| Home page To receive this publication via e-mail, click here. THE NORTH KOREA REPORT: FEBRUARY 9, 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: NEW ROUND OF NORTH KOREA NUKE TALKS SET FOR FEBRUARY 25 BEIJING TO HOST SIX-PARTY TALKS Communist China will host a second round of six-party talks on North Korea�s nuclear weapons. The PRC � a North Korean ally for over fifty years � will also participate, as will the U.S. and North Korea, South Korea, Japan, and Russia. The North also offered, again, to �freeze� its nuclear program for a security guarantee and economic aid (BBC). Reports have it that the �freeze� would lead to eventual disarmament (the Washington Times is more certain on this than the Washington Post). However, this round is likely moving forward because of the Bush Administration � not the Stalinist regime � �has become somewhat more flexible.� The U.S. has dropped its demand for North Korea�s immediate nuclear disarmament. The U.S. now supports �coordinated steps� (see 12/8/03 NKR), by which the North gets part of its wish list first, so long as it promises not to break promises made in 1985, 1987, and 1994. Also reporting: Cybercast News, CNN, Voice of America via Epoch Times, HK ACTIVISTS DEMAND U.S. BRING HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES TO THE TABLE Meanwhile, human rights activists, fresh of the �startling new allegations of gas chamber experiments� (Cybercast News, see also last NKR), are demanding �that human rights abuses in North Korea� are included in the talks. 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 WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION NEWS KHAN WINS PARDON; ABSOLVES MUSHARRAF IN PUBLIC, BUT NOT IN PRIVATE Abdul Qadeer Khan, the leader of the effort to make Pakistan a nuclear power, publicly admitted that he helped North Korea with its nuclear weapons program, and was promptly pardoned by Pakistan�s dictator, Pervez Musharraf. The admission provided a woefully incomplete explanation of Pakistan�s aid to North�s nuclear program, which continued into the summer of 2002 (see 11/18/02, 11/10/03, and last NKRs). During a televised address to the Pakistani people, he insisted that Musharraf �was unaware� (CNN) of Khan�s actions, but Khan told a different story off camera. In private, Khan �has maintained, according to a friend of Khan's and a senior investigator, that three army chiefs of staff, including Musharraf, were aware of the assistance he provided to North Korea in exchange for help with Pakistan's ballistic missile program (Washington Post). He sent proof of such to his daughter as leverage against Musharraf. More evidence came from Cybercast News: �the technology sold to North Korea - transactions which the briefing officials said continued up until 2000 - were allegedly flown there in government cargo planes�. In light of this, the pardon should come as no surprise. The U.S. � now trying to deal with North Korea�s Pakistan-aided nuclear weapons program � called the pardon �a matter for Pakistan to decide� (Washington Times), effectively giving Musharraf a pass. Also reporting: BBC, Fox News, Christian Science Monitor PAKISTAN HELPED REGIME START URANIUM PROGRAM, GOT NORTH KOREAN MISSILES The London Telegraph reported that Pakistan gave the North �centrifuge technology for producing weapons-grade uranium.� In exchange, Pakistan received �long-range Nodong missiles from North Korea.� These missiles �brought almost every Indian city within range of a nuclear strike from Pakistan.� The uranium was part of the uranium-based nuclear weapons program which the U.S. forced them to acknowledge in October 2002, ending the deeply flawed 1994 Agreed Framework (see 10/21/02 NKR). IAEA CALLS KHAN �TIP OF THE ICEBERG,� BUT MUSHARRAF WANTS NO OUTSIDE PROBE The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency called Khan �the tip of an iceberg� (Washington Post), while the strange disposition of his case �raises more questions than it answers.