Posted on 07/23/2005 2:07:28 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Ted Turner plans to visit North Korea next month to promote plans to protect plant and animal life in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, a swath of heavily fortified no-man's land that also contains rare and endangered species.
The CNN founder and philanthropist will join a list of prominent opinion-makers in academia and journalism to travel recently from the United States to one of the most secretive nations on Earth.
Analysts say North Korea has cracked open the door at least in part in hopes of explaining its view that concern over its nuclear program would be best addressed in talks between North Korea and the United States. President Bush, who labeled North Korea as part of an "axis of evil," has advocated multilateral talks involving six nations instead; the next round is to begin next week.
Turner's visit will coincide with a trip to Pyongyang by Donald Gregg, former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and current president of the Korea Society, based in New York, said Frederick Carriere, vice president of the group.
"North Korea is definitely reaching out to more people in the last few months," he said Friday.
Han Park, a Korea expert who directs the Center for the Study of Global Issues at the University of Georgia, said he helped facilitate the recent travel to North Korea of reporters from ABC News and The New York Times.
Phillip Evans, a Turner spokesman, said Turner planned to visit North Korea for a day or two "to promote the idea of north-south cooperation in restoring environmental integrity on the peninsula," with a particular emphasis on preserving the unique ecosystem in the demilitarized zone, or DMZ. He said Turner and others were pushing a plan to restore and conserve habitats and "strengthen local community residents through sustainable farming."
After visiting the north, Turner plans to travel to South Korea to address a conference sponsored by the DMZ Forum, a nonprofit organization that seeks to raise awareness of and preserve the zone's biodiversity.
The last remaining Cold War frontier, the DMZ slices 155 miles across the Korean peninsula, dividing the reclusive and poverty-stricken north from the booming south. Industrial development, particularly in South Korea, and lax environmental controls have threatened the environment in some parts of the Korean Peninsula, experts said, but the DMZ remains untouched.
About 80 species of fish thrive in DMZ rivers, including at least 10 found nowhere else on Earth, said Hall Healy of Facilitated Solutions International, an environmental consulting company. He said it makes sense to plan now to protect the DMZ's ecosystem rather than risking its economic development in the event of Korean unification or other events.
Hundreds of kinds of birds, including the endangered white-naped and red-necked cranes, fly over a ribbon of land roughly two miles wide, above leopards and Asiatic black bears and maybe tigers — scientists do not know for sure because few humans have ventured into the DMZ in the last half century.
"Where else on Earth can you find a place like that?" Healy said.
It's just as well as I didn't hear that interview and haven't looked at that link, prairie. I just know I couldn't take it. We're so lucky to live in this country and yet we hear so much whining.
Whenever I hear someone talk about Bush being a dictator, I shall think of this thread.
Ain't it grand that the quintissential globalist is funding anti-globalist protestors? He's not using them to "drive" us toward a UN "solution"* is he?
Charming. Good ol' Ted. Big cattle investor in South America, too.
* integrating global governance by merging the WTO, IBS, and IMF under the UN
Ole Ted can give them a Billion dollars too.
BTT!!!!!!
If Ted does this, I suggest he does it in the winter time. When the ground is frozen you have less chance of setting off a mine when you step on it.
Another wacko leftist billionaire.
LOL!!!
What a waste.
a Turner spokesman, said Turner planned to visit North Korea for a day or two
Maybe if he was to spend five years in re-education
through labor he might learn something about the north.
A day or two, how quaint.
He's not taking Jane? I hear they have wonderful
anti-aircraft positions this time of year.
Jane's busy planning her anti-war bus tour.
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