TUESDAY, JUNE 27

TAKE THE TEST, TAKE CONTROL. Do it for Salma Hayek. The star is one of several celebrity ambassadors urging people to come out and be tested on the 12th Annual National HIV Testing Day. With the slogan "Take the Test, Take Control," the National Association of People With AIDS hopes to reach high-risk communities. The latest estimates are that the number of people with HIV in the United States was roughly 1 million at the end of 2003, and approximately a quarter of all people with the virus are believed to be unaware of their infection. First lady Laura Bush, speaking to a U.N. General Assembly meeting on HIV/AIDSearlier this month, proposed an international version of the same awareness campaign.

HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF. Former South Korean President Kim Dae Jung begins a four-day visit to North Korea, a reprise of his historic trip as the South's leader six years ago. Kim is expected to meet with the North's leader, Kim Jong Il, who is locked in a diplomatic test of wills with the United States and other countries over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programs. The North is boycotting six-country nuclear negotiations, ostensibly because of U.S. economic measures aimed at cutting off illicit activities like counterfeiting, money-laundering, and sales of knockoff drugs. South Korean officials hope that Kim, father of the "Sunshine policy" of deep engagement with the Communist North, will help encourage Kim Jong Il to return to talks, but the visit also highlights the gap between South Korea's approach and the Bush administration policy of isolating the North.