� Despite this, Musharraf also adamantly refused to allow any international investigation of the issue (Washington Times). TENET SAYS U.S., UK INTELLIGENCE BROKE PAKISTAN NUCLEAR BLACK MARKET Meanwhile, Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet said American and British intelligence �detected the (Pakistani) network stretching across four continents, offering its wares to countries like North Korea and Iran� (Voice of America via Epoch Times). Also reporting: Washington Post, CNN, Excerpts from Tenet�s Speech via Newsmax OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS RUSMFELD HINTS AMERICAN TROOPS MAY NOT BE IN SOUTH KOREA FOR LONG Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld hinted that American troops in South Korea could be greatly reduced, noting �I don't want our forces in places that are inhospitable and where people don't want them there� (Cybercast News). Rumsfeld�s line �will resonate in South Korea,� which has elected dovish President Roh Moo-hyun, although not with a majority. NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA�S ROLE ACTIVIST HELD PRISONER FOR HELPING NK REFUGEES GETS LETTER OUT VIA BIBLE Young-hoon Choi, imprisoned by Communist China for helping North Korean refugees hiding there, managed to smuggle a letter to his family with �letters cut from a Bible� (World Net Daily). Choi is serving a five-year jail term for helping the refugees avoid Communist police, who send back to North Korea any refugee they can find. The refugees are basically nonpersons in Communist China, and can be subject to horrifying torture by both Communist police and their Stalinist counterparts once they are sent back (see 1/14 Update). HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNAL NEWS STALINISTS DENY THEY RUN GAS CHAMBERS, BLAST U.S. FOR BBC BROADCAST North Korea denied that they run gas chambers and kill political prisoners in chemical weapons experiments (see last NKR). The Stalinist regime proceeded to call the charges �a base anti-DPRK (North Korea) smear campaign the Bush group is engaged in,� a rather interesting reaction given that gas chambers were first exposed by the BBC. WORLD FOOD PROGRAM BEGS FOR MORE MONEY . . . The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) made another plea for donations to augment its food aid program in North Korea. The plea had no mention of donors� concerns over the Stalinists stealing the food aid to feed themselves and their military, a fact the WFP acknowledged, but dismissed, earlier (see 1/20 NKR). Reports: CNN, BBC . . . AS STALINISTS IGNORE THEIR PLEAS TO TAP FOOD RESERVES Meanwhile, the WFP �has petitioned North Korea to draw from its grain reserves to help feed millions of its starving people� (VOA via Epoch Times). The Stalinist regime has �given no answer,� which should surprise no one given how the �reserve� was likely built up. INTERNATIONAL NEWS NIGERIA STILL LOOKING AT NORTH KOREAN MISSILES Nigeria has not said �yes� to North Korea�s offer of missile technology (see last NKR), but they haven�t said �no� either, much to the chagrin of the United States and many very nervous African nations. North Korea leads the field in missile sales, particularly to terrorist sponsors such as Iran and Syria. Report: Cybercast News SOUTH KOREA NEWS MORE INTER-KOREAN TALKS, FAMILY REUNIONS SCHEDULED Stalinist North Korea and democratic South Korea �have agreed to hold high-level military talks on the North's nuclear weapons program and �ease� military tension� (CNN). They also agreed to another round of reunions for families split by the Korean War � and the fact that the North refuses to let anyone leave. Also reporting: BBC COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS ON THE NORTH KOREAN GAS CHAMBERS Anne Applebaum, Washington Post, writes great column about a sickening truth: history disturbingly repeating itself in how the rest of the world reacted � or to be more precise, didn�t react � to the news of North Korea�s gas chambers (see last NKR). ON NORTH KOREA AND PAKISTAN The editors of the Washington Post demand the Bush Administration get tougher, and quickly, on �ally� Pakistan, exposed as a major enabler of North Korea�s nuclear ambitions. As it later became clear the President would give Musharraf a pass, the editors let him have it. The editors of the Washington Times also weigh in. Zaffar Abbas, BBC, notes that Khan�s claim that Pakistan�s government was kept in the dark about his actions is not widely believed. Arnaud de Borchgrave, editor at large of the Washington Times, counts himself among the non-believers. BBC CORRESPONDENT GOES THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, BBC, takes yet another �tour� of North Korea, and as expected, finds the Stalinist paradise �brutal . . . Even the smallest criticism of the regime can send you to the gulag, from where few return.� REMEMBERING THE U.S.S. PUEBLO Oliver North, Washington Times, notes the passing of Navy Commander Lloyd "Pete" Bucher, the commanding officer of the U.S.S. Pueblo, which was seized by North Korea in 1968. Bucher and his crew were held hostage for almost a year. 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. 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