Why? Why not, if you can:
A girl from north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region plans to set a new Guiness World Record after eating nothing but soil for two months.
The girl, called Wuqibalaqiqige… said she feels no need to eat normal food now that she has discovered how much she likes to eat soil.
She […]

As the Nomad and Joshua point out, there seems to be some conflicting information on whether or not North Korea is getting ready for a second nuclear test or not.
Apparently a, “U.S. television network” (ABC) quoted an unnamed (aren’t they usually) U.S. official as saying, “We think they’ve put everything in place to conduct […]

From Bloomberg: “U.S. President George W. Bush may offer North Korean leader Kim Jong Il an official end to the Korean War as an incentive to persuade the communist country’s leader to scrap his nuclear weapons program. Bush said in a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao the U.S. government ‘can announce an official […]

Nautilus: The Time of Reckoning (Alexandre Mansourov)
Council on Foreign Relations: Sanctions Imposed, But Questions Remain
Council on Foreign Relations: A Setback for Nonproliferation
CATO: Chinese Must Pluck Kim From Nuke Perch
Brookings: Negotiating with North Korea (several articles)
Heritage: A New Tack for China after North Korea’s Nuclear Test?
Foreign Policy: Seven Questions: Testing North Korea’s Will
APARC: Technical Perspective […]

Good grief, this is going to be controvesial — at least in Asia:
Ted Leonsis was cruising the Caribbean on his yacht a couple of years ago, poring over old newspapers, when he noticed an obituary for Iris Chang, author of “The Rape of Nanking,” the best-seller about the killing in 1937 of 300,000 Chinese […]

To early to tell if this has anything at all to do with North Korea’s U.S. currency counterfeiting operations, but it would not be a leap for them to be involved in fake bonds:
Police recovered a briefcase containing a hoard of probably forged United States Treasury bonds worth $500 million during the investigation of […]

Joshua wrote earlier:
… while we’ve made progress toward achieving our goals, we’re clearly still lacking when it comes to the “usual” means of achieving them. Turnout at the rally was disappointing: between 150 and 200 people, depending on who was speaking. [snip]
Contrast this to coverage of Darfur today. Sunday is likely to bring thousands […]

These days, the U.S. and Japan enjoy an excellent relationship, in part due to the close personal relationship between President Bush and Prime Minister Koizumi.
Likely there will continue to be deep cooperation between the U.S. and Japan, particularly on security issues, as the rise of China and the North Korean nuclear blackmail occupy minds […]

Maybe my brain’s switches are mixed up. I am beginning to see strange parallel patterns between North Korea and the U.S.!
Exhibit A: Elaborately constructed tunnels.
First the North Korean version:
It has a prefabricated wall of concrete and slate. When discovered, there were 220-volt and 60-watt lamps, electric lines, railways, and track vehicles. The ground is […]

DailyNK: The First Report on North Korean Child Rights and Child Trafficking
Dong-a ILbo: North Korea’s Children Are Starving
YONHAP: Five S. Korean legislators arrive in Pyongynag for five-day visit
Reuters: North and South Koreans in Winter Games march
AFP: Japan talks security with NKorea amid few hopes for progress
Kyodo: Japan, N. Korea discuss nuclear, […]