Inside North Korea.

Dear Teacher,

In this issue of JS, we offer a rare look at life inside North Korea (pp. 6-9), an isolated country where leader Kim Jong Il exerts almost total control. Our reporter, who was accompanied by a government escort at all times, had to snap photos of young people on the sly, cleverly smuggling her digital flash cards out of the country in a container of Baby Wipes. The winning smiles of the children, she learned, were enhanced by bright lipstick--an effect used, perhaps, to make them look happier than they actually are.

In our World History article (pp. 16-19), we feature the Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan, whose military and political brilliance enabled him to build the largest contiguous land empire ever. By the time his descendants had finished with their conquests, Genghis Khan's empire stretched from modern-day Poland in the west to the Korea Peninsula in the east.

Our American History play about Abraham Lincoln and his Civil War presidency provides an altogether different portrait of leadership. We hope your students will find much to debate about the qualities that effective leadership demands.

Suzanne McCabe

Editor

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