| SPECIAL NORTH KOREA REPORT: DECEMBER 19, 2002 Our statement on why North Korea must be liberated, and how it can happen, can be found here. SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: ROH SQUEAKS BY Roh Moo-hyun, nominee of the dovish Millennium Democratic Party of President Kim Dae-jung, defated hawkish Grand National candidate Lee Hoi-chang by two points despite losing the support of Chung Mung-joon, who had left the presidential race specifically to back him. Roh's win is, let�s face it, a setback for all who would like a harder line from the South, and the U.S., on the Stalinists (BBC). While the hawkish GNP still controls the legislature in South Korea, Roh�s election will ensure the continuation of the dovish �sunshine� policy of Kim, and boost the doves here in the U.S. Roh takes office in February. OTHER NEWS COMMUNIST CHINA SELLS NUCLEAR WEAPONS CHEMICAL TO NORTH KOREA Bill Gertz (Washington Times) reported that Stalinist North Korea � a PRC ally for over fifty years � succeeded in buying from Communist China the plutonium-making, uranium-enriching chemical known as tributyl phosphate (TBP). The chemical enables the Stalinists to produce enough nuclear weapons material for several bombs a year. Their efforts were first reported in the last NK Report. According to CNN, U.S. officials called the deal, which involved around 20 tons of TBP �worrisome.� ABDUCTEES ANNOUNCE THEY ARE STAYING IN JAPAN The five Japanese who returned home after being kidnapped over 20 years ago by Stalinist North Korea (see 9/23/02 NK Report), say they want to stay in Japan, and they further want their families to come with them. The Stalinists admitted to thirteen kidnappings from 1978 to 1983, claiming only five survived. They were allowed to �visit� Japan, but the North kept their children behind. Reports: BBC, CNN The Stalinist regime also held back Charles Robert Jenkins, husband of one of the abductees. Jenkins, a former American soldier, either deserted to (U.S.) or was kidnapped by (his family) the North. The five abductees punctuated their desires by ending a two-month practice of wearing pins honoring Kim Il-Sung, the founder of Stalinist North Korea, in public. THE YEMEN SCUD FIASCO, WHAT REALLY HAPPENED Joel Mowbray of National Review, best known for blowing the lid off a State Department visa scheme that made it far easier for terrorists to enter the U.S. that it should have been, turns his eye to the Yemen-Scud flap, and the State Department�s reaction to it. What he finds is harrowing, to say the least. Report: Washington Times Among other things, he finds that, contrary to earlier media reports (see last NK Report), �Yemen didn't prove, for example, that it was the final destination for the missiles. It also didn't have to provide evidence to support its claim that the sale had been the last installment in an old contract.� In fact, one official told him, �Yemen had negotiated the missile purchase from North Korea within the last six months.� POWELL SAYS NO TO NON-AGRESSION PACT, SAYS WAR NOT IN THE OFFING Secretary of State Colin Powell reiterated that the United States �has no plans to attack North Korea,� in response to the Stalinists� demand for a non-aggression pact to prevent a war (see last NK Report). Powell also ruled out the proposed pact itself, and noted that �North Korea's actions� has brought the region closer to war than anything the U.S. has done. POSITION ON NORTH KOREA SUBJECT OF �A HUGE TUG OF WAR� IN RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT The Russian government is going through what one U.S. official called �a huge tug of war: (Washington Times) on the subject of North Korea. As the official put it, �There are many people whose careers depend on integrating North Korea.� Of course, the Bush Administration itself has suffered serious division on North Korea as it has grown slowly more hawkish in recent months. 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 building the two nuclear power plants that were part of the deal has still not been ruled out. 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. ACTIVISTS FOR NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES ON TRIAL IN COMMUNIST CHINA Choi John Daniel, an American of Korean ancestry who helped North Korean children escape the Stalinist regime through Communist China, is now on trial in the PRC, along with a fellow activist also named Choi. Helping North Koreans escape is a crime in Communist China, which sends back any refugees from the area starving under Stalinist control. Report: Cybercast News The PRC also resorted to its usual tactic of tacking on specious violent crime to the political charges in order to gain undeserved credibility for the arrests. In this case, that�s statutory rape. COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS DOES NORTH KOREA THINK THE U.S. TOO FOCUSED ON IRAQ TO NOTICE THEM? Ralph A. Cossa, president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Pacific Forum, thinks so, according to Cybercast News. 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. Check out the latest on Communist China and the Terrorist War. 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]. 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