TASK DEFINITION: Given a document, find the main entity about whom the author is writing. Write the full name if mentioned in the text. Note that URLs in the text have been replaced with [Link].
PROBLEM: Comic strip artist Mort Walker  a World War II veteran who satirized the Army and tickled millions of newspaper readers with the antics of the lazy private "Beetle Bailey " died Saturday.  He  was 94.
 Walker  died at  his  home in Stamford  Connecticut  said Greg Walker  his eldest son and a collaborator. His father's advanced age was the cause of death  he said.
 Walker  began publishing cartoons at age 11 and was involved with more than a half-dozen comic strips in  his  career  including "Hi and Lois " ''Boner's Ark" and "Sam & Silo." But  he  found  his  greatest success drawing slacker Beetle   his  hot-tempered sergeant and the rest of the gang at fictional Camp Swampy for nearly 70 years.
The character that was to become  Beetle Bailey  made  his  debut as Spider in  Walker 's cartoons published by the Saturday Evening Post in the late 1940s.  Walker  changed Spider's name and launched  "Beetle Bailey"  as a college humor strip in 1950.
At first the strip failed to attract readers and King Features Syndicate considered dropping it after just six months   Walker  said in a 2000 interview with The Associated Press. The syndicate suggested  Beetle  join the Army after the start of the Korean War   Walker  said.
"I was kind of against it because after World War II  Bill Mauldin and Sad Sack were fading away " he said. But his misgivings were overcome and  Beetle  "enlisted" in 1951.
 Walker  attributed the success of the strip to Beetle's indolence and reluctance to follow authority.
"Most people are sort of against authority "  he  said. "Here's  Beetle  always challenging authority. I think people relate to it."
 "Beetle Bailey"  led to spin-off comic strip "Hi and Lois " which  he  created with Dik Browne  in 1954. The premise was that  Beetle  went home on furlough to visit  his  sister Lois and brother-in-law Hi.
Fellow cartoonists remembered  Walker  on Saturday as a pleasant man who adored his fans. Bill Morrison  president of the National Cartoonists Society  called  Walker  the definition of "cartoonist" in a post on the society's website.
" He  lived and breathed the art every day of  his  life.  He  will be sorely missed by  his  friends in the NCS and by a world of comic strip fans " Morrison said.
Fellow cartoonist Mark Evanier said on his website that  Walker  was "delightful to be around and always willing to draw  Beetle  or Sarge for any of his fans. He sure had a lot of them."
"Beetle Bailey " which appeared in as many as 1 800 newspapers  sometimes sparked controversy. The Tokyo editions of the military newspaper Stars & Stripes dropped it in 1954 for fear that it would encourage disrespect of its officers. But ensuing media coverage spurred more than 100 newspapers to add the strip.
Shortly after President Bill Clinton took office   Walker  drew a strip suggesting that the draft be retroactive in order to send Clinton to Vietnam.  Walker  said  he  received hundreds of angry letters from Clinton supporters.
For years   Walker  drew Camp Swampy's highest-ranking officer  Gen. Amos Halftrack  ogling his secretary  Miss Buxley. Feminist groups claimed the strip made light of sexual harassment  and  Walker  said the syndicate wanted  him  to write out the lecherous general.
That wasn't feasible because the general was such a fixture in the strip   Greg Walker  said Saturday.  His  father solved the problem in 1997 by sending Halftrack to sensitivity training.

SOLUTION: Beetle Bailey

PROBLEM: SEOUL (Reuters) - Kim Jong Un on Monday warned the United States he has a ânuclear buttonâ on his desk ready for use if North Korea is threatened  but offered an olive branch to South Korea  saying he was âopen to dialogueâ with Seoul.
After a year dominated by fiery rhetoric and escalating tensions over North Koreaâs nuclear weapons program   Kim  used  his  televised New Yearâs Day speech to declare North Korea âa peace-loving and responsible nuclear powerâ and call for lower military tensions and improved ties with the South.
âWhen it comes to North-South relations  we should lower the military tensions on the Korean Peninsula to create a peaceful environment â  Kim  said. âBoth the North and the South should make efforts.â
 Kim  said  he  would consider sending a delegation to the Winter Olympics Games to be held in Pyeongchang  South Korea  in February.
âNorth Koreaâs participation in the Winter Games will be a good opportunity to showcase the national pride and we wish the Games will be a success. Officials from the two Koreas may urgently meet to discuss the possibility â  Kim  said.
South Korea said it welcomed  Kimâs  offer to send a delegation to the Pyeongchang Games and hold talks with the South to discuss possible participation.
U.S.-based experts saw  Kim âs speech as a clear attempt to divide South Korea from its main ally  the United States  which has led an international campaign to pressure North Korea to give up weapons programs aimed at developing nuclear missiles capable of hitting the United States.
Asked by reporters to comment on  Kim âs speech  U.S. President Donald Trump simply said  âweâll see  weâll seeâ  as  he  walked into New Yearâs Eve celebration at Mar-a-Lago   his  elite resort in Florida.
Revere said  Kim Jong Un âs speech contained the strongest defense of North Koreaâs status as a permanently nuclear-armed country he had seen.
FILE PHOTO:  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un  waves to people attending a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of country's founding father   Kim Il  Sung in Pyongyang  April 15  2017. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj
â Implicit in Kim Jong Unâs speech  is a willingness to engage with others  including the United States  on the basis of their acceptance of the ârealityâ of North Koreaâs permanent nuclear status. Thatâs not a basis on which the United States is prepared to engage â  he  said.
Rather than encouraging U.S. measures that âthreaten the security and peace of the Korean peninsula â Seoul should instead respond to overtures from the North  and âstop nuclear war exercises with foreign forces â  Kim  said.
After North Korea tested its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in November  which it said was capable of delivering a warhead to anywhere in the United States   Kim  declared  his  nuclear force complete.
 He  continued that theme in  his  New Yearâs address  announcing that North Korea would focus in the coming year on âmass producing nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles for operational deploymentâ.
This   Kim  said  was âirreversible with any forceâ  making it impossible for the United States to start a war against North Korea.
âThe whole territory of the U.S. is within the range of our nuclear strike and a nuclear button is always on the desk of my office and this is just a reality  not a threat â  he  said  while emphasizing that the weapons would only be used if North Korea is threatened.

SOLUTION: Kim Jong Un

PROBLEM: 1.  He  was resigning  his  seat by the end of the year.
2.  He  didn't believe  he  had done anything for which  he  should have been forced to resign.
 Franken 's speech was defined primarily by  his  lack of any real apology and the clear bitterness  he  carries for being pushed out amid allegations that  he  had groped several women and forcibly tried to kiss others.
Here's the key bit from  Franken  (bolding is mine):
That's a remarkable statement.  Franken  is simultaneously saying that  he  believes the women who have accused  him  have a right to be heard while also making very clear that  he  is not admitting  he  had done the things they alleged.
 He  went on to note that "I know in my heart that nothing I have done as a senator  nothing has brought dishonor on this institution " adding: "I am confident that the ethics committee would agree."
And  just in case there was any question that  Franken  believed  he  was being unfairly railroaded  the senator's turn to Donald Trump and Roy Moore cleared all that up.
Said  Franken :
"I am leaving while a man who has bragged on tape about  his  history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office and a man who repeatedly preyed on young girls campaigns for the Senate with the full support of his party. But this decision is not about me. It's about the people of Minnesota."
 Franken  got support in that view from an unlikely source on Thursday: Former Bush White House press secretary Ari Fleischer. " Franken  should not have resigned.  His  fate should have been left 2 the people of MN. Moore  who had sexual contact w a 14-yr old  should drop out. Conyers  who hit on his employees  should have resigned.  Franken  is a creep who acted inappropriatly  but  his  facts are different " tweeted Fleischer shortly after  Franken 's resignation announcement.
The second part of  Franken 's conclusion will have a lot of Democratic heads nodding. Why is  Franken  resigning for allegations of groping and unwanted kissing while Trump is in office after more than a dozen women accused him during the campaign of sexual harassment? Why is  Franken  resigning when Roy Moore  who faces multiple allegations of pursuing relationships with teenagers as young as 14 when  he  was in  his  30s  is looking more and more like a winner in next Tuesday's special election?
Those are fair questions. The simple reason is because  Franken  gave in to the pressure to step aside while Trump and Moore just kept saying they didn't do anything wrong and had no plans to leave their respective races. And the political willpower didn't exist in Alabama or the country to get rid of them.
But the first part of  Franken 's contention -- that  he  did not do anything wrong and these women were either mistaken or misremembering -- will sit less well even with  his  most ardent supporters.
If  Franken  truly believes -- as  he  said -- that  he  did nothing wrong here  then why is  he  resigning?  His  explanation was that  he  couldn't simultaneously deal with an ethics investigation and represent the state effectively. But  he  was the one who called for an ethics investigation when  he  announced last week that  he  was planning to stay on the job and work to win back the trust of  his  colleagues and  his  constituents!
The answer is that almost three dozen of  Franken 's colleagues called for  him  to step down over the last 24 hours -- including a united front of Democratic female senators . There was just no way that  Franken  could realistically stay on amid that depth of condemnation. (Although  per Trump and Moore  maybe he could have.)
 Franken  bowed to what he believed to be the inevitable political reality facing him. But in so doing   he  wanted to make sure everyone -- in the chamber and outside of it -- didn't see  his  resignation as an admission of guilt. Because  Franken  just doesn't think  he 's guilty.

SOLUTION:
Al Franken