| Home page To receive this publication via e-mail, click here. THE NORTH KOREA REPORT: AUGUST 11, 2003 Our statement on why North Korea must be liberated can be found here. TOP STORY: NORTH KOREA AGREES TO SIX-PARTY TALKS RUSSIA TO JOIN PRC, U.S., JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA, AND STALINIST REGIME; U.S. TO GIVE NORTH ITS SURVIVAL GUARANTEE; POWELL SUGGESTS CONGRESS DOES IT North Korea has agreed to multilateral talks on its nuclear ambitions, according to South Korean officials cited by CNN 8/1. South Korea�s Assistant Foreign Minister said the North agree to the talks with �no significant conditions� (BBC 8/1). The talks may happen later this month (Cybercast News 8/11). Also reporting: Washington Times, Washington Post Ominously, these talks will apparently be centered on �the non-nuclear status of the Korean peninsula, and on security for the states located there� (BBC 7/31). As noted in the last North Korea Report, the U.S. is prepared to give the North whatever it wants � including a guarantee of Stalinist survival � if it pledges to end its nuclear weapons development. The Syndey Morning Herald (Aus.) confirmed that the U.S. was taking the dovish road and give the Stalinists the security guarantee they crave. Has everyone forgotten 1994, when the U.S. accepted the Stalinists� word and agreed to build to nuclear power plants for them? The North admitted to breaking the 1994 deal last fall. The only other round of talks since then ended with the Stalinist regime boasting to having nuclear weapons in April 2003 (see 10/21/02 and 4/28 North Korea Reports). Secretary of State Colin Powell told foreign journalists, �Congress can take note of� (Cybercast News 8/8) North Korea�s demand for a non-aggression pact with a resolution aimed at assuring the Stalinist regime. No one in Congress has taken up Powell�s offer yet. U.S. and South Korean officials met to �coordinate plans� (CNN 8/9) for the upcoming talks. Russia, one of the six parties to be at the table, announced that it would �consult both Koreas� (BBC 8/10) on the talks. HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS: PUT THE NORTH KOREAN GULAG ON THE TABLE As everyone else let expectations on the talks run away with them, some human rights activists are demanding � and rightly so � that the U.S. also bring to the table the issue of the Stalinist regime�s horrible treatment of the people trapped in northern Korea. Report: Washington Times OTHER NUCLEAR NEWS NORTH KOREA AND IRAN WORKING ON JOINT-NUKE DEAL North Korea and Iran will �likely reach an agreement in mid-October to jointly develop nuclear warheads� (Washington Times). The soon-to-be-reached agreement will also include the �export (of) Taepodong missile components for assembly in Iran.� This would be a major leap forward for the Iranian mullahs� nuclear weapons program. NORTH KOREAN VESSEL SEIZED BY TAIWAN, MAY HAVE NUCLEAR CHEMICALS Taiwanese authorities seized a North Korean vessel �transporting illegal chemicals that could be used in the manufacture of nuclear weapons� (BBC). The ship was carrying, at the very least, aluminum hydroxide, a compound that can make missile skin and aluminum salt. NORTH KOREA TO UN: KEEP OUT North Korea insisted that any action taken by the United Nations against its nuclear weapons program � even something as weak as a damning statement, would be �little short of a prelude to war� (CNN). Stop the North Korean Nuclear Power Plants: Despite North Korea�s boast of nuclear weapons, a brazen violation of the 1994 agreement to freeze its nuclear ambitions, 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 kill the power plants. OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE BLASTS NORTH KOREA AS �HELLISH NIGHTMARE� Undersecretary of State John Bolton, easily the most hawkish State Department official on North Korea, gave some refreshing candor to the East Asia Institute in Seoul, calling North Korea a �hellish nightmare� (BBC), and Stalinist-in-chief Kim Jong-il a �tyrannical dictator�. The Stalinists promptly called him �human scum� (CNN 8/3, Newsmax), and insisted they would never deal with Bolton again. The White House stuck up for Bolton � easily one of the most hawkish Administration officials on North Korea (CNN 8/4). Also reporting: Washington Post, Washington Times REFUGEE NEWS U.S. WILL CHANGE POLICY TO ALLOW NK REFUGEES INTO U.S. According to Chuck Downs, a human rights activist on North Korea cited by the Sydney Morning Herald (Aus.), the U.S. will �adopt very generous provisions for North Korean refugees, including relocating them from China and South Korea into processing camps in the region and into localities in the US.