| THE NORTH KOREA REPORT: JANUARY 6, 2003 Our statement on why North Korea must be liberated, and how it can happen, can be found here. NEWS U.S. CONTINUES TO PUSH �DIPLOMATIC� SOLUTION, SILENT ON LIBERATION NORTH KOREAS WANTS TALKS NOW, NOT AFTER IT CHANGES ITS BEHAVIOR The United States is continuing to pin its hopes on diplomatic and economic pressure � dubbed �tailored containment� � to change the behavior of North Korea (BBC, CNN 12/31/02). The President himself insisted that �this is not a military showdown; this is a diplomatic showdown� (Washington Post 1/1/03). The U.S. is having trouble with �tailored containment,� which, among other things, relies on Communist China to help push North Korea into line � an unlikely proposition considering that the PRC has been an ally of the Stalinists for over five decades (Washington Post 12/31/02). The Stalinist regime, meanwhile, insisted that talks with the U.S. � and thus the concession gravy train � begin now (CNN 1/3/03). Maddeningly, while President Bush noted that Stalinist leader Kim Jong-Il �starves his people� (Washington Times), he maintained an unseemly Administration silence on the possibility of working to change the Stalinist regime itself, despite its repeated violations of previous agreements and its starving of its own people (see also 8/5/02 NK Report). Also reporting: Fox News MILITARY ACTION UNPOPULAR WITHIN ADMINISTRATION Meanwhile, the �surgical strike� option � which would also keep the Stalinists in power � is largely �on the back burner for now because repercussions could prove catastrophic� (Washington Times). Those repercussions include anything from a Stalinist retaliation against South Korea to the ecological effects of blowing up �spent� nuclear rods. Also reporting: Washington Post MORE NUCLEAR NEWS SOUTH KOREA PRESENTS PEACE PROPOSAL South Korea has proposed a peace deal of its own. The plan calls for �first, a U.S. guarantee of the North's security and heavy oil supplies in return for the end to the nuclear weapons programme (UK sp); second, international economic assistance; and third, a multinational security guarantee for the North, including from China and Russia� (CNN). The South, under the leadership of dovish outgoing President Kim Dae-jung and fellow �sunshine� supporter Roh Moo-hyun, ran into almost immediate resistance from the United States. State Department spokesperson Rick Boucher flatly said the U.S. has �no intention of sitting down and bargaining again� with the Stalinist regime. Also reporting: BBC, Cybercast News, Washington Post, Washington Times SOUTH KOREA, COMMUNIST CHINA LOOK FOR DIPLOMACY ON NORTH KOREA Meanwhile, South Korea and the Stalinists� oldest ally � Communist China � �reaffirmed the principle of resolving North Korea's nuclear problem peacefully through dialogue� (CNN). What exactly that statement means, outside of the diplomatic, rhetorical boilerplate one usually gets from the PRC � North Korea�s ally for 50 years � is not known. Also reporting: Washington Post, Newsmax.com, Fox News SENATORS CALL FOR TALKS WITH NORTH, MCCAIN SAYS KEEP MILITARY OPTION OPEN A number of Senators � including Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards and Republican Chuck Hagel � are calling for talks with North Korea. Democratic Senator Carl Levin (Fox News interview) also took the dovish line. Former Presidential candidate John McCain, meanwhile, warned against allowing �allow the North Koreans to gain some sort of leverage or agreement that would be beneficial to them� (CNN). McCain further insisted �We should never abandon the military option when we are facing a direct threat to the United States of America. It is, however, the absolute last resort.� Also reporting: Washington Times RUSSIA TO LEAN ON NORTH KOREA, IS �UPBEAT� ON THE ISSUE, BUT DOESN�T BACK U.S. Russia, who as the Soviet Union was a long-time ally of the Stalinist regime, �says it will try to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear programme, but it has also called on the US to show flexibility� (BBC). Russia Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Mamedov called himself �upbeat� (CNN) about the possibility of an agreement of some kind. NORTH KOREA KICKS OUT IAEA INSPECTORS North Korea expelled two inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, who had been in the North to ensure it had frozen its nuclear weapons program in accordance with the 1994 deal in which the U.S. agreed to build two nuclear power plants for the Stalinists (CNN 12/31/02, BBC 12/31/02). The IAEA demanded that the inspectors be allowed back into North Korea to resume their watch on the Stalinists� nuclear weapons program (CNN 1/6/03, BBC 1/6/03). It should be noted that these same inspectors completely missed the North�s uranium-based weapons program (see 10/21/02 NK Report). Stop the North Korean Nuclear Power Plants: North Korea announced that it would restart the pre-1994 plutonium power plants. Despite this, talk of negotiations continues, and building the two nuclear power plants that were part of the deal has still not been ruled out. Use this China e-Lobby fact sheet and tell the President to stand firm against the Stalinist regime, and not to build the power plants. OTHER NEWS NORTH KOREA SAYS ARMISTICE TERMS DON�T APPLY TO RAIL LINKS AREAS In response to UN accusations that it had placed machine guns in a De-Militarized Zone (DMZ) between itself and South Korea, a violation of the 1953 armistice that ended the war (see last NK Report), the Stalinists said the armistice �does not apply to the transportation corridor, which, when complete, will establish road and rail links through the DMZ� (CNN). The corridor was where the North had placed the machine guns. The Stalinists had agreed to the road and rail links weeks ago, in exchange for millions