| THE NORTH KOREA REPORT: SEPTEMBER 23, 2002 Thanks to Kim Jong-Il�s summit with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, and his admission that the North kidnapped at least a dozen Japanese citizens from 1978 to 1983, this week�s Report is a good deal longer than usual. TOP STORY: NORTH KOREA ADMITS IT KIDNAPPED 12 JAPANESE FROM 1978 TO 1983 STALINISTS SAY FOUR KIDNAP VICTIMS STILL ALIVE, EIGHT OTHERS DEAD After years of denial, North Korea finally admitted it had kidnapped a dozen Japanese between 1978 and 1983, and that four kidnap victims were still alive. Top Stalinist Kim Jong-Il called the kidnappings �regrettable� � what an understatement � and said the four survivors could go back to Japan �if they wanted� (BBC 9/17/02). Needless to say, the relatives of those kidnapped were enraged (CNN). It is widely believed that the twelve were kidnapped to help train North Korean spies, or to become �wives for Japanese already in North Korea, to help build a community of Japanese revolutionaries� (BBC 9/19/02). One of the eight who died was only 13 when North Korea captured her � her 15-year-old daughter �still has the badminton racket her mother was carrying when she was snatched.� The Stalinists claim the eight died due to �natural disasters or natural causes.� Few believed that claim, and with good reason. Japanese media, cited by the BBC (9/19 link), reported that two of the victims died on the same day, mere weeks after one of them managed to smuggle out a letter home. Even more eerily, the Washington Post (9/18/02) reported, �several dozen more may have been abducted.� Whether the summit will lead to a Tokyo-Pyongyang thaw is still up in the air. While most Japanese lean towards such a thaw, the victims� families obviously do not. Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, the most committed anti-Communist in Japanese politics, also joined the �no� side, railing against the �barbarous� abductions (Washington Post - 9/19/02). Also Reporting: Cybercast News OTHER SUMMIT AFTERMATH NEWS SOUTH KOREA VOWS TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ITS ABDUCTEES The Stalinists� admission also had a dramatic effect on South Korea, which �said it will step up efforts to persuade North Korea to return hundreds of its citizens it believes the Stalinist state has abducted and is holding against their will� (BBC). Nearly 1,000 South Korean citizens and prisoners of war are in North Korea, which has denied that any were kidnapped. NORTH KOREA WANTS OUT OF �AXIS OF EVIL;� U.S. DEEPLY SKEPTICAL After admitting the barbaric kidnappings, North Korea sent a message to the U.S. �asking to be dropped from Bush's �axis of evil�� (CNN 9/20/02). Koizumi, after returning to Japan, made a �seperate (sic) proposal . . . to resume dialogue with� the Stalinist regime. However, the U.S. was less impressed than Koizumi, noting that the North made no mention of halting weapons sales to terrorist states. While North Korea did extend its moratorium on missile testing (CNN 9/19/02), a senior official noted that its weapons sales � the official called the North the �foremost proliferator of weapons in the world� (Washington Post) � allow it to effectively test its missiles �by proxy� when its customers test them. The unnamed official also took note of the kidnappings admission, but in a very different light. The official also noted that Kim refused to take any responsibility for the kidnappings, blaming them on rogue elements from the reign of his father � Kim Il-sung. The official said that line �does not pass the laugh test.� Nicholas Eberstadt, American Enterprise Institute, said that now all dealings with the North were �extortion with a human face� in light of the kidnapping admissions. Also reporting: BBC COMMUNIST CHINA WORRIED ABOUT DECREASING �CLOUT� OVER NORTH KOREA More worry on the summit came from an unusual quarter. Willy Wo-Lap Lam (CNN) reports that Communist China is nervous that its �clout over its client state may decrease gradually.