| Home page To receive this publication via e-mail, click here. THE NORTH KOREA REPORT: SEPTEMBER 14, 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: WHAT WAS THAT?! ORIGIN OF MUSHROOM CLOUD OVER NORTHERN NORTH KOREA STILL NOT KNOWN An explosion in Yanggang Province over the weekend had outside analysts scratching their heads. The Stalinists themselves insisted the explosion � which sent a mushroom clouding pluming into the air � �was the result of a deliberate demolition of a mountain for a power plant� (CNN). No one outside of Great Britain is quite ready to buy that. Then again, no one is willing to call it a nuclear weapon either. Secretary of State Colin Powell told Fox News �it was not any type of nuclear event� (Voice of America via Epoch Times). Still, the explosion occurred on Thursday, the anniversary of the �founding� of the North Korean regime. North Korea offered an invitation to Britain to have an official �visit the site to see for himself� (BBC), a sign that either the Stalinists� cover up abilities are exceptional, or that Powell is correct in his assessment. Also reporting: Cybercast News OTHER WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION NEWS UK SAYS NK STILL WANTS IN SIX-PARTY TALKS; PRC TRYING TO BRING ALLY BACK Meanwhile, British Foreign Office minister Bill Rammell, who visited North Korea for talks last week, insisted that the regime �remains committed to taking part in talks designed to resolve the standoff over the nation's nuclear program� (CNN). Communist China sent Li Changchun �to persuade Pyongyang to return to multilateral talks� (BBC). There have been three rounds of talks on North Korea�s nuclear weapons; the talks included North Korea, South Korea, the U.S., Japan, Communist China, and Russia. The talks led to significant American concessions (see 12/8/03, 12/22/03, and 6/28 NKRs), and little else. NORTH KOREA BLAMES BUSH, SOUTH KOREA FOR TALKS PULLOUT North Korea charged President Bush with �using these talks for the election campaign by stepping up hostile statements against us, even insulting our leadership� (Washington Times, second item). The regime also blasted South Korea�s years-old experiments with tiny amounts of nuclear material, and cited them as another reason for staying out (BBC). South Korea enriched roughly one gram � that�s less than one one-hundredth of a pound � of uranium (see last NKR). It also admitted �that it extracted a small amount of plutonium during a 1982 research experiment� (Washington Post 9/10). The government insisted the extraction, about which �no written data� remains, was �in the range of milligrams.� Stalinist North Korea �accused the United States of applying a double standard on the Korean Peninsula and warned of a nuclear arms race in northeastern Asia� (Washington Post 9/9, second item). South Korea acknowledged it should have told the International Atomic Energy Agency about the experiment. North Korea, of course, told no one about its uranium enrichment, which included enough to make nuclear weapons for itself and Libya, until forced to do so in 2002 (see 10/21/02 and 6/1 NKRs). Also reporting: VOA via Epoch Times Stop the North Korean Nuclear Power Plants: Are the plants dead or aren�t they? You can make sure they don�t come back! 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 CHARLES ROBERT JENKINS SAYS HE HATES NORTH KOREA; REGIME TORTURED HIM Sergeant Charles Robert Jenkins, who vanished from his post on the Korean demilitarized zone in 1965, told the Far East Economic Review �how he hated the North Korean government, (and) suffered beatings at the hands of another alleged American defector� (BBC). Jenkins returned to active duty � yes, active duty � on Saturday (CNN). He went further to say that he and his wife, Japanese abduction victim Hitomi Soga (see also 9/23/02, 9/30/02, 10/7/02, 10/14/02, 10/21/02, 10/28/02, 11/18/02, 12/19/02, 5/24, 7/19, 7/27, and 8/10 NKRs), were �very close as far as love because she hated the [North] Korean government as well as I.� The Stalinists let Soga visit her homeland in 2002; she never came back. Jenkins and his children joined her earlier this year. The interview with FEER certainly validates his American family�s claim that he two was kidnapped. Jenkins also said, �All I want to do is clear myself with the American army.� KERRY CRITICIZES BUSH AGAIN ON NORTH KOREA Democratic Presidential nominee John Kerry criticized President Bush on North Korea, calling it �a massive national security failure by President Bush� (Cybercast News). While the President has been much too soft on North Korea for this quarter, Senator Kerry has, in fact, been even more dovish (see 12/8/03, 12/22/03, 6/7, and 6/28 NKRs). ALBRIGHT ADMITS NORTH KOREA �CHEATED� ON 1994 AGREEMENT . . . Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told NBC�s Meet the Press that North Korea was �cheating� (Newsmax) on the egregious 1994 Agreed Framework, which won the regime to partially constructed nuclear power plants. The North was supposed to freeze all nuclear weapons development. They didn�t (see 10/21/02 NKR). OTHER NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA�S ROLE DID COMMUNIST CHINA SHOOT A NORTH KOREAN REFUGEE? An unnamed man trying to enter South Korea�s embassy in Beijing was shot by Communist police (Mingpao News via Epoch Times). It is not known if he was a refugee from North Korea; refugees must hide as nonpersons or enter democratic diplomatic compounds in the PRC to prevent the Communists from finding them and sending them back. INTERNATIONAL NEWS UK OFFICIAL TALKS HUMAN RIGHTS IN NORTH KOREA Bill Rammell, the aforementioned British Foreign Office official, �challenged North Korea to answer accusations of widespread human rights abuses after arriving in the country� (BBC). It was the first time a British official had visited North Korea, having �refused all previous invitations until the communist state agreed to discuss human rights.� OTHER SOUTH KOREA NEWS URI PARTY TO REPEAL LAW AGAINST SUPPORTING NORTH KOREA The governing Uri Party �has announced plans to scrap Cold War-era security legislation that outlaws support for the communist North� (Cybercast News). The pro-American opposition Grand National Party blasted the move, saying the law only needed amending, not scrapping. Polls show an overwhelming majority of South Koreans agreed with the GNP. The move comes amid a growing concern in South Korea on the Uri Party�s unwillingness to challenge North Korea�s horrific human rights abuses. Uri members have even asked �the Senate to defeat the North Korean Human Rights Act, which was passed by the House in July.� Dovish President Roh Moo-hyun is the Uri�s most prominent supporter. COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS Charles Scanlon, BBC, and Donald MacIntyre, Time Asia, gauges the fallout from South Korea�s nuclear admissions. William Kristol, Weekly Standard, find Senator Kerry�s criticism of President Bush hollow. 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. |