Which Way, L.A.?

North Korea, South Korea-and Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Times has reported that LA-s Korean American community and South Korea are -like two sides of a coin. Family, school, church, business and political ties bind them.- With North Korea threatening a nuclear build-up, and South Korea in the throes of political upheaval, there is bound to be considerable reaction here, 7,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean. We hear a sampling of opinion about progressive politics, trade, and other events in the homeland from Charles Kim, national executive director of the Korean American Coalition, and Kyeyoung Park, an associate professor of anthropology and Asian American studies at UCLA. Newsmaker: Treatment of War Detainees Considered in LA Court Immigrant advocates are bracing for another roundup of men over the age of 16 from countries considered high risks for terrorism. The INS has required the registration of 7000 men from Afghanistan, North Korea, and several countries in the Middle East and Africa. Peter Schey, lead attorney for some of the 400 Iranians and others who were arrested last month when they came to register, hopes to avoid a repeat of last month-s arrests. Reporters Notebook: Norwegian Teen Proves to be Hollywood-s Nemesis In Oslo, Norway today, a court told teenager Jon Johansen he has the right to download movies he-s purchased on DVD-s onto his home computer. That was a blow to the Motion Picture Association of America, which went all the way to Scandinavia to stop what it calls electronic piracy. David Bloom, who writes about technology for Variety, has more on the verdict and -DVD Jon.-