North Korea remains in a USSR frame of mind. The government is good and right. The rest of the world is bad and wrong.

While their medical facilities may not be on a par with Walter Reed, they do fair well when compared with Chinese facilities. SARS will be looked upon more as an inconvenience, but will never be a political downfall.

And a side note regarding those surgical masks the media has been hyping on for the past few weeks:

The Asian communities have been associating outdoor activity with the need to wear these masks for the better part of the 20th century to ward off the flu and common cold -- with many being re-worn without washing. They are not a product of SARS, but rather a product of Asian sanitation -- or a certain lack thereof. They are stylish, or not, and worn more out of habit than need.

Dan