| Home page To receive this publication via e-mail, click here. THE NORTH KOREA REPORT: JUNE 23, 2003 Our statement on why North Korea must be liberated can be found here. TOP STORY: NORTH KOREA BLASTS PLANS TO HALT DRUGS AND WEAPONS TRADE SAYS �BLOCKADE� WOULD LEAD TO WAR The plan to block North Korean ships sending out illegal drugs, missiles, and other unsavory items (see last North Korea Report) got the predictable response from the Stalinist regime: it threatened �immediate physical retaliatory step against the US once it judges that its sovereignty is infringed upon by Washington's blockade operation� (BBC). Just in case the rest of the world hadn�t noticed, the Stalinists helpfully threw in an assertion that any conflict �will immediately spill over to Japan� (Washington Post 6-18). Japan was one of eleven nations that signed on to the plan: Australia, the U.S. Poland, Portugal, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, France, Germany, and Canada were the others. The United Kingdom later joined in (CNN). Although the plan to amend international law to allow the interdiction of ships trading in drugs and weapons does not specifically refer to North Korea, the Australian Foreign Minister said it was �directly relevant� to ending the Stalinist regime�s drug dealing and selling of missiles and other military hardware to terrorist states (see also last North Korea Report). Secretary of State Colin Powell, in Phnom Penh for the meeting of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), asked for the members there to support the plan (Washington Times). As for the North�s rants, State Department spokesman Philip Reeker called them �bellicose rhetoric� (ABC Radio, Australian). Also reporting: Cybercast News, Washington Post 6-19 OTHER NUCLEAR NEWS COMMUNIST CHINA, AGAIN, STICKS UP FOR ITS STALINIST ALLY Communist China � North Korea oldest and strongest ally � stuck up for the Stalinist regime again at the ASEAN meetings last week. PRC Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing issued the standard boilerplate about a �nuclear free� (BBC) Korea, but also added, �At the same time of course, the DPRK's (North Korea's) security concerns should be appropriately addressed.� Anyone surprised? The Communists were nice enough to back the U.S. insistence that Japan and South Korea join any U.S.-North Korea talks (Washington Post), although that may have more to do with the disaster that was the April round of talks among the U.S., the Stalinists, and the PRC (see 4/28 North Korea Report). Meanwhile, the U.S. reiterated that bilateral talks were out of the question (Washington Times). U.S. LOOKING TO UNITED NATIONS TO CONDEMN NORTH KOREA; EU DOES CONDEMN NK The United States is going back to the United Nations Security Council to get it to condemn North Korea�s nuclear weapons programs and demand that they �be immediately destroyed� (CNN). The U.S. is in talks with the U.K., Russia, and France to win their support � and hope that will be enough to turn Communist China around, according to the Washington Post. The U.S. did win support from the European Union, which �urged the Stalinist state to visibly dismantle its nuclear programme and comply fully with the international non-proliferation treaty (NPT), from which it withdrew last year� (BBC). JAPANESE NEWSPAPER SAYS NK HAS SEVERAL NUKES; GOVERNMENT SAYS NO The Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun, cited by CNN, reported �that the United States had informed Japanese officials in about March that North Korea possessed several small warheads� capable of being carried by ballistic missiles, of which the Stalinists have plenty. The Japanese government insisted it had �no evidence� to back that up, and government spokesman Yasuo Fukuda said, �I believe that the United States probably does not (have evidence) either.� Stop the North Korean Nuclear Power Plants: Despite North Korea�s boast of nuclear weapons, a brazen violation of the 1994 agreement to freeze its nuclear ambitions, the two nuclear power plants that were part of the 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. AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS BUSH ADMINISTRATION�S MOVE TOWARD �BUNKER BUSTERS� MAY HAVE NK IN MIND President Bush�s success in getting Congress to lift the ban on nuclear �bunker-buster� research last month has many thinking the move could be focused on North Korea�s massive artillery formations, which could kill hundreds of thousands of South Koreans within minutes. Report: Washington Post COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS PARAPUNDIT FOUNDER BACKS NORTH KOREAN LIBERATION Randall Parker, founder of Parapundit and Member since 2003, give this multi-linked analysis of the North Korean situation, and proposes buying off individual Stalinist officials and getting outside information into North Korea. His main goal (please correct me if I�m wrong, Randall) � liberation as soon as possible � is exactly right, and his second recommendation (regarding information) is also. As for his first, one could quibble, but he does an excellent job explaining the problems with the other options on the table, all of which, from this quarter, seem more derived from trying to get the regime to behave than bringing it down. OTHER OPINIONS ON NORTH KOREA Steve Schifferes, BBC, gauges the opinions of analysts on the current situation in North Korea. Peter Brookes, of the Heritage Foundation, has high praise for the plans of the U.S. and eleven other nations to stop rogue nations from shipping arms to terrorists, in the New York Post. Patrick Goodenough, Cybercast News, finds growing support for the Administration�s plans to isolate North Korea, thanks in large part to the antics of the Stalinist regime itself. MR. WILSON GOES TO PYONGYANG Congressman Joseph Wilson (Republican � South Carolina) visited North Korea last month (see 6/2 North Korea Report). He describes what he saw to John J. Miller of National Review Online. 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 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]m. 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