| Home page To receive this publication via e-mail, click here. THE NORTH KOREA REPORT: AUGUST 10, 2004 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 SPENDS OVER A THIRD OF GDP ON MILITARY MONEY GOING TO �ASYMMETRICAL CAPABILITIES,� I.E., NUKES AND OTHER WMD; MISSILES UNDER DEVELOPMENT COULD REACH U.S. Stalinist North Korea�s military budget is �between 35 percent and 40 percent of its gross domestic product,� according to U.S. Forces Korea commander General Leon J. LaPorte (cited by Bill Gertz, Washington Times). LaPorte called the regime �a threat to the region and the international community.� General LaPorte also noted that the Stalinists �are investing in asymmetrical capabilities,� i.e., nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and missiles to deliver them at both short and long distances.� It didn�t take long for news to come out on the North�s efforts to do both. The Stalinists are developing two types of ballistic missiles �based on the defunct Soviet R-27 submarine-launched ballistic missile� (Agence France Press via Washington Times). The land-based system has a range long enough to enable the North to hit �Hawaii and U.S. military bases on the Pacific islands of Okinawa and Guam.� Another model is sea-based, which would �provide [the North Korean] leadership with something that it has long sought to obtain - the ability to directly threaten the continental US,� according to Jane�s Defense Weekly (cited by the BBC). The North was already developing missiles that could reach the United States, and actually had one built, but not tested (see 2/17/03 and 7/12 NKRs). However, the R-27 model (also know as SSN6) can be more accurate and reliable than any of North Korea�s other missiles. The Stalinist regime �gained valuable data after it purchased 12 decommissioned Russian submarines from Japanese scrap dealers more than a decade ago� (Voice of America via Epoch Times). As for Japan itself, there was no comment from Tokyo, �But analysts say they expect the news will prompt an investigation.� AXIS OF EVIL NEWS NORTH KOREA TALKS WITH SADDAM ABOUT MISSILE SYSTEM CONFIRMED, AGAIN Stalinist North Korea was in talks with Saddam Hussein �on the possibility of importing a 1,300 km missile system� (Newsmax), according to U.S. weapons inspector Charles Duelfer. Of course, this was old news (see 10/6/03 and 12/1/03A NKR), very old news. Still, since everyone else seems to have come across it only now . . . IRAN ON HELPING NK TEST MISSILES: WHO, US? Iran, a longtime client of the North Korean military, �dismissed accusations it was providing test sites for North Korean long-range missiles designed to deliver nuclear warheads� (Washington Times, fifth item). If true, Iran would be helping the Stalinist regime in �getting around a self-imposed missile test ban� OTHER WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION NEWS AUSTRALIA SENDS DIPLOMATS, BUT U.S. PONDERING COVERT ACTION As Australia sent �a delegation of officials to North Korea� (BBC) for talks on the Stalinists� nuclear disarmament, hints were dropped in the U.S. that the Bush Administration �is weighing covert action� (Fox News) due to the failure of recent talks (see 7/14/03, 12/22/03, and 6/28 NKRs). Once again, liberation was left off the list of options. Stop the North Korean Nuclear Power Plants: Are the plants dead or aren�t they? You can make sure they don�t come back! 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 JENKINS MEETS U.S. LAWYER Sergeant Charles Robert Jenkins met with an attorney �expected to act as Mr Jenkins' defence (UK sp) counsel� (BBC) regarding charges he deserted his post on the Korean demilitarized zone in 1965 and defected to North Korea. Jenkins� American relatives insist he was kidnapped by the Stalinists. Jenkins is in Japan to with his wife Hitomi Soga, a Japanese woman kidnapped by the North in the late 1970s. She returned to Japan in 2002 (see 9/23/02, 9/30/02, 10/7/02, 10/14/02, 10/21/02, 10/28/02, 11/18/02, 12/19/02, 7/19, and 7/27 NKRs). He did not come to Japan until last month for medical treatment. Also reporting: VOA via Epoch Times SOME THINK JENKINS CAN PROVIDE INFO ON KOREAN WAR PRISONERS At least one Administration official would like to know what Sergeant Jenkins knows about American soldiers from the Korean War held as prisoners by the North (Cybercast News). U.S. AND SOUTH KOREA PLANNING FOR MILITARY EXERCISES LATER THIS MONTH A joint U.S.-South Korean military exercise will begin on the August 23. The exercise will involve �units from the South Korean armed forces, U.S. troops based in South Korea and additional American forces sent to the Korean Peninsula from outside� (Washington Times). INTERNATIONAL NEWS JAPAN BACK IN THE AIDING NK BUSINESS Japan �is to resume the delivery of food assistance to North Korea after a four-year pause� (BBC). The aid was �promised by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to North Korea when he visited the country in May� and �comes ahead of talks on the fate of Japanese nationals Pyongyang abducted during the Cold War.� Five abductees were allowed to return to Japan in 2002; the Stalinists claim eight others died, with no evidence to back up the claim (see 9/23/02, 9/30/02, 10/7/02, 10/14/02, 10/21/02, 10/28/02, 11/18/02, 12/19/02, 5/24, 7/19, and 7/27 NKRs) . Dozens of other Japanese insist their relatives were also kidnapped by the regime. REFUGEE NEWS NORTH KOREA SKIPS TALKS WITH SOUTH TO SULK OVER REFUGEES North Korea �failed to attend high-level talks with South Korea� (BBC). The Stalinist regime was �angry with the South for granting sanctuary to 450 refugees who had escaped via China and Vietnam� (see last NKR). Also reporting: United Press International via Washington Times HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNAL NEWS UNITED NATIONS APPOINTS HUMAN RIGHTS INVESTIGATOR FOR NORTH KOREA The United Nations appointed Vitit Muntarbhorn, a law professor from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, to probe the appalling human rights situation in North Korea. The professor �has expertise in refugee law� (VOA via Epoch Times). North Korea has made it clear it will not allow Muntarbhorn, or any UN investigator, to examine the regime�s abuses. COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS LIBERATION DISMISSED BY CATO ANALYST Ted Galen Carpenter, of the Cato Institute, ends his largely wrongheaded Fox News analysis of the North Korea nuclear weapons talks thusly: �Every American hopes that someday the brutal North Korean regime will end up on the ash heap of history, as it deserves. But America cannot sacrifice its own security interests in an attempt to achieve that goal.� Not to be rude, Ted, but given the regime�s record of breaking deals, sending it to �the ash heap of history� is the only real goal that would achieve America�s �own security interests.� OTHER ANALYSIS Andrew Salmon, Washington Times, explores life after defection for North Korean refugees. Donald MacIntyre and Kim Yooseung, Time Asia, examine the connection between North Korea�s new missiles (see Top Story) and its nuclear ambitions. Charles R. Smith, Newsmax, examines Russia�s role in arming North Korea. 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 would be interested in receiving it. 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