Doesn’t he have a state to run?

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson plans to travel to North Korea for meetings with government officials from the hardline communist nation.

Richardson plans to make the trip in early April, officials familiar with the trip told The Associated Press on Friday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because plans were still being completed.

The New Mexico governor is a frequent diplomatic traveler. He was in Sudan in January to meet with government leaders and made a trip to the Darfur region where he visited refugee camps.

I did not know that foreign policy was within the domain of the powers of the Governor of New Mexico. Just because Richardson used to be a diplomat does not mean he should become one now. I doubt this was what the voters had in mind.

I personally think Richardson is a somewhat decent Democratic candidate for President except that he is America’s version of Roh Moo-hyun.

Update: Today being April Fool’s day, it’s funny there are a lot of North Korea related jokes on the internet (like this and this). And yet, on this day I am expecting Richardson to say, “April Fools! You can cancel your trip to Iran, Barak!” But now that every issue in New Mexico has been resolved, it’s a good time to see Arirang make its comeback.

Two months ago, I highlighted the actions of one activist, Shona Maguire, in trying to improve the lives of North Korean defectors. It looks like the first ten North Korean will be arriving in Scotland very soon

SHONA MAGUIRE’S Korea path is heading for Tweeddale.

The 25-year-old spent 15 months teaching English to refugees in the South Korean town of Jayoutuh in 2005 and 2006.

And following her return to Scotland at the end of last year, she has campaigned to raise awareness of their plight and also launch a charity to arrange cultural visits for the fleeing students.

At an inaugural meeting and film show earlier this year in the Burgh Hall, the former Peebles High pupil recruited a small army of like-minded volunteers.

And the recently-formed Scottish Hospitality Initiative for North Korea will be hosting its first 10 Koreans this summer.

Shona told the Peeblesshire News: “We will be hosting 10 students who have fled from North Korea for around 10 days in August. The idea is to give them a cultural and fun insight into Scotland.

“We are talking about young people between the age of 16 and 26 who want to learn English as they progress their studies. Many of them are alone as their families are still back in North Korea.

They even have a website for their organization, Scottish Hospitality Initiative for North Koreans. I will emphasize once again, it only takes one person with courage to change the world.

Global Warming is causing problems in North Korea, right

SEOUL, March 29 Asia Pulse - North Korea had been badly hit by global warming, a North Korean official said, reflecting that the reclusive country was no exception in being affected by abnormal climatic phenomena.

The director of the Central Meteorological Institute of the DPRK (North Korea), Ryu Ki-ryol, said that in recent years the temperature in the North had risen two or three times the global average in the 20th century, according to the (North) Korean Central News Agency on March 23.

On the occasion of World Meteorological Day, Ryu said: “The high atmospheric pressure formed in the Sea of Okhotsk brought cold to the east coast of DPRK in recent years.” The Sea of Okhotsk is northeast of North Korea.

The only good thing is that this the second time this month that the country has admitted to something that is beyond their control. The first one that they cannot feed all their people, now they admit they cannot control the weather. It is not the forum to debate Global Warming, but we can all agree that Global Warming is the last thing North Koreans have to worry about.