DOWNSIDE LEGACY AT TWO DEGREES OF PRESIDENT CLINTON
SECTION: ASIA
SUBSECTION: NORTH KOREA
Revised 8/20/99

 

GENERAL

WorldNetDaily 2/22/99 Jon Dougherty "...China wants the U.S. out of Asia, and will continue to upgrade and enhance its military capability to accomplish that goal, according to a senior congressional policy analyst. Al Santoli, a foreign policy adviser to U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-CA, and an analyst at the American Foreign Policy Council, believes current administration policies toward China of so-called "constructive engagement" are "worse than appeasement," and will further jeopardize U.S. national security in the long run. Santoli made his remarks in a telephone interview with WorldNetDaily, and was adamant that all indications point to the Chinese continuing their decade-long effort to obtain more sensitive U.S. technology before their "window of opportunity closes" at the end of the Clinton administration....Santoli told WorldNetDaily that while he believes the issue of Taiwan is currently the most contentious between the U.S. and China, he also indicated that a threat is emerging in the South China Sea because of China's claim of sovereignty over a small collection of islands. For years China has continued a military buildup in the Spratly Islands, adding a three-story structure and completing work on multiple helicopter pads and communications facilities all within the past 60 days. Critics have denounced the opinions of Rohrabacher and Santoli as alarmist, but both men say their concerns are based on first-hand observations. Santoli is an expert in the area of Asian foreign policy and the California congressman has personally visited the Spratly Islands twice in the past several weeks. Not only are new structures complete on portions of the island chain, but they added that more projects are already underway that will be completed over the next several months. The additional capabilities will put China in the best position to make good on their claim over the islands -- reportedly rich in natural gas and oil -- which will result in a likely foreign policy nightmare for the United States... Santoli also questioned China's budding new relationship with Russia, calling it "a danger for us, but one that will end up being a mistake for Russia." He predicted that "they (the Chinese) will turn on Russia after they get what they want from them and after they deal with us," and he dismissed recent attempts by Russia to include India in any future coalition with China as unworkable. "India just doesn't trust the Chinese, and they aren't enemies of ours -- nor do they want to be." ...Finally, Santoli said he was not "quite as worried about Chinese aggression" during the final years of the Clinton administration as he is in the years immediately following the expiration of Clinton's term. He believes the Chinese know the window of opportunity to access U.S. technology will close soon, but he believes "they'll have already perfected several new weapons systems and will be much more enhanced strategically by then," he said. ..."

 

 

NORTH KOREA

 

Current Status

AP 2/2/99 John Diamond ".``I can hardly overstate my concern about North Korea,'' CIA Director George Tenet told the Senate Armed Services Committee. ``In nearly all respects, the situation there has become more volatile and unpredictable.'' Wretched living conditions deteriorate further, food shortages are acute, and few heavy industrial plants make anything, according to U.S. intelligence. Crime and a lack of discipline, even in military ranks, are more common and citizens are more likely to blame North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Il, for systemic problems. .Pyongyang is also developing a longer-range missile, the Taepo Dong 2, that could carry heavy payloads to Hawaii and Alaska and lighter-weight weapons to parts of the rest of the United States, Tenet said.."

Toronto Sun 2/7/99 Eric Margolis ".This column has steadily warned for the last five years of the growing threat from North Korea. In mid-January, I reported North Korea was fast acquiring capability to deliver nuclear warheads to North America by means of a new, long-range, three-stage missile. Two weeks later, on Feb. 2, CIA Director George Tenet testified before Congress that North Korea was on the verge of producing long-range missiles that could "deliver large payloads to the continental United States." Tenet said, "I can hardly overstate my concern about North Korea," adding, "the situation there is more volatile and unpredictable." Amen. This column does not have the CIA's $26 billion annual intelligence budget, but it came to the same conclusion, only five years before Langley. Other U.S. intelligence sources confirm North Korea has resumed secret production of nuclear weapons, adding to the two or three devices it already has. It is also improving and expanding delivery systems for its extensive arsenal of chemical and biological weapons..Tenet's dramatic testimony confirms the total failure of President Bill Clinton's Korea policy. When confronted in 1994 by incontrovertible evidence North Korea was building nuclear weapons and delivery systems, Clinton chose to bribe rather confront Pyongyang. He dragooned South Korea and Japan into joining Washington to offer North Korea an amazing US$4.6 billion in oil, food and light-water nuclear reactors in exchange for its promise to halt building nuclear weapons and producing plutonium. By contrast, Clinton chose to repeatedly bomb Iraq, which offered almost no threat to anyone, while bribing extremely dangerous North Korea. Of course, there was no domestic lobby in the U.S. demanding the destruction of North Korea, as there was for Iraq. ."

 

Diary

Assurances that North Korea has given up its nuclear weapons program

According the 6/98 reports from Ken Bacon at the Pentagon, North Korea's No Dong missile is operational and has a range of about 1,000 kilometers. Pakistan and the DPRK had ballistic missile contracts, engineers and advisors from both countries worked on Iranian missile programs.

Hong Kong Standard 7/11/98 "North Korea yesterday blasted the United States for saying its troops should remain in South Korea and demanded the immediate withdrawal of its forces. .."

StratFor Intelligence Briefing 7/28/98 "South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported on Saturday, July 25, that the South Korean military is currently attempting to uncover at least two of seven identified North Korean infiltration tunnels. The agency cited military investigators as saying that North Korea was digging 21 tunnels along the Military Demarcation Line, and that the army has roughly located seven tunnels with the assistance of a defected North Korean soldier, aerial reconnaissance photographs, and examination of explosions recorded along the border. The more than two-meter wide tunnels can reportedly handle the passage of 15,000 soldiers per hour. Yonhap reported that South Korean forces are drilling test holes in the areas of the seven suspected tunnels, and military authorities allegedly expect to confirm two of the tunnels by the end of the year."

7/31/98 The Washington Times Ralph Hallow "The Rumsfeld Commission report found that North Korea, Iran and other countries are hiding their ballistic missile development programs from U.S. satellites. It said these countries are using huge underground laboratories and factories to make and test missiles. Mr. Nicholson, who has been touting a missile shield on radio and in signed opinion columns in newspapers, said Democrats are filibustering a bill that would begin development of such a shield.

