| THE NORTH KOREA REPORT: SEPTEMBER 30, 2002 NEWS KIDNAPPING ISSUE REFUSES TO GO AWAY; FAMILIES DON�T BELIEVE NORTH KOREA SOME BELIEVE RELATIVES STILL ALIVE; MORE FAMILIES CLAIM RELATIVES KIDNAPPED The Washington Post reported that several families of Japanese kidnapped by North Korea � who now number 13 � do not believe the Stalinists� assertion that eight of the kidnapped have died. The families �believe the North Korean leader may have preferred to say the eight Japanese died rather than allow them to tell sensitive tales about how they were forced to train North Korean spies.� The victims� families weren�t very thrilled with their own government either, as Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi found out when he met with the families of the kidnap victims. Koizumi pledged to make the issue �his top priority in dealings with Pyongyang� (BBC 9/27/02). The Stalinists then had the audacity to warn Japan �not to get carried away by emotion over the kidnappings.� Not to get carried away?!?! According to the BBC (9/25/02), at least one of the kidnapped, Keiko Arimoto, �is believed to have been intended as a wife for a Japanese radical left-wing faction member in North Korea.� That faction would be the Japanese Red Army, which hijacked a Japanese plane in the 1970s. How many others were �intended� as JRA wives, as opposed to forced spy-trainers, is not known. Meanwhile, dozens more families are insisting that their relatives were also kidnapped (the BBC put the near at around 60, the Post at �between 36 and 70�), and the Japanese government, already reeling from the fact the a few of the names on North Korea�s list was not on its own, said it would into the claims. FOOD AID TO NORTH ENDS; DONORS CITE KIDNAPPINGS, LACK OF AID FREEDOM The World Food Programme announced that it was ending aid to North Korea due to lack of support from donor nations, especially Japan and the U.S. The former said aid was contingent upon resolution of the aforementioned kidnappings, while the latter insisted that the North give �aid organizations, including the WFP, more freedom� (CNN) to distribute the food. Also reporting: BBC Neither story chose to mention the reports of the Stalinist regime stealing international food aid to feed the military and party supporters. This use of food as an instrument of suppressing dissent was likely what the U.S. was trying to prevent in its insistence on �freedom� for international aid groups (see 4/15/02 NK Report, 2/13/02 China e-Lobby Update). NORTH AND SOUTH KOREA SET UP HOTLINE North and South Korean militaries �have set up their first hotline across the normally tense and heavily fortified border� (BBC). The hotline is part of the deal to clear mines in enough areas along the border to establish inter-Korean rail and road links (see 9/23/02 and 9/16/02 NK Reports). U.S. TO SEND DELEGATION TO NORTH KOREA, COMMUNIST CHINA HAPPY The United States is sending a delegation to North Korea this week (Washington Post, Fox News). The delegation will discuss the regime�s �weapons of mass destruction program, the 1994 agreed framework, conventional forces on the Korean peninsula and the dire humanitarian situation� (CNN). Meanwhile, Communist China called the meeting a �positive step� (Washington Times, second paragraph). Stop the Nuclear Power Deal: The United States is still building two nuclear power plants in North Korea, which refuses to allow inspections of its nuclear weapons program, one of the conditions to which it agreed to get those plants. Use this China e-Lobby fact sheet and tell the President to cancel the deal. U.S. SOLDIERS� REMAINS RETURNED North Korea returned remains of eight American soldiers lost during the Korean War (BBC). The eight had been listed as missing in action until North Korea returned them. Over 8,000 Korean veterans are still listed as MIA. DAVID CHANG SAYS SENATOR TORICELLI HELPED HIM TRY TO WIN NORTH KOREA DEALS Allison Hayward, in National Review Online, finds evidence in recently released court records that David Chang, fund-raiser for New Jersey U.S. Senator Robert Torricelli, made �efforts to purchase State Department assistance with North Korea through . . . Torricelli.� Torricelli has been one of the most anti-Communist-China Democrats in the Senate. This wisdom obviously did not extend to North Korea. As of 1PM, CNN reports that Torricelli may pull out of his race for re-election. We�ll have more on this in Wednesday�s Update. COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS NORTH KOREAN ASIA GAMES ATHLETES KEPT APART FROM OTHERS BY �SUPPORTERS� Doug Struck (Washington Post) examines the opening of the Asia Games in Seoul, the first in which North Korea is participating. However, those hoping for close contact with athletes from the North are out of luck: ��We have to train, train, train,� Yong Bok Pak, the North Korean softball coach, said Saturday evening as he shepherded his team through the area. �We can go out, but we don't have time.�� A South Korean security guard unwittingly drove the point home when he noted, �Their government has not only sent them, but also sent these supporters.� Supporters? Gee, I wonder why they�re in Seoul. THE NEW REPUBLIC RIPS THE ADMINSTRATION�S SOFTNESS ON NORTH KOREA The New Republic (9/26 entry), noting the Stalinist regime�s continued flouting of the 1994 nuclear power deal, fires a well-deserved rhetorical double barrel at the Bush Administration for having �backed down to a man who can only be described as psychotic� in agreeing to send an envoy (see News.) ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA PREVALENT THROUGHOUT NORTH KOREA The Stalinist North Korea still relies heavily on anti-American propaganda � especially U.S. efforts to liberate the peninsula during the Korean War. Jamie FlorCruz (CNN) hears it from the locals. Sign the Boycott Petition: In reaction to the 2008 Olympic Games being awarded to Beijing, the China e-Lobby has begun a petition for an American boycott of those 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. 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