| THE NORTH KOREA REPORT: SEPTEMBER 16, 2002 NEWS 36 NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES LEAVE BEIJING FOR SOUTH KOREA Fifteen refugees from North Korea that entered a Beijing school run by the German Embassy and twenty-one other refugees hidden in the South Korean Embassy to the PRC are now in South Korea (CNN, BBC) have also left for freedom. They are the latest of several refugees hiding in Communist China that have escaped to freedom through democratic embassies. Hundreds of thousands more North Korean refugees are hiding in Communist China, which sends back any refugee from the North that it finds, despite reports of the Stalinist torturing repatriated refugees to death. North Korea is suffering a massive famine � caused in large part by the regime�s mismanagement and exacerbated by its theft of outside food aid to feed party members and the armed forces. NORTH MIGHT AGREE TO NUCLEAR INSPECTIONS According to Yomiuri Shimbun � a Japanese newspaper cited by CNN � Stalinist leader Kim Jong-Il may accept outside inspectors of its nuclear facilities, as is required in the 1994 nuclear power deal with the U.S. The announcement could come tomorrow during Kim�s summit with Japanese Prime Minister Yunichiro Koizumi. The North has blocked inspections ever since the ink on the deal went dry. Stop the Nuclear Power Deal: The United States is still building two nuclear power plants in North Korea. Use this China e-Lobby fact sheet and tell the President to cancel the deal. NORTH KOREA TO DEMAND $10 BILLION FROM JAPAN IN REPARATIONS One thing Koizumi will definitely hear is a demand from the North to pay $10 billion in reparations for World War II. Japan paid a similar amount, adjusted for inflation, to South Korea in 1965 when diplomatic relations were restored between the two. Of course, the South never kidnapped 11 Japanese citizens during the 1970s and 1980s. The North had no comment on them. Report: Washington Post FAMILIES OF KIDNAPPED JAPANESE DEMAND ACTION AT SUMMIT The relatives of those 11 Japanese kidnapped by the North held a protest at the Prime Minister�s official residence �to urge action in resolving the issue� (CNN). The fate of the eleven, apparently captured in order to aid North Korean spies learn Japanese customs, is �the most sensitive issue� in Japan. The Japanese government said the issue would �top the agenda� of the summit (BBC). FAMILY REUNIONS BEGIN AGAIN Another round of reunions was held for families separated by the Korean DMZ (BBC) � and the regime north of it that allows no one to leave of its own free will. Son Jie-ae (CNN) talks with Kim Yong-Wook, who will meet his brother and sister for the first time in 50 years. NORTH AND SOUTH AGREE TO RAIL LINK PREPARATION, TOURISM DEAL FALLS THROUGH North and South Korea have agreed �to clear landmines and other border defenses from areas of their heavily fortified joint border� (CNN) in order to establish future road and rail links. The two military forces agreed to the move yesterday morning (BBC 9/15/02). Talks to revive tourism links did not do so well, collapsing with the Stalinist North insisted that the South cover any tourism losses (BBC 9/12/02). RELATIVES OF JAPANESE RED ARMY MEMBERS FLOWN TO JAPAN Six relatives of hijackers from the Japanese Red Army have left North Korea � where the Red Army found refuge � for Japan (BBC). All were born in the North of Red Army members who hijacked a Japan Airlines plane in 1970 and Japanese wives �who arrived in North Korea under mysterious circumstances.� JAPANESE RAISE NORTH KOREAN SPY SHIP SUNK LAST YEAR A North Korean ship sunk in a conflict with the Japanese last year is back above water, salvaged by Japan for examination. The vessel, which North Korea has since disavowed, entered Japan�s territorial waters, then sank after being chased for six hours; Japan believes the crew scuttled it. Report: BBC COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS NORTH KOREA�S �REFORMS� CALLED �HALFWAY ACROSS THE CHASM� The recent price and wages hikes in Stalinist North Korea have made many believe that �reforms� are on their way in the North. However, Doug Struck (Washington Post) also finds many skeptics, who note that North Korea simply raised prices; they did not free them. As Struck put it, �The North Korean leadership stepped halfway across the chasm to a free-market economy, then stopped, the analysts said.� Normally, stopping halfway across a chasm leads to a painful fall. Such was the case in the former Soviet Union, where the Communists tried price hikes to stop the black market in may goods. The results � multiple hikes for goods that never seemed to be on the shelves anyway � led to anger on all sides. The Stalinist regime is looking to Russia and Communist China for �example.� Uh oh. Also reporting: BBC THE FEINT THAT MADE INCHON POSSIBLE John B. Dwyer chronicles the 1950 feinting action by a group of 125 Army veterans that diverted enough North Korean troops to ensure the famed Inchon amphibious assault of later that year was successful. The �Inchon landing� liberated South Korea. As such, it spared it from the current starvation, torture, and repression under the Stalinist regime, and thus saved millions of lives. Link: Washington Times It should be noted that if not for a massive deployment of Communist Chinese troops in December 1950, all of Korea would have been liberated, which would have saved countless millions more. OUTGOING PRESIDENT KIM DAE-JUNG �BURNED� BY KIM JONG-IL As South Korean President Kim Dae-jung finishes his last year in office, he is �scorned or ignored by his countrymen.� No small part in this is due to the perceived failures in his �sunshine� policy of warming relations with the Stalinist North, leading one observer to say, �He got burned by Kim Jong Il, who never delivered a thing.� Report: Doug Struck, Washington Post NORTH KOREA STILL REMEMBERS JAPANESE OCCUPATION, BUT NOTHING SINCE Donald MacIntyre (Time Asia) went to North Korea to examine how it �remembers� the Japanese occupation before and during World War II. The Japanese atrocities were well documented in museums and in people�s minds. Naturally, no one uttered a peep about what the late Stalinist Kim Il-Sung and his son Kim Jong-Il have done to the people of North Korea since then. Sign the Boycott Petition: In reaction to the 2008 Olympic Games being awarded to Beijing, the China e-Lobby has begun a petition for an American boycott of those games. Miss an Update, Weekly Links, or a North Korea Report? Find it on our web site. Check out the latest on Communist China and the Terrorist War. There�s still time to contact the President and tell him not to appoint pro-PRC Doug Paal as de facto ambassador to Taiwan. See Follow-Up for more on Paal. 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 you happen to find to the same address. |