now it is time to resume the normal relations between Malaysia and North Korea,” he said in the interview held at his Busan hotel room.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I find it interesting that the Prime Minister calls it “suspicion” when his own government had Interpol trying to track down the four North Koreans responsible for organizing the murder.

Another huge building is coming to the ROK:

The Seoul city government said on Tuesday that it has approved the long-delayed construction of Hyundai Motor Group’s new headquarters in the affluent district of Gangnam, which is set to be South Korea’s tallest skyscraper when completed in 2026. 

The 569-meter building will break ground in the first half of 2020, Seoul city said in a statement. 

The approval came more than four years after Hyundai Motor Group, South Korea’s second-largest conglomerate, offered to purchase the site with $10 billion in 2014, more than triple its market price, outbidding Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and sparking a stock sell-off.

The construction, originally scheduled to commence in 2016, was delayed partly due to security concerns raised by South Korea’s air force, which said the building would interfere with radar and military operations, a Seoul city official said.

Reuters

You can read more at the link.

There is already much tension facing the alliance between the U.S. and the ROK and now the Russians want to create tension between Japan and the U.S. as well:

 Russia’s foreign minister says the U.S.-Japan security alliance poses “a problem” for Russia-Japan relations and complicates peace treaty talks.

The two countries have been struggling to negotiate a peace treaty after World War II because of a territorial dispute. The Soviet Union took the four southernmost Kuril Islands during the final days of the war, which Japan asserts territorial rights to.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Saturday that Japan’s “military alliance with Washington, of course, is a problem” when it comes to changing the nature of the country’s relationship with Russia.

Lavrov said the Japanese government promised to address Russia’s concerns.

He added that implementation of the 1956 Soviet-Japanese Declaration, which outlined conditions for a peace treaty, was not possible with the U.S. military presence in Japan.

Military Times

You can read more at the link.

It is pretty clear that Kim Jong-un is using this as further pressure on the ROK to either get the U.S. to cut a deal or violate sanctions on their own accord by the end of the year:

South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense on Monday accused the North of “violating” an inter-Korean military agreement by recently conducting an artillery firing drill on an islet just north of the countries’ maritime border in the Yellow Sea, saying it felt “regretful” about Pyongyang’s breach.

The ministry explained that the regime shouldn’t have carried out the drill on Changrin Islet in accordance to the Comprehensive Military Agreement signed between the two Koreas on Sept. 19, 2018, because the area is part of a larger buffer zone in which both countries agreed not to hold any artillery fire drills or field training exercises. 

It is not precisely known when the North held its firing drill, as neither South Korea nor the North released any information about dates.

The North did, however, in a news report released earlier on Monday through its state-run media, reveal that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un personally “gave an order to fire” during a visit to Changrin Islet. North Korean media usually reports on its leader’s activities a day after they are carried out, which possibly means that Kim visited the islet on Sunday.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

It is very convenient that the alleged spy that China tried to plant turned up dead:

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Monday that allegations of a Chinese plot to plant an agent into Australia’s Parliament are “deeply disturbing and troubling.”

The Nine Network on Sunday aired explosive accusations that suspected Chinese operatives had offered Melbourne luxury car dealer Bo “Nick” Zhao 1 million Australian dollars ($679,000) to run as a candidate for a parliamentary seat in Melbourne.

The 32-year-old was found dead in a Melbourne hotel room in March after reportedly approaching ASIO, Australia’s counterespionage agency. Police have been unable to determine how he died.

“The government has never been more determined to keep Australians free and safe from foreign interference,” Morrison told reporters. “I would caution anyone leaping to any conclusions about these matters.”

Associated Press

You can read more at the link.

That is what this Bloomberg article is calling for:

Back in Seoul, officials appear more focused on addressing a cyclical slowdown than the broader shift in economic and social life. The Bank of Korea is on its way to zero interest rates and fiscal taps are being opened to buttress slowing activity. Yet only policies that create more people have a prayer.

That’s why immigration has to be part of the solution. Foreigners make up about 3.7% of South Korea’s population, according to an OECD report in January. While that’s low by global standards, the good news is that this proportion is growing fast. During a recent cross-country trip, I noticed that few of the servers at restaurants were local. Vietnamese, Chinese and South Asians took orders and whisked food to tables. “Without foreigners, work won’t get done,” Lee, the shop owner, explained. “Korean young people won’t do it; the few that are left here don’t want to do physical work.”

Many immigrants work in manufacturing, construction and retail, filling gaps left by aging locals. The risk is that foreigners get hemmed into low-paying jobs. Korea has attracted a lot of students from abroad in the past decade, but only 15% of graduates remain. More needs to be done to retain this talent.

Bloomberg

You can read more at the link.