This is really just symbolic because the road and railway lines are not being used anyway:

North Korea’s military said it will cut off all roads and railways connected to South Korea starting Wednesday and build “strong defense structures” in the areas in response to South Korea-U.S. military maneuvers.

“A project will be launched first on October 9 to completely cut off roads and railways connected to” South Korea and “fortify the relevant areas of our side with strong defense structures,” the general staff of the North Korean People’s Army (KPA) said in a report carried by the Korean Central News Agency, noting the measures will “completely separate” North Korea’s territory from that of South Korea.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but North Korea is probably betting that whenever another leftwinger gets elected to President of South Korea they will pay to rebuild these road and rail links anyway.

The Korea Times has an article published that discusses what little options South Korea has to deter North Korea’s trash balloons:

Complicating matters for them is the apparent shift in North Korea’s intentions behind the balloon launches. Initially, Pyongyang claimed the balloons were in retaliation against anti-North Korean leaflets sent by South Korean civic groups, many of which consist of defectors from the North.

“The regime has continued the balloon campaign even after the leaflet launches stopped. This suggests that the balloons are now a tit-for-tat response to South Korea’s use of loudspeakers along the border,” Yang said.

In late July, South Korea resumed propaganda broadcasts across the border in response to the balloon launches. These broadcasts operate simultaneously from fixed loudspeakers in the border regions at full volume.

A military official said that the broadcasts are still operating from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. but declined to provide further details, citing operational secrecy.

“Instead of blasting the broadcasts day and night, our military should use the broadcasts more flexibly depending on the North’s behavior, such as switching them on only when it launches the balloons and turning them off when it remains silent for days,” Cho said.

Yang suggested that an ideal scenario would be for both Koreas to agree to a moratorium on psychological warfare, although this seems unlikely given their hawkish stances and the absence of a communication channel.

The professor also mentioned the possibility of international organizations such as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) — where both South and North Korea are member states — mediating to ease tensions caused by the balloons.

He added, “Unless the government takes swift action, we are going to see thousands of more balloons since conditions are becoming more favorable for North Korea’s balloon launches, with winds blowing southward in the fall.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but I don’t think North Korea has any intentions of stopping the trash balloons. It is a low cost gray area provocation for them that is providing them valuable military intelligence on where these balloons are landing while disrupting South Korean society. This disruption is putting pressure from the public on the Yoon administration to do something when there is really not much they can do.

I think for Moon Da-hye, illegal parking and running a red light is probably the least of her legal troubles at this point:

A  vehicle reportedly driven by Moon Da-hye appears to enter an intersection in Yongsan District, central Seoul. Moon disregarded traffic signals while allegedly under the influence of alcohol on Saturday, according to camera footage. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Former President Moon Jae-in’s daughter, accused of drunk driving in Itaewon, Yongsan District, is also suspected of illegally parking her car for hours in the area, according to media reports on Monday.

Moon Da-hye, daughter of the former president, is accused of parking her Hyundai Casper — a small SUV — in front of a construction site in Itaewon, close to a busy street and several restaurants.  
  
According to the Yongsan District Office, the area is marked with a yellow dotted line, which prohibits drivers from parking in the space for more than five minutes. If she had been caught, she would have faced a fine of 40,000 won ($30). 
  
Moon is suspected of parking her car at 6:57 p.m. Friday before heading to a nearby restaurant. The car remained parked for about seven hours until she returned at around 2:15 a.m. on Saturday, allegedly inebriated. 
  
She is also accused of driving through a red light and making an improper left turn at an intersection. She then collided with a taxi while changing lanes in front of the Hamilton Hotel in Itaewon at 2:51 a.m., according to Yongsan police. 
  
Moon has been booked on charges of drunk driving in violation of the Road Traffic Act. Her blood alcohol level was reportedly 0.14 percent, significantly above the legal limit of 0.08 percent, which is the threshold for revoking a driver’s license.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

It is looking more and more likely that Putin has found some more fresh meat to throw into the Ukrainian grinder:

North Korea is likely to deploy members of its regular armed forces to Ukraine in support of Russia, South Korea’s defense chief said Tuesday, in the latest sign of deepening military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow.

The assessment came as North Korea has been seeking to bolster ties with Russia, highlighted by a bilateral agreement that includes a mutual defense clause, signed by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin at summit talks in June.

“As Russia and North Korea have signed a mutual treaty akin to a military alliance, the possibility of such a deployment is highly likely,” Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun told lawmakers during a parliamentary audit session.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the mayors of the major Tokyo neighborhoods of Shinjuku and Shibuya are trying to prevent crowd crush like incidents from happening like what happened in Seoul’s Itaewon neighborhood:

Leaders of this city’s most popular nightlife districts held a news conference Monday and called on revelers to stay away during Halloween. Shinjuku Mayor Kenichi Yoshizumi said his ward saw an increase of about 3,000 visitors during Halloween last year after Shibuya strongly discouraged street parties and banned public drinking.

Shibuya became a popular place to spend Halloween night in the early 2000s. In recent years, many costumed revelers and those who come to see them have crowded the iconic Shibuya Scramble intersection and narrow streets around Shibuya Station.

So many people were drinking and littering last year in Kabukicho, a popular redlight district in Shinjuku, that ward officials were collecting garbage strewn everywhere the next morning. “To leave garbage behind after drinking and eating is not what an educated and rational person would do,” Yoshizumi said during a joint news conference with Shibuya Mayor Ken Hasebe at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.