says north korea may have known lisa ling's sister was in a group back in 2006. lisa did an unflattering piece on north korea. how dot people live in north korea -- do the people live in north korea? basic necessities, food, shelter, education, clothing? guest: it's a real tragedy. it's one of the poorest states. as the caller mentioned. most of the food aid, the hard cash that comes in for the sale of mostly illegal goods goes to kim and his family and his cronies. the people have gone through famine and starvation. they live very badly. it's one of the greatest human tragedies i think on earth today. host: again, does this give the administration any leverage in trying to free the hostages or resume any type of dialogue with pyongyang? guest: if the administration was successful, which i think would be very difficult, then, yes, that would provide a great deal of leverage. but i don't think the chinese will do that. host: albert from atlanta. good morning. caller: yes. i had a question or two weren't we supposed to help north korea build a reactor which would r