| Home page To receive this publication via e-mail, click here. THE NORTH KOREA REPORT: DECEMBER 22, 2003 Dragon in the Dark: How and Why Communist China Helps Our Enemies in the War on Terror is now available! My book detailing Communist China�s history of aiding terrorist states, Saddam Hussein, the Taliban, and al Qaeda can be ordered can be ordered here, at Barnes and Noble, or at Amazon. � D.J. McGuire Our statement on why northern Korea must be liberated can be found here. TOP STORY: NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR TALKS DEFINITELY OFF UNTIL NEXT YEAR PROLIFERATION SECURITY INITIATIVE GETS FIVE NEW MEMBERS The likely delay of six-party talks on North Korea�s nuclear weapons (see 12/8 NKR) became definite last week. The next round � which could very well lead to a deal � is now slated for sometime �early in the new year� (Washington Times, third item). The U.S. is still holding to its �coordinated steps� proposal (Washington Post). Meanwhile, five new nations � Turkey, Canada, Norway, Denmark, and Singapore � joined the Proliferation Security Initiative, an international coalition designed largely to stop North Korea and Iran from exporting arms to terrorists. Report: Cybercast News The original eleven members are: Australia, Great Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, and Spain (see 7/14 NKR). The PSI is planning five new interception exercises over the next six months. OTHER WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION NEWS NORTH KOREA SILENT ON LIBYA DEAL North Korea, a �key supplier of illicit technology� (Cybercast News) to Libya, had no reaction to the latter�s decision to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect, and help kill, its weapons of mass destruction programs. Of course, this is the same IAEA the Stalinists fooled for years (see 10/21/02 NKR), as did Iran (see 12/26/02 Update). Stop the North Korean Nuclear Power Plants: Construction on the nuclear power plants from the 1994 agreement has been suspended for one year, but the plants have not been cancelled. Use this China e-Lobby fact sheet and tell the President to kill the power plants from the 1994 agreement that North Korea broke. NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA�S ROLE JAPAN TO BUILD MISSILE DEFENSE Japan announced plans to build a missile defense, to �be deployed between 2007 and 2011� (BBC 1). The Japanese government �has also proposed to complete an overall defence (UK sp) review by March 2005, which would look at adapting Japan's defence to a changing security environment,� namely North Korea�s missiles and nuclear weapons. However, as Robert Karniol of Jane's Defence Weekly noted, �The public discussion you hear about the North Korean threat is just that. It's for public consumption. (The system) is as much geared to China... but they don't like to talk about that� (BBC 2). Japan insisted its missile defense was �purely defensive.� Also reporting: Washington Post OTHER INTERNATIONAL NEWS RUSSIAN FAR EAST GOVERNOR SAYS HE�LL TAKE NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES In one of the more unusual meetings of economic self-interest and altruism, Primorsky Kray Governor Sergei Darkin offered his Far Eastern province as a home for North Korean refugees forced into nonperson status in Communist China. Hundreds of thousands of NK refugees hide in fear of being caught by the PRC, which sends back any refugee it finds. Darkin, however, wouldn�t send any back: �If North Korean refugees show up at the borders, we could welcome 200,000 who could come to live in our region and work in our companies� (Washington Times, second item). He also took note of the sorry plight of the refugees: �I am not indifferent to what is going on across our borders.� WORLD FOOD PROGRAM TO CUT BACK IN NORTH KOREA The United Nations World Food Program will reduce its activity in North Korea �because it has received only 60 percent of the food needed� (Washington Post, third item). The WFP has never satisfied American concerns about the actual fate of the food aid amid numerous reports that the regime steals it to feed itself and its military (see 3/6/02 Update). OTHER SOUTH KOREA NEWS ROH APPROVES TROOP CONTINGENT FOR IRAQ South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun �endorsed the plan . . . to involve a mixture of combat and non-combat troops� totaling roughly 3,000 to Iraq (BBC). The deployment still requires approval by the South Korean legislature, but the party in control � the hawkish, pro-American Grand National Party � �has already indicated its backing.� Commentary on North Korea was unusually absent this week. 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