Quote of the Day; Inside North Korea, a photoessay

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "The resignations of top military commanders—effectively, the surrender of the old Kemalist elite in the Turkish army—was a victory for democracy. It also creates a power vacuum that has never existed before in Turkey. Who will fill it, and how, will help determine the future of democracy in this highly promising Muslim republic." – Stephen Kinzer, writing in the New York Review of Books on the topic of recent instability within Turkish democracy, for which recent elections were considered a triumph.

INSIDE NORTH KOREA: Alan Taylor's InFocus blog has a new gallery up. He explains: "Earlier this year, David Guttenfelder, chief Asia photographer for the Associated Press, along with Jean H. Lee, AP bureau chief in Seoul, were granted unprecedented access to parts of North Korea as part of the AP's efforts to expand coverage of the isolated communist nation. The pair made visits to familiar sites accompanied by government minders, and were also allowed to travel into the countryside accompanied by North Korean journalists instead of government officials. Though much of what the AP journalists saw was certainly orchestrated, their access was still remarkable." My favourite below:

The caption provides some context. "Children look through a subway car window in Pyongyang, North Korea, on March 10, 2011." Have a look at the whole gallery.