[Rosemary Church, Cnn International Anchor:] A defiant North Korea celebrates its communist roots amid signs it could be preparing for another nuclear test.
[Jim Clancy, Cnn International Anchor:] Changing course. With the U.S. midterm elections just a little more than two weeks away, Republican leaders call for a new strategy in Iraq.
[Church:] And a pop star adopts a child in Malawi, generating criticism from human rights advocates. But could the controversy help African children who need a good home?
[Clancy:] Hello and welcome to our report that's broadcast all around the globe. I'm Jim Clancy.
[Church:] And I'm Rosemary Church. From North Korea to Malawi, wherever you're watching, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY. Well, North Korea says it wants peace but is not afraid of war. Ominous words that come amid signs it could be planning a second nuclear test.
[Clancy:] But first the central government has broken its silence over those U.N. sanctions that were imposed over the weekend. It's blaming them on a hostile U.S. policy toward Pyongyang.
[Unidentified Female:] The UNSC resolution, needless to say, cannot be construed other than a declaration of a war against the DPRK because it was based on the scenario of the U.S. being keen to destroy the socialist system of Korean style centered on the popular masses.
[Church:] With North Korea under close scrutiny, Japan, South Korea and the U.S. all warn Pyongyang could be gearing up for another nuclear test. A U.S. official with access to intelligence points to activity under way at a second nuclear site. A top U.S. envoy in the region says another test would be a mistake.
[Christopher Hill, U.s. Assistant Secretary Of State:] I mean, I think we would all regard a second test as a as a very belligerent answer on North Korea's part to the to the international community. And I think the international community would have no choice but to respond very clearly to the to the DPRK on this.
[Clancy:] Now, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on her way to meet with North Korea's neighbors. Her job, trying to rally support for full and thorough implementation of the U.N. sanctions. Amid all the talk of war, North Korea's putting on quite a show of pageantry. These celebrations in Pyongyang mark the 80th anniversary of the "down with imperialism" union. We see pictures like these from North Korea come from time to time. All very well- choreographed, all elaborate and upbeat. But what happens when the lights go down and the cameras go away? Dan Rivers shows us another state side of life in the reclusive state that the government tries to keep hidden away.
[Dan Rivers, Cnn Correspondent:] In many ways, Kang Chol Hwan now has a perfect life a loving wife, a healthy baby boy and lots of friends. But this land of plenty and comfort is a world way from his own famished childhood. He spent a decade in one of North Korea's labor camps. He reflects on how different things will be for his own 1-year- old son, Tusong.
[Kang Chol Hwan, Fmr. North Korean Prisoner:] If I were in North Korea, the future of my son would be miserable. I'm so glad that my offspring will have a life here. Babies cannot survive there. There were times when newborn babies were brought into the camps, but they all died.
[Rivers:] Kang thinks there are up to six main camps still operating, imprisoning some 200,000 people. They're based on Soviet- style gulags, where prisoners are forced into punishing hard labor for years. Much of Kang's childhood was devoid of the love and fun his son now enjoys.
[Kang:] It was total hell. It was like Auschwitz. We were forced to work, eating only corn and salt. We were starving. It was a very hard life with cold weather and regular beatings.
[Rivers:] And the reason for his imprisonment? His family's alleged Japanese sympathies, guilt by association, spanning three generations. But Kim Jong-il's government has consistently denied the camps even exist.
[David Hawk, Human Rights Consultant:] It's the worst of the worst.
[Rivers:] Human rights expert David Hawk has collected detailed information on the camps.
[Hawk:] They're dumping grounds for people who are deemed to have bad bad ideas.
[Rivers:] Kang Chol Hwan knows many defectors who come to Seoul from North Korea been. But what's remarkable about this encounter is that his friend was actually a prison guard at one of Kim Jong-il's brutal gulag camps.
[Ahn Myong Chol, Fmr. North Korean Camp Guard:] I was put in special classes that the prisoners are very bad people and I had to control them. Now when I remember those times I feel so sorry, even though I didn't do it on purpose. When I first joined the army, I thought they were human beings. But the more I got indoctrinated, it got more natural to kill or beat them.
