SKoria Nkoria talk but remains hard line

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said Monday that he is ready for dialogue with North Korea, though he vowed not to veer from the hard-line principles that have angered the communist state and strained ties over the past year.

Tension between the divided Koreas has intensified in recent weeks, with Pyongyang announcing it would scrap peace agreements with Seoul, warning of a war on the peninsula and reportedly preparing to test a missile capable of reaching the western United States. North Korea accused the United States of plotting an attack, citing a recent air drill north of Seoul.

Fears of political instability in the North deepened last year when its reclusive leader Kim reportedly suffered a stroke and had brain surgery. The North, however, has called such speculation a smear campaign on its leader, churning out media reports and photos depicting him as healthy and active.

"I am well aware of the fact there are some people who are uneasy about North Korea's recent series of threats," Lee said in a regular radio speech. "However, my fellow citizens, we don't have to worry about that too much."

Lee reiterated that his government is ready to sit down "anytime" with North Korea for talks to reduce tension, though added he will stick to his basic policy and not be too hasty to achieve results.

"I believe what is particularly important in South-North ties is unwavering, unequivocal principles," said Lee, who has periodically called for dialogue, including in his inauguration speech last year when he said he was willing to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong II.

However, Lee has said Seoul should not offer unconditional aid to its impoverished, nuclear-armed neighbor as his liberal predecessors did. In response, Pyongyang cut off all ties last year, halted cooperation on key joint projects and verified Lee as "human scum."

Last week, South Korean and Japanese media reports said the North was moving a suspected long-range missile to its launch site, saying a test would follow in one to two months. Analysts said the North was trying to attract President Barack Obama's attention as he formulates his North Korea policy.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is scheduled to visit South Korea next week as part of her Asian trip. North Korea's nuclear threat is expected to be a key topic during her visits to the South, Japan, and China _ the three nations that, along with the U.S. and Russia, are pressing the North to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

The nuclear talks have been stalled for months over how to verify the country's past nuclear activities.

The U.S., which stations 28,500 troops in South Korea, has consistently said it has no intention of attacking the North. Kim Yong-kyu, a spokesman at the U.S. command in Seoul, said Monday that the training North Korea referred to was a routine exercise.

The North's state media reported that Kim, who turns 67 on Feb. 16, met a visiting senior Chinese envoy last month in what appeared to be his first face-to-face meeting with a foreign dignitary since his reported stroke in August.

Beijing’s Bird’s Nest shopping complex

The area around Beijing’s massive Bird’s Nest stadium will be turned into a shopping and entertainment complex in three to five years, a state news agency said.

Officially known as Beijing National Stadium, the showpiece of the Beijing Olympics has fallen into disuse since the end of the games. Paint is already peeling in some areas, and the only visitors these days are tourists who pay about $7 to walk on the stadium floor and browse a pricey souvenir shop.

Plans call for the $450 million stadium to anchor a complex of shops and entertainment outlets in three to five years, citing operator Citic Group.

The only confirmed event at the 91,000-seat stadium this year is Puccini’s opera “Turandot,” set for Aug. 8—the one-year anniversary of the Olympics’ opening ceremony. The stadium has no permanent tenant after Beijing’s top soccer club, Guo’an, backed out of a deal to play there.

A symbol of China’s rising power and confidence, the stadium, whose nickname described its lattice of exterior steel beams, may never recoup its hefty construction cost, particularly amid a global economic crisis. Maintenance of the structure alone costs about $8.8 million annually, making it difficult to turn a profit.

Now the ones very proud Architecture of a pride China became a profit problem, since it glorious opening during the 2008 Beijing Olympic, with a great fireworks that looks like fake display of fireworks because of its unique beauty, now look likes a white elephant, and the government looking for any hope to turn it into a profitable area , a shopping complex for tourists and locals and visitors coming from different corner of the globe.

Its started to fade, and forgotten after the olympic.