| Home page To receive this publication via e-mail, click here. THE NORTH KOREA REPORT: JULY 14, 2003 Fifty years ago this month (sorry for the error last week), the Korea War was suspended by the 1953 Armistice, ensuring that South Korea would be free. Sadly it also ensured that millions of Koreans would be trapped in a Stalinist hell on earth until this very day. Our statement on why North Korea must be liberated can be found here. TOP STORY: DEFECTOR CALLS FOR U.S. TO LIBERATE NORTH KOREA BY FORCE SAYS MANY IN NK CONSIDER U.S. �THEIR SAVIOR�; PENTAGON PUTS TOGETHER �PROVOCATIVE� WAR PLAN; AUSTRALIAN PM HINTS AT POSSIBLE WAR TO STOP NK Park Gap Dong, North Korea�s chief of the European Section for Propaganda before he defected, is calling on the U.S. to launch �pre-emptive U.S. strike against selected targets� (Newsmax) to liberate the people of Northern Korea. Park said many trapped in North Korea �believe that the United States is their savior.� Park, who now leads a group of high-ranking North Korean defectors called the National Salvation Front, says the Stalinist regime is not only looking to build nuclear weapons, but to �use them on South Korea or Japan� and will certainly �hide them from inspectors.� He is the first person to call for the liberation by war (few will discuss liberation at all). Is someone at the Pentagon listening? That�s what some critics are saying about the Defense Department�s latest plan in case of a conflict with North Korea. One tells U.S. News the plan, known as Plan 5030, is �provocative.� Also, �Some officials believe the draft plan amounts to a strategy to topple Kim's regime by destabilizing its military forces.� Perhaps yours truly is missing something, but isn�t that a good thing? Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, in discussing the plans for the anti-Stalinist Proliferation Security Initiative (see below), hinted at the possibility of �some other kind of action� (The Advertiser � Australian) in the future if the PSI is not successful. OTHER NUCLEAR NEWS PSI NATIONS AGREE TO JOINT MILITARY TRAINING ELEVEN NATIONS, INCLUDING U.S., TO BE INVOLVED IN BLOCKING NK ARMS SHIPMENTS The only good thing to come out of the Bush Administration�s multiple-policy disorder on North Korea � the little hyped Proliferation Security Initiative � took another step forward as the eleven PSI founding nations agreed to joint military training to interdict North Korean shipments of weapons of mass destruction and missile technology (Cybercast News). All eleven nations - the U.S., Australia, Japan, Britain, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal and Poland (earlier reports of Canadian involvement appear to have been in error) � will �take part in interception exercises,� according to the head Australian representative at the meeting, Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs Paul O'Sullivan. The PSI in theory is designed to block shipment of WMD and missile technologies from all rogue states, and Iran was included with the Stalinist regime as �countries of concern.� However, the focus has mostly been on North Korea, by far the most prolific weapons seller of all the rogue states � Iran itself is a client of the Stalinists. U.S. CONFIRMS NORTH KOREAN REPROCESSING OF PLUTONIUM RODS AT YONGBYON American intelligence confirmed earlier reports (see last North Korea Report) that North Korea has begun reprocessing plutonium from its Yongbyon nuclear power plant to produce weapons-grade material. The reprocessing would give the Stalinists enough plutonium for �between six and 12 nuclear weapons� (CNN). Also reporting: Cybercast News North Korea itself boasted to the reprocessing over the weekend (BBC 7/13). South Korea was a bit confused. Its Foreign Minister said there was �no evidence� (BBC 7/14) of the reprocessing, but an intelligence official told The Australian (via News.com.au) that the Stalinists �finished reprocessing . . . last month.� 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. NORTH KOREAN ENVOY SAYS REGIME IS �READY FOR WAR OR DIALOGUE� Stalinist diplomat Kim Ryong Song said the North wants �to resolve the (nuclear) issue peacefully� (CNN), but was prepared to go to war. The North has been handing out olive branches drenching in war rhetoric for months in its attempt to get guarantees against any attack, and lot of �economic development aid,� as the price for ending its nuclear ambitions. SOUTH KOREA PUSHING FOR MULTILATERAL TALKS WITHIN TWO MONTHS Ban Ki-moon, called �the South Korean President's foreign policy chief� by the BBC, says his boss, President Roh Moo-hyun, is hoping for �multilateral talks on North Korea's nuclear programme within two months.� The North has rebuffed every attempt at multilateral talks, except for the disaster in Beijing last April (see 4/28 North Korea Report). NORTH-SOUTH NUCLEAR TALKS NOT HAPPENING Talks between North and South Korea on the former�s nuclear ambitions are still not in the cards, despite vague promises of an �appropriate dialogue� (CNN) from the Stalinist regime. Also reporting: BBC NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA�S ROLE YANG BIN GETS 18 YEARS IN JAIL Another of Communist China�s �private� businessmen went down to corruption charges last week. In this case, it was Yang Bin, the fellow who had been slated to run North Korea�s free-trade zone in Sinuiju (see 10/7/02 and 10/14/02 North Korea Reports). Now, neither he nor the zone will see the light of day for quite some time. Report: BBC OTHER SOUTH KOREA NEWS TONY BLAIR TO VISIT SOUTH KOREA NEXT WEEK British Prime Minister Tony Blair will visit South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun next week to discuss, among other things, North Korea�s nuclear ambitions (CNN). The United Kingdom is one of few Western nations to have diplomatic relations with the Stalinist North, but it has also signed on to the Proliferation Security Initiative (see Other Nuclear News). COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS ON THE U.S. AND NORTH KOREA Cheol-Hwan Kang, a former North Korean political prisoner, calls on the U.S. to �increase radio broadcasting to the North, expose the regime's human rights atrocities and condition economic assistance on a complete closure of the concentration camps and a transparent and direct distribution of food to those North Koreans really in need� (Washington Post). Randall Parker (Parapundit founder and Member since 2003) weighs in on Park Gap Dong�s call for military liberation of North Korea, and the PSI (see Top Story and Other Nuclear News). Peter Brookes, New York Post, calls for continued American strength in Asia. ON KIM JONG-IL Kim Jong-il�s former chef � who for obvious reasons will not tell us his real name � has a book out describing some of Kim�s more twisted eccentricities (Washington Times). John Derbyshire (columnist for National Review Online and Member since 2003) takes note of Kim�s �election� to what the Stalinists call the �Supreme People's Assembly.� Brian Walsh, Time Asia, gives a list of recent books on the Stalinist-in-chief. ON FOOD AID AND NORTH KOREA John Zarocostas, Washington Times, interviews James T. Morris of the World Food Program. Much of the interview is about North Korea; Morris denies that WFP aid �is not going to feed the army.� Of course, many would disagree with that, based on what they themselves have seen (see 3/6/02 Update). ON COMMUNIST CHINA�S ROLE Randall Parker (Parapundit founder and Member since 2003), details how Communist China has helped, and will continue to help, North Korea � and not the United States � when it comes to the Stalinists� trade in weapons with terrorist states, and any other buyer. One of the pieces Parker cites, a Time Asia column by John Larkin and Donald MacIntyre, details the North�s recent arms ties to Iran, the efforts of the U.S. and others in the Proliferation Security Initiative to stop it, and how unhelpful Communist China is. 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]. Please feel free to send any news on Communist China or North Korea that you happen to find to the same address. |