| THE NORTH KOREA REPORT: DECEMBER 30, 2002 Our statement on why North Korea must be liberated, and how it can happen, can be found here. TOP STORY: ISRAELI NEWSPAPER SAYS NORTH KOREAN SCUDS SEIZED, THEN LET GO, ON THE WAY TO YEMEN ARE ACTUALLY HEADED FOR IRAQ; POWELL DISPUTES IT It takes a lot to bump off all the nuclear news (see below) as the top story, but this did the trick. The New York Post, citing Ha�aretz (Israeli) reports that the Stalinist North Korean Scud missiles seized by the Spanish navy, and then allowed by the U.S. to sail on to Yemen (see 12/16/02 NK Report), actually have a different destination � Iraq. It would be the first confirmation of Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara�s assertion that the Stalinist regime is arming the Ba�athists (see 10/21/02 NK Report). It should be noted that Secretary of State Colin Powell cast doubt on the report in his interview with Fox News (transcript). NUCLEAR NEWS NORTH KOREA READIES UP REACTOR FOR RESTART, INCLUDING NUCLEAR RODS North Korea �has moved fresh fuel to a nuclear reactor� (BBC) at Yongbyon, one of the nuclear plants shut down in 1994 under the deal with the U.S., which offered to build two nuclear plants if the North froze its nuclear weapons program. After the North admitted to violating the agreement, the U.S. ended fuel oil shipments that were part of the deal (see 10/21/02 and 11/18/02 NK Reports). U.S. AND COMMUNIST CHINA REACTIONS U.S. TO PUSH �TAILORED CONTAINMENT�, NO MILITARY STRIKE IN THE OFFING On the other hand, Secretary of State Colin Powell said the U.S. is �not looking at� (Fox News transcript) a military strike against the Stalinists. The Bush Administration will instead use �tailored containment�, if they can convince the North�s neighbors to stop sending it aid and � get this � have the UN impose sanctions on the regime (Washington Post, BBC). Sadly, no one from the Administration discussed even the possibility of liberation for the people of North Korea, maintaining a refusal to push for freedom for northern Korea that goes back months (see 08/05/02 NK Report). Meanwhile, the Administration has repeatedly refused to call the North Korean situation a �crisis.� Some in Congress disagree, but take a line more dovish than the Administration. Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Connecticut) even said the Administration �dropped the ball� Washington Times when it ended fuel oil shipments to the North � apparently forgetting the North�s uranium nuclear weapons program that violated the 1994 Agreed Framework of which the fuel shipments were a part (see 10/21/02 and 11/18/02 NK Report). TALKS WITH NORTH NOT RULED OUT, ENVOY GOING TO SOUTH KOREA As part of this �tailored containment,� Powell said the U.S. was still open to �ways to communicate� (Washington Post) with the Stalinists. He also announced that a U.S. envoy would go to South Korea to discuss the matter with officials there. U.S. CAPABLE OF WINNING FIGHTS IN IRAQ AND NORTH KOREA: RUMSFELD Earlier in the week, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the United States could win military conflicts in Iraq and North Korea at the same time. He specifically said of the Stalinists, �I have no reason to believe that North Korea feels emboldened because of the world's interest in Iraq . . . We are perfectly capable of doing that which is necessary� (Washington Times, Washington Post). COMMUNIST CHINA BLASTS U.S. ON NORTH KOREA The U.S. is still pushing other international and diplomatic angles, which according to Fox News included talks �with the leaders of Russia, China, South Korea, Britain and France.� The PRC was kind enough to respond through its mouthpiece China Daily ripping the U.S. for its attempts to prod the Stalinists to drop its nuclear ambitions, and in particular for Rumsfeld�s comments on the matter (CNN). INTERNATIONAL REACTION INCOMING SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT WARNS NORTH KOREA, BUT STICKS TO �SUNSHINE� Meanwhile, just days after winning the Blue House on a campaign that in part included continuing outgoing President Kim Dae-jung�s dovish �sunshine� policy towards the North, incoming President Roh Moo-hyun ripped the Stalinists for their recent nuclear actions, calling them �not desirable for the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia� (CNN 12/27/02). The democratic South will send envoys to Communist China and Russia �in an attempt to persuade them to intervene� (BBC) on the issue � which to date has not occurred outside of some boilerplate diplomatic verbiage. The South also insisted that it would continue the �sunshine� policy of �engagement� with the North, despite the paucity of benefits arising from that policy (CNN 12/30/02). JAPANESE PM RIPS NORTH�S ACTIONS Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi � whose still dealing with a domestic constituency infuriated over the Stalinist abductions of thirteen Japanese citizens (see 9/23/02, 9/30/02, and 12/19/02 NK Reports) � called the North�s nuclear moves �provocative� (Cybercast News). AUSTRALIA JUNKS PLAN TO ESTABLISH DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH STALINISTS Australia has shelved plans to open an embassy in North Korea next year in reaction to the Stalinists nuclear brinkmanship. Australia had agreed to diplomatic relations with the North in 2000, but has pulled back after deciding �that it would not be right for Australia to continue to build up relations with North Korea� (CNN) in light of its recent actions. RUSSIA EXPRESSES �REGRET� AT NK NUKES, RIPS U.S. �ATTEMPTS TO ISOLATE� STALINISTS Russia cast a pox on all houses today. Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said the Stalinists� nuclear ambitions �cannot help but provoke regret� (BBC). However, it wasn�t happy with the U.S. either; Ivanov called for �constructive dialogue� and ripped �attempts to isolate North Korea,� an obvious reference to the Bush Administration�s �tailored containment.