| THE NORTH KOREA REPORT: AUGUST 5, 2002 NEWS NORTH AND SOUTH KOREA AGREE TO RESTART TALKS South Korea agreed to restart �cabinet level� talks with North Korea over the weekend (CNN, BBC). The talks will be held next week in Seoul. Topics of discussion include �more reunions of family members separated by the Korean War, plans for a cross-border rail link and joint inter-Korean projects.� The North also agreed to �participation in the 14th Asian Games in Pusan� (BBC text of agreement). DEFENSE SECRETARY REFUSES TO BACK OVERTHROW OF STALINIST NORTH As Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld talked of �regime change� in Iraq, he pointed refused to discuss the subject regarding Stalinist North Korea (Washington Times). Rumsfeld did not the massive famine and political persecution, saying, �one can't help but feel great empathy for the people of Korea.� Sadly, that empathy apparently does not include ending the regime that has led North Korea to this awful fate. NORTH KOREA ACCUSES THE SOUTH OF BORDER VIOLATIONS, AGAIN The Stalinist regime accused the democratic South of �intruding into northern waters� twice over the last week (CNN). South Korea denied the charge, insisting its naval vessels have remained south of the Northern Limit Line, the agreed sea border from 1953 to 1999 when the North disavowed it. The accusations, not the first from North Korea (see July 8 NK Report), brought back memories of the naval gun battle earlier this summer, in which the Stalinist navy crossed the NLL and fired upon South Korean naval vessels (see July 1 NK Report). The North has demanded a renegotiation of the sea border. South Korea plans to salvage the vessel sank by the Stalinist regime in that gun battle (BBC). NORTH KOREAN FM MEETS POWELL FOR �15 MINUTES�AS REGIME BLASTS U.S. North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun met for a �15-minute encounter� at the ASEAN Regional Forum last week (CNN). However, the brief discussion came mere hours after the Stalinist regime branded the U.S. the �kingpin of evil� (BBC), leaving many to wonder if �the North (merely) wanted better relations to get more aid.� Also reporting: Cybercast News, Washington Post U.S. TO SEND ENVOY TO NORTH KOREA; JAPAN ALSO AGREES TO TALKS WITH THE NORTH Following the Powell-Paek meeting, and despite the bellicose rhetoric from the Stalinist regime, the U.S. will send Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly to Pyongyang for talks with North Korea. The BBC, in its report, also noted that the Stalinists had agreed to a round of talks with Japan on �normalising (British sp) ties.� COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS NORTH KOREA, LEAST OF THE THREE �EVILS�? Barnaby Mason, BBC, examines how the U.S. is looking at Iraq, Iran, and North Korea, and notes that the Stalinist regime is easily getting the nicest treatment. North Korea is the only one of the three in which opposing the regime is not even discussed, despite the fact that it may already have nuclear weapons (See March 20 China e-Lobby Update) � something the other two do not have, but likely desire. THE MEDIA WEIGHS IN ON THE NORTH�S DIPLOMATIC MOVES The editors of the Washington Post weigh in on the latest diplomacy from North Korea. They place most of the burden on Stalinist leader Kim Jong-Il, but also fault the Bush Administration for its inability to settle on a hawkish or dovish policy on the North (they, the editors, appear to prefer the dovish option). Caroling Gluck of the BBC also examined the North�s Charm offensive, without editorializing. Also taking the dovish point of view are William Taylor and Eliot Walker, both from the Center for Strategic and International Studies. They make their case for negotiations �throwing in a little hysteria over a possible war no one has even discussed � in the Washington Times. Sign the Boycott Petition: In reaction to the 2008 Olympic Games being awarded to Beijing, the China e-Lobby has begun a petition for an American boycott of those games. Miss an Update, Weekly Links, or a North Korea Report? Find it on our web site. Check out the latest on Communist China and the Terrorist War. There�s still time to contact the President and tell him not to appoint pro-PRC Doug Paal as de facto ambassador to Taiwan. See Follow-Up for more on Paal. 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 you happen to find to the same address. |