| Home page To receive this publication via e-mail, click here. THE NORTH KOREA REPORT: FEBRUARY 24, 2003 Our statement on why North Korea must be liberated can be found here. TOP STORY: NORTH KOREA VIOLATES BORDER WITH SOUTH KOREA TWICE JET CROSSES SEA BORDER FOR TWO MINUTES; SOLDIER CROSSES DMZ A North Korean fighter plane crossed the Northern Limit Line last week, violating South Korean air space for two minutes before South Korean military jets reached it. The aircraft then returned to North Korean air space, ending the first air incursion in almost 20 years. Reports: BBC, CNN 2/20 That same day, a North Korean soldier crossed the demilitarized zone that separates democratic South Korea from the Stalinist North (CNN 2/21). Last summer, a North Korean navy vessel crossed the NLL and fired upon the South Korean navy. Four South Korean sailors and nearly twenty North Koreans died in the incident (see 7/1/02 and 7/8/02 North Korea Reports). NUCLEAR/CHEMICAL WEAPONS NEWS AL QAEDA�S SOURCE FOR PLUTONIUM: COULD IT BE NORTH KOREA? According to the Weekly Standard, al Qaeda�s quest for nuclear material for �dirty bombs,� or worse, could very well end, successfully, with North Korea�s nuclear weapons program. 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 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. SCUD MISSILE SHIP DELIVERS SARIN GAS COMPONENT FROM GERMANY TO NK The North Korean vessel that last year shipped Scud missiles ostensibly to Yemen � and possibly to Iraq (see 12/30/02 North Korea Report) � has been busy since then. Bill Gertz (Washington Times) reported that the vessel �transferred a large shipment of chemical weapons material from Germany to North Korea.� The chemical was sodium cyanide, a component of the deadly sarin gas. POWELL PROPOSES �5 PLUS FIVE� PLAN FOR NORTH KOREA TALKS While on a multi-national trip to Japan, Communist China, and South Korea, Secretary of State Colin Powell proposed a �five plus five� group for talks with the Stalinist regime. The talks would include the U.S., Britain, Russia, China and France � all the permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Australia and the European Union. Report: Washington Times Powell then met with the Communist Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Communist Party chief Hu Jintao over the weekend for talks on North Korea and Iraq. Powell said the Communists �are anxious to play as helpful a role as they can� (BBC) regarding its Stalinist ally. The PRC has been stingy in its �help,� unless its help for North Korea itself (See News on Communist China�s Role in North Korea). While in Japan, Powell won �cautious� support for his plan for multilateral talks with North Korea. He will be in South Korea for Roh Moo-hyun�s inauguration as President tomorrow (Cybercast News). SOUTH KOREAN OUTGOING, INCOMING PRESIDENTS WANT U.S.-NORTH KOREA TALKS South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, whose term ends tomorrow, and Roh Moo-hyun, the man who will succeed him, called on the U.S. to open talks with North Korea on its nuclear ambitions. Roh also threw in a call for economic aid to the North, and repeated his constant � if badly erroneous � belief that the Stalinist regime �opening up and is already changing� (BBC). Also reporting: CNN KIM DAE-JUNG SAYS SOUTH KOREA MAY HAVE TO GET NUCLEAR WEAPONS IF NK DOES Outgoing South Korean President Kim Dae-jung had this stark warning for North Korea if it continued with its nuclear weapons program: �If North Korea gets nuclear weapons, the stance of Japan and our country toward nukes would change� (CNN). SECURITY COUNCIL KICKS NORTH KOREAN CAN DOWN THE ROAD, PRC THRILLED The Security Council is in no hurry to take up the issue of North Korea�s nuclear ambitions, and Communist China is more than happy with the go-slow approach. PRC UN Ambassador Wang Yingfan made clear the Communists were not looking for �action that further complicates the situation� (CNN). OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS U.S. CONSIDERING SANCTIONS AGAINST NORTH KOREA According to Newsmax.com, which cited The New York Times, the Bush Administration is �putting together detailed plans for possible future sanctions.� Among the items under consideration are halting missile shipments, stopping the flow of money from Korean ethnics in Japan to the Stalinist regime, interdicting the Stalinists� flourishing drug trade, and cutting food donations to the North. The U.S. later dropped the food aid cutback, despite �lingering concerns about improper distribution� (Washington Times). As Newsmax put it, the U.S. �suspects that American food aid is going to feed the N. Korean Army.� Anti-Stalinist activist Dr. Norbert Vollertsen, who spent over a year and a half in North Korea gave accounts of this aid theft by the North last year (see 3/6/02 Update). POWELL DANGLES ECONOMIC AID FOR NORTH IF IT SCRAPS NUKE PROGRAM In a move some might call part of �negotiations,� Secretary of State Colin Powell, according to CNN, �more economic aid would be available if North Korea were to scrap its nuclear weapons program.