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The Internet poses a “dilemma” to authoritarian countries. While it can bring economic dynamism to a country, it can also cause political destabilization by enabling economic and political information to flow freely beyond governmental control. Internet policies vary from country to country depending upon their own strategies, their level of economic development and international politics. This paper discusses and examines political and economic implications of the Internet in North Korea in relation to theories and notions of the Internet dilemma and control policy in authoritarian regimes. North Korea cannot move drastically from its restrictive and reactive Internet policy to a proactive policy unless there are radical changes of the regime with regard to international relations and economic development. It is expected that North Korea will gradually experiment building and using an intranet internally, and increase the level of Internet opening while arranging technological and institutional measures to mitigate the risks which the Internet may cause. Until recently, the United States and North Korea have had rows over North Korea's nuclear and missile tests, and will continue to do so for some time. These disputes affect North Korea's policy regarding the Internet. However, the political environment surrounding the Korean peninsula is changing very fast. Despite North Korea's rocket launch in April and nuclear test in May 2009, dialogue will begin between North Korea and the United States under the Obama administration. Given the recent changes, it is expected that North Korea will follow Cuba's control policy to minimize the risk of the Internet in the first instance, and then China's open policy to maximize the value of the Internet. When North Korea considers the regime is secured, it will open the Internet with some control measures in place, while free access to the Internet is currently allowed only in special economic zones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is reports on the findings of a research mission trip to Korea to study its broadband development. Korea is considered to be a world leader in this field. Based on various sources including a study trip to Seoul that took place in July 2002, the reasons for this success are offered in this paper. The purpose of the study trip was to investigate how Korea achieved such a relatively fast penetration rate in a time span of approximately 4 years. Using documentary secondary data such as, written documents published materials, and primary data, such as interviews, the paper explores and presents the factors contributing to this development. The factors covered include government leadership, fierce competition, low prices due to the competition, cultural aspects, and geographic and demographic aspects. Although some strategies and success factors are Korea specific, there are general lessons that can be drawn. The adoption and diffusion of broadband raises many issues that need to be investigated.

Ghrelin is a recently isolated brain-gut peptide that has growth hormone-releasing and appetite-inducing activities. Several recent studies have suggested that ghrelin plays a major role in the pathophysiology of drug-seeking behavior and anxiety. Therefore, we assessed the effect of the ghrelin precursor polymorphism on methamphetamine dependence in the Korean population. One hundred and eighteen patients with methamphetamine dependence, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV (DSM-IV) criteria, and the 144 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. Genotyping for the ghrelin precursor polymorphism was performed by the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism-based technique. The genotypic and allelic distributions of the ghrelin precursor polymorphism in the patients with methamphetamine dependence were not significantly different from those of the control subjects. However, the Met72 carriers were associated with the emotional problems of methamphetamine dependence. The patients with the Met72 allele were more depressed and anxious than the homozygous patients with the wild Leu72 allele. The present study suggests that the ghrelin precursor polymorphism may not confer a susceptibility to the development of methamphetamine dependence in the Korean population. However, the Leu72Met polymorphism could have a potential role in the emotional problems that are associated with this disease.