| Home page To receive this publication via e-mail, click here. THE NORTH KOREA REPORT: MARCH 17, 2003 Our statement on why North Korea must be liberated can be found here. TOP STORY: NORTH KOREA MAY BE GETTING READY TO TEST TAEPODONG 2 MISSILE COULD �STRIKE ALL OF NORTH AMERICA� Stalinist North Korea is �preparing another missile test, which would break Pyongyang's moratorium on long-range ballistic missile flights� (Bill Gertz, Washington Times). The Stalinist regime may be ready to test the Taepodong 2, a long-range missile that can reach the United States (see 2/17 North Korea Report). In fact, depending on the fuel used, the missile could �strike all of North America.� OTHER NUCLEAR AND OTHER WEAPONS NEWS URANIUM TRACK MAY PRODUCE WEAPONS-GRADE MATERIAL IN �MONTHS� Assistant Secretary James Kelly told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Stalinist North Korea�s uranium enrichment program � the one to which the North admitted last October (see 10/21/02 North Korea Report) is actually �months away from producing weapons-grade material� (BBC). Previous reports on the uranium track had it �years away� (CNN) from actual production. OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS KELLY DEFENDS ADMINISTRATION POLICY ON NORTH KOREA In the testimony mentioned above, Kelly also defended the Administration�s refusal to talk to the North about its nuclear ambitions, which he said, and rightly so, would lead to a �call . . . for concessions� (Fox News) from the U.S. He also noted that the Stalinists don�t appear to have �any interest in stopping� it nuclear weapons program. Maddeningly, Kelly never mentioned liberation for the North Korean people. SURVEILLANCE FLIGHTS TO RESUME The U.S. will soon be sending reconnaissance planes back to the international waters near North Korea, despite the RC-135 intercept by Stalinist MiGs two weeks ago in the apparent hope of forcing it to land and seizing its crew (see 3/3 and last North Korea Reports). Although the planes will go back in the air, they won�t have armed escorts with them. Reports: Washington Post, CNN U.S. SENDING STEALTH PLANES, AIRCRAFT CARRIER TO KOREAN PENINSULA The U.S. decided to send six �stealth� fighters and an aircraft carrier to the Korean Peninsula, to take part in joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises. The Stalinists were not happy, particularly about the carrier, the USS Carl Vinson. Reports: CNN, BBC, Cybercast News NORTH KOREA, U.S.TRADE WARNINGS North Korea repeated its insistence on direct talks with the United States, saying the Bush Administration tactic of trying to get multilateral talks with the North would �make a clash unavoidable� (CNN 3/11). Meanwhile, Thomas Hubbard, U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, was more circumspect in his warning to the North (CNN 3/12) � quite a feat given the RC-135 incident et al (see last North Korea Report). JAPAN CONSIDERING MISSILE DEFENSE OPTIONS, THREATENS SANCTIONS AGAINST NK North Korea�s nuclear antics and missile tests are leading Japan to consider increasing their contingent of missile-tracking Aegis destroyers in the Sea of Japan and plans �to buy advanced U.S.-made Patriot anti-missile rockets to deploy from July� (CNN). Japan also threatened the Stalinist regime with economic sanctions if it went ahead with its missile-test plans (see Top Story), according to the BBC. AXIS OF EVIL/TERRORISM NEWS NORTH KOREA CONTINUES TO AID IRAN�S NUCLEAR PROGRAM, SAYS REBEL GROUP The National Council of Resistance of Iran, an Iranian opposition group that, truth be told, appears as bad as the regime it�s fighting, has charged Stalinist North Korea and its oldest ally, Communist China, with giving Iran �assistance� (Washington Post) with its nuclear weapons program. Iranian scientists �visited both countries in the past two years to seek technical help with uranium enrichment,� according to NRCI. See Commentary/Analysis for more on North Korea�s ties to Iran�s Islamic regime. PHILIPPINE MUSLIM INSURGENCY GETS WEAPONS FROM NORTH KOREA Stalinist North Korea sold roughly $2 million to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front � a Muslim rebel group in the Philippines � according to the Philippine network ABS-CBN (cited by Newsmax). The MILF �also planned to buy mini-submarines to augment its fighting capability.� SOUTH KOREA NEWS RUMSFELD�S TROOPS COMMENTS SPOOK ANTI-AMERICANISM OUT OF SOUTH KOREA That didn�t take long. