December 2, 2005: North Korea is trying to crack down on its young adults, who are increasingly lawless, and more interested in having a good time, than in being good little followers of their Great Leader Kim Jong Il. The strict control that the communists enforced for so many decades, is weakening, and has been for over a decade. It's getting very noticeable, and the North Korean leadership live in fear of a popular uprising similar to those of Eastern Europe in 1989. The North Korean officials continue to study what happened in 1989, and try to find ways to prevent that kind of reality from catching up with them.

December 1, 2005: Part of the negotiations with North Korea involve getting the northerners to help stamp out the currency counterfeiting and drug smuggling operations the north has used for years to raise money. North Korea has acknowledged the obvious, that those activities take place in the north, but has so far refused to discuss it.

North Korea says that high altitude aircraft recon missions over the north reached an all-time high in November, with 210 missions. North Korea has convinced itself, over the years, that the United States is about to launch a nuclear attack on them. The attack has never come, but the paranoid delusion persists.

November 30, 2005: South Korea is, after half a century, taking back, from the United States, wartime control of the South Korean military. At the same time, opinion surveys show that the majority of South Koreans want to get rid of conscription and reduce military spending. Meanwhile, North Korea refuses to negotiate away its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.