| Home page To receive this publication via e-mail, click here. THE NORTH KOREA REPORT: SEPTEMBER 29, 2003 Our statement on why northern Korea must be liberated can be found here. TOP STORY: SOUTH KOREAN MILLENNIUM DEMOCRATIC PARTY SPLINTERING PRESIDENT ROH MOO-HYUN QUITS MDP AS FACTION LOYAL TO HIM FORMS NEW PARTY South Korea�s dovish Millennium Democratic Party split itself in half today. President Roh Moo-hyun quit the party, and legislators loyal to him are launching a third party this week. The split comes just half a year before Parliamentary elections. The hawkish Grand National Party holds a majority in the current Parliament. Report: BBC The split was apparently due to an internal power struggle between Roh and his predecessor, former President Kim Dae-jung. The departure of Roh and his supporters ends the MDP�s stint as the ruling party. What affect this has on foreign policy is unclear, but Roh was a supporter of Kim�s dovish �sunshine� policy (a.k.a. $un$hine policy, see below). OTHER SOUTH KOREA NEWS EX-INTELLIGENCE CHIEF AMONG SIX CONVICTED IN $UN$HINE SCANDAL A South Korean court convicted the former head of intelligence for ex-President Kim Dae-jung and five others for their roles in �illegally transferring money to North Korea to bring about the historic summit between the two in 2000� (BBC). North Korea received $500 million, at least $100 million from South Korean taxpayers, right before the summit. The court concluded that the money �obviously has a close relationship with the inter-Korean summit talks.� The summit won Kim Dae-jung the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000 (see 2/3, 2/10, 2/17, 3/3, 3/24, 6/30, and 8/11 North Korea Reports). SOUTH KOREA ADMITS TO �UNDERGROUND WAR� AGAINST THE NORTH The dovish South Korean government admitted to having �sent more than 13,000 commandos and spies into North Korea between 1951 and 1994� (National Post, Cdn.). The �secret war� included �saboteurs, terrorists and spies,� but, sadly, it didn�t include efforts to try and build a dissident movement in the North. While the South�s operatives and operations may seem a bit beyond the pale, it should be noted that the North tried twice to kill South Korea�s President (in 1968 and 1974), and did kill 4 Cabinet ministers in 1983. The North also blew up a South Korean plane in 1987, killing �All 260 people on board� (see 10/14/02 North Korea Report). EXILED DISSIDENT � AND POSSIBLE STALINIST SPY � BACK IN SOUTH KOREA Song Doo-yul, a former dissident during South Korea�s military dictatorship era who fled to Germany, is back in South Korea and is �under interrogation over his alleged links with North Korea� (BBC). South Korean officials told the BBC Song was cooperating with them. COMMITMENT TO SOUTH NOT LESSENED, SAYS RUMSFELD; NK CALLS HIM �PSYCOPATH� Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the Bush Administration is building �a more capable and sustainable U.S. military presence on the peninsula� (Cybercast News). He also rejected rumors of a downgrading of America�s commitment to protect South Korea from the Stalinist North. Also reporting: Agence France Presse Rumsfeld also predicted that North Korea�s Stalinist government would fall someday � but once again said nothing about the U.S. helping to hasten the arrival of that day. The North still called him a �dictatorial psychopath� (BBC, United Press International via Newsmax). OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS PUTIN CALLS ON U.S. TO GIVE NORTH KOREA THE SECURITY GUARANTEE IT WANTS During Russian President Vladimir Putin�s meeting with President Bush over the weekend, the two agreed that North Korea should not have nuclear weapons. However, Putin also called for the U.S. to give North Korea the security guarantee it has repeatedly demanded in exchange for ending its nuclear ambitions. Reports: Fox News, Washington Post U.S. TO USE SHADOW-200S IN KOREA The United States �is to fly a new type of unmanned spy plane near the North Korean border� (BBC). The new plane is the unmanned Shadow-200, the first unmanned plane to be used on the Korean Peninsula. The Stalinist denunciation is likely forthcoming. WOMEN�S WORLD CUP: U.S. 3, NORTH KOREA 0 The United States Women�s World Cup team reached the quarterfinals after defeating North Korea�s squad by a 3-0 margin. Report: BBC WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION NEWS NORTH KOREA TO IAEA: BUZZ OFF The Stalinists flatly rejected last week�s demand by the International Atomic Energy Agency (see last North Korea Report) to end their nuclear ambitions and agree to IAEA inspections, calling it �not worth consideration at all� (CNN). Also reporting: United Press International via Washington Times Stop the North Korean Nuclear Power Plants: The U.S. is finally moving to cancel the two nuclear power plants from the 1994 agreement that North Korea�s broke. Keep the pressure on until the plants are cancelled! Use this China e-Lobby fact sheet and tell the President to kill the power plants. NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA�S ROLE COMMUNIST CHINA CRITICIZES PSI, CITING POSSIBILITY OF �MISTAKES� Communist China tried to throw more cold water on the Proliferation Security Initiative, the international consortium created to stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The Communists now say the PSI � whose main target is Communist-ally North Korea � could make �mistakes� (Cybercast News). BUSH AND RICE GIVE PRC HIGH PRAISE ON NORTH KOREA President Bush called U.S. relations with Communist China �full of energy� (Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN), and had high praise for the PRC�s �constructive role� regarding North Korea�s nuclear ambitions. The Communists have hosted two rounds of talks on North Korea�s nuclear weapons program, neither of which went anywhere. After the last round, the Communists insisted that the U.S. soften its position, while saying nothing publicly about North Korea�s broken promises or its continued intransigence (see 9/2 North Korea Report). Despite this, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice echoed Bush, saying Communist China has been �extremely helpful� (Fox News) with the North. COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS ON THE STALINIST ABDUCTIONS Victorino Matus, Weekly Standard, returns to the sad plight of the families of the Japanese who were kidnapped by North Korea, why the Stalinists have lied repeatedly about those who �died,� and why they still hold the families of five other victims hostage in North Korea � the five are now in Japan (see 9/23/02, 9/30/02, 11/18/02, and last North Korea Reports). ON NORTH KOREA�S �MARKET REFORMS� Randall Parker (Parapundit founder and Member since 2003) examines reports of North Korean �reforms.� He sounds skeptical, and well he should: previous proclamations by outsiders of North Korean �reform� have gone bust (see 1/28 North Korea Report). 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. Feel free to forward this to anyone you think might be interested in receiving it. 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