| Home page To receive this publication via e-mail, click here. THE NORTH KOREA REPORT: NOVEMBER 10, 2003 Our statement on why northern Korea must be liberated can be found here. TOP STORY: BROWNBACK HOLDS HEARINGS ON STALINISTS RIGHTS ABUSES TWO MILLION STARVED TO DEATH; PRISONS INCLUDE EXECUTIONS, FORCED ABORTIONS, INFANTICIDE AND TORTURE; BROWNBACK TO PUSH �FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY� FOR NK Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) led a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee hearing on the abuses of human rights in North Korea. The subcommittee heard from David Hawk, of the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, the organization that put together the damning report on the Stalinist political prisons (see 10/27 NKR). Report: CNN Hawk detailed what earns someone entry into a Stalinist prison: �escaping into China in search of food . . . (and) singing a South Korean pop song.� Even worse, �not only the perceived political wrongdoer but members of his or her family, up to three generations, are imprisoned for life at hard labor.� Inside the prison, �Forced abortions, infanticide and public executions are commonplace.� Meanwhile, an Amnesty International spokesman �claimed 2 million North Koreans had died from starvation according to United Nations statistics.� The Stalinists steal international food aid from their own people to feed the military and top leaders (see 3/6/02 Update). In order to avoid starvation, many women are forced into prostitution or being sold as a �wife� in Communist China. Brownback, a leading anti-Stalinist in the Senate is �preparing legislation that will promote freedom and democracy in North Korea.� OTHER WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION NEWS NORTH KOREA BOASTS IT HAS NUCLEAR WEAPONS THAT CAN HIT U.S. Ri Yong Ho, North Korea�s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, told Reuters that the Stalinist regime �has an atomic weapon that it's ready to use against America� (New York Post). Ri said the �nuclear deterrent capability� was plutonium based and would be revealed �when an appropriate time comes.� KEDO TO SUSPEND CONSTRUCTION OF NUCLEAR PLANTS; NK THREATENS TO SEIZE THEM The leaders of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization � the U.S., South Korea, Japan, and the EU � delayed a decision on the fate of North Korea�s two nuclear power plants until November 21 (CNN). However, Later reports indicated that �the announcement was a formality� (New York Times via International Herald Tribune). In other words, the program will be suspended for one year on the 21st (Newsmax). The plants were part of the 1994 deal in which the North promised to freeze its nuclear weapons program � a deal it admitted breaking last year (see 10/21/02 NKR). Mere days after the above news, North Korea demanded compensation for the unfinished plants (Cybercast News) and threatened to seize the plants and everything connected to them (Washington Times, Newsmax, Agence France Presse). Stop the North Korean Nuclear Power Plants: Use this China e-Lobby fact sheet and tell the President to kill the power plants from the 1994 agreement that North Korea broke. NORTH KOREA READY TO COME BACK TO THE TABLE, ACCORDING TO COMMUNIST CHINA Stalinist North Korea is apparently ready to return to six-party talks on its nuclear weapons, at least according to Communist China (Washington Times, second item). The last round of talks ended with nothing but major American concessions (see 9/2 NKR). STALINISTS DON�T NEED TO TEST NUKES: CIA The Central Intelligence Agency reported to Congress that North Korea �has been able to validate its nuclear weapons designs without a nuclear test� (Newsmax), thus enabling itself a nuclear arsenal without the need for a test that would earn it more condemnation. OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS PRESIDENT BUSH CITES NORTH KOREAN �FREEDOM DEFICIT� It was the closest President Bush has ever come to endorsing the liberation of North Korea. Bush, in a speech generally aimed at supporting democracy in the Middle East, cited North Korea among several other dictatorships as regimes where the U.S. would �stand with these oppressed peoples until the day liberty and freedom finally arrives� (Fox News). Sadly, the President, again, made no mention of how, or if, the U.S. would take steps to speed up the arrival of that day for the long-suffering people of northern Korea. Also reporting: Washington Post HWANG SAYS KIM JONG-IL WANTS ALL OF KOREA Hwang Jang Yop, the highest-ranking North Korean to defect, told the Washington Times (Bill Gertz) that Stalinist-in-chief Kim Jong-il wants �become the supreme ruler of the unified Chosun, or, as you call it, Korea.� Hwang, once a leading advisor to both Kim Jong-il and his father Kim Il-sung, has called for the liberation of North Korea (see last NKR). NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA�S ROLE COMMUNIST OFFICIAL TO BRIEF U.S. ON NORTH KOREA TRIP PRC Deputy Foreign Minister Wang Yi �will meet with James Kelly, State Department assistant secretary for East Asian affairs and the lead U.S. representative to the first round of six-nation talks on North Korea� (Washington Times) to brief him and others on Wu Bangguo�s trip to North Korea last week (see 10/29 Update). PRC INVITED INTO �COALITION OF THE PEACEFUL� A little-known �Coalition of the Peaceful� has been created on North Korea. Don�t get too excited; it includes North Korea�s biggest ally � Communist China (Washington Post). BUSH THANKS PRC DEFENSE MINISTER ON NORTH KOREA President Bush spent a rather odious five minutes last week thanking Communist Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan �regarding North Korea� (CNN). Ugh! INTERNATIONAL NEWS PAKISTAN DENIES ANY NUCLEAR HELP FROM NORTH KOREA Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf insisted there was �no transfer and no proliferation� (BBC) of nuclear weapons technology from his country to North Korea. He did admit to acquiring missiles from the North, but said they had been stopped: �There is absolutely no interaction with North Korea whatsoever on any defence (UK sp) related matters.� Numerous reports have Pakistan helping North Korea develop nuclear weapons as late as last year (see 11/18/02 NKR). Both Pakistan and North Korea have been allies of Communist China for over fifty years. NORTH KOREA BLASTS IAEA AS �TOOL OF THE UNITED STATES�; OFFENDS �JAPS� The United Nations General Assembly passed the annual report of the International Atomic Energy Agency last week. Only North Korea voted against the report, calling the IAEA �a tool of the United States� (CNN). The Stalinist�s deputy ambassador, Kim Chang Guk, also offended Japan by calling its people �Japs� several times (Cybercast News). OTHER SOUTH KOREA NEWS NORTH AND SOUTH KOREA SET UP TRADE OFFICE Stalinist North Korea and democratic South Korea �agreed yesterday to establish an office to facilitate direct cross-border trade between them� (Washington Times, third item). The office will open in the Stalinist city of Kaesong in July. COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS Parapundit founder Randall Parker (Member since 2003) sees two options for North Korea: collapse, or �a deal (that) would likely come with big piles of cash to help prop up Kim Jong Il's evil regime.� One of Parker�s source links (Incestuous Amplification) takes note of the Bush Administration�s softening of its position. Notra Trulock, of the AIM report, demands an end to all foreign aid to North Korea in his Newsmax column, rightly noting that �without cessation of foreign assistance, there is little chance that the tyrant�s reign of terror will end.� 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]. 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