NY Times David Sanger 8/17/98 "U.S. Intelligence agencies have detected a huge secret underground complex in North Korea that they believe is the centerpiece of an effort to revive the country's frozen nuclear weapons program, according to officials who have been briefed on the intelligence information. The finding has alarmed officials at the White House and the Pentagon, who fear that the complex may represent an effort to break out of a 4-year-old agreement in which North Korea pledged to give up its nuclear weapons program in exchange for billions of dollars in Western aid. The finding also follows a string of provocations by the North, including missile sales to Pakistan and the incursion of a small North Korean submarine carrying nine commandos off the South Korean coast this year.."

Washington Post 8/20/98 Jim Hoagland "Count among Bill Clinton's victims this week his secretary of state, his national security adviser and his foreign policy at large. President Clinton has undermined his people and his policies with a recklessness and a disregard for America's standing in the world that is monumental and unpardonable.. But Clinton's tardy and grudging admission of wrongdoing in the Oval Office and of his mendacity converts weakness in foreign policy into potential disaster. Clinton has erased the large margin of error he has assigned himself in dealing with threats and challenges abroad. His plight will encourage rogue regimes in Baghdad, Belgrade, Pyongyang and elsewhere to test his attention to their depredations and his resolve in deterring or punishing those acts. It will encourage allies to resist even more strongly U.S. pressure to do things they do not see as in their interest. On the day Clinton spent four hours dueling with prosecutors over the salacious details of his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, it was disclosed that the Looney Tunes government of North Korea has been cheating on its 1994 accord with Washington to stop working on nuclear bombs. It was a telling coincidence, pointing up the misallocation of presidential and national attention and energies the Lewinsky affair has spawned. In determining their attitude toward Clinton's fate, the Republican majority in Congress must factor into their actions an increasingly uncertain international "Center for Security Policy 9/3/98 The Clinton Administration is reportedly poised to unveil its first substantive response to Sunday's demonstration by North Korea of its ability to attack U.S. forces and bases and allied population centers through out much of Northeast Asia: It is considering canceling the Army's most mature, ground-based theater missile defense program, the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system Were this response not so inappropriate, so ill-advised and so likely to translate into both the loss of American lives and increased costs to the taxpayer, this absurd proposal would be hysterical.."

8/31/98 Reuters/MSNBC/AP "Catching military analysts off guard, North Korea test fired a new ballistic missile into open seas between Russia and northwestern Japan on Monday. Japan's Defense Agency, quoting unidentified U.S. military officials, said the missile was fired around noon (midnight ET Sunday). `The Defense Department feels it is a serious development and will be evaluating the situation.' - JIM KOUT spokesman, U.S. Defense Department THE MISSILE was "confirmed to be a brand-new `Daepodong I' with a range of 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles)," the South Korean Defense Ministry said in a statement. That range is twice as long as the North's previous staple "Rodong" series missiles.It was believed to have landed in waters about 190 miles southeast of Vladivostok, Russia.."

Washington Times 9/1/98 William Bennet, Jack Kemp, Jeane Kirkpatrick ". Several countries will be capable of producing a nuclear missile within five years. A little more that a a month ago, reflecting a clear intelligence breakdown, Iran tested a missile capable of traveling 800 miles - far enough to reach Israel. And during the last two weeks, we've learned of possible nuclear weapons advances in North Korea. "

Reuters 9/1/98 "Amid all the questions swirling around North Korea's shock missile test flight, one of the knottiest appears to be whether the missile actually entered Japanese sovereign territory or not. One part of the two-stage ballistic missile apparently landed in the Pacific Ocean off northern Japan, traveling more than 1,300 km (780 miles) from North Korea. But on Tuesday, Japan's government was still wrestling with the dilemma of whether this was, in legal terms, a violation of Japanese territory or merely a flyover."

AP Yuri Kageyama 9/1/98 "Tokyo issued a formal protest today against North Korea for firing a missile over Japan and sent military ships to the spot in the Pacific Ocean where it was believed to have landed..Numata (Government Spokesman) also said Japan has frozen the $1 billion it had committed to a project with the United States, South Korea and Europe to supply North Korea with two nuclear energy reactors. And sending food aid to the reclusive communist state was now more difficult, he acknowledged.."

STRATFOR Systems Inc. 9/9/98 Bob Evans "North Korea's successful launch, on August 31, of a two-stage "Taepodong" missile, which overflew the northern end of the Japanese island of Honshu, has given the Japanese grounds for reconsidering the constitutional limitations on their military. Japan's constitution, drawn up in the aftermath of World War Two, declares that the Japanese "renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation, and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes."."

Washington Times William Taylor Jr. 9/14/98 "Despite the Clinton administration's strong defense of the 1994 nuclear Agreed Framework with the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) over the past four years, the document is worse than worthless. It represents both naivete about the North Korean threat and complacency in dealing with the world's last total, Stalinist dictatorship. Former U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. William Shalikashvili got it just right last year when he said "First and most threatening is the unpredictable regime in Pyongyang which poses a major threat on the Korean Peninsula and in the surrounding area." That multifaceted threat to South Korea and Japan and roughly 163,000 Americans in both countries was underlined by North Korea's recent test-firing of a long-range missile, one part of which flew through Japan's sovereign airspace. North Korean missiles can be armed with high explosive, chemical, biological and, eventually, nuclear warheads. There are no missile defenses of Seoul and Tokyo; they are naked, and it is naive to think a paper agreement changes the threat.."

Washington Times Bill Gertz 9/14/98 "North Korea delivered several shipments of weapons material to Pakistan this summer, including warhead canisters for the new Ghauri medium-range missile, The Washington Times has learned. Pakistan's premier nuclear weapons development center, Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) in Kahuta, received the shipments in mid-June, according to U.S. officials familiar with secret intelligence reports circulated to senior Clinton administration officials last month. The reports highlight the close cooperation between North Korea and Pakistan on missiles and raise new worries among U.S. officials that Pakistan is developing nuclear warheads for the Ghauri missile. Other reports indicate Pakistan is moving ahead rapidly with plans to develop weapons-grade fuel for nuclear weapons from several facilities.The KRL facility is in charge of the Ghauri missile program, which conducted the first flight test of the 900-mile-range missile April 6. Two weeks later, the State Department quietly announced it was imposing sanctions on KRL and a North Korean missile manufacturer for violating U.S. export laws related to the Missile Technology Control Regime, an international export control accord.Former CIA Nonproliferation Center chief Gordon Oehler told a Senate hearing June 11 that Pakistan since 1992 has shifted from buying missile systems to producing its own. Mr. Oehler testified that the Clinton administration covered up evidence indicating China had sold M-11 short-range missiles to Pakistan to avoid having to impose sanctions under U.S. export laws. State Department and Pentagon spokesmen denied at the time that any M-11s were in Pakistan, noting that the U.S. government had not determined yet whether the missiles were present."

