| Home page To receive this publication via e-mail, click here. THE NORTH KOREA REPORT: APRIL 21, 2003 Our statement on why North Korea must be liberated can be found here. TOP STORY: TALKS SET TO BEGIN IN BEIJING; COMMUNIST CHINA TO JOIN THEM PRESIDENT BUSH SAYS TALKS HAVE �A GOOD CHANCE� This may be the only place where this news is not seen as terrific: Communist China will host and take part in talks with the U.S. and North Korea over the latter�s nuclear weapons program. While the Stalinist regime will have its ally at the table, the U.S., for now, is alone: South Korea and Japan were kept out of the talks. The meeting is set for this Wednesday, according to CNN. The North admitted to violating a 1994 agreement to freeze its nuclear ambitions last October (see 10/21/02 North Korea Report). It has demanded one-on-one talks with the U.S. on the issue. Now they get an even better deal, three-way talks with its ally as participant and host. The U.S. even �dropped its demand that North Korea first dismantle its illegal uranium enrichment program� (Washington Post). Why go ahead with this idea? According to an unnamed official cited in the Post, �We decided to go ahead with it because China had taken such a major role in setting it up . . . It wasn't perfect, but it represented much more substantial involvement by them than anything they had done before.� The Administration did tell Japan and South Korea that they would �take part in substantial discussions� (Washington Times), whatever that means. Meanwhile, the exclusion of America�s allies has them nervous, particularly in Japan, which fears that �the fate of Japanese abductees and their families would be overlooked� (Newsmax). This was the only Abduction news this week. At least thirteen Japanese were kidnapped by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s. The North claims that eight of them died, but cannot provide any proof. The other five are now in Japan, but their families are still being held by North Korea (see 9/23/02, 10/21/02, 10/28/02, and 2/10 North Korea Reports). President Bush, talking to reporters on Sunday, said the talks had �a good chance of convincing North Korea to abandon her ambitions to develop a nuclear arsenal� (BBC). Bush was this on a supposed cooperation among the U.S., South Korea, Japan, and the PRC (!), who �is assuming a very important responsibility,� according to Bush Liberation? Did someone say liberation? No one in the above stories did, including the President. Stop the North Korean Nuclear Power Plants: North Korea brazenly violated the 1994 agreement to freeze its nuclear weapons programs. However, the two nuclear power plants that were part of the1994 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. OTHER NUCLEAR NEWS SENATOR LUGAR OPEN TO WAR IF NEGOTIATIONS FAIL Senator Richard Lugar (R-Indiana), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told NBC�s Tim Russert that war with the North is �has to be there as a very strong possibility� (Washington Times) should the aforementioned talks fail. It was somewhat surprising words from Lugar, who has previously been somewhat dovish on the subject (see 11/25/02, 12/16/02, 1/13, and 2/10 North Korea Reports). NORTH MAKES, THEM DROPS CLAIM TO BE REPROCESSING PLUTONIUM Days after the talks were made known, the North asserted that it was �successfully reprocessing more than 8,000 spent fuel rods at the final phase� (CNN); at least that�s what they said in English. The Korean was far more vague, and by today the regime dropped the assertion (BBC). The Stalinists� attempts to reprocess the plutonium had run into problems due to outdated equipment (see 3/24 North Korea Report). U.S. MEETS WITH SOUTH KOREA AND JAPAN IN PRELUDE TO NK TALKS Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly met with Japanese and South Korean officials last week. The meeting was �a precursor to the talks between China, North Korea and US in Beijing� (BBC). OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS U.S. HELPED TWENTY NORTH KOREAN BIGWIGS ESCAPE VIA COMMUNIST CHINA The United States was part of an effort to �arrange the defections of up to 20 top North Korean officials, including key nuclear scientists, in an operation that began in October� (Washington Post). Among those who escaped through Communist China was Kyong Won Ha, the �father� of the Stalinists� nuclear weapons programs. In other words, not even Kim Jong-il�s nuclear guru wanted to stay in North Korea. Nauru, New Zealand, Vanuatu, Thailand, the Philippines and Spain were among the nations that helped the U.S. in this operation. MAJORITY OF AMERICANS CONSIDER NORTH KOREA A THREAT In a Washington Post-ABC News poll, 55 percent of Americans surveyed considered North Korea to be a �serious threat,� with