| Home page To receive this publication via e-mail, click here. THE NORTH KOREA REPORT: OCTOBER 6, 2003 Our statement on why northern Korea must be liberated can be found here. TOP STORY: NORTH KOREA SAYS PLUTONIUM RODS HAVE BEEN WEAPONIZED STALINISTS ALSO READY TO MAKE AND WEAPONIZE MORE RODS FROM YONGBYON Stalinist Vice Foreign Minister Choe Su Hon told CNN that North Korea had �already processed (8,000 plutonium) fuel rods,� i.e., weaponized the plutonium. The North claimed to have reprocessed the rods � which could become fuel for between six and twelve bombs � before. No one was sure if it was telling the truth this time (Cybercast News). The Stalinist regime upped the ante the next day, announcing to the world it was ready to �reprocess, without delay when necessary, more spent fuel rods to be produced in an unbroken chain from the five-megawatt nuclear reactor in Yongbyon� (BBC). South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun called the claim �a bombshell announcement.� North Korea had pledged to �freeze� its nuclear weapons program in 1994 � winning two now half-constructed nuclear power plants and hundreds of millions of dollars in fuel oil in the process. It admitted to breaking that pledge last fall (see 10/21/02 North Korea Report). Also Reporting: Fox News, Newsmax, MSNBC, Washington Post AXIS OF EVIL NEWS SADDAM HUSSEIN PAID NORTH KOREAN $10 MILLION FOR MISSILE TECHNOLOGY In June of 2001, Saddam Hussein paid North Korea $10 million for �medium-range Nodong missile technology� (Bill Gertz, Washington Times), in particular, �machinery and equipment� (Washington Post) to make the missiles. North Korea never followed through on the deal, citing the watchful eyes of the United States. It didn�t return the money either. WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION NEWS NORTH KOREA SAYS IT�S NOT INTERESTED IN NUCLEAR TALKS, BLAMES U.S. Stalinist North Korea announced that it �was no longer interested in holding negotiations� (BBC 9/30) regarding its nuclear weapons program with the U.S. The North also said it would �strengthen its nuclear �deterrent.�� A day later, the aforementioned Choe (see Top Story) blamed what he called America�s �hostile policy of stifling the DPRK� (CNN) for it all. Despite all of this, the U.S. and South Korea are still optimistic that talks on the North�s nuclear ambitions will restart again, someday (BBC 10/1). Also reporting: Adelaide Advertiser (Australian) Stop the North Korean Nuclear Power Plants: The U.S. is finally moving to cancel the two nuclear power plants from the 1994 agreement that North Korea�s broke. Keep the pressure on until the plants are cancelled! Use this China e-Lobby fact sheet and tell the President to kill the power plants. NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA�S ROLE SOUTH KOREA CLOSES BEIJING CONSULATE DUE TO NK REFUGEE OVERFLOW South Korea has closed its Beijing consulate office, due to the presence of over 100 North Korean refugees � the �normal� level is apparently about 50. Hundreds of thousands of Koreans are hiding in Communist China, which sends back any refugee it finds. Roughly 200 refugees have used democratic embassies in the PRC to escape. Reports: BBC, CNN OTHER SOUTH KOREA NEWS SOUTH KOREA WON�T SEND TROOPS TO IRAQ UNTIL NK NUKE ISSUE IS RESOLVED South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun ruled out sending any more troops to Iraq absent �a positive outlook for and conviction in peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula� (CNN). That phrase refers to the North�s nuclear weapons program. South Korea sent non-combat troops to Iraq this past spring (see 4/7 North Korea Report). HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNAL NEWS ACTIVISTS VIDEOTAPE INTERNATIONAL FOOD AID SOLD IN NK BLACK MARKET Human rights activists have a videotape of North Korean police and military officials selling food delivered as international aid on the black market. The stunning video �confirmed a long-standing suspicion that the North Korean police and military were selling aid to fill their pockets� (Washington Times paraphrasing activist Lee Young-hwa�s comments). An official with the World Food Programme cast doubt on the video, insisting that the aid �is directly distributed to its beneficiaries,� not to the Stalinists. Perhaps he hasn�t heard the numerous reports of the Stalinists stealing the food from those very recipients to feed itself and its military � and also sell it to the highest bidder (see 3/6/02 Update). The lack of control over international aid is bad enough for Bush Administration to consider stopping all U.S. shipments of aid to the Stalinists, who drove North Korea into a massive famine that has killed two to three million since 1995. STALINISTS LAY OUT SPECIFICS FOR KAESONG ECONOMIC ZONE The Stalinist regime fleshed out some specifics for its Kaesong economic zone. Among the highlights are tax rates �less than half the rate levied in the South� (BBC) to entice South Korean and other businesses into the zone. However, all hiring must go �through a North Korean state agency,� ensuring Stalinist control at the worker level. COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS ON NUCLEAR NORTH KOREA Daniel J. Gallington, in the Washington Times, calls for an American pullout from the Korean peninsula, and for Japan to acquire a nuclear arsenal to balance the Stalinist �deterrent,� and to scare Communist China into knocking over Kim Jong-Il�s regime. Why we can�t work to liberate North Korea ourselves is a question Gallington does not address. ON THE JOURNEYS OF NORTH KOREA DEFECTORS, AND THE HORROR THEY LEFT BEHIND Doug Struck, Washington Post, interviews North Korean defectors, and details their harrowing journeys: repression and starvation of ungodly proportions within the Stalinist North and non-person status in Communist China. Even those who make it to South Korea face isolation from their new hosts and guilt for suffering relatives left behind in the North. 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. |