North Korea: a land hidden in the shadows.

First, you see the incredible discipline, the eerie perfectionism of the children. At the same time, there are signs of a nation with no money: dark halls, few light bulbs, and rundown buildings.

But a family we visited are proud of pearl jewelry their three rooms, walls covered with pictures of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.
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A few oddities: Korean bowling shoes, house slippers with rubber soles.

We also noticed that traveling through the streets, we never once saw an obese person. We never once saw a dog or cat either, for that matter.

Here's how we lived as journalists: very well, from our hotel rooms to biwa pearl our work space. In the dining room every night, there were pork cutlets, if you wanted them.

But also every night, we experienced the arduous task of arranging the one phone line to set up a satellite that may or may not work.

For people used to high technology, we had no cell phones or faxes. It took a bit of chewing gum and rubber bands to try to get on the air. Not to mention the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars they charged us for every single phone call.

And make no mistake, translating was hard.

For instance, I ask one woman if she likes curly hair. The akoya pearl answer? As she fluffed her curly hair, "No!"

What does that mean? What did the translator say? We never really found out.

The flight attendant points out the mountains below us, where she says the father of the "dear leader" [Kim Jong Il] beat back the Japanese.

I open a magazine on board, and it tells of atrocities it says Americans have committed during the Korean War, as well as stories of America's unequal treatment of women and dangerous nuclear arsenal.

We are welcomed to North Korea, the pearl jewelry nation of Kim Il-Sung [Kim Jong Il's father] -- the "heaven-sent hero."

We get off the plane and are among just a handful of foreigners in North Korea.

In fact, there are only about 300 in this country of 23 million.

Watch more from Diane Sawyer in North Korea Tuesday night On "World News with Charles Gibson" and Wednesday on "Good Morning America."

We too are considered Yankees -- a Chinese word that means "ocean demons."

Our cell phones and BlackBerries -- anything that will allow us to biwa pearl reach the outside world -- are confiscated.

As we drive into the city, there are just a handful of cars on the roads.

Today is a holiday -- the anniversary of the socialist revolution.

We head for the liberation statue of Kim Il-Sung. The calendar has been changed to measure all time from the day of his birth.

Around the statue, there are wedding parties and families coming to take pictures.

Many of them eye me warily. We've been waving at akoya pearl them steadily, hoping for a response.

Finally, one family turns and yells out something.

What did they yell?

During our stay in North Korea, we visited the home of one of the country's celebrated athletes, and in this country, athletes are treated very, very well by the government.

We go into the living room, which is also the pearl jewelry bedroom of the daughter, who's a championship figure skater. She shows us her photos.

We notice a couple of things: English on the pearl jewelry pillowcase about love and family. We notice how tiny the closet is.

We head into her parents' bedroom, which is also small, and as everywhere, pictures of leaders of the country, including Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.

Next we head into the kitchen. It seems possible North Koreans eat so much less than anyone in the West can imagine. We're told that breakfast is rice porridge. We're told that dinner is rice again with a little bit of meat.

I ask if I can open the refrigerator door. In it, I find mostly water and also kimchi, pickled cabbage.

In another apartment we visit, we notice how meticulously clean this country is and everything has a cover: a cover for the fan and a cover for the biwa pearl television.

At another point in the day, we head off to one of the few beauty parlors in the country. We notice the wording under the sign is in English, which means a lot of this is for foreigners.

Inside, the smell of a permanent wave. The straight hair of the Koreans is becoming curly. Pictures of the dear leader and of possible hairstyles are on the wall.

Again, we show North Koreans a akoya pearl magazine with American clothes. We're told that Korean women prefer dark clothes, prefer simple modest clothes.

For a minute, a young woman looks through and seems a little startled. Then she decides she better look no more. She says to me, "Those clothes are strange."

Then we move on.

When asked whether his country would perform more nuclear tests in the coming weeks, North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan said to "Good Morning America" that the world would have to watch the situation closely.
Diane Sawyer in North Korea
"Good Morning America" anchor Diane Sawyer met with North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan during her visit to pearl jewelry North Korea.
(ABC News)

"I think you can closely watch what happens," North Korea's chief negotiator at the six-party talks told Diane Sawyer today.