� OTHER NORTH KOREA NUCLEAR NEWS STALINIST REGIME WON�T BUDGE TO �TAILORED CONTAINMENT� . . . Meanwhile, the Stalinist regime said it would not stop its nuclear program if American diplomatic moves succeeded in creating �tailored containment� (BBC). The North also blamed the U.S. for the entire brouhaha, conveniently neglecting its own uranium nuclear weapons program. Also reporting: Fox News . . . THREATENS �UNCONTROLLABLE CATASTROPHE� . . . North Korea, through its mouthpiece newspaper Rodong Sinmun, threatened the United States with �an uncontrollable catastrophe� (CNN) if the U.S. tried to �internationalize� the issue, an obvious reference to American efforts to sign up the rest of Asia to help push the Stalinists. The Stalinists also warned of an �uncontrollable catastrophe� (Washington Post) if the U.S. engaged in military action, something the U.S. has repeatedly said it does not wish or intend to do. Of course, the U.S. still isn�t willing to say it backs any kind of liberation from the Stalinists. Also reporting: Washington Times . . .AND SAYS IT MAY �DITCH� NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY North Korea added another threat to the pile: it would pull out of the Non-Proliferation Treaty � which is supposed to halt the spread of nuclear weaponry � �if the confrontation over its nuclear programme (UK sp) continues� (BBC). Of course, they haven�t exactly been holding to the accord much recently. STALINISTS DEMAND NON-AGRESSION PACT, U.S. �WON�T BE BLACKMAILED� The Stalinists also insisted, again, that the U.S. could solve the problem only with a non-aggression treaty, something the Stalinists have demanded from the U.S. ever since admitting to violating the 1994 deal (Fox News). The U.S. responded by flatly telling the Stalinist regime that �we are not going to be blackmailed� (BBC). STALINISTS KICK OUT IAEA INSPECTORS Also, monitoring devices from the International Atomic Energy Agency, whose inspections and surveillance were part of the deal, have been taken down �from a fourth nuclear facility� (CNN). The North then ordered the IAEA inspectors out; they�re leaving tomorrow (Washington Post). The head of the IAEA called it a �very dangerous precedent.� Also reporting: BBC 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 building the two nuclear power plants that were part of the deal has still not been ruled out. 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. OTHER NEWS NORTH KOREA VIOLATES DEMILITARIZED ZONE The United Nations Command has found North Korea placing light machine guns in the demilitarized zone separating democratic South Korea from the area under control of the Stalinist regime. The South Korean armed forces saw the weaponry �while providing security for workers building the reconnection of the Gyeongui railroad and adjacent highway between the two Koreas� (CNN). COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS "TAILORED CONTAINMENT� So the U.S. is now pushing �tailored containment,� hoping economic pressure will force the Stalinists to end its nuclear weapons program. Paul Reynolds, BBC, examines its prospects (note: he called the 1994 Agreed Framework a success, so take the analysis with a grain of salt). THE WASHINGTON POST EDITORS JOIN THE CALL FOR REGIME CHANGE The final lines from the Washington Post Christmas Eve editorial on Stalinist North Korea read thusly: �Regime change may not be a feasible short-term goal, given the dangers of war to millions of Koreans. But it's likely the only way to solve the nonproliferation challenge -- and end the near enslavement of 22 million Koreans.� OTHER VIEWS Wendy Sherman, a Clinton Administration foreign policy advisor, takes a more dovish view in the Washington Post. The editors of the New York Post call for a reduction to a �symbolic level� of American troops in South Korea � with the caveat that the U.S. will still come to the democratic South�s defense. The editors of the Washington Times, who have already called for the North�s liberation, say the best move on the Stalinists� nuclear ambitions, for now, is to stop the spigot of aid to the Stalinists, even though they themselves acknowledge that Communist China � the Stalinists� half-century ally � �cannot be relied on to halt its subsidies to Pyongyang.� Jack Wheeler, of the Freedom Research Foundation, has his own plan to end the Stalinist regime�s nuclear ambitions in Newsmax.com. Sadly, it does not include the liberation of North Korea. Steve Mufson, Washington Post � seeing �the absence of a strategy of regime change,� and for now, the Administration is woefully leaving this absence unabated � backs some form of diplomacy. COMMUNIST CHINA�S ROLE Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN, takes note of Communist China�s position regarding North Korea: basically sit back and see how to �use its leverage over a recalcitrant North Korea to extract concessions from the United States in areas ranging from Taiwan to Washington's human rights policy.� Lam also notes that the PRC �has hardly cracked the whip on Kim and his henchmen.� DON�T ALLOW IRAQ TO DISTRACT FROM NORTH KOREA Frank Gaffney, Jr., in the Washington Times, warns the Administration not to let Iraq distract their attention from the situation in North Korea. It should be noted that Gaffney is a hawk on Iraq. Meanwhile, Gordon Prather says North Korea is more dangerous than Iraq, also in the Times. WHAT NORTH KOREA�S NUCLEAR AMBITIONS COULD MEAN Joby Warrick, Washington Post, hears from analysts � including one of our favorites, Henry Sokolski � about what the nuclear weapons programs of North Korea and Iran could mean for the world at large. Meanwhile, Peter Goodman, also in the Post, looks at what the Stalinists could do next to up the ante. Paul Reynolds, BBC, also weighs in. ON KIM JONG-IL Marc Lerner, Washington Times, tries to build a profile of the elusive leader of Stalinist North Korea. 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. 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. 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. |