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North Korea's "Teflon Dictator"
"Kim Jong Il seems to be pushing for the unification of North and South Korea while lobbying against America's influence."
Min Jeong Koh
Jeju, South Korea

Your article on improved relations between North and South Korea [June 21] noted that the two countries are "still technically at war." Is TIME stuck back in the 1960s? Let's stop referring to the Korean "War" and give Koreans a break after a half-century of living under constant fear and tension. Why maintain the cold war mentality? Please let Koreans on both sides approach one another amiably as one people, for peaceful reunification through the process of mutual understanding and respect. Everyone ought to be excited about the progress that both sides have made in the past few years.
(The Rev.) Kil Sang Yoon
Moreno Valley, U.S.

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il seems to be pushing for the unification of North and South Korea while lobbying against America's influence. Kim has been increasingly successful in strengthening his position in Asia and the world, as you correctly reported. South Korea's conservative opposition Grand National Party (GNP), once staunchly anticommunist, has changed. Many of the older generation of politicians were expelled, and its leaders are insisting that the GNP should not disturb inter-Korea projects, as the party once did. Has the North been trying to infiltrate the party? The GNP might be the last remaining obstacle to Kim's goal of improved relations with the South.
Min Jeong Koh
Jeju, South Korea

Faith, God and the Oval Office
In "the faith factor" Nancy Gibbs explored the issue of religion and politics and the faith of George W. Bush [June 21]. As a lifelong Christian, I am appalled that the President can get away with calling himself a Christian. Bush may see the pre-emptive use of force as an acceptable form of self-defense, but Jesus said those who live by the sword will die by it. Jesus taught us to love our enemies, judge no one as evil, pray modestly in private and value humility over self-righteousness. These teachings seem contrary to Bush's worldview.
Adam Franklyn Rogoyski
Pflugerville, U.S.

No one should question Bush's faith. The President has held on to his beliefs through tough times when many people would have had doubts. The controversy over whether religious faith should drive decisions in the White House shows how much our nation has changed. Without the convictions of America's forefathers, this wonderful nation of ours might not even exist. Keep up the good work, Mr. President!
Rachel Anderson
Chanhassen, U.S.

Bush has made clear that he believes freedom is God's gift to all mankind and that God obliges the U.S. (and Bush himself) to spread it to countries where it is denied. That belief has transformed our President from a foolishly sanctimonious do-gooder at home to a militarily aggressive crusader abroad. For that, he and his band of zealots should be exorcised from American political power.
Leonard Sullivan Jr. U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense, 1974-76
Bethesda, U.S.

The President can be as devout as he wants to be. I just don't want him shoving his devotion down my throat.
Herman Kolender
New York City

Unfit for the Sacrament?
As a devout roman catholic, I am deeply troubled by the declaration of some American Catholic bishops that pro-life politicians who vote against church teachings on abortion should be denied Communion [June 21]. The conservative political undercurrent is painfully obvious. Taking Communion is a highly personal and profound experience. To politicize it for any reason is shameful.
George Nessman
Walnut Creek, U.S.

It is no less sinful to send a 20-year-old soldier off to fight in a war than to support abortion. It is hypocritical for any of us, bishops or lay people, to think the soul of an unborn is more important than any other soul. If Communion can be denied those who support a woman's right to choose abortion, then, using the same logic, Communion should also be denied those who support the war in Iraq—a war the Pope has criticized.
Barry Estill
Romeo, U.S.

Abuse by Any Other Name
Your article "redefining torture" described efforts by the Bush Administration to reshape the U.S. stance on the torture of prisoners during interrogation [June 21]. Have we sunk to the level of those we are fighting—those who we say are using immoral methods? I never thought I would see the day when high-level U.S. government agencies would be exchanging memos attempting to justify actions that Americans would condemn if perpetrated by others. I remember the outrage that we felt during the Korean War when the North Koreans were accused of brainwashing American prisoners. Similar activities were decried in subsequent wars. Now, as an American living in Canada, I see us carrying out equally repulsive actions.
Richard Andersen
Victoria, Canada

This is an administration led by cowboys who come out with guns drawn. They shoot first and ask questions later. The memos by government lawyers about torture lead up, not down. But the ones who will pay the price for the scandal will be the soldiers in the field. This is a President who pushes religion to the hilt, but where is the compassion?
Adolfo Cruz
St. Pardoux la Rivière, France

Hail and Farewell
Hugh Sidey's "The Gipper's Final Flight" was a lovely tribute to Ronald Reagan [June 21]. It was warm, human and touching and gently reminded us that Reagan's family members are real people who love, feel loss and mourn, but will keep on living. Sidey's words were a fitting benediction for a man who was more than the sum of his public personas throughout the years.
Michele Chalmers
Cary, U.S.