in construction equipment and tons of food aid (see 9/3/02 and 10/14/02 NK Reports). U.S. TO CONTINUE FOOD AID TO NORTH KOREA The United States is not letting the Stalinists� nuclear ambitions get in the way of humanitarian food shipments to North Korea. Unfortunately, the Stalinists� history of diverting food aid to loyalists and the military will also not get in the way � that issue never even made the Washington Times story. ANALYSTS LAY BLAME FOR FAMINE AT KIM JONG-IL�S FEET Meanwhile, analysts and aid workers are as one in their assessment of how the North Korean famine came about � the policies of Stalinist leader Kim Jong-Il. In addition to his using food as a political weapon, i.e., keeping the military and the party well-fed while everyone else starves, his agricultural policies in general were widely panned as disastrous. Report: Washington Times COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS JOHN DERBYSHIRE CALLS FOR NORTH KOREA�S LIBERATION, BY FORCE IF NEEDED John Derbyshire, National Review Online columnist and China e-Lobby Member since 2002, joins the numerous calls for the liberation of North Korea, with one twist: he explicitly backs military action if its required. His comments on the Stalinist regime are in the second section of his December 2002 diary. WASHINGTON POST RIPS �TAILORED CONTAINMENT� The editors of the Washington Post, in examining the President�s policies toward the axis of evil, called the Administration�s policy of �tailored containment� on North Korea �vague and toothless.� While the editors did not provide a specific alternative, they also blasted negotiating with the Stalinists, and make it clear they prefer something far more hawkish than the current Administration policy. HENRY SOKOLSKI CALLS FOR AN END TO BUILDING THE NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS One of our favorites, Nonproliferation Policy Education Center Henry Sokolski, demands an end to the two power plants still being built under the 1994 nuclear power deal, as part of his plan to put the Stalinists on notice for what it needs to do to defuse the crisis. However, Sokolski, in National Review Online, still says, �the only sure fire path to nonproliferation in Korea is regime change in the North.� OTHER VIEWS WHAT TO DO ON NORTH KOREA George Will, in the Washington Post, sees three options, one of them being �a risky wager that North Korea will collapse peacefully.� While Will does not state a preference, he is at least willing to mention liberation as an option � something no one in the Bush Administration seems willing to do. Sandy Berger, ex-President Clinton�s National Security Advisor, and Robert Gallucci, the man who negotiated the 1994 nuclear deal with North Korea, call for a new deal in the Washington Post. The editors of the Post call for much tougher terms than Berger and Gallucci, and are far less na�ve about the North�s willingness to resolve the issue than the former Clinton Administration officials. Charles Krauthammer, also in the Post, says the best way to get South Korea and Communist China to follow �tailored containment� on Stalinist North Korea is to help Japan acquire a nuclear deterrent of its own, if it prefers one. Ted Galen Carpenter, of the CATO Institute, joins Krauthammer in supporting a nuclear-armed Japan in National Review Online. Doug Bandow, also from CATO, calls for an end to the U.S.-South Korean alliance, while insisting somewhat naively that Communist China can be brought in to help ensure peace in the region, in NRO. Ryan Lizza, The New Republic, examines the Bush Administration�s twists and turns on North Korean policy and finds that it is �back where (it) started � without a policy.� MORE ON NORTH KOREA VIS A VIS THE REST OF THE WORLD Aidan Foster-Carter, of Leeds University, asks what North Korea wants from this situation. His answer focuses on two things � solidifying the Stalinist rule over northern Korea, and winning concessions from the U.S. (BBC). Meanwhile, Michael Dobbs, Washington Post, examines how North Korea has affected the U.S. policy of preemption. ASIAN MEDIA REACT TO THE STALINISTS Based on the BBC summary, media reaction in Japan was critical of North Korea and friendly to the U.S., while South Korean opinion was divided. Communist China, meanwhile, completely ripped the U.S. ON KIM JONG-IL Peter Goodman, Washington Post, attempts to profile the Stalinist leader. A SPY TELLS HIS STORY The tale of North Korean defector Kenki Aoyama (see also 12/02/02 NK Report) is a harrowing inside look at the repression and starvation that is, sadly, the norm for the suffering people trapped inside the Stalinist regime. Source: BBC �WE SHOULD HAVE KEPT THE SCUDS� David B. Rivkin Jr. & Lee A. Casey, partners in the Washington, D.C., office of Baker & Hostetler LLP, say the United States should not have let the North Korean Scuds go to Yemen (see also 12/16/02 NK Report). They make their case in National Review Online. ON NORTH KOREA AND IRAQ Robert Lane Greene, of The Economist, says North Korea is more dangerous than Iraq in The New Republic. Jonah Goldberg, Editor-at-large of National Review Online (column in Townhall), and James Robbins, also of NRO, note the Stalinist danger, but argue that the need for military action against Iraq is still compelling. ON SOUTH KOREA�S ROLE Is South Korea a vital diplomatic link between North Korea and the United States? Sohn Jie-ae, CNN, seems to think so. Fred Hyatt, Washington Post, noting the painful lack of concern South Korea�s leadership seems to have for its brethren suffering in Stalinist North Korea, is not so sure. Sign the petition for an American boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympic 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. 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. |