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...Kaesong industrial zone, opened in 2004, was developed mainly by South Korea as part of Seoul's attempts to engage its northern neighbor through economic cooperation, and today it houses more than 100 South Korean companies that employ about 40,000 North Koreans. The zone has been a major source of trade for North Korea, but that hasn't stopped Pyongyang from threatening its operations. In May, North Korean officials said that all contracts regarding the South Korean companies in the park were nullified. Pyongyang is demanding higher wages for workers and other payments that could threaten the park...
Other types of aid haven't been flowing into North Korea as in the past, either. During the decade in which South Korea pursued its "sunshine policy" of engagement with the North, Seoul became a major trading partner and source of aid, especially of much needed fertilizer. But current South Korean President Lee Myung Bak reversed the policy when he took office in 2008, linking economic cooperation with Pyongyang's dismantlement of its nuclear-weapons program. The result is that North Korea is now more dependent than ever on its main patron, China. Nicholas Eberstadt, a North Korea expert...
...That's one reason veterans' groups remain on their guard. While they call France's official acknowledgment of responsibility for the consequences of nuclear testing a major breakthrough, they warn that the number of victims will reach into the tens of thousands or more. Because of that, they say Morin's initial compensation fund of $14 million will probably have to be increased to nearly $100 million. Those groups also argue that the commission to hear radiation claims - which will be composed of a judge and eight doctors - should also include veteran representatives. "The past has shown us that experts...
...service" payment system that awards more fees to doctors and hospitals for providing more services, and the regulated electricity rates that reward utilities for selling more power and building more plants - would not solve all our health-care and energy problems. But it would be a major step in the right direction. President Obama has pledged to pass massive overhauls of both sectors this year, but if Congress lacks the stomach for comprehensive reforms - and these days it's looking like Kate Moss in the stomach department - a more modest effort to realign perverse incentives could take a serious bite...
...these marvelous and at the same time overwhelming works for 95 years. Founded in the town of the same name - by Ichizo Kobayashi, a locally born railway magnate who thought that lively entertainment would attract more tourists and thus increase rail traffic - the theater group now averages about 10 major productions a year, each with a lead time of about eight months. Faced with shrinking audiences and increased competition from all forms of digital entertainment, its producers are trying to make the shows more dazzling and singular than ever before...