| THE NORTH KOREA REPORT: JANUARY 20, 2003 Our statement on why North Korea must be liberated, and how it can happen, can be found here. REFUGEE NEWS COMMUNIST CHINA CAPTURES FOUR DOZEN NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES Communist China arrested 48 North Korean refugees trying to board a ship at Yantai to escape from the so-called People�s Republic. Two South Koreans and one native were also arrested. The refugees were hiding from the Communists, who send any NK refuge they find back to the famine-wrecked, Stalinist North � a PRC ally for over 50 years. Reports: BBC, Cybercast News OTHER NEWS INVOVING COMMUNIST CHINA COMMUNIST CHINA LINKS U.S. MOVING TO �REIN IN� TAIWAN TO HELP ON NORTH KOREA Communist Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing met with Assistant Secretary James Kelly last week for talks on North Korea�s nuclear weapons program. However, according to Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN, Li used the meeting to link �Beijing's exerting pressure on Pyongyang to Washington's willingness to help rein in the pro-independence movement in Taiwan.� Also reporting: Newsmax.com It is the first report of the so-called People�s Republic attempting to use its Stalinist ally�s nuclear ambitions to win concessions by the U.S. against the island democracy. Not that it should surprise anyone, since as Lam himself notes, Communist China used Iraq to score U.S. concessions against the Uighurs of East Turkestan (�Xinjiang�). See 8/28/02, 9/11/02, and 9/18/02 China e-Lobby Updates. COMMUNIST CHINA OFFERS TO HOST NORTH KOREA-U.S. TALKS Communist China has offered to host talks between the United States and Stalinist North Korea �on the dispute over its nuclear plans� (Washington Post). The so-called People�s Republic repeated its call on the U.S. to �engage in dialogue with the North Korean government.� The Stalinist regime of starving North Korea has been an ally of Communist China for over five decades. Also reporting: Newsmax.com OTHER NUCLEAR NEWS ADMINISTRATION WANTS CONGRESS TO SET ASIDE MONEY FOR KEDO Reversing a decision in December, the Bush Administration has requested the Congress to set money aside for KEDO, the organization tasked with building two nuclear reactors in Stalinist North Korea. KEDO was created as part of the 1994 Agreed Framework, which was supposed to freeze the Stalinists� nuclear weapons program. Report: Washington Times The North admitted to a four-year uranium weapons program, a violation of the agreement, in October (see 10/21/02 NK Report). While fuel oil shipments to the North have been cut off (see 11/18/02 NK Report), the reactors have yet to be cancelled. A State Department spokesperson called he money �contingency funding� and said no decision on KEDO�s survival had been made. U.S. OFFERING MORE CONCESSIONS, NORTH KOREA WANTS NON-AGRESSION PACT President Bush insisted that the U.S. could deal with North Korea�s nuclear antics through talks, and hinted at �a bold initiative� that Cybercast News said would �cover food and energy.� By the weekend, the U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, Thomas Hubbard, offered �some economic co-operation� (BBC). How did the Stalinists respond to the public offer of concessions from the Bush Administration? Did it jump at the offer of food and energy aid? Nope, they insisted on a non-aggression pact from the United States (CNN). Once again, no U.S. official was willing to talk about the liberation of the North. POWELL SAYS �SOME PROGRESS� MADE, SAYS ISSUE CAN GO TO UN Secretary of State Colin Powell said �some progress� (BBC) was made in the diplomatic situation with the Stalinists � who from this angle seem to have monopolized the �progress.� Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary Kelly �who first stated the offer of energy aid to the North if it dropped its nuclear weapons program (see last NK Report) � said the resolution of the issue would be a �slow process� (CNN). Powell also said the issue, if left unresolved, could go �to the Security Council.� Given that Communist China is on the UN Security Council (see Other News on Communist China), one should seriously doubt that avenue being successful. RUSSIA PROPOSES RETURN TO 1994 DEAL AND NON-AGRESSION PACT Russia sent Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov to the capital of Stalinist North Korea with a �peace plan� that basically gives the North everything it wants. In the Russian plan, the Stalinists would get the 1994 deal back � that would be the one they violated � plus a pledge from the U.S. not to attack them. Reports: CNN, BBC SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT-ELECT CALLS FOR U.S.-NORTH KOREAN TALKS South Korean President-elect Roh Moo-hyun �has urged the United States to open talks with North Korea in a bid to end the nuclear standoff on the peninsula� (CNN). Roh, a member of the dovish Millennium Democratic Party, also said he believed �the problem can be resolved through dialogue because North Korea is sincere about its willingness to open up and reform� (BBC). ROH SAYS U.S. CONSIDERED, THEN RULED OUT, MILITARY OPTIONS Meanwhile, Roh Moo-hyun announced that the U.S. had considered a military strike against the North, then ruled it out after � but not necessarily due to � his election (CNN, Washington Post 1/19). The U.S. refuted the comments, and a day later Roh himself, through a spokesperson, said he was only referring to the U.S. media, not government officials (Washington Post 1/20). 