Politically, North Korea is isolated, in science, the situation is different. An active volcano, and plans for a new Observatory require international cooperation. But as easy as elsewhere.
The crater of mount Paektu on the North Korean-Chinese border is interesting lodges for astronomers and seismologists.
In July 2004, traveled to Richard Stone for the first Time after North Korea, then as an editor of the science magazine “Science”. To get as a US citizen and a Journalist visa, it was difficult, he says the DW: “The U.S. maintains no diplomatic relations with North Korea, in principle, the two countries are still at war”. But Stone was lucky: He met in the North Korean Embassy in Russia, the Wissenschaftsattaché of North Korea and was officially invited to visit the country.
Stone entered a different world. “The researchers worked in a kind of bubble,” he says. “You were able to attend conferences, could not discuss with other scientists outside of North Korea. And your scientific literature consisted mainly of photo copies of Western magazines from before 1991.”
And yet, the science editor of the thrust on research projects with substance, even away from the nuclear weapons research. So, it had managed the North Koreans probably very early, to clone rabbits. “They showed me the rabbits and they looked actually like the Original,” says Stone with a laugh. “But in journals they had published the results, of course. I had to believe them so easily.”
Open to collaborations
Meanwhile, North Korea was isolated scientifically, much less than in the past, told Stone. He is now a member of the “National Committee on North Korea,” an NGO that promotes exchange between North Korea and the United States.
“I was since 2004, there several times and have seen how the scientific community in North Korea, the world has opened. The North Korean researchers have now better access to scientific literature, and the country has recognized that science is dependent on cooperation.”
More from the AAAS conference: What betray our teeth all about us
Participants in the AAAS Session on North Korea. The only flaw: not a single North Korean.
There are now so many international collaborations with North Korea, that the Council of South Korea is already talking about the “dawn of a new Era”. For the Meeting of the US-science organization “American Association for the Advancement of Science” (AAAS) in Washington DC in mid-February, the South Korean Council of science and Humanities, even in a special session.
“We think that science is the best way to Start to build trust between the two countries,” says Sun-Hwa Hahn, managing Director of the German science Council. Obviously, she speaks of North and South Korea.
However, Not a single North Korean is in on the meeting, neither among the speakers nor in the audience. The entry into the United States is and will remain for North Koreans is extremely difficult.
Astronomy links
At the AAAS Meeting, Hong-Jin Yang, a researcher at the Korean Astronomy and Space Science Institute in Daejeon, his ambitious plans: a common Observatory of South and North Korea on North Korean soil. It is to be built on mount Paektu, on the 2700 Meter high mountain on the border to China. “It is the highest and darkest mountain on the Korean Peninsula, with very good visibility,” says Yang.
The requirements for such a project are not bad: in 2012, North Korea again joined the International Astronomical Union (IAU), an international Association of astronomers, with its headquarters in Paris. The country had been excluded 1996 from the IAU, since it had not paid any membership fees.
“I was very glad when they are re-joined,” says George Miley in a DW Interview, former head of the Observatory in the Netherlands of the President of the IAU Suffering, and at the time Deputy. “And I hope that the collaborations continue to grow. For if astronomy is not international, then what?” Four years ago, Miley also had two guest researchers from North Korea to visit at the Leiden Institute.
Ambitious plans: The South Korean astronomer Hong-Jin Yang would like to bring an Observatory to the North.
Difficult Communication Values
Hong-Jin Yang and his North Korean colleagues are planning a joint Observatory, have been changed, but never in person a word to each other. South Koreans, it is forbidden to communicate directly with North Korea. “We need to go over to the South Korean Ministry of reunification,” says Yang in a DW Interview. “The Ministry conveyed our message to North Korea. It is not easy and not fast.”
“North Korea is a hidden society,” adds Sun Hwa Hahn. “It is difficult to find the right contact person and to contact the.” Stone is able to communicate from the United States with North Korean researchers via Email, but there is always only institution collecting addresses, he says. “An answer doesn’t come overnight.”
But Yang is optimistic that the political Situation relaxed further, and he may soon travel once to the North Korea to his colleagues. At the latest, when the Observatory is actually built. He also hopes that the North Koreans are arriving to the next Meeting of the IAU, the 2021 will be held in South Korea.
The crater lake of the volcano mount Paektu. Most recently, he erupted in the year 946.
A volcano requires attention
The mountain baekdu is not just wait for a favourite spot for a star, he is also an active volcano. Its eruption in the year 946, known as the “Millennium eruption”, was, according to Richard Stone, “one of the three largest volcanic eruptions in the last 10,000 years”.
Since 2002, there are more earthquakes in the former Outbreak, and the mountain is measurably swollen, probably from a Magma pond in the Interior. Another large outbreak would not only China but also South Korea and even Japan affected, says Stone. “The volcano is only little studied. We know not why the volcano exists at all, because he is not on the Pacific ring of fire, where so many other great volcanoes.”
