Ted Turner to Go to North Korea

American billionaire Ted Turner is to go to North Korea next month. Allegedly the trip is for environmental conservation reasons:

Diplomatic sources in Washington said that Turner, accompanied by a huge CNN media corps, was planning a visit to North Korea in mid August to discuss North Korea’s ecosystem conservation measures in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) with the Turner Foundation, an international environmental conservation organization which he runs.

Having personally seen much of the DMZ, I wonder if the North Koreans plan to show Mr. Turner all the deforested hills adjacent to the DMZ as shown in this picture looking into North Korea from Freedom Village near the JSA? I imagine they will probably parade him around the DMZ on the East Coast where it is not nearly as deforested as the Western portion of the DMZ. I have always found it interesting to see how the brown, deforested, land of North Korea gives way to the green, forested landscape of South Korea at the DMZ.

Is it any wonder why so many crops and people get washed away which seems like every monsoon season in North Korea when they have mismanaged their forests so badly. Well, now they got Ted Turner coming to town to tell the world how great and eco-friendly their land is, never mind the deforestation, land mines, artillery emplacements, bunkers, infiltration tunnels, and tanks destroying the environment adjacent to the DMZ.