For information about North Korea, a professor digs through the garbage

The 48-year-old professor of political science at Dong-A University in Busan, South Korea, removes product packing from plastic bags with the care of an eager archaeologist.

Bags of varying sizes and other forms of maritime trash (including paintings and pottery) that he gathered from various coastlines and the region separating China and North Korea line the floor.

Instead of looking like the private place of a scholar, hi....