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld�s musings of U.S. troop reductions in South Korea (see last North Korea Report), plus the continued antics of the Stalinist North, have �quieted dramatically� (Washington Post) the seemingly widespread hostility to the U.S. in the South, even among those who still want the Americans to leave �in the long term.� SOUTH KOREA STILL SENDING FOOD AID TO NORTH KOREA South Korea is planning �to supply a total of 1.3 million tons of rice to North Korea for the next 3 years� (Newsmax). The dovish government of President Roh Moo-hyun will distribute the food based on �humanitarian grounds,� despite the numerous reports of the Stalinists stealing the food from northern Koreans to feed the army and party members (see 3/6/02 Update). NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA�S ROLE IN NORTH KOREA COMMUNIST CHINA BLOCKING SECURITY COUNCIL CONDEMNATION OF NORTH KOREA OK, who didn�t see this coming? According to the Daily Times (from PRC ally Pakistan, of all places), Communist China is holding up efforts by the U.S., U.K., and France to have the United Nations Security Council condemn North Korea�s nuclear ambitions. The fifty-plus-year ally of the Stalinist regime is instead insisting upon direct talks between the North and the U.S. COMMUNIST CHINA PUSHES DIRECT U.S.-NK TALKS Speaking of Communist China insisting on U.S.�North Korea talks (chief demand of the Stalinist regime itself), they did it again last week. Report: BBC Stop the North Korean Nuclear Power Plants: North Korea announced that it would restart the pre-1994 plutonium power plants. Despite this, talk of negotiations continues, and the two nuclear power plants that were part of the 1994 deal have still not been canceled. Use this China e-Lobby fact sheet and tell the President to stand firm against the Stalinist regime, and not to build the power plants. ABDUCTION NEWS (see Commentary/Analysis) INTERNAL NEWS FOOD AID REACHES NORTH KOREA Nearly 40,000 tons in food aid reached the shores of North Korea over the weekend, resuming shipments within the Stalinist regime that had stopped late last year. The U.S. agreed to donate 40,000 tons, and 60,000 more �if North Korea's (sic) improved the WFP's ability to monitor the distributions� (BBC). The insistence on better World Food Programme (WFP) monitoring came amid numerous reports of the Stalinists stealing the food from northern Koreans to feed the army and party members have also given donors pause (see 3/6/02 Update). COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS ON NORTH KOREA AND THE AXIS OF EVIL Michael Ledeen, of the American Enterprise Institute and National Review, highlights the ties between Stalinist North Korea and Iran, including the two nuclear ambitions of the axis of evil members (see also Axis of Evil News), in the New York Post. Meanwhile, Robert Lane Greene, of the Economist, says a �proper focus on North Korea now would advance, not hinder, the struggle against both Iraq and the broader proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.� However, Greene does not point to a specific policy in his piece in The New Republic, but still thinks that Communist China could �possibly� help the U.S., all evidence to the contrary. ON NORTH KOREA AND ITS NUCLEAR AMBITIONS Jim Erickson, Time Asia, examines the current state of affairs between the Stalinist regime and the U.S. William F. Buckley weighs in on the effects of the North�s nuclear ambitions in National Review Online. Ed Koch, former Mayor of New York, defends President Bush on the Stalinist regime in Newsmax, and like Bush, he never mentions the possibility of liberation. Josh Marshall, of editor of talkingpointsmemo.com, is harsher towards the Administration, calling for negotiations and a �red line� marking what actions would definitely lead to war. He, too, never mentions liberation in his column from The Hill. The editors of The New Republic call talks with the Stalinist regime �the best of a bad set of options.� While they demand more from the Stalinists than just a return to the 1994 Agreed Framework, they never mention, and in fact seem to rule out, liberating the people of northern Korea. ON THE ABDUCTIONS OF JAPANESE CITIZENS Victorino Matus, Weekly Standard, speaks to Teruaki Masumoto, brother of �deceased� kidnap victim Shuichi (the Stalinist claim heart disease killed her � at age 27), and a leader in the effort to keep the world from forgetting the plight of the abductees and their families. Check out the latest stories on the Communist China and the Terrorist War page. Sign the petition for an American boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Miss an Update, Weekly Links, or a North Korea Report? Find it on our web site. 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. |