North Korea's floods have received a flurry of media attention that appears aimed at burnishing the crisis-management skills of 'dear leader' Kim Jong-il – and bolstering his son's prestige as Kim's eventual successor.

South Korea has begun blocking access to a Twitter account operated by a North Korean Web site.The site, Uriminzokkiri, launched the Twitter feed @uriminzok last week and has been providing Korean-language headlines and links to propaganda-heavy news items on its home page. It's launch was widely reported and the publicity has brought it more than 9,000 followers in the week since it launched.

When news broke earlier this week that North Korea had started a Twitter account (under the name uriminzok or “Our People” in Korean), it seemed inevitable a parody version would emerge.

It is common to use words like "reclusive" and "secretive" when writing about North Korea. But last Thursday, the North Koreans created a Twitter account - @uriminzok, a shortened version of a Korean word that translates as "our people".

The U.S. Congress has passed a bill to renew the license for North Korean dissident broadcaster Radio Free Asia on a permanent basis. RFA has brought news and information chiefly about South Korea and the U.S to North Korean people via shortwave.

Other than at the 38th parallel on the Korean peninsula, the closest proximity that Americans and North Koreans have recently found themselves is in South Africa at the World Cup...In South Africa, though, it has been civilian athletes from the two countries rotating through the same stadiums in what is an admirable expression of human rivalry: competitive sports.

FIFA exercises tremendous influence with its financial clout and sports diplomacy, but it has been very accommodating to North Korea, since an unexpected move by the North could throw a spanner into the event.

Although China's policy of engagement is often portrayed by American observers as stonewalling diplomatic efforts on the peninsula, Beijing has in fact been advocating an alternative paradigm for reining in the DPRK.