Daily Yomiuri 9/15/98 "The missile fired by North Korea on Aug. 31 was likely a three-stage rocket carrying a very small satellite, not a two-stage ballistic missile as originally suspected, the government learned from an unofficial U.S. source on Monday..However, both Japan and the United States are concerned that if the rocket was the three-stage type, they have seriously underestimated North Korea's missile technology. .A Foreign Ministry official said the United States would demand Pyongyang limit its missile development program because "the technology used to produce three-stage rockets can also apply to the technology for intercontinental ballistic missiles."."

AP 9/16/98 Tokyo "North Korea has accused Japan of trying to use the North's recent rocket launch as an excuse to build up its military and said Tokyo harbors a plan to ultimately invade the North. In a statement issued by its Foreign Ministry, North Korea said Japan was using the launch to deflect attention from its domestic economic crisis."

AP 9/25/98 "Accusing the United States of slander, North Korea threatened today to use its new rocket system for military use. The reclusive communist country fired a rocket over Japan on Aug. 31, claiming to have put its first scientific satellite into orbit. The United States considered the launch a bold demonstration of North Korea's growing missile technology, which posed threats to two key Asian allies, Japan and South Korea, and U.S. military bases there. Today, a commentary in Rodong Sinmun, an organ of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, accused the United States of slandering the North. ``For the U.S. to talk about `threats' by the Democratic People's Republic of (North) Korea is the height of impudence,'' said the commentary, carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. ``Whether the DPRK's launch of artificial satellite is used for military purposes or not entirely depends on the attitude of the U.S. and other hostile forces,'' it added.."

Marshfield Mail 10/7/98 Jack Anderson and Jan Moller ".Intelligence reports focusing on a huge nuclear site about 25 miles northeast of Yongbyon find that most of the activity is taking place underground-and that more than 15,000 North Koreans have been deployed to keep carving out the ground so prying, spying silicon eyes can't see it from above. "You can't miss the deployment aspect of this," a North Korean defector confided to us. "(North Korean President) Kim Jong ll knows it's a good way to keep his military busy-construction. His father once told him that the real reason for the pyramids in Egypt was so the Pharoahs had something for idle, restless slave hands to do, other than revolt."."Extensive construction of huge underground aircraft support facilities as well as hardened hangarettes and revetments has taken place," says one Defense Intelligence Agency estimate, classified "Secret." It adds: "Virtually all major air bases have hardened or underground facilities, or both. The North Korean navy is equally well protected. At most of its "principal naval installations, according to another classified DIA report, the North Koreans have "constructed underground naval facilities," including "underground (or sheltered) berthing" for the country's fleet.."

South China Morning Post 11/26/98 ".The tiny Christian community has sent a letter to the country's 950 million people, voicing its "deep sense of pain and anguish" at attacks by Hindu zealots. Christian groups accused police and politicians in the letter of complicity in some of the rising number of attacks on its members. The Catholic archbishop of New Delhi said Christian education institutions across India would shut in protest on December 4 and Christians would march on Parliament to highlight what he called rising intolerance against minorities.."

11/20/98 Robert Windrem - NBC News ".The North Korean military could test a missile capable of hitting "mainland Alaska and Hawaiian Islands" before Jan. 1, and deploy the missile within a few years, the Central Intelligence Agency believes. MOREOVER, the United States believes the North Koreans will market the missile, called the "Taepo-Dong-2," to other nations like Iran. "As North Korea proceeds with its Taepo Dong developments, we need to assume that they will follow their current path and market them; at a minimum, aspiring recipients will try to buy them," he said. Both assessments were made two months ago and the imminent test of such a missile appears to be driving comments made Friday by Secretary of State Madeline Albright.."

Reuters 11/22/98 ". President Clinton, troubled by a string of potentially hostile acts by North Korea, Sunday visited U.S. soldiers in South Korea arrayed along the world's last Cold War frontier. The review of the troops - a staple for U.S. presidents in South Korea - took on added significance following North Korea's August 31 missile test over Japan and its refusal to grant access to a suspected underground nuclear site.. Tensions still run high on the divided land, where the two Koreas are technically still at war following the armistice that ended the 1950-53 conflict. South Korea's defense ministry accused the North of violating the armistice after the South Korean navy Friday chased a suspected North Korean spy ship out of their waters, the latest in a series of incursions. Washington has been particularly uneased North Korea's development of an underground site near Yongbyon, where a Soviet-era nuclear power plant has been mothballed under a 1994 agreement between the United States and North Korea. Under that deal, Washington agreed to provide North Korea with two advanced nuclear power reactors and alternative energy supplies in return for Pyongyang freezing its nuclear program. A U.S. official visited North Korea this week but failed to persuade Pyongyang to allow an inspection of the site. U.S. officials said they had rejected a North Korean demand for $300 million in "reparations'' to visit the development.."

Rueters 12-3-98 ".North Korea said Thursday that morale was high among its 1.2 million-strong army and they were bracing for a fight against the United States. In what could be a fresh round of brinkmanship, North Korea's Vice Defense Minister Jong Chang-yol said its army threatened to ``blow up'' the United States in the event of a war. ``Under the prevailing touch-and-go situation, the Korean People's Army (KPA) is now bracing itself for a fight against the U.S. imperialist aggressors,'' Jong said.."

AP/KCNA 12/4/98 ".More than 100,000 North Korean soldiers, workers and students demonstrated Friday, vowing an "all-out'' war against the United States, an official North Korean report said. The Stalinist government tightly controls North Korean society, and Friday's outburst of animosity was believed to have been staged by the government, South Korean officials said. In the past three days, North Korea's news media have brimmed with statements claiming the country was "on full alert for war'' in case a dispute with Washington over nuclear inspections in the North intensifies.."

