| Home page To receive this publication via e-mail, click here. THE NORTH KOREA REPORT: MAY 24, 2004 Dragon in the Dark: How and Why Communist China Helps Our Enemies in the War on Terror is now available: here, at Amazon, or at 1-888-280-7715. Our statement on why northern Korea must be liberated can be found here. TOP STORY: FIVE CHILDREN OF JAPANESE ABDUCTEES RETURN WITH KOIZUMI JENKINS AND FAMILY STAY; NO NEW INFO ON EIGHT WHO �DIED�, AND JAPANESE PM IS HEARING IT FROM THEIR RELATIVES; STALINISTS GET �AID� FOR CHILDREN�S RELEASE A summit between Stalinist-in-chief Kim Jong-il and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi led to the return of five children of four Japanese citizens abducted over twenty years ago (BBC 5/24). The four abducted Japanese returned to Japan two years ago (see 9/23/02, 9/30/02, 10/7/02, 10/14/02, 10/21/02, 10/28/02, and 11/18/02 NKRs). For his supposed generosity, Kim received �250,000 tons of food aid and $10m of medical supplies.� Koizumi also swore off economic sanctions �on North Korea if it didn't breach existing agreements� (BBC 5/23). Both moves angered many in Japan; the aid was pilloried as �ransom,� and the sanction promise called �incomprehensible.� Meanwhile, Kim had no new information on eight other abductees who supposedly died while in North Korea. The Stalinist regime has never provided proof of their deaths. The relatives were furious at Kim�s stonewall, and at Koizumi for doing nothing to break it � �Do you have no pride?� was the response of one distraught relative. The one released abductee who did not see her children again was Hitomi Soga. Her husband, American military sergeant Charles Robert Jenkins, �chose� to stay due to fear of being prosecuted for desertion in 1965. The children stayed with him. Jenkins� American family insists that he, too, was kidnapped (see 12/19/02 NKR). WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION NEWS LIBYA�S URANIUM MAY HAVE COME FROM NORTH KOREA The New York Times fingered North Korea as the source of uranium Libya handed over to the U.S. earlier this year. If true � as of yet no U.S. official has confirmed it � the report �would be the first indication North Korea is a possible supplier in the clandestine nuclear network� (CNN). Be afraid, be very afraid. Also reporting: BBC, Parapundit LIGHT-WATER NUCLEAR REACTORS BACK ON THE TABLE The more things change . . . A Bush Administration official at last week�s six-party talks on North Korea�s nuclear weapons program told the Stalinist regime that �it would consider again supplying North Korea with a light-water nuclear reactor� (Bill Gertz, Washington Times) as part of a deal to end North Korea�s nuclear weapons program. This would bring back to life the half-finished nuclear power plats that were part of the 1994 Agreed Framework, and as such were begun in exchange for North Korea �freezing� its nuclear weapons development. The 1994 deal was ended by the North when it admitted to violating the agreement in 2002 (see 10/21/02 NKR). In return and prior to the reactors being built, the U.S. demanded the North �permit International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to return to monitor North Korean nuclear activities� � the same IAEA that couldn�t find Iran�s nuclear weapons program for years. Clearly, the talks were simply the site for another round of U.S. concessions. In a later Gertz piece, a State Department spokesman tried to claim that the return of the reactors was off the table. However, he then contradicted himself by saying, �the United States will not agree to provide reactors to Pyongyang until it first agrees to abandon its nuclear arms programs.� That doesn�t sound off the table to this quarter. Stop the North Korean Nuclear Power Plants: Are the plants dead or aren�t they? You can make sure they don�t come back! Use this China e-Lobby fact sheet and tell the President to kill the power plants from the 1994 agreement that North Korea broke. NORTH KOREA TELLS UN ENVOY THEY�LL KEEP BUILDING NUCLEAR WEAPONS Stalinist North Korea told United Nations envoy Maurice Strong that the regime will �continue developing nuclear weapons programs� (Voice of America via Epoch Times, HK) until, in Strong�s words, �is a security guarantee that they can rely on.� The fact that the U.S. has seen this regime break its own guarantees was not discussed. OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS ANTI-STALINISTS MEET IN SEOUL TO MAP OUT PLAN AGAINST REGIME Anti-Stalinist activists from the U.S. and throughout the world met in Seoul �to help North Korean refugees, draw attention to rights abuses by Pyongyang � and help speed up its collapse� (Cybercast News). The activists also had harsh words for dovish South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, whom they accused was �trying to keep [Pyongyang] in business.� REDEPLOYMENT OF TROOPS FROM SOUTH KOREA TO IRAQ CONFIRMED The United States confirmed it was moving troops from South Korea to Iraq, but unlike the reports in the last NKR, the number of troops to be moved is 3,600. The remaining American force level in South Korea will remain at roughly 34,000 �for at least a year� (Washington Post). The troops won�t be moved until this summer. Also reporting: BBC OTHER SOUTH KOREA NEWS IT�S OFFICAL: ROH JOINS HIS OWN PARTY South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun officially joined the Uri Party, which was founded specifically to support his agenda (BBC). Uri currently controls the National Assembly after defeating the more hawkish Grand National Party last month (see 4/19 NKR). Also reporting: VOA via Epoch Times SOUTH KOREA SETS CAPITAL MOVE IN MOTION A commission to relocate the capital of South Korea �has temporarily selected 74 out of 131 administrative agencies to be moved,� according to the Korea Times (cited by United Press International via Washington Times). Among the offices slated to head southward, for now are �the Office of the Prime Minister and ministries of finance and economy and unification.� COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS SPREADING THE WORD ON THE NORTH KOREAN HORROR The U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) is informing college students across America the horrors of the Stalinist regime. Rachel Zabarkes Friedman, National Review Online, caught up with them at Stanford last week. ON THE JAPANESE ABDUCTEES An unattributed BBC piece documents the history of the Japanese abductions by North Korea, although it ignores dozens of suspected kidnappings to which North Korea will not admit, and is a little to quick to accept the Stalinist assertion that eight victims have �died.� ON ROH�S RETURN Donald MacIntyre, Time Asia, assesses the political ramifications of Roh Moo-hyun�s reinstatement as South Korea�s President, and the strength of his dovish Uri Party. ON NORTH KOREA AND MISSILE DEFENSE Peter Huessy, of National Defense University, details how opponents of America�s soon-to-be-deployed missile defense tried to downplay the North Korean missile threat to undermine the case for deployment, in the Washington Times. ON THE HISTORY OF ANTI-COMMUNISTS IN NORTH KOREA Lee Wha Rang, in the Association for Asia Research via the Epoch Times, tells the checkered and tragic history of anti-Communist partisan fighters in North Korea. ON COMMUNIST CHINA�S ROLE F. Andy Messing, Jr., and James A. Kellar, both from the National Defense Council Foundation, detail Communist China�s arms sales to Iran, Pakistan, and North Korea, in the Washington Times. They also note, wisely, that the PRC uses the arms �simultaneously to distract the U.S. and keep itself off the radar screen.� You�d think they had read this. Parapundit founder Randall Parker (Member since 2003) wonders if Communist China�s heavy gender imbalance could spill over into North Korea and destabilize it. 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 via our home page. 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