After the media's lengthy criticism and praise of President Reagan's political life, watching the family's sunset burial service put things into perspective for me. When Reagan's children got up to speak, they didn't talk about Reagan the President or Reagan the politician but about Reagan the husband, the father and the grandfather. Watching Nancy Reagan receive the flag from the coffin and break down crying, and then seeing her children console her, reminded me that she was mourning the loss not of a President, Governor or actor but of her husband of more than 50 years. I hope we don't lose sight of the fact that despite any objections to Reagan's presidency, we can have sympathy for his family and friends who are coming to terms with his death.
Geronimo Mulholland
Fort Myers, U.S.

Upon the death of a leader, a nation is tempted to idealize his accomplishments. I suggest we take a more sober view and remember that although Americans—and indeed the rest of the world—owe Reagan a debt of gratitude for his leadership in the closing days of the cold war, we must also recall his gutting of an already modest social safety net, pillaging of the national Treasury through irresponsible deficit spending and setting the stage for the Taliban's rise to power through his Administration's shortsighted support of the Afghan mujahedin.
Christopher J. Hughey
Neuilly-sur-Seine, France

Commemorative Currency
I physically recoiled when I saw the item "Reagan Bills? Not Yet" with a picture of Ronald Reagan on the $10 bill [June 21]. On second thought, it is probably fitting to commemorate his life with his picture on money, considering the era of greed he presided over. It's much more appropriate than naming an airport after him, which only added insult to the injury he did when he fired striking air-traffic controllers.
Joyce D. Meyer
Champaign, U.S.

Most of the men whose portraits adorn today's U.S. paper money either were founders of the nation or helped preserve the Union. Their achievements didn't last just a lifetime; they will last forever. Since Reagan left the presidency, an airport and an aircraft carrier have been named after him. The Postal Service has announced it will issue a commemorative Reagan stamp next year. Although his warm smile lent popularity to his economic-recovery programs, Congress should approach with caution a change to our legal tender. Let time and history judge whether Reagan should be given the final honor of appearing on U.S. currency.
Anthony Mirante
Philadelphia

PandaMonium
I was glad to learn that there are more giant pandas in the wild than previously thought [June 21]. But I was disappointed by the lead sentence in your item, which noted, "China's environmental policies are rarely worth celebrating." China has signed a number of international animal-protection treaties, and more environmental-protection laws are being created in that country. Although it is true that China has pollution problems, it is unfair to denigrate the nation's environmental policies with such blanket criticism.
Frank Yuan
Swansea, England

That's All Right
As Christopher John Farley noted in his remembrance of singer and pianist Ray Charles [ESSAY, June 21], the musician's domain included a variety of genres, from jazz to blues to country. Soon after Charles appeared at a couple of standing room-only Carnegie Hall concerts, we analyzed his style [May 10, 1963]:

"Charles put on a performance that seemed designed to describe the course of his career. He sang selections from his collection of popular country-and-western songs ... It seemed embarrassingly clear that no white man could ever sing the songs his way ... there is no modern singer who has not learned something from him. His touches turn up in other singers' styles; his trademark phrases, such as 'What'd I say' and 'Don't you know now' and 'That's all right,' poke out from everybody's rhythm choruses like passwords to success ... Charles lives in a world of sounds alone, and even his best songs do not completely tell what goes on there. Southern spiritualists have claimed to hear him speaking the 'unknown tongue,' and serious jazz critics go along with calling him 'The Genius.' But something else remains—the catch in the way he sings 'That's all right'—and it suggests that something is wrong. How can it be all right, when it stirs the listener so sadly?"