AP 12/8/98 ".North Korea has started building three underground facilities capable of launching ballistic missiles, Japan's public broadcasting network reported today. U.S. spy satellites have confirmed what appear to be three missile bases under construction in the northern part of North Korea, NHK television quoted Japanese Defense Agency sources as saying. Hosei Norota, Director General of Japan's Defense Agency, told reporters today that he has ``yet to receive such information'' and that he has not confirmed the report, according to an agency spokesman. The report was sure to intensify concerns in Japan, already unnerved by North Korea's firing of a missile Aug. 31. U.S. and South Korean officials say North Korea test fired a Taepo Dong-1 missile, which traveled over the Japanese mainland and landed in the Pacific Ocean, proving the communist country could strike at any part of Japan. North Korea's three new facilities reportedly are being built at depths ranging from 165 feet to 330 feet. A fuel storage facility will be completed in one or two years at one of the underground sites, NHK reported.."

MSNBC.com 12/14/98 ".Two South Korean soldiers presumed dead for over 45 years returned home after escaping from North Korea, South Korean intelligence officials announced on Monday. The men, Kim Bok-ki, 67, and Park Dong-il, 71, flew in from a "third country" where they had been living in hiding since escaping North Korea early this year, the officials said. MORE THAN 20,000 South Koreans and 8,100 American soldiers are still listed as missing from the 1950-53 war. Kim and Park are only the fourth and fifth POWs to escape from the North since the end of the war. Officials said the two soldiers were captured during the Korean War by Chinese troops during a battle at Keumhwa at the northeastern region near the border now separating the two Koreas. The two were initially detained in a POW camp near the North's capital, Pyongyang, but were later sent to a coal mine in northern North Korea where they had been forced to work until they escaped the country, the officials said. Both Kim and Park spent decades in slave labor at coal mines in before escaping, the statement said. Kim and Park were being held for questioning, an NSP official said. Beyond the fact that they entered South Korea through a "third country," details of their escape were not immediately released.."

The Washington Post 12/17/98 Andra Brack ".South Korean navy ships fought a gunbattle with a suspected North Korean submarine Friday, sinking it off the southern coast, military officials said. The body of one North Korean crewman was recovered after the 10-ton sub was sunk about 60 miles off the tip of the Korean Peninsula, the office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The sub was first spotted shortly before midnight Thursday as it approached the shore near Yosu, a port city 200 miles south of Seoul, the military said.."

North Korean News 12/18/98 ".Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Perry, in the capacity of a coordinator for "North Korea" policy, reportedly debated on a "proposal of cooperation" with somebody and is about to arrange it in detail with reference to the DPRK's "underground nuclear facility" and launch of a satellite, says Rodong Sinmun in a commentary today. Criticising the U.S. imperialist hawks' outcry for "cooperation" and "proposal of cooperation," insisting on "inspection of underground nuclear facility" and countermeasure against "missile threat" as a military provocation against the DPRK and a far-fetched manner aimed at unleashing a war against the DPRK, the news analyst continues: The Korean people will never tolerate any attempt to tarnish the dignity of the DPRK and encroach upon its sovereignty. If the U.S. hawkish elements continue to screw up the tension under such unjustifiable pretext, war will be inevitable on the Korean peninsula.."

Boston Globe 1/8/99 Associated Press ".North Korea has begun construction on at least five underground ballistic missile launch sites near its borders with China and South Korea, a major Japanese newspaper reported today. The reported work threatens to aggravate tensions between North Korea and Japan, which has expressed growing concern over North Korea's missile development program. The suspected launch sites are deeper than 150 feet and capable of multiple firings, possibly of a long-range missile known as the Taepo Dong, said the Yomiuri newspaper, citing unnamed sources in the United States and Japan.."

Toronto Sun 1/17/99 Eric Margolis ".Intense efforts by the United States to prevent the spread of medium and long-range missiles around the globe have failed. In the past two months, a number of Third World nations have broken out of America's control regime, and are rapidly deploying missiles capable of carrying nuclear, chemical, or biological warheads over long distances - potentially even to North America. According to U.S. intelligence, North Korea, which is supposed to be starving, is preparing to test a second, multi-stage, medium range ballistic missile (MRBM) of the Taepo-dong series. North Korea first tested this new system last fall, sending a missile soaring over Japan.."

AP 1/18/99 ".A mid-ranking North Korean diplomat in Germany has defected and sought asylum in the United States, South Korean news reports said Monday. The diplomat, identified as Kim Kyong Pil, 54, and his wife, Kim Kum Sun, 52, defected about a week ago while on a trip to Frankfurt, the national Yonhap news agency reported.."

NewsMax Reuters 1/19/99 Freeper Walkin Man ".A Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) report monitored in Tokyo denounced Cohen for his discussions with the military and political leaders of the two nations, saying: ``His junket showed that the U.S. moves to isolate and stifle the DPRK (North Korea) militarily are getting more reckless from the beginning of the year, assuming a new dangerous aspect.''.``The U.S. hawks should know that if they think they can survive a nuclear war in the Korean peninsula kindled by them, it would be a serious mistake,'' it added. There are nearly 37,000 U.S. troops in South Korea and tensions have risen steadily in recent months over Pyongyang's test launch of a three-stage Taepodong ballistic missile in August and intelligence indications that the North might be breaking an agreement to end its nuclear arms ambitions.."

New York Times Website 2/1/99 The Associated Press ".North Korean state-run media on Monday accused Japan of bringing the two nations to the brink of war by pressing ahead with plans to build spy satellites and a missile defense system. The militant tone of the North Korean statement was similar to the rhetoric it has used repeatedly in references to Japan, South Korea and the United States. ``North Korean-Japanese relations have deteriorated, and if this leads to a military confrontation, Japan itself will be the one destroyed,'' the government's Korean Asia-Pacific Peace Committee was quoted as saying on North Korean Central Radio, monitored by Japan's Radio Press in Tokyo.."

AP 2/16/99 ".Japan's Defense Agency said Tuesday that North Korea has the technology to launch a long-range ballistic missile capable of reaching parts of the United States, according to Japanese news reports. The North has made significant progress in developing its Taepodong-2 liquid-fuel missiles, Japan's semi-government television network NHK quoted unidentified Japanese defense sources as saying. Taepodong 2 is believed to be capable of carrying heavy payloads to Hawaii and Alaska and lighter-weight weapons to parts of the U.S. mainland.