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. OTHER NEWS NORTH KOREAN MILITARY GOES ON ALERT, U.S. UNFAZED North Korea�s military placed itself on alert last week, in a move that had little notice in the U.S. According to Bill Gertz, Washington Times, most American officials believe the alert has more to do with routine winter training exercises than the brouhaha over the Stalinists� nuclear weapons. ROH, NEW DEMONSRATIONS BACK U.S. TROOPS After riding a wave of anti-American feelings to the Blue House, South Korean President-elect Roh Moo-hyun called the U.S.-South Korean alliance �precious� (Cybercast News 1/15) and that American troops in the Korean democracy �will continue to be needed in the future.� Meanwhile, roughly 40,000 South Koreans demonstrated in favor of the American troops over last weekend (Cybercast News 1/20). Roh also said anti-Americanism in the democratic part of Korea �is found only in a minority of people here� (Cybercast News 1/16). Roh also paid a visit to the American troops and thanked them for �the fact that U.S. service members came to Korea to support us during the Korean war to ensure peace and freedom and sacrificed their blood in order to do so� (Washington Post). SOUTH KOREAN DEFENSE MINISTER SAYS WAR IS �UNAVOIDABLE� IF U.S. ATTACKS NORTH South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jun told Parliament last week, according to CNN, that �if the current crisis could not be resolved peacefully and America were to attack the North, �war on the Korean peninsula will be unavoidable.�� Also reporting: Washington Post MALAYSIAN PM SAYS MUSLIM ARE ANGRY AT U.S. SOFTNESS TOWARD NORTH KOREA Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad criticized American foreign policy, specifically its softness toward North Korea relative to Iraq. The PM said, �the accommodating attitude towards North Korea [in contrast to Iraq] is going to anger the Muslims� (Cybercast News). NORTH-SOUTH MINISTERIAL TALKS ARE ON FOR THIS WEEK South Korea agreed to the North�s request for a one-week delay in talks � originally to be held last week. The talks will include �reconciliation proposals� (CNN), and of course, the Stalinists� nuclear antics. COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSE�S MOUTH From North Korean radio, via the BBC, comes the North�s latest tirade. One might find interesting the fact that the Stalinists called the Agreed Framework � hailed by doves as a success that should be resurrected � as �the humiliation 10 years ago when (the U.S.) disgracefully sent a letter of surrender after being beaten up hard by us and having their noses bleeding in the nuclear confrontation arena.� The New Republic also looks at North Korea�s web propaganda, and is particularly disgusted by its bombast on how �a great variety of the traditional food can be produced in mass quantities.� NORTH KOREA�S NUKES GOING TO TERRORISTS? James Lerner, in the Washington Times, finds analysts becoming very worried about North Korea�s nuclear weapons program, its history of arms sales to terrorist states, and al Qaeda�s hunger for nukes. NORTH KOREA�S GULAG Robert Windrem, MSNBC, gives an account of the political prisons in Stalinist North Korea. Some of the normal occurrences in Kim Jong-Il�s gulag include: forced abortions, working of prisoners to death, imprisonment of dissident�s children, and Mengele-like biochemical testing on humans. MORE CALLS FOR LIBERATION OF NORTH KOREA The editors of National Review make clear what they feel the Bush Administration should do on North Korea: �The goal of the U.S. on the Korean peninsula should not be cutting another deal with Pyongyang, in which support for the regime is exchanged for more empty promises, but ending the totalitarian government there.� The editors of Washington Times, meanwhile, have this to say: �Any U.S. action should have Mr. Kim's collapse as the ultimate goal.� MORE ON NUCLEAR NORTH KOREA FROM THE HAWKS Frank Gaffney, Jr., of the Center for Security Policy, rips what he calls �revisionist history� (National Review Online) regarding the Stalinist nuclear weapons program, and says any attempt to negotiate with the North will be �to the advantage of the transgressor and to the detriment of the United States.� Wes Pruden, editor in chief of the Washington Times, sees Bush going wobbly on the North, and is not happy. In a later piece in the Washington Times, Gaffney supports the Bush Administration�s policy on the North, for now, but insists that the President�s actions �be guided by the president's appreciation of the loathsome evil of the North Korean regime and by the need to arrange for it to join Saddam Hussein's on the ash-heap of history at the earliest possible moment.� Mansoor Ijaz, head of a New York-based private equity investment firm, and ex-CIA Director R. James Woolsey call not only for a tough stand against North Korea, but also against its principal nuclear suppliers � Communist China and its Central Asian ally Pakistan � in the Los Angeles Times. Project for the New American Century reprints a Wall Street Journal op-ed from the famous � at least, famous in this quarter � Victor Gilinsky and Henry Sokolski. Mona Charen, in the Washington Times, reminds her readers that North Korea is acting frighteningly normally for a Communist regime, and calls for �the sternest possible response from the United States.