| Home page To receive this publication via e-mail, click here. THE NORTH KOREA REPORT: JANUARY 12, 2004 Dragon in the Dark: How and Why Communist China Helps Our Enemies in the War on Terror is now available! My book detailing Communist China�s history of aiding terrorist states, Saddam Hussein, the Taliban, and al Qaeda can be ordered can be ordered here, at Barnes and Noble, or at Amazon. � D.J. McGuire Our statement on why northern Korea must be liberated can be found here. TOP STORY: NK RE-OFFERS TO �FREEZE� ITS NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAMS North Korea is offering, again, to �freeze� its nuclear weapons development �to get six-nation talks started again� (CNN). In exchange, the Stalinists repeated demands of energy aid, an end to sanctions, and the removal of the regime for a list of terrorist sponsors. Also reporting: Newsmax, Cybercast News The U.S. already rejected this �bold concession� last month (see 12/15/03 NKR). This time, Secretary of State Colin Powell called the North�s move �a positive step� (Washington Times), just because the Stalinists added they would also �freeze� their attempts to generate nuclear power. Other unnamed senior officials took a dimmer view (Fox News). The last time the U.S. accepted a North Korean nuclear �freeze� was in 1994; the regime won fuel oil valued in the hundreds of millions and two partially constructed nuclear power plants in an agreement with the U.S. The Stalinists admitted to violating that agreement fifteen months ago (see 10/21/02 NKR). OTHER WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION NEWS U.S., JAPAN, AND SOUTH KOREA TO DEMAND COMPLETE DISARMAMENT Meanwhile, the United States, Japan, and South Korea have agreed to �demand that North Korea completely dismantle its nuclear facilities at the next round of six-nation talks� (CNN). The report came before the North repeated its aforementioned �freeze� offer. DELEGATION VISITS NORTH KOREA An unofficial American delegation visited North Korea, by invitation, and examined some of its nuclear weapons facilities. The delegation said it visited the Yongbyon nuclear power facility, where the North weaponizes its plutonium, but would not say what they found until they briefed the U.S. government. The Stalinists were more than willing to do the talking for the delegation; they told the world that the delegation had seen their �nuclear deterrent� (CNN). Two congressional aides who were part of the delegation briefed South Korean officials (BBC). Also reporting: Washington Post, MSNBC, Cybercast News NEXT SIX-WAY MEETING WILL HAVE �PROGRESS,� SAYS POWELL Secretary Powell insisted that the next round of six-way talks on North Korea�s nuclear weapons (the U.S., North Korea, Communist China, Japan, South Korea, and Russia) must make �progress� (CNN) and not be �hortatory exchanges of view.� The only round of six-way talks went nowhere last year (see 9/2/03 NKR). 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. OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS CONGRESSMAN BLASTS DEAN ON NORTH KOREA Congressman Dana Rohrbacher (R-California) ripped Howard Dean for his stance on North Korea, saying Dean �should get his history straight� (Newsmax). Dean has previously suggested the Stalinist regime be treated as a normal nation (see 12/15/03 and last NKRs). For more on Dean and North Korea, see Commentary/Analysis. NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA�S ROLE COMMUNIST CHINESE DON�T BELIEVE NORTH KOREA HAS URANIUM WEAPONS PROGRAM In yet another sign that Communist China is far from helpful in trying to move North Korea away from nuclear weapons, PRC diplomat Fu Yung said, �North Korea has denied having an enrichment program (for uranium), and that China also did not believe that it had one� (Washington Post). It was a stunning statement, given that North Korea has already admitted to a uranium weapons program (see 10/21/02 NKR). One analyst, former assistant secretary of defense Chas Freeman, said the Communists might be �reverting to its traditional goal of stability� in Korea, and dropping the insistence that the peninsula be nuclear free in the process. HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNAL NEWS KIM JONG-IL TELLS NORTH KOREANS TO STOP SMOKING Stalinist-in-chief Kim Jong-il declared war on smoking in order to �contribute in good health to the building of a powerful nation� (Newsmax). Letting the people of North Korea have enough food to eat is apparently not so important to Kim (see 3/6/02 Update). Also reporting: National Post (Cdn.) COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS ON NORTH KOREA AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS Frank Gaffney, Jr., of the Center for Security Policy, expressed his displeasure with the non-governmental delegation that visited North Korea last week (see Other Weapons of Mass Destruction News) in the Washington Times. John Fund, Wall Street Journal, hopes the U.S. �finally learns to say no� to the Stalinists. Joseph Cirincione, director of the Non-Proliferation Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, actually tries to argue that North Korea�s �freeze offer� (see Other Weapons of Mass Destruction News) is a move forward, in the Washington Post. Charles Scanlon, BBC, examines the situation in the wake of the delegation�s visit. ON NORTH KOREA AND PAKISTAN Jim Hoagland, Washington Post, believes, and not without reason, that the road to a solution on North Korea�s nuclear weapons might run through its enabler, Pakistan. Mansoor Ijaz, in the Weekly Standard, also sounds the alarm on the PRC ally�s aid to North Korea � and others. ON NORTH KOREA AND THE 2004 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION Wes Vernon, Newsmax, notes the �gasps in national security circles in Washington� in reaction to Howard Dean�s dovishness on North Korea (see 12/15/03 and last NKRs). 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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