"I don't think that's an answer," Sawyer said.

"I think that's a good answer," Kim said. "We've not said there'd be another test. Others have said that."

The minister pointed out that the United States conducted hundreds of nuclear tests in its history.

Violation of Previous Agreement?

The Bush administration contends that North Korea violated the agreement made with the Clinton administration, enriching uranium when North Korean officials said they wouldn't.

Kim denied this, saying that the country does not have enriched uranium. Instead, he said, the country has plenty of plutonium.
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"So if there is new agreement, North Korea can be trusted?" Sawyer asked.

"I think you can," he said.

ABC News also asked whether reports that North Korea had enough plutonium to make 11 bombs were correct.

"Tough question," Kim said. "[I] don't think I can satisfy you. … That's military information."

Different Situations in Each Country, Different Realities

Kim responded calmly to questions about Kim Jong Il's reaction to China and Russia's support for sanctions against North Korea.

"We have different situations in each country, different realities," he said. "We can have different policies. We're not that surprised. … Kim Jong Il has been saying all along in his words that there's no reason North Korea should remain an enemy of the United States."

Kim told ABC News that he had a message for the akoya pearl American people: There are no eternal enemies or friends in life, only eternal interests.

He said he hoped that the United States and North Korea could be friends based on interests.

Kim also encouraged Americans to push the Bush administration to act reasonably to improve relations, which he said would allow President Bush to be viewed as a good president in history, as a president who achieved piece.

In the hills of central Appalachia, up winding, mountain roads, is a place where children and families face unthinkable conditions, living without what most Americans take for granted. Isolated pockets in central Appalachia have three times the national poverty rate, an epidemic of prescription drug abuse, the shortest life spans in the nation, toothlessness, cancer and chronic depression.
Photo: Diane Sawyer reports on the struggles of Appalachia.
Diane Sawyer reports on the struggles of Appalachia.
(ABC)
More Photos

The organizations below are working to pearl jewelry  help children and families in Appalachia.

These organizations' Web sites are experiencing unusually high traffic due to the ABC News special. If you are unable to connect, we hope you'll check back again or contact them via the phone numbers below.

Christian Appalachian Project: Based in Kentucky and founded in 1964, the Christian Appalachian Project (CAP) is an interdenominational, nonprofit organization "committed to serving people in need in Appalachia by providing physical, spiritual and emotional support through a wide variety of programs and services."

CLICK HERE TO HELP CAP HELP SHAWN, COURTNEY, ERICA AND JEREMY, OR CALL 1-877-919-9901 OR 1-866-270-4227.

Organizations Featured in "A Hidden America:"

Kids First Dental: Dr. Edwin Smith's dental van currently provides school-based dental services to children in 16 eastern Kentucky counties.
Phone: 606-546-7410

The UNITE Foundation: Founded in 2003, Operation UNITE (Unlawful Narcotics Investigations, Treatment and Education) is a law enforcement and education initiative that works to combat substance abuse in Eastern Kentucky, including in Appalachia. The biwa pearl UNITE Foundation accepts individual and corporate donations to sustain its various programs and services, including assistance to children and families dealing with substance abuse.
CLICK HERE TO HELP UNITE HELP ERICA AND KIDS LIKE HER, OR CALL 1-866-678-6483.

The Homecoming Church: The Homecoming Church is run by Pastor Elmer Harris. Ten miles outside of Inez, the church is home to a congregation of families of Calf Creek Hollow.
Phone: 606-298-7778

Mud Creek Clinic: Part of Big Sandy Health Care, Inc. Community Care Fund and based in Floyd County, Ky., donations to the clinic help support important programs, such as cancer screenings, childhood dental health projects, childhood immunizations, diabetes treatment and prenatal care. The organization's Eula Hall Scholarship Fund provides financial assistance for area students pursuing careers in health care or social services, and the akoya pearl Eula Hall Patient Assistance Fund covers health care costs for uninsured or indigent patients.