� Donald Lambro, Washington Times, picks the brain of former Secretary of State George Schultz on North Korea, and laments the latest Administration offer of food and energy aid if the Stalinists �would end nuclear weapons buildup.� Charles Krauthammer blasts the new dovishness of the Administration: �In less than a month we have gone from �tailored containment� to shoeless appeasement� (Washington Post). Peter Brookes, director of the Asian Studies Center at the Heritage Foundation, tries to answer dovish critics of the Bush Administration in the Washington Times. The growing dovishness of the Administration itself is not addressed. ON EVAN BAYH Daniel McKivergan, Weekly Standard, approves of Senator Evan Bayh (D-Indiana) who has �worked with Republican senators Jon Kyl, John McCain, and Jeff Sessions on legislation empowering the president to, among other things, impose full economic sanctions against Pyongyang, interdict weapons or weapons-related shipments to and from North Korea, and bolster our military forces in the region.� FROM THE DOVES Daniel Plesch, of the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies, lambastes American international policy, both in general and in re North Korea, in the BBC. Ted Galen Carpenter, of the CATO Institute, also criticizes recent American foreign policy � although with a lot less bile than Plesch � in National Review Online. Former President Jimmy Carter, the lead force behind the 1994 Agreed Framework, calls for a return to it and more deals with North Korea, in the Washington Post. Richard Cohen, also in the Post, rips the Administration for its pre-nuclear toughness on the North. Neither Carter nor Cohen make any effort to explain why the Stalinists should be trusted in light of their 1998 violations of the Agreed Framework. Philip H. Gordon, of the Brookings Institution, calls for President Bush to be tough � on Iraq, not Stalinist North Korea � in the Washington Times. OTHER VIEWS Ted Galen Carpenter last week talked about pulling American troops out of South Korea. This week, he lets his hawkish side out to Cybercast News, blasting any attempt to negotiate with the North. Carpenter won�t back sanctions against the Stalinist regime, however, preferring the threat of a nuclearized Japan and South Korea as the proper pressure against the North continuing its nuclear weapons program. Meanwhile, Robert Lane Green, from economist.com, favors pulling out American troops in The New Republic, but only to �force those blas� South Koreans to take their own security more seriously.� William Potter, of the Monterey Institute Center for Nonproliferation Studies, calls for talks, but refuses to rule out military force, in the Washington Times. David Ensor, CNN, examines the current situation, and the possibility of war. CNN examines the 50-year diplomatic history of the U.S. and North Korea. THE BUSH�S GROWING DOVISHNESS: D�J� VU FROM 1994 Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, looks at the growing dovishness of the Bush Administration on North Korea, and finds a policy that is quickly copying from the ex-President Clinton�s 1994 deal. ON THE ROLES OF RUSSIA AND COMMUNIST CHINA Steve Rosenburg, BBC, examines �Russia's fading sway over North Korea.� Dr. Alexandr Nemets, Newsmax.com, finds Russia sway to be far from fading, and examines the role of it and Communist China in the North Korean situation (Part I, Part II, Part III, see Other News on Communist China). Meanwhile, Stefan Halper, director of the Atlantic Studies Program at the University of Cambridge in England, basically calls for the U.S. to give the Stalinists everything they want, and like many who share his view, he thinks Communist China �is key,� in the Washington Times. ON NORTH KOREA AND AMERICAN FOOD AID Doug Struck, Washington Post, canvasses the opponents of an apparent U.S. decision to stop food aid to North Korea. While Struck does note that in reality, the U.S. has simply demanded more monitoring of future aid distribution, he does not mention defectors and activist Dr. Norbert Vollertsen�s detailed accounts of the Stalinists stealing the food from their own people (see 3/6/02 China e-Lobby Update). ON NORTH KOREA AND IRAQ Halle Dale, in the Washington Times, sees the North Korean situation as justification enough to move against Iraq, but seems not as squeamish about confronting the Stalinist regime as Philip Gordon. Stephen R. Sestanovich, a former Ambassador At-Large to the ex-Soviet Union, sees North Korea as a rerun of the Iraq 1998 inspections stand off, in the Washington Post. WOULD JAPAN GO NUCLEAR? Analysts told Hiroshi Hiyama (Agence France Presse via Washington Times) that Japan �is unlikely to join an atomic arms race even if North Korea pushes ahead with developing a nuclear arsenal.� Charles Scanlon, BBC, hears different analysts, and as such, is not so sure Japan would stay non-nuclear. Check out the latest on Communist China and the Terrorist War. 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. |