CBN 2/19/99 Dale Hurd ".CBN News has uncovered more satellite evidence that North Korea is working to perfect a rocket capable of hitting the United States mainland-something that has been confirmed by Japan's defense agency this week. Despite a continuing famine, this week North Korea pledged to build up its military even further. Now, a report by the Congressional Research Service explains where the North Koreans are getting some of the money for their military. Starvation has killed as much as ten percent of North Korea's population in the past three years, yet North Korea continues to advance its nuclear missile program, and threatens to annihilate the United States. How does the North Korean regime manage not only to survive, but add to its military power? The answer is crime. North Korea is raising huge sums of cash by selling home grown opium and methamphetamines around the world, and by passing millions in counterfeit U-S currency-even as it scares the west into giving it food and cash. "The North Koreans know how to play brinkmanship. It's always to get concessions. They know how to play Washington, D.C., the Clinton Administration, and they continuously get concessions," says Dr. William Taylor, one of America's foremost experts on North Korea..."

National Defense University Number 159, 3/99 Richard L. Armitage "…But China is also pursuing its own agenda. Beijing is sustaining North Korea with aid, despite Pyongyang’s apparent unwillingness to heed its advice. China has resisted active cooperation—with the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organi-zation, with the World Food Program, and on missiles. Its independent actions pose a challenge to any successful U.S. policy. No approach to North Korea is likely to succeed absent some modicum of active cooperation from—and clear understanding with—China. Beijing must understand that it will either bear a burden for failure or benefit from cooperation…."

Reuters 3/2/99 "…"To convince the North to modify its posture, we need a larger conceptual framework, with greater incentives and corresponding disincentives,'' the group, made up largely of top national security aides to former Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, said in a six-page paper released late Monday.

The group criticized President Clinton's current approach to North Korea as "muddling through'' such challenges as North Korea's long-range missile program and Pyongyang's suspected drive to develop nuclear arms. The United States has called communist-ruled North Korea the biggest threat to regional stability. "Current policy is fragmented,'' the group said. "This has allowed North Korea to obtain economic benefits while maintaining its military threat.'' The group, headed by Richard Armitage, a former assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, said the United States must put forward a comprehensive offer to meet Pyongyang's "legitimate economic, security and political concerns.'' …"

Washington Times 2/26/99 Glenn Baek "…According to U.S. intelligence sources, there is "compelling evidence" to indicate Pyongyang is secretly building nuclear bombs in the basement. Despite U.S. attempts to verify Pyongyang's true nuclear intentions, North Korea has repeatedly denied Washington's requests unless given cash compensation or other economic benefits. Appearing weak after conceding to North Korean brinkmanship in the past, chances are low the United States will pay $300 million for a one-time peek or lift economic sanctions, as Pyongyang demands . This ongoing nuclear impasse is all the more worrisome because of the tension already heightened on the Korean Peninsula in the aftermath of North Korea's missile launch over Japan last summer…."

AP 3/3/99 "…North Korea accused the United States of making 160 spy flights over the Communist country in February, calling the missions a ``villainous threat'' to peace on the Korean Peninsula. State-run Korean Central Radio, monitored by Japan's Radiopress in Tokyo on Wednesday, said the flights endangered efforts toward the reunification of North and South Korea…."

KCNA 3/2/99 "…The U.S. warmongers are now engaged in frantic war moves against the DPRK, tightening the triangular military alliance with the South Korean authorities and the Japanese reactionaries. They are heading for a war of aggression according to "operation plan 5027," a second Korean war scenario, crying over "missile threats from the DPRK" and its "suspected underground nuclear facility." That being a hard fact, it is quite ridiculous for Clinton to clamor about "deterring aggression" and "efforts for peace." The United States would be well advised to refrain at once from behaving like a thief crying "stop the thief " and stop running indiscreetly. If the U.S. finally imposes war, we will unhesitatingly counter it and annihilate all the aggressors with merciless blows…."

South China Morning Post 3/4/99 "…"To convince the North to modify its posture, we need a larger conceptual framework, with greater incentives and corresponding disincentives," the group, made up largely of top national security aides to former Republican presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, said in a paper released at a conference in Hawaii this week. It criticised Mr Clinton's approach to the North as "muddling through" such challenges as its long-range missile programme and Pyongyang's suspected drive to develop nuclear arms. The United States has called North Korea the biggest threat to regional stability. "Current policy is fragmented," the group said. "This has allowed North Korea to obtain economic benefits while maintaining its military threat." The group, headed by Richard Armitage, a former assistant secretary of defence for international security affairs, said the US must put forward a comprehensive offer to meet Pyongyang's "legitimate economic, security and political concerns". Besides seizing the diplomatic initiative, this would strengthen the ability to build and sustain a regional coalition if North Korea failed to co-operate and continued its current brinkmanship, the group said…."

AFP 3-5-99 "…South Korea has ruled out its participation in a US plan to create a regional missile shield to protect its Asian allies, Seoul's Defence Minister Chun Yong-Taek said Friday. In a move which deals a fresh blow to the Theater Missile Defence (TMD) scheme, Chun dismissed any possibility of South Korea joining the programme which the United States and Japan have advocated. Reacting to press reports from Japan, the minister also said Seoul was opposed to any pre-emptive attack on North Korea by Japan in the case of war. "Pursuing the TMD is not an effective countermeasure against North Korean missiles, he said at a press conference here. "It can also arouse concern from neighbouring countries," he said, stressing the need to secure transparency in pursuing the TMD project…."

The Washington Weekly 3/06/99 Marvin Lee Freepmaster Jim Robinson "… The Washington Weekly will report in its March 8 issue that the CIA has concluded in a classified analysis that North Korea's missile capabilities are much more advanced than previously acknowledged. An informed Washington source will reveal on the record alarming new conclusions about the threat to the United States and what it might mean for U.S. national security. -Marvin …"

Remarks by the President at US Coast Guard Academy commencement 5/22/96 Freeper ohmlaw98 "…But there is more to be done for America to keep moving forward and to pass on an even safer and more prosperous world to our children as we enter this new century and a new millennium. First, we must continue to seize the extraordinary opportunity to reduce the threat of weapons of mass destruction. We have set the most far-reaching arms control and nonproliferation agenda in history, and I am determined to pursue it and complete it. ......Our diplomacy backed with force persuaded North Korea to freeze its nuclear program. We have now secured the indefinite and unconditional extension of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. (Applause.) Sometimes I wonder if people know what that is. Now I know you do. (Laughter.) I wish I could give you a citation. (Laughter.)…The possibility of a long-range missile attack on American soil by a rogue state is more than a decade away. To prevent it, we are committed to developing by the year 2000 and defensive system that couldbe deployed by 2003, well before the threat becomes real. I know that there are those who disagree with this policy.They have a plan that Congress will take up this week that would force us to choose now a costly missile defense system that could be obsolete tomorrow…."

