| THE NORTH KOREA REPORT: JUNE 18, 2002 Apologies for the tardiness of this report, news is updated as of Tuesday Morning. NEWS COMMUNIST CHINA STORMS SOUTH KOREAN EMBASSY IN BEIJING NORTH KOREAN REFUGEE SEIZED, DIPLOMAT HURT; TWENTY REFUGEES IN SOUTH KOREAN EMBASSY, AMERICAN ACTIVIST ARRESTED FOR AID TO REFUGEES The way this is going, we may need to have a daily update just on the North Korean refugees. Communist Chinese police �forced their way into the South Korean mission� (CNN) and seized a North Korean refugee seeking asylum, but his teenage son made it into the embassy. Police �pushed and punched six South Korean diplomats� (Washington Post 1) in the incident. The number of North Korean refugees on South Korean diplomatic grounds in Beijing is now at twenty (BBC). Communist China angrily demanded that all refugees be handed over to them. South Korea, in turn demanded the release of the seized refugee, and called in the ambassador from the so-called People�s Republic of China to read him the riot act over the incident (Washington Post 2). Communist China sends back all North Korean refugees it finds to its Stalinist ally they left to escape starvation, due in no small part to the North�s mismanagement and its rerouting of international food aid to the Communist Party and the military. It is the second time that Communist police have breached the sovereign diplomatic territory of an Asian democracy to take a North Korean refugee. To emphasize just how determined the Communists are to snuff out any hope for the refugees, they announced they would try Joseph Choi, a Korean-American, for helping North Korean refugees in the PRC. They also tacked on the charge of raping children, a customary ploy the Communists use to cover the real reason a dissident or activist of which they don�t approve is in prison. Report: Cybercast News MORE REPORTS OF FORCED ABORTIONS AND INFANTICIDE BY NORTH KOREA Cybercast News reported on the practice of forced abortions/miscarriages and infanticide at prisons in North Korea (the last NK Report cited a New York Times link, let us know whether or not that one worked). The accounts of female prisoners beaten and tortured to induce abortions and newborns left to the cold or to the dogs � literally � was confirmed by human rights groups. U.S. DIPLOMAT MEETS NORTH KOREANS ON TALKS Jack Pritchard, the �U.S. envoy on policy towards North Korea� (BBC), held talks with North Korean diplomats last week to discuss possible future talks. The U.S. also pledged, for some reason, to stick to the 1994 nuclear power deal with the Stalinist regime despite evidence it is not holding up its end of the bargain, namely to stop producing nuclear weapons material. See Commentary/Analysis for more. CELL PHONE DEAL BETWEEN KOREAS NEARS COMPLETION North and South Korea have reached a tentative agreement on cell-phone service in the Stalinist regime (CNN). The deal is awaiting final approval by the North � and convincing the U.S. that the regime won�t use the technology for military purposes. COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS ABC NIGHTLINE SPOTLIGHTS NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES Nightline, ABC�s late night news program, puts the spotlight on the hundreds of thousands of North Koreans who have fled the horrifying famine within, and in large part caused and exacerbated by, the Stalinist regime there. PROJECT FOR THE NEW AMERICAN CENTURY RIPS NORTH KOREA NUCLEAR POWER DEAL Gary Schmitt, of the Project for the American Century, citing a letter to the White House by Rep. Dana Rohrbacher (Republican-California), blasted the deal to build two nuclear power plants in North Korea. Schmitt said the matter is simply �whether the Bush Administration will allow a policy of nuclear blackmail to continue to guide American statecraft for this charter member of the �axis of evil.�� Stop the Nuclear Power Deal: The United States is building two nuclear power plants in North Korea while the Stalinist regime refuses to let us inspect their nuclear weapons program to verify they have halted it as required in the deal. Use the fact sheet to tell the President to end the deal. 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. Check out the latest on the Communist China and the Terrorist War page. 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. |