another 24 percent calling the Stalinist regime a minor threat. Thirty-five percent backed liberating North Korea through war, the only liberation option given by the poll (Poll Data). U.S. FINES FIRMS FOR VIOLATING SANCTIONS, INCLUDING THOSE WITH NORTH KOREA The United States imposed over $1 million in fines against 59 companies for doing business with nations under American economic sanction, including North Korea. The BBC story did not mention which companies in particular did business with the Stalinist regime. HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNAL NEWS UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION CONDEMNS NORTH KOREA For the first time, the United Nations Human Rights Commission condemned Stalinist North Korea for �widespread and grave violations� (Washington Times, third paragraph) of human rights. The vote was 28-10, with 14 abstentions. The condemnation was �initiated by the European Union, and co-sponsored by the United States, Japan and Australia� (Newsmax). The PRC � the North�s oldest ally � opposed it. STALINISTS GO ALL OUT FOR BIRTHDAY OF DEAD FOUNDER Kim Il-Sung died in 1994. That did not stop the Stalinist regime he built and handed over to his son from a slew of massive celebrations of his 91st birthday. Report: BBC NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA�S ROLE PRC TRYING TO LEARN FROM IRAQ, MAY GIVE MILITARY AID TO NORTH KOREA Communist China is examining how the U.S.-led victory against Ba�athism in Iraq may affect the impending North Korean crisis� (Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN). The Communists are so worried about the U.S. taking action against �the North Korean buffer,� that they may �provide some form of military assistance to Pyongyang, including anti-missile facilities.� The weapons would stay under Communist military control �to prevent such weapons from being misused by the Kim Jong Il regime.� OTHER SOUTH KOREA NEWS SOUTH AGREES TO CABINET-LEVEL TALKS WITH NORTH South Korea agreed to an invitation from the North to hold cabinet-level talks on Sunday. The talks are ostensibly geared toward �joint economic and industrial projects� (CNN), but the South �hopes to use the high-level talks to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions� (MSNBC). OTHER NEWS AUSTRALIA BUSTS NORTH KOREAN DRUG RING Australian Special Forces seized a North Korean ship just after it had offloaded 50 kilograms of heroine near the Australian coast. The seizure was the most dramatic evidence behind assertions that the North was resorting to narcotics �as a way of earning foreign currency to pay for its large military and its non-conventional weapons programs� (Cybercast News). ANTI-STALINIST GOVERNOR ISHIHARA BREEZES TO SECOND TERM Tokyo Governor and fiery anti-Communist Shintaro Ishihara won easy re-election this week, taking 70% of the vote in Japanese capital. Ishihara, touted by some as Japan�s next Prime Minister, has called for a more assertive Japan against Communist China and Stalinist North Korea. Report: BBC COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS ANOTHER CALL FOR LIBERATION Thomas H. Henriksen, from the Hoover Institution, becomes one of the few pundits to support a detailed policy of liberation � in his case without war � for the people of northern Korea. He�s far too optimistic about Communist China�s willingness to help, however, in his Washington Times column. ON THE NORTH KOREA TALKS Carl Gershman, President of the National Endowment for Democracy, demands that the U.S.-PRC-NK talks include �the terrible crimes the North Korean regime is committing against its own people.� In his Washington Post piece, Gershman details the outrageous abuses of human rights by the Stalinists, and insists that the talks be used to bring the abuses into the world�s field of vision. Aidan Foster-Carter, of Leeds University, throws some badly needed cold water on the prospects for the U.S-NK-PRC talks this week. His BBC piece provides the skepticism on Kim Jong-il that seems to be alarmingly missing in Washington. Doug Struck and Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, are also skeptical, but this is due to what they see on the U.S. side of the table. Bill Taylor, an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, gives a rosy scenario of both Kim Jong-il and the prospect for Wednesday�s talks in the Washington Times. ON U.S. POLICYMAKERS AND NORTH KOREA Ellen Bork, of the Project for the New American Century, examines the pre-Administration views of Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Armitage, Deputy Secretaries of State and Defense, respectively, on what to do about the Stalinist regime and its nuclear ambitions. 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. |