Concerns Over Nuclear Cooperation Between North Korea and Myanmar

There is a growing concern that North Korea might help Myanmar push ahead with its nuclear program.

Keith Luse, an advisor to Senator Richard Lugar of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations warned on Monday that North Korea and Myanmar might cooperate on nuclear technology and that the United States should pay special attention to that.

“We need to know whether North Korea transfers nuclear know-how to the military government of Myanmar and how the construction of nuclear reactors in Myanmar is going,” Luse said.

Earlier, the Far Eastern Economic Review, a Hong Kong weekly, reported that North Korea provided or plans to provide state-of-the-art weapons to Myanmar in exchange for the heroin North Korea obtained from Myanmar in November, 2003. The weekly also raised the possibility that North Korea’s nuclear technology or components were given to Myanmar, whose government denied a similar charge last year.

In a commentary, US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that Myanmar’s efforts to acquire missiles and/or nuclear technology from North Korea goes against U.S. policy interests in the region.

8. Gender Ratio of Male to Female Students Entering Elementary Schools Narrowing

The male-to-female ratio of students entering elementary school in Seoul this year was recorded at 10 to 9.2. The figure shows the gap between genders is narrowing.

According to Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, the number of male students entering elementary schools was 56,509 out of a total of 108,632 students, which is 4,386 more than the female students count of 51,123.

If these students are evenly allocated, one or two boy students will not have a girl as a classmate sitting next to them among the 40 students in one class.

The number of female students per 10 boys was 8.93 in the sixth grade, 8.73 in the fifth grade, 8.81 in the fourth, 9.04 in the third, and 9.17 in the second. The gradual decrease is heading us towards gender equilibrium for future generations.

Meanwhile, because of the decrease in the population and the low birth rate, the number of the entering students has decreased from 134,390 in 1999, to 129,319 in 2000, 127,624 in 2001, 118,075 in 2003, and 108,632 in 2004.