Washington Weekly 3/8/99 Robert Stowe England "…Pennsylvania Republican Representative Curt Weldon claims that the Central Intelligence Agency has determined that North Korea already has the capacity to launch from its homeland a low-weight warhead that could reach any part of the entire mainland United States -- from California eastward to Maine and southward to the Florida keys. Weldon says the CIA finding is based, among others things, on its analysis of data generated by the August 31 launch by North Korea of the Taepo Dong 1 missile. The three-stage rocket was fired north of Japan. Its final stage failed to successfully launch a tiny satellite into orbit. "The projections which the CIA have done, which are classified . . . actually show that when you project out the distance, that this particular North Korean rocket, with a light payload . . . could hit the mainland of the United States," Weldon says. The Taepo Dong 1 could deliver "a chemical, biological or a small nuclear device," Weldon says, giving North Korea a cataclysmic new tool in its arsenal of terrorist weapons. The missile is not very accurate, Weldon says, but this should give the U.S. little comfort…."

AP 3/8/99 "…Five Republican House leaders appealed to former Defense Secretary William Perry, the Clinton administration's point man on North Korea, to recommend a tougher U.S. policy toward North Korea. "North Korea's nuclear ambitions, chemical-biological capability and its burgeoning missile capability present a clear and present danger to the security of the United States,'' the lawmakers wrote to Perry in a letter released on Monday. Signing the letter were House International Committee Chairman Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y., Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, R-Ill.; House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas; Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., chairman of the House Policy Committee; and Rep. Joe Knollenberg, R-Mich., a member of the House Appropriations Committee. They urged an overhaul in policy "from the ground floor up.'' …"

AP 3/9/99 Sang-Hun Choe "…U.S. officials will adopt South Korea's policy of greater engagement with North Korea and expand current talks beyond just weapons issues, Washington's point man on North Korea said Tuesday. William Perry, a former defense secretary, agreed to the new approach after meeting with President Kim Dae-jung and other top officials to discuss policy recommendations for President Clinton.

"Both sides agreed that a comprehensive approach was needed to address those problems caused by North Korea's nuclear and missile programs,'' Perry and Foreign Minister Hong Soon-young said in a statement. "Such an approach would build upon (South Korea's) policy of engagement with North Korea.'' …"

AP 3/9/99 "…North Korea's autumn harvest will be used up by April and after that the famine-stricken country will have to rely primarily on international food aid, the World Food Program said Tuesday. During the lean period until the next harvest in October, North Koreans will be forced to eat more wild mushrooms, tree bark, seaweed and cakes made of grass, said WFP spokeswoman Abby Spring. ``These can placate hunger but they are not nutritious and can cause illness,'' she said. In the autumn harvest, there was a severe shortage of rice in the communist state because only 10 percent of rice fields were cultivated due to a lack of fuel and spare parts for machinery, Spring said. Food shortages and famine-related illnesses have killed up to 2 million of North Korea's 23 million people during the past three years, according to U.S. congressional estimates. Two-thirds of all children under age 7 are malnourished, and lack of food has stunted the growth of millions more…."

AP 3/9/99 Edith Lederer "…North Korea responded to U.S. claims Tuesday that it possesses biological and chemical weapons by accusing the United States of using the same weapons during the Korean War. North Korea's U.N. Ambassador Li Hyong Chol made the accusations in a letter to the U.N. Security Council president as U.S.-North Korea talks continued over Washington's concerns that Pyongyang may be hiding a nuclear weapons project.

The ambassador made no reference to the talks at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, where Washington is pressing for access to the Kumchang-ni underground site. It believes North Korea may be using it to develop nuclear weapons in violation of a 1994 U.S.-North Korean agreement. Instead, Li urged the Security Council to "make an issue of the United States' use of biological and chemical weapons and large-scale massacres and abuse of the U.N. name (during the Korean War) in order to prevent their recurrence."…"

Washington Times 3/11/99 Bill Gertz "…North Korea is working on uranium enrichment techniques and will be able to produce fuel for nuclear weapons in six years or less, according to a U.S. intelligence report. The program involves a North Korean trading company that recently sought to buy enrichment technology from a Japanese manufacturer, and connections between North Korea and Pakistan, according to a Department of Energy intelligence report made available to The Washington Times. According to the report, the technology sought by Pyongyang is a clear sign that North Korea, known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), "is in the early stages of a uranium enrichment capability." "On the basis of Pakistan's progress with a similar technology, we estimate that the DPRK is at least six years from the production of [highly enriched uranium], even if it has a viable centrifuge design," the report said. "On the other hand, with significant technical support from other countries, such as Pakistan, the time frame would be decreased by several years." The report is a further sign the communist regime in Pyongyang has abandoned the freeze imposed on its nuclear weapons program by a 1994 agreement with the United States. Underground construction spotted by U.S. intelligence agencies last year at Kumchangni, North Korea, is believed to be a new facility for nuclear weapons production in violation of the agreement…Pakistan purchased uranium enrichment technology from China in 1996 when it bought 5,000 special ring magnets used as bearings in gas centrifuges. The sale violated China's international commitment not to sell weapons technology to non-nuclear weapons states. It was dismissed by the Clinton administration after an investigation determined senior Chinese leaders were unaware of the technology transfer…."

AP 3/16/99 Barry Schweid "…North Korea said today it would give U.N. inspectors access to a suspect nuclear weapons site. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright approved the deal, which was disclosed by a senior U.S. official…."

Richard Lessner 3/24/99 "…Even as Bill Clinton is prepared to bomb Serbia -- which poses no threat to the United States -- he was buying off the Communist thugs in North Korea, who do pose a threat to this country. It will be recalled that in 1994 the Clinton administration entered into an agreement with North Korea. Pyongyang agreed to freeze its work on atomic weapons. In exchange, the U.S. agreed to build a nuclear power plant in North Korea and provide Pyongyang millions of gallons of oil. Few believed that this effort to buy off North Korea would succeed. North Korea is a military dictatorship that for decades has pursued the Holy Grail of nuclear weapons. Sure enough, the ink on the agreement had scarcely dried when North Korea began work on a massive underground complex that many experts suspected was devoted to weapons research… Bill Clinton, when he is not busy meddling in the Balkans, appears perfectly content knuckling under to North Korean blackmail. As with his abject kowtowing to Red China, Mr. Clinton's policy toward North Korea appears to be little more than appeasement. Haggling over how much blackmail we are willing to pay to secure the temporary good behavior of these thugs is degrading and demeaning. And, in the long term, it is dangerous…."