� NORTH KOREA THREATENS TO END 50-YEAR ARMISTICE, FEW BELIEVE THEM North Korea added to its litany of threats against the U.S. This time, the Stalinist regime said it would feel �no need . . . to remain bound to the AA (armistice agreement)� (CNN). The armistice ended the Korean War in 1953. Both the U.S. and South Korea cast tremendous doubt on the notion that the North would restart the Korean War (Washington Post, BBC). Also reporting: Cybercast News NORTH CALLS ITS NUCLEAR PROGRAM �SELF-DEFENSE,� DEMANDS NON-AGRESSION PACT North Korea has once again repeated its demand for a non-aggression pact, saying the lack of such is pushing it toward a �self-defence (UK sp)� (BBC) policy of producing nuclear weapons. NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA�S ROLE IN NORTH KOREA PRC VICE FOREIGN MINISTER MEETS NORTH KOREAN FM; ALLIES SEE EYE TO EYE Communist Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with North Korean FM Paek Namsun to discuss the Stalinist regime�s nuclear ambitions. In a statement following the meeting, Wang said the two regimes � allies for over half a century � �want to see the issue resolved through peaceful means and through dialogue� (CNN). It was another sign of how the PRC �has so far resisted U.S. pressure to leverage its aid to North Korea in return for political compliance.� COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS ANOTHER CALL FOR THE LIBERATION OF NORTH KOREA This one comes from James Robbins, in National Review Online. Robbins also notes, for what it� s worth, that a Korea that is free, democratic, and whole was �authorized by (a) U.N. General Assembly Resolution on October 7, 1950.� That vision �was never achieved, and has never been abandoned. Nor should it be. The North Korean people live under a dictatorship that makes the Taliban look like amateur hour. Freeing the North Koreans from their crushing tyranny would be a major victory for human rights and liberalism.� ON COMMUNIST CHINA AND NORTH KOREA William Triplett II begins his Washington Times column on Communist China�s role in North Korea�s nuclear ambitions with the following: �For those of us who wish the Bush administration well, its efforts to handle the Beijing-Pyongyang crisis are becoming too painful to watch.� From there, the column gets even better, regardless of what one may think of the Bush Administration. Triplett ends his searing and brilliant piece with this: �The road to Pyongyang does indeed lead through Beijing, but it's in unfriendly hands. Unless the administration recognizes this, it is doomed to share the failure of the Clinton administration. Success will require more hard realism and less wishful thinking.� Never were truer words spoken. Claudia Rosett, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal Europe, demands to know why the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner for Refugees has done so little to help the North Korean refugees trapped in Communist China. Her painful account of their plight, and the UNHCR�s general indifference, is in the Weekly Standard. Meanwhile, Ariel Cohen, in National Review Online, examines Russia�s role in the world, including its ties to Communist China and North Korea. Cohen is convinced Russia will work with Beijing and Washington to prevent Comrade Kim from going ballistic � and nuclear,� despite the fact that �Beijing� has been less than willing to play along. Lisa Rose Weaver, CNN, looks at the disaster that is North Korean economy, and Communist China�s role in keeping what�s left of the Stalinist regime afloat economically. MORE ON NUCLEAR NORTH KOREA Time Asia has quite a bit on the prospect of a nuclear-armed North Korea. Anthony Spaeth examines what it would mean for northeast Asia. Donald Macintyre examines the Stalinist army, and finds �obsolete tanks, scarce ammo and scant fuel� driving the regime�s desire for nuclear weapons. Alex Kerr, meanwhile, looks at Japan�s conflicted reaction. Halle Dale, in the Washington Times, praises the Administration for its hawkishness, which she defines as the no-negotiations-until-you-end-your-nuclear-ambitions stance the President has taken. Even she does not discuss the possibility of liberation for the people trapped in and by the Stalinist regime. Kevin Kim, BBC, gives his account of the South Korean �tourist� trip to the Stalinist North. ON THE ARMISTICE THE ENDED THE KOREAN WAR The BBC gives this quick primer on the armistice that ended the Korean War in 1953. The North threatened to pull out of the armistice last week (see Other American-Related News). Joe Havely, CNN, tours the demilitarized zone separating Korea�s free half from its Stalinist half. ON SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT-ELECT ROH MOO-HYUN Anthony Speath, Time Asia, has this profile, which focuses on his difficulty in finding his foreign policy footing. Rebecca MacKinnon, CNN, and Doug Struck, Washington Post, also profile the incoming President of South Korea. Caroline Gluck, BBC, examines the world Roh is about to face. 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. |