There is no way that you can be interested in South Korea and not pay attention to what is happening in North Korea. When people ask me where I was born, I rarely tell them South Korea – I generally just say Korea. North and South Korea used to be one country.

It seems as if the leader of North Korea just can’t stay in the shadows for a moment. He needs to rattle chains and demonstrate his power. If you haven’t watched his biography or read a little bit about him, you should. On a strictly socio-political scale, he’s fascinating…on a personal basis, he’s frightening.

Mostly, I watch the documentaries and I wonder what the future has planned for us. While South Korea is an economic tiger, North Korea is steeped in poverty. In North Korea, there are sure to be relatives that I’ll never know – mothers, fathers, children. I really worry about the children. Though adoption is not popular in South Korea, I have no doubt that South Korea would provide basic care for the children if there were no homes for them to go to. I don’t have that same confidence in North Korea.

Fate placed my birth parents in southern Korea and my son’s birth parents in southern Korea. What different lives both of us would have lived if fate had decided to move us north.

Here are some links to articles on the current events in North Korea:

2ND LD: China urges restrained response to N. Korean missile tests

Japan-sponsored draft resolution on N. Korea circulated

5TH LD: Japan seeks early adoption of resolution on N. Korea missiles

UN mulls response to North Korean missiles

UN weighs punitive measures in response to North Korean missile tests

N. Korea Launch Sparks Condemnation