Reuters 3/23/99 "….Japanese patrol boats chased and fired warning shots at two suspected North Korean ships Tuesday, the country's first naval engagement since 1953. Maritime officials said nine patrol boats, three aircraft and three destroyers were pursuing the ships in international waters late Tuesday, about 300 km (190 miles) northwest of Tokyo…."

Reuters 3/20/99 Teruaki Ueno "… South Korea and Japan issued a stern warning to North Korea on Saturday, calling for a joint defence structure with the United States to deal with military threats from the Stalinist state. ``We must tell the North that it would be the North which would suffer massive damage if it launched provocation,'' South Korean President Kim Dae-jung told a news conference after talks with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi. ``We must not let the North use nuclear weapons and missiles.'' …"

Wall Street Journal 3/23/99 Nicholas Eberstadt "…The latest sorry twist in the Clinton administration's policy toward North Korea has brought us to an extraordinary pass--one where the North Koreans are describing the deliberations between the two states more honestly than the Americans are. This remarkable threshold was crossed last week, when a State Department spokesman denied that food aid is being given to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in return for permission to inspect a facility suspected of being built to develop nuclear weapons. A North Korean counterpart expressed a different view: "There was sufficient debate on and agreement on the payment of the 'inspection fee.' The U.S., though belatedly . . . decided to adopt politico-economic measures as demanded by the D.P.R.K." The South Korean government, which was kept closely abreast of the negotiations, confirmed the North Korean line…So why the obfuscation? The answer, quite simply, is that the Clinton administration cannot bear to acknowledge that its approach to Pyongyang is, in fact, a policy of appeasement…. Like the 1994 Agreed Framework, which was supposed to freeze the North Korean nuclear weapons program, the Kumchang-ri deal implicitly presumes that it is possible to bribe a troublesome power into permanently desisting from a particular unpleasant behavior through a fixed, predetermined compensation….. Former Secretary of Defense William Perry has indicated that he will present Congress with his report on North Korea policy next month…"

The Nando Times 3/18/99 Dale McFeatters "…The Clinton administration denies that it has paid North Korea to allow the United States to inspect a suspected nuclear weapons site, but a food deal sure makes it look that way. In 1994, North Korea signed a deal: In return for its halting production of weapons-grade nuclear material, the United States would provide 500,000 tons of heating oil annually and the Japanese would build a light-water nuclear power plant. Soon after, spy satellites detected work on a huge underground facility. The North Koreans denied that it was a nuclear weapons facility but wouldn't say what it was. Further, the North Koreans demanded $300 million in return for allowing the United States to inspect the site. With an irritated U.S. Congress on the verge of pulling the plug on the oil deal in May, the North Koreans this week relented, and the United States will be allowed to inspect the site - by now surely sanitized…."

Chicago Tribune 3/28/99 Freeper Stand Watch Listen "…North Korea has completed 10 missile launch sites and is churning out 100 Soviet-type Scud missiles a year in four factories, a South Korean newspaper has reported. ...About 10,000 workers are building missile launch engines in an underground facility in Kaechon, 50 miles north of Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, said the Korea Herald, published in Seoul, capital of the South…."

The Weekly Post 3/28/99 "…In chasing two unidentified ships camouflaged as fishing boats, the Japanese Self Defense Agency (SDA) used three escort vessels and five P3C submarine tracking airplanes. Also, the Maritime Safety Agency (MSA) sent 15 armed patrol vessels. This large-scale fleet was chasing two unidentified ships for two days. Another incident occurred where an SDA Air Force patrol plane identified two unidentified Mig jetfighters coming from the direction of North Korea. The SDA was about to send F16 jetfighters to counter attack. All these events led the Japanese to believe that war on the Japan Sea had started. There is some evidence that the SDA and MSA had prepared themselves for the unidentified boats and possible war on the Japan Sea. The Hokkaido Newspaper dated March 23 reported that the SDA were prepared to issue orders for taking action under SDA Act 82 when submarines and armed spy vessels invade Japan. Also, the SDA and MSA had decided to work together in such cases….. On March 21, two days before the real invasion, Japan's Prime Minister Obuchi was visiting South Korea to discuss issues in relation to North Korea. The Japanese government had expected that North Korea would take some kind of covert action and they had strengthened their watch. The two boats were trapped in this special surveillance of the Japanese government. On March 22, an SDA patrol plane and MSA patrol boat picked up an unidentified signal from the Japan Sea. The next day, an SDA patrol plane found the two boats and a full-fledged operation was taken. …It has been reported that there are 2,500 North Korean spies in Japan. Their missions include causing confusion and unrest in Japan when war breaks out on the Korean Peninsula. The possibility of such a war and activities of North Korean spies are major reasons why the US government can not take a strong stance in their negotiations with North Korea on inspections of nuclear weapon development…..On December 18 last year, the South Korean government force sank a small North Korean submarine when it invaded the South Korean sea. …."

Reuters 3/29/99 "… South Korea's armed forces on Monday began a week of military exercises which North Korea warned was ``bringing the dark clouds of nuclear war'' to the divided peninsula. Elements of the South Korean army, navy and air force gathered on Hwasong Beach on the west coast for the ``Ho-gook (Protect Motherland) '99'' military exercise aimed at dealing with an enemy infiltration. ``The aim of this training exercise is to repel a possible enemy attack with the combined effort by the army, navy and air force,'' Colonel Kim Bu-young told reporters in Hwasong. …"

Nando Times/AP 3/27/99 "…North Korea has completed 10 missile launch sites and is churning out 100 Soviet-type Scud missiles a year in four factories, it was reported Friday. The English-language Korea Herald quoted an unidentified government source as saying at least four other missile factories are suspected to exist. Concern over North Korea's missile capabilities increased after the country launched a rocket that flew over Japan and crashed into the Pacific last summer…… Some 10,000 workers are building missile launch engines in an underground facility in Kaechon, 50 miles north of Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, the Korea Herald said…."