At the request of North Korea, Richard Stone, brought in 2011 for the first time, British volcanologists and seismologists in the country. In the following years they installed several seismometers on the volcano, the magma chambers map in the interior of the volcano. “We have published the results,” says Stone, “and together with the North Korean scientists. You can take part in the evaluation. We do not go into the country, collect data and publish it later, alone.” Stone is confident that Such cooperation can work through a real cooperation.
The British James Hammond and Clive Oppenheimer inspect the ash layers of the volcanic eruption of mount Paektu.
Hurdles remain
To investigate, in spite of everything, In and with North Korea, remains difficult. For example, there is in North Korea, as well as no access to the Internet, says Richard Stone. The make it difficult, with cooperation partners, to exchange data. Due to the sanctions against North Korea, a Research need also a lot of preparation, especially when the USA are involved. “You have to convince the US government that the project is important, and not against national interests is a violation, especially to the North Korea’s programme for weapons of mass destruction.”
For what wish to introduce Western researchers to the country, you need permission from the government of their country, Stone, “from the Laptop to the USB Stick.” Still waiting for the approval for your next volcano surveys, which are planned for the coming summer.
All of the speakers at the AAAS Session in Washington DC, fear and hope, therefore, to the next Meeting between US President Donald Trump, and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, the 27. February is scheduled to be held. “There are great expectations that the Meeting goes well and leads to a relaxation of the sanctions,” says Stone, “and that our work in North Korea in the future, maybe a little bit easier.”
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Kim, the locomotive leaderThe journey is the destination?
Actually, the North could be Korea’s ruler, Kim Jong-Un in five hours by plane at the summit in Hanoi. He has, however, chosen the train. And the need for the over 4000-kilometre-long route to Vietnam’s capital, around 60 hours. Because Kim’s is not armored train with 21 coaches. Allegedly, the heavy vehicle can only travel 60 to 80 kilometers per hour.
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Kim, the locomotive leaderCheck out the coziness
After all, the train is luxurious equipped. But beautiful? Kim’s Limousine is there to find the place. On Saturday start is likely to arrive, the dictator is actually on time on Wednesday to Meet with U.S. President Trump. A penchant for trains is supposed to have had Kim’s father and dictator-predecessor Kim Jong-il. Allegedly, he suffered from fear of flying, and rode a lot with the railway.
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Kim, the locomotive leaderAbove the clouds the freedom must…
That Kim Jong-Un suffers from a fear of flying, seems to be rather unlikely. So he traveled to the first summit meeting with Trump in Singapore in June 2018, with the aircraft but with Air China. This feeds the speculation that his machine could not be functional. The Problem, he would not be alone.
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Kim, the locomotive leaderA train journey, which is nice
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, for example, witnesses to its problems with government flight. To the G20 Meeting at the end of last year, you had to Dodge, therefore, however, on a line flight. With the train you wouldn’t have made it to Buenos Aires. On this, almost ten-year-old photo she’s sitting with the former CDU General Secretary Ronald Pofalla in the legendary “Rheingold”.
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Kim, the locomotive leaderLuxury Train Rheingold
The “Rheingold” was traveling from the end of the 1920s in Germany, the epitome of exclusive. While the average citizen was still a third class, drove one in “das Rheingold” is top notch. Many politicians loved earlier luxurious train journeys.
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Kim, the locomotive leaderRole Of The Seat Of Government
Here, Germany’s first Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, gesturing in September 1957 at a meeting in the election kampfzug of the CDU. The train had everything you needed as a Chancellor: the car salon, the sleeping compartments, and various offices. He served for Adenauer as a campaign headquarters and as a portable “seat of government”.
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Kim, the locomotive leaderCommunication Train
Chancellor Willy Brandt of the SPD estimated by the railway. Here you can see him in 1972 in an election campaign trip in his special train with journalists in the dining car.
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Kim, the locomotive leaderPutin alone on the train?
But also heads of state and government of other Nations use from time to time to arrange the train – the President of the greatest country in the world. From St. Petersburg to Vladivostok in Russia, Vladimir Putin, can make a lot of distance. Here, Putin is in the year 2012 in his presidential wagon. And because you gauge railway in Russia, the wide, this compartment is also slightly larger than the other.
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Kim, the locomotive leaderPutin is not alone in the train
Something modern, it is also in China. Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping were in Tianjin last summer, via Express train on the way to the Chinese metropolis of millions. And the Chinese seem to know how to make an impression on guests of state – for example, with a colorful bouquet of flowers in the middle of the table.
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Kim, the locomotive leaderPoliticians who play with trains
Or the same with a full train. The former Bavarian Prime Minister and current Federal Minister of the interior, Horst Seehofer got in may 2017 by the Governor of the province of Shandong, a Chinese Express gift – a little. Because it has been speaking to China around that Seehofer has a model railroad in the basement. Trains is fun. Tuff, tuff!