North Korea

Fire of Liberty

Here's a good article over @ The New York Sun on Secretary of State Rice's visit to South Korea and her talks on finding a solution to the North Korean nuclear weapons program. Also during this visit, Dr. Norbert Vollersten, who is a human rights activist and a former Dr. Without Border's member who served several tours of delivering health-care to the North Korean people. Based on this article, Dr. Vollersten shouted several questions to Secretary Rice, see for yourself:

"Miss Rice, the North Korean people are dying and they are crying for your help," Dr. Vollertsen shouted as he was dragged from a hotel function room by security personnel. He clutched a poster that read, "Freedom for North Korea: 50 Years Overdue." During the scuffle, an embassy employee ripped the sign in half, the Associated Press reported.

Unfortunately, the State Department had spotted the good doctor and shut him down. It's kind of ironic that an institute created to spread the message of freedom and democracy throughout the World would prevent this person from expressing such sentiments. I guess the State Department has a good way to go.

By the way, Dr. Vollersten has a good book on the horrific conditions that he's seen the North Korean live in during his tour of duty in the Hermit Kingdom. The book is called Inside North Korea and offers a considerable amount of info on the regime of Kim Jong Il. Here' what it looks like: