| Home page To receive this publication via e-mail, click here. THE NORTH KOREA REPORT: FEBRUARY 2, 2004 Listen to the Chinascope, hosted by D.J. McGuire: Tuesday, midnight EST, on WXEI 95.3 FM in Crestview, FL, or here. Dragon in the Dark: How and Why Communist China Helps Our Enemies in the War on Terror is now available: here, at Amazon, or at 1-888-280-7715. Our statement on why northern Korea must be liberated can be found here. TOP STORY: NORTH KOREA GASSING POLITICAL PRISONERS TO DEATH STALINISTS TESTING CHEMICAL WEAPONS ON WOMEN AND CHILDREN, SAYS BBC Anyone who thought the gas chamber died with Nazi Germany is in for a shock. North Korea has been using its political prisoners, and their families, as chemical weapons guinea pigs. A North Korean defector known as Kwon Hyuk told the BBC he �witnessed a whole family being tested on suffocating gas and dying in the gas chamber� (Boston Globe). The North Korean tests routinely killed families and individual prisoners: �Scientists observe the entire process from above, through the glass,� according to Kwon. Anyone still think this is a regime worthy of a 1994 redux agreement, or that the people imprisoned by the Stalinist regime deserve anything less than liberation? Also reporting: The Guardian (UK) WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION NEWS PAKISTAN�S �FATHER� OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONFESSES TO HELPING NORTH KOREA Abdul Qadeer Khan, the man who made Pakistan a nuclear power, admitted to �transferring nuclear technology to North Korea� (CNN). Khan apparently confessed to �leaking nuclear know-how outside Pakistan to groups working for Iran, Libya and North Korea� (BBC). Also reporting: Agence France Presse via Washington Times, Washington Post Earlier reports had Pakistan aiding North Korea�s nuclear weapons program as late as July 2002 (see 11/18/02 and 11/10/03 NKRs). Both Pakistan and North Korea have been allies of Communist China for over fifty years. KELLY �CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC� ABOUT SECOND ROUND OF TALKS Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly is �cautiously optimistic of resuming talks over North Korea's nuclear weapons programme� (BBC). The first round of talks on the subject � which included North and South Korea, the U.S., Russia, Communist China, and Japan, � ended without an American cave-in disguised as an �agreement� (see 9/2/03 NKR). AUSTRALIAN DELEGATION VISITS PYONGYANG Meanwhile, an official delegation from Australia visited Pyongyang over the weekend, in part to �convey its concerns about North Korea's nuclear weapons ambitions� (CNN) and move the Stalinist regime closer to another round of six-party talks on the issue. Stop the North Korean Nuclear Power Plants: Construction on the nuclear power plants from the 1994 agreement has been suspended for one year, but the plants have not been cancelled. Use this China e-Lobby fact sheet and tell the President to kill the power plants from the 1994 agreement that North Korea broke. OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS U.S. TO DRAMATICALLY RESHAPE PACIFIC COMMAND Pacific Command, the U.S. military structure covering East Asia and the Pacific Ocean, is in for a major re-haul. Report: Washington Times NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA�S ROLE NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES SENT BACK BY PRC, SOME TO ALL-BUT-CERTAIN DEATH Communist China is still sending back to North Korea every refugee it can find, ensuring that some refugees end up in camps for �incorrigibles,� i.e., �camps designed to kill those categorized as unreformable under the communist system� (Bill Gertz, Washington Times). The refugees are essentially nonpersons in Communist China, and if captured, they can be subjected to harrowing atrocities even before being sent back (see 1/14 Update). ABDUCTION NEWS JAPAN LEGISLATURE PASSES BILL TO IMPOSE SANCTIONS ON NORTH KOREA Japan�s House of Representatives passed a bill granting the government the power to impose economic sanctions on North Korea. The House of Councillors will likely pass the bill this week. The inspiration for the bill comes from North Korea�s continuingly despicable behavior regarding the abduction of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s. Report: BBC North Korea admitted to kidnapping thirteen Japanese citizens last year. They have let five return home � without their children � but claim eight others have �died.� They have provided no proof of that claim (see 9/23/02, 9/30/02, 10/7/02, 10/14/02, 10/21/02, 10/28/02, and 11/18/02 NKRs). OTHER INTERNATIONAL NEWS NORTH KOREA OFFERS MISSILE DEAL TO NIGERIA North Korea, ever on the market for buyers of its ballistic missile technology, has offered a deal to Nigeria for the same. Nigeria has insisted it has �not made any commitment� (BBC). South Korea called the North�s offer �a tactic to gain leverage ahead of a second round of talks on the North's nuclear weapons programs� (Washington Times). OTHER SOUTH KOREA NEWS CAMPAIGN FUNDRAISING SCANDAL ENSNARING ROH AND GNP The anti-corruption probe in South Korea has spread to �four of Roh's top presidential aides, his former campaign director and his chauffeur� (Washington Post). In addition to aides of dovish President Roh Moo-hyun, the hawkish Grand National Party is also under the wide-ranging probe (see also 10/13/03, 12/15/03, and 1/5 NKRs). ROH MOO-HYUN APPOINTS NEW NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun named Kwon Chin-ho as his new adviser for national security, following Ra Jong-yil�s resignation (Washington Times, last item). The dovish Roh also had to replace his Foreign Minister this year (see 1/20 NKR). COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS ANOTHER CALL FOR LIBERATION Roger D. Carstens, of the Council of Emerging National Security Affairs, makes a compelling case for the liberation of North Korea in National Review Online, and judging from the piece, he hadn�t yet seen the gas chamber news in the Top Story. FROM THE OTHER SIDE John W. Lewis, a member of the delegation that visited North Korea last month, came away completely convince of the Stalinists� willingness to make a deal. He displays his naivete in full view in the Washington Post. Check out the Communist China and the Terrorist War page. Sign the petition for an American boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Miss an Update, Week's Links, or a North Korea Report? Find it via our home page. Feel free to forward this to anyone you think might be interested in receiving it. Anyone who wishes to join can send his/her name and e-mail address to [email protected]. Please feel free to send any news on Communist China or North Korea that you happen to find to the same address. |