� The dramatic change in policy, which was only hinted previously (see 7/21 North Korea Report), would allow thousands, and perhaps hundreds of thousands, of refugees trapped in Communist China � which usually sends back any refugee it finds � to come to the U.S (see 4/29/02, 5/13/02, 5/20/02, 6/24/02, 7/29/02, and 2/17 North Korea Reports). TEN NK REFUGEES REACH JAPANESE EMBASSY IN THAILAND Ten refugees from North Korea entered the Japanese Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, the first refugee group to use a democratic embassy in Thailand. Several groups of refugees used embassies in Communist China � which sends back any North Korean refugee it finds � to escape. Reports: BBC, CNN OTHER SOUTH KOREA NEWS INDICTED HYUNDAI OFFICIAL FOUND DEAD The Chairman of the Hyundai Asan Group jumped from his corporate headquarters building. Chung Mong-hun was under indictment for his role in the $un$hine payments of over $500 million - $100 million of which courtesy of South Korean taxpayers � to North Korea in 2000 right before the inter-Korean summit. Report: UPI via Washington Times Many believe the summit � which won then-South Korean President Kim Dae-jung a Nobel Peace Prize � would not have occurred at all but for the money sent to the Stalinists. Seven others are also under indictment, including three high-ranking officials in Kim Dae-jung�s government (see 2/3, 2/10, 2/17, 3/3, 3/24, and 6/30 North Korea Reports). NORTH SUSPENDS PROPAGANDA BROADCASTS TO SOUTH, WANTS SOUTH TO DO SAME North Korea stopped broadcasting its propaganda into South Korea, but also �urged Seoul to reciprocate� (BBC). South Korea�s propaganda apparently encouraged nearly 2/3 of the 103 defectors surveyed by Yonhap, South Korea�s news agency. ANTI-AMERICANS BREAK INTO U.S. BASE; ROH VOWS PROSECUTION Twelve Anti-American protestors broke into an American military base in South Korea. The protestors were members of the pro-Stalinist Hanchongnyon group, which is illegal in South Korea. President Roh Moo-hyun has vowed to prosecute them. Report: Cybercast News Roh is under fire for his lenient stance toward the group, typical of his dovish record on the North and his political party � the Millennium Democrats. The more hawkish Grand National Party, which lost to Roh by a whisker, controls the National Assembly. INTERNATIONAL NEWS JAPAN CALLS NORTH KOREA ITS TOP THREAT A report from the Japanese Defense Ministry �has named North Korea as the number one military threat to the country and called for an improved missile defense system to counter the danger� (CNN). North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile over Japan in 1998. ABDUCTION NEWS NORTH KOREA IN TALKS WITH JAPAN ON ABDUCTEES FAMILIES North Korea �indicated it is prepared to send the families of two Japanese abducted by North Korea back to Japan� (UPI via Washington Times). The Stalinists kidnapped at least thirteen Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s, and claimed � without proof � that eight died. The other five are now in Japan, but their families are still being held in North Korea (see 9/23/02, 10/21/02, 10/28/02, and 2/10 North Korea Reports). COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS ANOTHER CALL FOR THE LIBERATION OF NORTH KOREA Dave Kopel, of National Review Online, calls for regime change in North Korea. ON NORTH KOREA�S NUCLEAR AMBITIONS AND THE UPCOMING TALKS Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry called on the Bush Administration to give North Korea what it wants � including a non-aggression pact and economic aid � in exchange for only a nuclear freeze, and �designated targets for dismantling its nuclear program, reducing conventional forces and reforming its economy� (Washington Post). Kerry had nothing to say about the Stalinists� torture of their own people, nor did he discuss the 1994 agreement during which the North agreed to freeze its nuclear weapons program, an agreement the North admitted to violating last fall. Still, it was enough to win over Joshua Kurlantzick of The New Republic. Peter Brookes, of the Heritage Foundation, calls for somewhat tougher action in the New York Post. However, even he stops short of liberating northern Korea, and relies in part on getting Communist China �to curtail its proliferation activities and lean on Islamabad to comply.� Good Luck! Randall Parker (Parapundit founder and Member since 2003), and the editors of the Washington Times are very pessimistic about the talks, and they�re right on target. Meanwhile, Frank Gaffney, Jr., of the Center for Security Policy, is aghast at America�s dovish response in National Review Online. ON MILITARY ACTION AGAINST THE NORTH Former CIA director James Woolsey and retired General Thomas McInerney make the case for military action against North Korea�s nuclear ambitions � but sadly, not liberation � in the Wall Street Journal. ON THE $UN$HINE SCANDAL The editors of the Washington Post take note of Chung Mong Hun�s death, the $un$hine policy of Kim Dae-jung, and call on the U.S. to insist that North Korea�s �unacceptable political and economic practices, including concentration camps, press censorship and enforced famine� have a place at the upcoming talks. ON THE PROLIFERATION SECURITY INITIATIVE Bradley Graham, Washington Post, examines the vision behind the anti-North Korean Proliferation Security Initiative, and the �gaps� in the plan. ON THE NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES The aforementioned Randall Parker rips South Korea for its callous attitude toward its fellow Koreans fleeing the Stalinist North. ON COMMUNIST CHINA�S ROLE Parker also calls on the U.S. to pressure Communist China � and hard � if it wants any progress on 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. 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