| Home page To receive this publication via e-mail, click here. THE NORTHERN KOREA REPORT: DECEMBER 20, 2004 Dragon in the Dark: How and Why Communist China Helps Our Enemies in the War on Terror is now available here (or call1-888-280-7715). Our statement on why northern Korea must be liberated can be found here. TOP STORY: JAPAN AND U.S. MOVE FORWARD ON DEFENSE, WITH EYE ON SCNK Japan and the U.S. agreed to work more closely together on missile defense. The deal is a part of �Japan and the US' defence commitments� which the BBC sees as �designed to address concerns about North Korea, which possesses missiles that can reach Japan, and about China's military build-up.� While Japan�s concerns, highlighted by its recent shift on military policy (see last NKR), center on both Communist China and Stalinist-controlled northern Korea, the Bush Administration seems largely focused only on the latter threat at present. WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION NEWS STALINIST REGIME WANTS TO SEE IF BUSH WILL SOFTEN IN SECOND TERM Stalinist-controlled northern Korea is holding off restarting six-way talks on its nuclear weapons program to see if President Bush will �offer a more friendly U.S. policy toward the communist state� (Bill Gertz, Washington Times) to start his second term. The six parties in the talks are SCNK, the democratic Republic of Korea (�South Korea�), Japan, Communist China, the U.S., and Russia. There have been three previous rounds of talks, which have led to significant American concessions � and little else (see 10/21/02, 12/8/03, 12/22/03, 6/7, 6/28, 9/20, and 9/28 NKRs). Stop the SCNK 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 SCNK broke. OTHER NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA�S ROLE PROTESTS TO BE HELD ON WEDNESDAY AGAINST PRC REPATRIATION OF SCNK REFUGEES The International Campaign to Block the Repatriation of the North Korean Refugees is sponsoring protests this Wednesday �to draw attention to the plight of North Korean refugees in China who face forced repatriation and severe punishment when they return to their impoverished country� (Cybercast News). The demonstrations �will be held outside Chinese embassies and consulates in the United States and a number of other countries.� Between 100,000 and 300,000 refugees from SCNK are forced to live as nonpersons in the PRC, which sends back any refugee it finds. SEVEN SCNK REFUGEES ENTER JAPANESE EMBASSY IN BEIJING Meanwhile, seven refugees from the Stalinist regime, �carrying a piece of paper with �SOS� written on it in English� (CNN), entered a school in the Japanese Embassy in Beijing and asked for asylum in the ROK. Also reporting: BBC, Voice of America via Epoch Times CADRE FROM COMMUNIST CHINA BLOWS OVER $400,000 IN SCNK CASINO Cai Haowen, the former head of the Yanbian (PRC) traffic and transport management office, is on the lam after blowing $334,000 in �public money� and $90,000 �used from five different freight companies� (BBC) on bets at a casino in Stalinist-controlled northern Korea. The last time cadres caught gambling regime money made this much news was four years ago, when officials in the thoroughly corrupt Shenyang gambled away millions in Macau. INTERNATIONAL NEWS JAPAN HOLDS OFF SANCTIONS AS SCNK THREATENS AND ROH PLEADS Support for sanctions against Stalinist-controlled northern Korea is surging in Japan after the regime�s second attempt to fool Japan with remains supposedly belonging to an abduction victim, but Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi decided to �wait to see how North Korea reacted to demands for the truth� (BBC). The Stalinists handed over what they said were remains of abductee Megumi Yokota; tests later found the remains to belong to several people � none of them Yokota, who was abducted at age 13 in 1977. A total of thirteen Japanese citizens were abducted by SCNK between 1977 and 1983. The Stalinists let five return to Japan, but they continue to insist that the other eight are dead. The fake remains have fueled speculation that at least some, and possibly all, of them are still alive (see 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, 8/10, 10/11, 11/29, 12/6, and last NKRs). Koizumi announced his decision while meeting with dovish ROK President Roh Moo-hyun, who embarrassed himself by trying to claim the fake remains �could have been an honest mistake.� Meanwhile, the Stalinist regime threatened �an �effective physical� response� (Cybercast News) to any sanctions. Also reporting: VOA via Epoch Times COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS Jason Lim, in the Washington Times, makes a compelling and comprehensive case against outsourcing the future of northern Korea to Communist China. Donald Kirk, Christian Science Monitor, and Randall Parker, founder of Parapundit (and Member since 2003), discuss a growing threat to the Stalinist regime: cell phones. Jeremy Kirk, Washington Times, talks to Kim Myong Chol, whom he calls �perhaps the only available talking head for North Korea.� The rest of the column goes downhill from there. Gary Schmitt, of the Project for the New American Century, has harsh � but well-deserved � criticism for President Roh Moo-hyun and his $un$hine policy in Chosun Ilbo. Meanwhile, Jeremy Kirk, Washington Times, examines the U.S. American troop reduction in the ROK. 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 Northern 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 Stalinist-controlled northern Korea that you find to the same address. |