Although my passion lies somewhere down in the Caribbean (Hispaniola), I'm currently teaching in Seoul, South Korea, which is certainly a well-off city in one of the top performing countries in Asia. Despite its size and tumultuous history (it has been the continual brunt of invasion and occupation by other Asian giants), the south end of the Korean peninsula has made incredible strides in the past 50+ years of post-WWII modernity. Yet a few miles north of Seoul begins the impossibility (for the sheer ridiculousness of it) that is North Korea. North Korea is the eyesore, the heartache, the thorn in the flesh of the South and much of the democratized world. It also is undergoing a horrendous food shortage (long time bordering on a food crisis) and lack of access and accurate data to the outside. South Korea and other multilateral entities have been channeling in aid for years, but North Korea has been adamant in attempting unilateral sovereignty regarding its own intl policy (ie, threatening with nuclear proliferation, etc).
In recent months they have shown a softer side in their willingness to have open diplomatic talks with other countries, especially their southern sister. Yet no real action has come of this. I think harnessing North Korea's nuclear power in energy form (minus the reactors needed for weapons) could be beneficial in food production and increasing general standards of living that North Koreans don't enjoy.
This will take courage and innovation because of North Korea's unwillingness to allow others inside. Yet recent reports show cracks in the surface, and careful continuation of diplomacy combined with setting an example of successful continuation of safe nuclear energy elsewhere around the world might work. Any more practical ideas, anyone?
Just a recent brief on the current status of North Korea vs The World:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2010/03/north_korea
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