| Home page To receive this publication via e-mail, click here. THE NORTH KOREA REPORT: APRIL 12, 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: NK FIRM SLAPPED WITH SANCTIONS FOR ARMS SALES TO IRAN FIRM HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN PENALIZED FOR ARMS SALES TO IRAN, YEMEN President Bush sanctioned North Korea�s Changgwang Sinyong Corporation for �supplying Iran with military items� (Newsmax). The Stalinist firm has been hit with penalties before (see 8/27/02 and 7/9/03 NKRs), in particular for previous arms sales to Iran and Yemen. North Korea and its ally Communist China are major weapons suppliers for Iran. Changgwang Sinyong was also caught �transferring missile technology to the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) in Pakistan.� Pakistan, also a PRC ally, helped North Korea advance its nuclear weapons program (see 11/18/02, 11/10/03, 2/2, 2/9, and 2/16 NKRs). NUCLEAR NEWS NORTH KOREA: TALKS ON NUKES WERE �FRUITLESS� North Korea accused the U.S. of �driving the military situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of a nuclear war� (Agence France Presse), and flatly described the six-party talks on its nuclear program as �fruitless due to the US demand that the DPRK dismantle its nuclear program first.� Another round of talks is supposed to take place by June. 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. NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA�S ROLE POWELL STILL SAYS COMMUNIST CHINA �RIGHT THERE� WITH U.S. ON NORTH KOREA Will they never learn? Secretary of State Colin Powell described the Communist Chinese as �still right there� (Newsmax), as in side-by-side with the U.S. on getting North Korea to end its nuclear weapons program. Does the fact that the PRC has yet to publicly criticize North Korea so much as once mean anything to Powell? COMMUNIST CHINA MAY LET NK REFUGEES ESCAPE TO SOUTH KOREA According to South Korean officials quoted by Voice of America (via Epoch Times, HK), �China is looking into making it easier for North Koreans to flee to South Korea.� If true, it would be a major departure from previous Communist policy, which was to send back to the Stalinist regime every refugee police could find. SOUTH KOREA ELECTION NEWS URI PARTY CHIEF QUITS AFTER ANGERING OLDER VOTERS Chung Dong-young, head of the Uri Party, resigned his post today � three days before legislative elections � after �saying that older voters could stay at home on election day, in an attempt to encourage younger voters� (BBC); that line �attracted widespread opprobrium in a society dominated by the Confucian culture, which honours (UK sp) seniority.� Prior to Chung�s gaffe, Uri, the party of dovish President Roh Moo-hyun, was riding high on anger at Roh�s impeachment by the outgoing legislature, called the National Assembly (see 3/15 NKR). Chung had earlier called on the legislature (called the National Assembly) �to overturn the president's unprecedented impeachment� (VOA via Epoch Times). Roh�s fate is still in the hands of the Constitutional Court. Meanwhile, thanks in part to an unwitting Chung, the hawkish Grand National Party, which is defending its National Assembly majority in Thursday�s vote, �has since recovered from a backlash against the party following Mr. Roh's impeachment.� Thursday may not be so bad after all. OTHER SOUTH KOREA NEWS SOUTH KOREAN HOSTAGES RELEASED IN IRAQ Seven South Koreans who were held hostage by an unnamed group in Iraq were set free after a fellow South Korean hostage �managed to escape and raised the alarm� (BBC). Neither the culprits behind this nor their demands are presently known. COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS FROM THE HAWKS William Triplett II, author of Rouge State, has a piece detailing North Korea�s ties to terrorists and their sponsors, and why that makes its nuclear arsenal that much more terrifying, in the Washington Times. FROM THE DOVES Lee Wha Rang endorses Roh and his Uri Party in a rather deeply hate-filled rant (note how Stalinist-in-chief Kim Jong Il�s nuclear arsenal is called a �deterrent�) printed by the Association for Asian Research via the Epoch Times. 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. Anyone who wishes to join (or unsubscribe or change their address) can send his/her name to [email protected]. Please feel free to send any news on Communist China or North Korea that you find to the same address. |