| Home page To receive this publication via e-mail, click here. THE NORTH KOREA REPORT: AUGUST 30, 2004 With the Olympics in Athens over, Communist China is preparing to turn the 2008 Games into a two-week long propaganda bonanza. What should the U.S. do? At the very least, stay home in 2008. Sign the petition for an American boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. 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: NORTH KOREA RIPS BUSH AGAIN; U.S. CALLS IT �MORE BLUSTER� Stalinist North Korea continued its ripping of President Bush, calling him �a political imbecile� (MSNBC). Last week, it compared Bush to Adolph Hitler � unfavorably (see last NKR). The U.S. dismissed the North�s �bluster.� WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION NEWS CADRE WHO LED PRC DELEGATION TO TALKS OUT AS VICE FOREIGN MINISTER Wang Yi, who led the Communist Chinese delegation to the six-party talks on North Korea�s nuclear weapons program, is no longer Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs. What effect this will have on the talks, which have led to little besides U.S. concessions (see 12/08/03, 12/22/03, and 6/28 NKRs), is unclear. Report: Central News Agency, Taiwan, via Epoch Times SOUTH KOREA PLAYING APOLOGIST FOR INTRANSIGENT NORTH The top negotiator for South Korea at the six-way talks, Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuck, gave North Korea cover for its withdrawal from the talks (see 8/16 and last NKRs). Lee �said North Korea probably has little choice but to wait until after the U.S. presidential election to engage itself in negotiations� (Washington Times, second item). 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. HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNAL NEWS NORTH KOREA ADMITS IT�S AN ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER North Korea acknowledged several ecological problems in a joint report with the United Nations. Why would it admit to so many mistakes? The answer can be heard from Dr. Klaus Toepfer, the UN�s Development and Environment Programs Executive Director: �we must respond so (the North) can meet development goals in a sustainable manner� (BBC). Does anyone want to take a guess as to what Dr. Toepfer thinks is the best response (two hints: it involves money, and it certainly does not involve liberation). KIM JONG-IL�S FAVORITE MISTRESS IS DEAD Ko Young-hee, believed to have been the favorite mistress of Kim Jong-il and mother of his second and third sons, has died. What effect this will have on her sons � many believed one of them would become his chosen successor � is not known. Reports: BBC, Time Asia, United Press International via Washington Times OTHER SOUTH KOREA NEWS AS IRAQ DEPLOYMENT BEGINS, IT IS ENDORSED BY MALAYSIA South Korea�s military deployment in Iraq, larger than any other outside of the U.S. and Britain, was endorsed by Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, who �said he hoped it would help to bring peace to Iraq� (Cybercast News). The endorsement came as South Korean troops began their tour in the Kurdish town of Arbil (Time Asia). COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS Ahn Byung-joon, visiting professor at Tokyo�s National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, expresses his concerns about the American troop withdrawal from Asia in the Korea Herald. Roberta Cohen, of the Brookings Institution, recommends the Helsinki diplomatic framework for discussion of human rights in North Korea, in the Washington Post. Check out the Communist China and the Terrorist War page. 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 would be interested in receiving it. Anyone who wishes to join (or unsubscribe or change their address) can send his/her name to [email protected]. Please feel free to send any news on Communist China or North Korea that you find to the same address. |