| Home page To receive this publication via e-mail, click here. THE NORTH KOREA REPORT: MARCH 10, 2003 Our statement on why North Korea must be liberated can be found here. TOP STORY: NORTH KOREA INTERCEPTS U.S. RECONNAISANCE PLANE STALINISTS WERE LOOKING FOR HAINAN REPEAT, AMERICAN �HOSTAGES� North Korea intercepted a U.S. RC-135 reconnaissance plane in international airspace near the Korean peninsula early last week. The Stalinist regime sent four MiG�s to meet the RC-135; one of them came �within 50 feet� (Newsmax). Also Reporting: Fox News, Cybercast News, Bill Gertz, Washington Times The incident occurred about 150 miles off the coast of northern Korea but did not result in any shots being fired, although the plane was forced to abort its mission. According to the New York Times, cited by the BBC, the Stalinists �were trying to force the aircraft to land in North Korea and seize its crew� in the hope of making them �hostages.� Shades of Hainan perhaps (see 4/5/01 and 4/11/01 Updates)? The U.S. intends to formally protest the incident, which the White House called �reckless� (CNN). As unnerving as this was, intelligence officials expect more antics from the Stalinists �aimed at pressuring the Bush administration at a time when it is preparing for a possible war with Iraq� (Washington Post). Reports conflicted as to whether or not one of the North Korean planes �locked� onto the RC-135. The Stalinist regime had complained about the �illegal� U.S. flights last week (see last North Korea Report). Why it was illegal to fly 150 miles from shore was never explained. OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS FORMAL BILATERAL U.S.-NK TALKS REJECTED, BUT INFORMAL TALKS HELD LAST MONTH Secretary of State Colin Powell rejected formal talks between North Korea and the U.S. regarding the former�s nuclear ambitions, saying any talks must include �all the countries in the region� (BBC). National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice echoed Powell�s sentiments. Neither discussed liberation. However, last month, American private citizens �met secretly and informally� (CNN) with the North to discuss the its nuclear weapons program. The U.S. did not formally endorse its �representatives,� but it was another sign of the confusion that clouds the Bush Administration regarding the Stalinist regime. BUSH INSISTING DIPLOMACY CAN WORK IN NORTH KOREA President Bush told reporters during last week�s press conference that he was �optimistic� (BBC) that diplomacy can succeed in North Korea, and once again neglected to even discuss enacting policies to help liberate the people of northern Korea from their Stalinist captors. Also Reporting: CNN PELOSI WHACKS BUSH, CALLS FOR TALKS WITH NORTH KOREA Meanwhile, Senate Democrats and former Clinton Administration officials criticized the Bush Administration�s handling of North Korea last week. In particular, former Clinton National Security Advisor Sandy Berger called for �direct talks with North Korea to determine whether a negotiated settlement was possible� (BBC). Also reporting: Washington Post While the continuing multiple policy disorder of the Administration deserves criticism, hitting it from this dovish angle begs the question: how can one think a �negotiated settlement� is possible when the Stalinist regime has been violating the last such �settlement� for over four years? U.S., ALLIES GETTING USED TO NUCLEAR NORTH KOREA Despite all of the hopeful words about diplomacy, the U.S. and its allies �have begun to accept the idea of a nuclear-armed North Korea� (Washington Post) and have shifted emphasis to �preventing the Communist government in Pyongyang from selling nuclear material to the highest bidder.� Once again, no one is considering liberating North Korea � in fact, South Korea specifically ruled it out. LONG-RANGE MISSILE PIECE FOUND IN ALASKA A piece of a missile tested by North Korea � most likely during the infamous Taepodong 1 missile 1998 test over Japan � reached Alaska, a sign that the ability of the North to hit the U.S. had been �underrated� (Korea Times). North Korea also has an untested Taepodong 2 � with a range that can hit the western United States (see 2/17 North Korea Report). Report Courtesy Ron Vogel, Member since 2000 MORE BOMBERS HEADED TO PACIFIC Days after the RC-135 incident (see above), the U.S. announced it was sending B-1 and B-52 bombers � a dozen each � to Guam in order to �send message to North Korea� (CNN). The message was not related to the RC-135, but instead to put to rest the notion that the U.S. would be distracted by Iraq (Cybercast News, see also 2/3 and 2/10 North Korea Reports). Also reporting: BBC, Bill Gertz, Washington Times KIM JONG-IL OFFERS REFUGE TO SADDAM HUSSEIN The axis of evil sure sticks together. According to the New York Post, citing the South China Morning Post, Stalinist-in-chief Kim Jong-il has offered asylum to, of all people, Saddam Hussein. U.S.