� NORTH SAYS IT WILL �ALLOW� NUCLEAR INSPECTIONS, BUT GIVES NO DATE FOR THEM Meanwhile, the North also repeated its pledge to �allow� inspections of its �frozen� nuclear program, but once again refused to say when the inspections, required under the 1994 nuclear power plant deal could occur. The Stalinists have been putting off the inspections for years, all the while insisting they would allow them, someday. Report: CNN Stop the Nuclear Power Deal: The United States is still building two nuclear power plants in North Korea, which refuses to allow inspections of its nuclear weapons program, one of the conditions to which it agreed to get those plants. Use this China e-Lobby fact sheet and tell the President to cancel the deal. OTHER NEWS NORTH HAS OVER 2,500 TONS OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS, ENOUGH MATERIAL FOR ONE NUKE North Korea has �a stockpile of 2,500 to 5,000 tons of chemical weapons and is believed to be capable of producing 1 ton of biological weapons annually� (UPI via Washington Times). The stockpile of chemical and biological weapons includes �17 different types� of gases and 13 different lethal germs and viruses.� As for nuclear weapons, �The United States believes North Korea has also diverted enough plutonium to make one or two nuclear bombs before agreeing to freeze production in 1994� as part of the nuclear power deal. Maybe that�s why the Stalinist regime �has rejected� repeatedly demands to allow inspections of its �frozen� nuclear weapons program immediately � as required in the deal (see above). NORTH KOREA, COPYING PRC, CREATES �SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE� North Korea appears to be serious about following Communist China�s �reform.� The Stalinists have set up a �special economic zone� in the city of Sinuiji on it northern border, and appointed a �businessman� from the PRC to run it. What will this mean for the people of North Korea? Well, �a wall will be built to keep North Koreans out of the self-governing capitalist zone� (BBC). Also reporting: CNN For those inside the �zone,� �There will be elections to a legislature and administrators and judges hired from foreign countries, including the West� in an attempt to create a city �similar to Hong Kong.� Of course, Hong Kong�s �elections� are for a powerless minority of the legislature � the rest are appointed by a Communist-picked panel � and the vaunted �autonomy� of the city has been continually chipped away. WORK BEGINS ON ROAD AND RAIL LINKS After the militaries of North and South Korea agreed to clear land for road and rail links (see last NK Report), work began on those links, and clearing the mines to allow for them, last week (BBC, CNN, Washington Times). NORTH KOREAN ATHLETES IN SOUTH FOR ASIAN GAMES North Korea sent a team of athletes to the Asian Games in the South Korean city of Busan for the Asian Games, which start a week from yesterday. It�s the first team from the Stalinist regime to take part in any international games hosted by the democratic South. Report: BBC COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS WHY NOT �REGIME CHANGE� IN NORTH KOREA? Fred Hiatt (Washington Post) wonders why the Bush Administration and its allies seem only interested in Iraq�s brutal treatment of its own people, while saying little or nothing about North Korea. His answer: �South Korea, China (and) the United States, each (have) an interest in North Korea (stability, fear of Korean reunification, an end to missile development) that does not include freedom for North Koreans.� Hiatt, who also tags the number killed by the Stalinist famine at 3 million, may have a disturbing answer, but since the Bush Administration has neither uttered a word about the Stalinists using food as a weapons against dissent nor ended the 1994 nuclear power deal with the North, one can�t say he�s wrong. MORE ON �REFORM� IN THE NORTH Doug Struck has some good pieces on North Korea, but on his latest Washington Post article he slips a bit. In discussing the latest �reform� in North Korea, he says of the 1994 nuclear power deal in whish the Stalinists said it would freeze its nuclear weapons program: �despite White House suggestions, the U.S. government had said there is no evidence it has broken that pledge.� Struck leaves out the required inspections of the Stalinists� �frozen� program, which have not occurred. The Bush Administration sent $95 million in aid anyway, waiving the requirement and allowing � among other things � Struck�s line to sound more accurate than it really is (see 04/03/02 China e-Lobby Update). Sign the Boycott Petition: In reaction to the 2008 Olympic Games being awarded to Beijing, the China e-Lobby has begun a petition for an American boycott of those games. Miss an Update, Weekly Links, or a North Korea Report? Find it on our web site. Check out the latest on Communist China and the Terrorist War. Feel free to forward this to anyone you think might be interested in receiving it. 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