Mr. Hill Goes to Pyongyang; U.S. vs. the World on Cuba; Mr. Roh Goes to Pyongyang; Pirates!!; Eight Years Left for MDGs; "The path to hell..."

Some interesting stories in the news over the past few days:

First is the story of Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill's visit to Pyongyang, working with his counterpart, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan, to remove North Korea from the U.S. list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. Removal from the list was one of the major demands of North Korea during negotiations surrounding the disabling of a nuclear reactor used to produce weapons-grade plutonium. North Korea was placed on the list after its involvement in a terrorist attack on a South Korean airliner in 1987, which resulted in 115 deaths. The only subsequent act of terrorism registered by the U.S. State Department is the abduction of 13 Japanese nationals between 1977 and 1983, five of whom were repatriated in 2004. The status of the remaining eight is a point of contention between North Korea and Japan, with the former claiming that they are dead and the latter demanding proof of the deaths. Japan also maintains that there are at least an additional three abductees held by North Korea, while a 2002 report by a North Korean defector maintains that, overall, 70 to 80 Japanese nationals had been abducted. Additionally, South Korea maintains that over 400 of its nationals have been abducted by North Korea.

An interesting note: Also on the State Department's List of State Sponsors of Terrorism is Cuba, due to its providing safe harbor to fugitives and maintaining relations with other State Sponsors of Terrorism. However, some in the international community feel that this case is overstated: on Tuesday, an overwhelming majority of UN members adopted a General Assembly resolution calling for the U.S. to end "commercial, economic, and financial embargoes" against Cuba.

Hill's visit is the latest in a series of stories over the past week involving North Korea. The Christian Science Monitor aggregated analysis of a Pyonyang summit on Tuesday between North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and President Roh Moo-hyun of South Korea.

North Koreans were in the news on Wednesday as well, with the crew of the North Korean Dai Hong-Dan regaining control of their vessel after an attack by pirates of the Somali coast. U.S. warships in the area responded to the crew's distress calls and treated members of the crew for gunshot wounds sustained during the altercation with the pirates. U.S. Naval forces are continuing to monitor the situation of the Japanese-owned tanker Golden Nori that was commandeered by pirates on Monday.

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Always having trouble keeping track of those pesky intergovernmental development objectives? Wish you could see how the international community is progressing towards its stated goals on reducing poverty, reforming education and health care, and promoting equality? Google and Cisco have a solution for you!

The UN teamed up with Google and Cisco to develop an online tool to track progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set out in the Millennium Declaration in 2000. (N.B., a timer in the upper-right corner serves as a sobering reminder to visitors that there are less than eight years before the target for achieving the MDGs.)

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Finally, a story that reminds me that "with mere good intentions, hell is proverbially paid." Members of the French NGO Zoe's Ark are currently held by the Chadian government after they attempted to abduct over 100 children and resettle them in France. While the stated goal of the organization's mission in Chad was to averting starvation among many child refugees from Sudan, upon arriving, representatives of Zoe's Ark started addressing the needs of orphans, and then providing medical attention to wounded children, and finally collecting children for resettlement in France. However, a closer examination of the "good intentions" of the French "humanitarians" raises doubts about the mission of the organization and has given rise to charges of human trafficking. Indeed, the French families who offered to host the African children had paid over 4,000 USD in cash to Zoe's Ark. Furthermore, the group of children comprised many children who were Chadian, not Sudanese, and who were not even orphans. Several international groups active in Chad and Sudan have decried the actions of the French organization, citing concerns that the incident detracts from the legitimacy of humanitarian efforts of well-established international non-governmental organizations.