-SOUTH KOREA WAR GAMES BEGIN ON SCHEDULE Joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises began on schedule last week, despite numerous threats and insults regarding them from North Korea (see last North Korea Report). Reports: BBC, Newsmax PELOSI TAKES DOVISH LINE ON NORTH KOREA House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi � one of the toughest critics of Communist China in the Democratic Party � disappointed this weekend in calling for President Bush to �engage immediately in talks with North Korea� (Washington Post). The California Democrat thus fell into line with her party�s dovish criticism of the President�s admittedly maddening multiple policy disorder on the Stalinist regime. SOUTH KOREA NEWS U.S. MAY REDUCE MILITARY PRESENCE IN SOUTH KOREA The United States is considering reducing its military presence in South Korea. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the move was �part of a long-running re-evaluation of military deployments outside the U.S.� (CNN). Also reporting: Washington Times, BBC, Cybercast News NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA�S ROLE IN NORTH KOREA COMMUNIST CHINA CRITICIZES U.S., AGAIN, ON IRAQ AND NORTH KOREA PRC Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan criticized the U.S. position on North Korea, calling for �dialogue� between the U.S. and the Communists� ally, and saying any sanctions against the Stalinist regime �can only lead to the complication of the situation.� Reports: CNN, Washington Post NUCLEAR AND OTHER WEAPONS NEWS ANOTHER WEEK, ANOTHER KN-01 TEST Meanwhile, the North conducted another missile test, likely their KN-01 anti-ship missile. It was the second KN-01 test in two weeks � the first came hours before the inauguration of South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun (see last North Korea Report). Reports: CNN, BBC, Washington Post, Newsmax NORTH KOREA SOON TO TEST-FIRE MEDIUM-RANGE MISSILE Stalinist North Korea �may be readying to test fire a medium-range ballistic missile� (CNN). The missile in question has a range of 800 miles, putting all of Japan at risk. Of course, Japan has been at risk ever since the Stalinists test-fired a Taepodong 1 missile over Japan in 1998. 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 the two nuclear power plants that were part of the deal have still not been canceled. 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. ABDUCTION NEWS FAMILIES VISIT WASHINGTON TO SEEK HELP Relatives of the Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korea (see 9/30/02, 11/04/02, 11/18/02, and 12/2/02 North Korea Reports) are in Washington to �try to persuade senior U.S. officials to help them deal with the reclusive communist state� (Washington Times). The Stalinist regime has admitted to kidnapping 13 Japanese, but insist that only five survived. They are now in Japan, but the North kept their children. The victims� families also met with members of Congress � particularly Senate Asian Subcommittee Chairman Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) and called for all American food aid to the Stalinist regime to be �halted� (Cybercast News). For more on this subject, see Commentary/Analysis. INTERNAL NEWS NORTH KOREA MAKES THE U.S. LIST OF WORST RELIGIOUS PERSECUTORS, AGAIN Once again, Stalinist North Korea made the State Department�s list of ��countries of particular concern� for abuses of religious freedom� (Agence France Presse via Washington Times). State Department spokesperson Richard Boucher said in the North � and the other regimes that made the list � �the status of religious freedom has not significantly improved� since they made the list last year. COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS IS NORTH KOREA NEXT? Lawrence Morahan, Cybercast News, hears from analysts on why North Korea�s brazen intercept of the U.S. RC-135 plane. Here�s how British intelligence analyst Richard Bennett put it, �They genuinely do believe that the Americans have their name on a bullet for either later in the year or next year.