President Moon must be feeling pretty confident that in the short term the Kaesong Industrial Complex will reopen:

President Moon Jae-in vowed Friday to invite foreign companies to set up affiliates at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC) in North Korea if operations there are resumed.

“If operations at the Gaeseong complex resume, I will try to make it a place that houses multinational companies,” President Moon said at the start of a luncheon with businesspeople at Cheong Wa Dae, according to press pool reports.

The President appeared to be responding to remarks by Kim Ki-mun, head of the Korea Federation of Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), calling for the complex to be reopened to help small local businesses. Many of these are in a dire financial straits due to their investment in the complex, and a lack of new growth engines.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but Moon is probably betting that if large multinational companies set up shop in Kaesong that the Kim regime will be less likely to exhort South Korean businesses operating there like they have in the past.

For multinational corporations they will have to make a decision on whether they want their products built by near slave labor or not?

The South Korean left has responded to the massive rally against the allegedly corrupt ROK Justice Minister with a rally of their own:

Activists and citizens held a rally in southern Seoul on Saturday in support of Justice Minister Cho Kuk and his drive to reform the prosecution amid a probe into corruption allegations surrounding his family.

The candlelight vigil started at around 6 p.m. at an intersection near Seocho Station, where the prosecution’s office is located, for the third such weekly rally.

Participants chanted slogans — “Reform the Prosecution” and “Protect Cho Kuk” — as they condemned the prosecution’s widening probe into Cho’s family as an attempt to deter the minister from reforming the elite investigation agency.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the Korean left is claiming 3 million people showed up which judging by this picture is widely inaccurate.

Here is the latest on the efforts to stop the spread of swine flu in South Korea:

South Korea is using helicopters to disinfect the border area to combat the spread of African swine fever (ASF) after it found a wild boar carcass infected with the deadly virus in the demilitarized zone.

According to the Ministry of National Defense, the government has started to disinfect the entire border area north of the civilian-restricted zone, starting with the DMZ in Yeoncheon County, Gyeonggi on Friday, where the infected wild animal was found.

It notified North Korea of the measures and is conducting fumigation with approval from the United Nations Command. Seven fumigation helicopters from the Korea Forest Service will disinfect the area over the next seven days with soil disinfectants such as quicklime. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.

It looks like the restarting of Mt. Kumgang Tours and the relaxing of coal sanctions could be concessions made by the U.S. towards North Korea in upcoming talks:

The United States has “unofficially” promised North Korea to offer “low-level” sanctions relief including a partial resumption of tourism at Mount Geumgang in North Korea, two sources familiar with the issue said Thursday.

“Washington’s nuclear negotiating team plans to offer low-level sanctions relief at working-level talks which will take place Oct. 5,” one said asking not to be identified as he wasn’t authorized to officially speak to the media.

The diplomatic source said U.S. negotiators would use this as a “starting point,” adding that the fine details would be worked out as the talks progressed. “No major announcements will come at the working-level talks as the United States is hoping to narrow additional conditions and demands through follow-up discussions. The upcoming U.S.-North Korea talks will directly touch on sanctions relief that Pyongyang will receive,” he told The Korea Times.

Korea Times