[Rivers:] Do you find it difficult to forgive him because he was a guard in the camps?
[Kang:] It's not personal. Even though he was a guard, he's kept from North Korea and opposes Kim Jong-il. He was the first guard who told the truth about the camps. He's a hero. A person like me should appreciate him.
[Rivers:] Such incredible forgiveness after years of tyranny is breathtaking. Once this former guard and prisoner were enemies in Kim Jong-il's horrific camps, now they're friends, united by their awful shared experience. Dan Rivers, CNN, Seoul.
[Church:] All right. We want to turn to Iraq now. And the first two weeks of October have been particularly deadly there, even by Iraqi standards. More than 100 people have been killed across the country in last four days alone. Car bombs killed at least 20 people in Baghdad Tuesday. One hit a funeral tent, another blew up in a market. U.S. commandos had predicted increased violence during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
[Clancy:] There is growing talk of overhauling U.S. strategy in Iraq. Republicans in President George W. Bush's own party doing a lot of the talking about that subject. CNN's Jamie McIntyre has that part of the story for us.
[Jamie Mcintyre, Cnn Sr. Pentagon Correspondent:] With the alarming rise and the rate of U.S. casualties in Iraq, 55 dead so far this month and almost three times that many Americans seriously wounded, and with Iraqi casualties running even higher, the calls for change are getting louder from President Bush's own party.
[Sen. Chuck Hagel , Nebraska:] We clearly need a new strategy. Obviously by any measurement, we're in a lot of trouble in Iraq.
[Mcintyre:] The White House says President Bush called Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, who was troubled by rumors the U.S. might be losing patient with him and could impose a timeline for bringing the violence under control.
[Tony Snow, White House Press Secretary:] The prime minister also wanted to make it clear, for instance, that that that talk of, you know, giving timetables or expiration dates or whatever to the government were not only undermining the government, but also inspiring terrorists, is the term he used.
[Mcintyre:] The White House says President Bush reassured Maliki he has the full support of the U.S., and in return, Maliki dismissed the notion of partition of Iraq. But many experts question whether Maliki, in office for only four months, has the political clout to unite the Sunni and Shia factions.
[Lawrence Korb, Center For American Progress:] The situation in Iraq is getting worse because the unity government so-called unity government is really not a unity government. Prime Minister Maliki has not taken the steps that he needs to do to disband the militias or to create a sense of a unified unified Iraq.
[Mcintyre:] The White House rejects any suggestion that the Iraq Study Group is providing political cover for President Bush by putting off any admission the current strategy is flawed until after the elections. White House spokesman Tony Snow says that would cast the 10-member commission, including five Democrats, as mere stooges of the administration. Insinuating, he says, a collaboration that does not exist. Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.
[Clancy:] Passengers say the impact was brutal.
[Church:] That's right. A subway crash tops our check of other stories making news around the world this hour. The crash happened at the end of morning rush hour in central Rome when one train rammed another. At least one person is dead, some 60 others injured, five of them seriously. An Italian transportation spokesman ruled out terrorism, instead blaming either human error on mechanical failure.
[Clancy:] Prosecutors have started drafting charges against Israeli president Moshe Katsav. Police say they have evidence he committed rape. Katsav is under pressure to resign now over the scandal that involves female employees. The Israeli media reporting that the attorney general will likely decide within the next two weeks on pressing charges.
[Church:] U.S. President George W. Bush has signed a law that sets up controversial military commissions to prosecute high-level detainees. It strips detainees of habeas corpus, one of the fundamental rights under the U.S. Constitution. The law also lets the president determine what are permissible interrogation techniques.
[Clancy:] All right. We're going to take a short break here. When YOUR WORLD TODAY returns...
[Church:] We'll look at adoptions from Africa. It's a growing trend, as we've seen, fueled by high-profile adoptions. Pop star Madonna's, of course, is just the latest, and not everyone is thrilled about it.
[Clancy:] And the U.S. population reaching 300 million. We're going to take a look at how the country got to be so darned crowded.