Journey to North Korea, Part II: The Packrat Dictatorship

In 2007 and 2008, photojournalist Tomas Van Houtryve visited North Korea by infiltrating a communist solidarity delegation. In the second story in his three-part TIME.com series, Van Houtryve describes the surveillance he was subjected to and the bizarre majesty of the mausoleum of Kim Il Sung. After dinner at the end of my second day, I was pulled aside by my guides

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N. Korea feels ‘owed’ direct talks with U.S., Richardson says

North Korea believes it’s owed bilateral talks with the United States after the communist government released two detained American journalists this month — a notion that senior Obama administration officials quickly rejected on Wednesday. “They feel, the North Koreans, that by giving us the two American journalists, that they’ve made an important gesture,” New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson told CNN Wednesday after meeting with two North Korean diplomats

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Former South Korean president Kim dies

Former South Korean President and Nobel Laureate Kim Dae-jung died of heart failure Tuesday, hospital officials said. He was 83. Kim — who was president from 1998 to 2003 — won the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize for fostering better relations between North and South Korea.

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Memo: U.S., Brazilian leaders talked of Chile coup in ’71

President Richard M. Nixon and his Brazilian counterpart, Emilio Medici, in 1971 discussed ways their countries could work together to overthrow the socialist government of Salvador Allende in Chile, according to a newly declassified document. During a meeting of the two leaders at the White House on December 9 of that year, Medici was discussing the possibility of a coup by the Chilean military with assistance from Brazilian military officers when Nixon said that it was “very important that Brazil and the United States work closely in this field,” according to the document

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Missing cargo ship found, crew safe

A Russian cargo ship believed to have been hijacked off the coast of Sweden last month has been located, the ship’s owner told CNN on Monday. The Arctic Sea’s crew is safe and onboard a Russian navy vessel, according to Victor Matveev, the director of Solchart Management AB. The Arctic Sea, which sails under a Maltese flag, was carrying a 6,500-ton cargo of timber from Finland to Algeria when it reported trouble in Swedish waters on July 24

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Florida Panhandle warned of tropical storm threat

A warning was issued overnight for a potential tropical storm that may hit the Florida-Alabama border Sunday. It formed in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, according to the National Hurricane Center. A tropical storm warning means that weather conditions will deteriorate in the next 24 hours

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