� Stanley Kurtz, in National Review Online, agrees with the North on one point � it is next, whatever it or the U.S. wants. Yet not even he can bring himself to call for the liberation of northern Korea. EVEN KIM JONG-IL�S SPIES WANT TO LEAVE HIS REGIME Eric Baculinao, MSNBC, interviews a former North Korean spy going under the assumed name of Kim Dong San. Kim is currently on the run in Beijing, like tens of thousands of other North Korean refugees hiding without any legal status. Communist China sends back any North Korean refugee it finds, despite numerous accounts of torture and imprisonment of returning refugees. As Baculinao discovers, Kim�s intelligence duties included, among other things, �drug and car smuggling and currency counterfeiting.� Meanwhile, Kim, despite his high-level position in the Stalinist regime, still wants to come to America. This is what brought him to Beijing, in the hope he could defect to the U.S. Still, he says, with enough hard currency � $1 million � he �would be welcome back.� ON KIM JONG-IL AND HIS ABDUCTIONS Mike Thomson, BBC, talk to Korean filmmaker Shin Sang-ok and his wife, Choe Eun-hui. North Korea kidnapped both so Kim Jong-il could force Shin to make propaganda films. Their painful tale includes forced re-education classes, prison, and a mad dash to the American Embassy in Vienna for asylum. Meanwhile, Nora Boustany, Washington Post, talks to Sakie Yokota, mother of Megumi, the most well known kidnapping victim (she was the 13-year-old taken in the late 1970�s on her way home from badminton practice). The Stalinist told Sakie her daughter was dead, given their credibility on everything else, she naturally refuses to believe them. ROH TALKS TO TIME Time Asia interviews South Korea�s new President, while the magazine�s Michael Schuman profiles him. MORE ON NUCLEAR NORTH KOREA Charles Krauthammer, in the Washington Post, advocates what he calls �temporary appeasement,� i.e., make concessions now and them have them �withdrawn as soon as Iraq is over and we can marshal enough strength in the northern Pacific to credibly threaten military action.� Odd as this in itself sounds, Krauthammer also leaves out of the discussion working toward North Korea�s liberation. The editors of the Washington Post lay out several options for the U.S. regarding North Korea � and once again liberation isn�t one of them � while whacking the Bush Administration for not taking any of them. Of course, no one in the Bush Administration seems fond of the liberation option either. Peter Beinart, in The New Republic, also calls for talks, and never mentions liberation. Nicholas Eberstadt, in Time Asia, calls for economic sanctions against the North, and is a little too optimistic about Communist China�s willingness to play along. Geraldine Carroll, BBC, examines how North Korea�s antics are affecting the situation in Washington, and in Asia. Donald Macintyre, Time Asia, ponders what the drug-running Stalinist regime would do with nuclear weapons. Finally, one of our favorites, Henry Sokolski of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, reveals all the ways North Korea benefits from the United States and its allies � including the two nuclear power plants mentioned above and the Hyundai transfers as part of South Korea�s $un$hine policy (see 2/17 North Korea Report) � and calls for the end all of them in National Review Online. ON IRAQ AND NORTH KOREA Rep. J. D. Hayworth (R-Arizona) believes the French opposition to military action on Iraq �has given North Korea dictator Kim Jong Il a window of opportunity to ratchet up his insane policy of confrontation with the U.S.� and thus made the situation more dangerous. He states his case in National Review Online. ON LIFE AT THE DMZ �War almost started here because of an overgrown tree.� It was just another day at the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that separates the Stalinist North from the democratic South. Doug Struck, Washington Post, provides his account of the harrowing reality of the fifty-year �border.� Check out the latest stories on the Communist China and the Terrorist War page. 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. 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. |