AP 4/1/99 "...North Korea is relocating 2 million people from its capital and other cities to the countryside in an apparent attempt to add workers to its battered farm industry, South Korea's main spy agency said today. The forced migration, which began last year under a five-year program, will eventually affect more than 8 percent of the isolated communist state's population, said Lee Jong-chan, head of the National Intelligence Service. Lee made the remarks in a parliamentary hearing held behind closed doors. The remarks were later distributed in a news release from the spy agency. Half of those to be relocated are residents of Pyongyang, the capital, which has a population of 3.6 million, Lee said. Another 1 million will be moved from provincial cities, he said...."

Washington Times 4/15/99 Bill Gertz "...China is continuing secret transfers of missile and weapons technology to the Middle East and South Asia despite promises to curb such transfers, according to a Pentagon intelligence report. A separate intelligence report found that China has provided North Korea with special steel used in building missile frames, according to Clinton administration officials. "Some steel must have been transferred," said a State Department official. General details about the transfer were presented to the Chinese government in November in a diplomatic protest note. Chinese officials responded by saying their investigation had failed to pinpoint the transfer, a U.S. official said..... "

Reuters 4/9/99 "...North Korea said Friday it would continue exporting its missiles unless it received compensation from the United States. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), monitored in Tokyo, said the stance was taken in response to U.S. refusals to compensate North Korea for financial losses it would suffer by suspending its missile exports. "The U.S. insists that it cannot make any compensation in cash. Missile exports will not be suspended if the U.S. refuses to pay cash to compensate for the DPRK's (North Korea's) losses,'' KCNA said....."

Washington Post 4/9/99 Mary Jordan "...North Korean officials are rejoicing in the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia because they believe it distracts Washington from focusing on their repressive regime and illustrates the pitfalls awaiting any potential U.S. military action against Pyongyang. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is suspected of pursuing expensive nuclear weapons and missile-development programs while millions of his people are suffering from hunger.... Russian analysts who interviewed North Korean officials for a just-released report from the Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, Calif., said the NATO bombing has had a major impact on the North Korean government, and might lead it to further upgrade its missile and military capability. "The bombing has 'completely and irreversibly' convinced Pyongyang that it is dealing with a 'new Hitler' who is determined to conquer the entire world through intimidation, pressure and aggression," the report said, referring to President Clinton. The Russian analysts also said North Koreans view the bombing in Yugoslavia as "broadening opportunities" for North Korea. While it is preoccupied in Europe, the United States, in the North Koreans' view, will be more "flexible in other parts of the world, including Korea," the report concluded....Pyon noted that when a top North Korean official, Hwang Jang Yop, defected two years ago, he said that North Korea would take military action when the Americans became "occupied with another international conflict." "That makes me nervous," Pyon said...."

EWTN 4/25/99 Freeper marshmallow "...Half the families in North Korea are starving; they roam helplessly in search of something to eat. Ever since state distribution of food rations ceased in 1996, people live off edible herbs and roots found in fields and forests. "Their daily soup is made of herbs, flour and water," 'Fides' reports. The army fares slightly better: rice rations for six months are distributed; for the remaining six months, hunger and stealing are the order of the day..."

Washington Post 4/25/99 Page A21 John Pomfret "...The run-up to the 87th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, North Korea's late "Great Leader," was a busy time for North Korean operatives around Macau. Intelligence reports say North Korean diplomats ferried $620,000 in counterfeit U.S. currency through this tiny Portuguese enclave from late December to March. "They needed money for the festivities back home," a Western intelligence official said. "They moved counterfeit currency through Macau and it helped them pay for a party in Pyongyang." ...While the focus of Western intelligence agencies remains North Korea's on-again, off-again program to build a nuclear weapon, what Western and Asian intelligence officials call the criminalization of North Korea's government is also raising concerns....Since January 1998, North Korean diplomats have been caught trafficking in 77 pounds of cocaine from Mexico to Russia, attempting to sell an unspecified amount of North Korean-made heroin in Germany, passing $30,000 of counterfeit U.S. currency in Vladivostok, Russia, and trying to smuggle 500,000 tabs of the stimulant methamphetamine into Egypt, according to published reports....North Korean production of inexpensive methamphetamine has contributed to a three-fold drop in the price of the drug in South Korea, police there say. On April 13, Japanese police discovered 220 pounds of it on a Chinese cargo ship that had just arrived from Hungnam, North Korea..."

Far Eastern Economic Review 4/29/99 Shim Jae Hoon "...Since the collapse of the Soviet bloc deprived North Korea of its economic lifeline, Pyongyang has resorted to strong-arm tactics, using the threat of missile and nuclear-weapons proliferation to wring aid from the international community. But too little aid is reaching ordinary citizens. As a result, they are taking matters into their own hands. Driven by hunger, growing numbers of North Koreans are crossing into China--breaching the wall of isolation and ignorance that has allowed their Stalinist system to survive. They see the success of China's market reforms, and are helped by Christian aid workers. When they go home, they carry food, money--and dangerous new ideas...Most North Koreans only spend a few days in China, a team from South Korea's Yongnam University concluded after conducting interviews last year along the border. The migrants beg or steal food or are helped by relatives among the region's large ethnic-Korean community. Only about 100,000 have stayed on as illegal refugees, says the Christian Council, which sends food aid through underground networks such as Ri's. South Korean charities and churches have quietly taken the lead in helping the Northerners. China allows outside aid groups to visit the border region and purchase foodstuffs for shipment to North Korea. But helping illegal migrants on Chinese soil is banned, so the groups' members use various pretexts to carry out their work. Some come on short-term tourist visas; others take jobs with South Korean businesses in the border cities and carry out their aid work by night...."

China Times 5/7/99 AFP "... North Korea's official media warned Thursday of an impending showdown with Japan, blasting its decision to strengthen military ties with the United States..... The report warned that "the Korean people and People's Army will wipe out all the Japanese reactionaries if they stage a comeback to Korea with arms in their hands. Then, the 'unsinkable aircraft carrier' will no longer exist." Japan, which hosts 47,000 US troops and was referred to by a former Japanese premier as an unsinkable aircraft carrier because of its strategic military importance, occupied Korea from 1910 to 1945...."

Bangkok Post 5/13/99 "...Seven months after Thailand reluctantly returned tonnes of a banned drug-making chemical to Pyongyang, North Korea has begun smuggling amphetamines and illegal narcotics back into Asia. Anti-drug agents said they cannot prove that the 2.5 tonnes of ephedrine handed over to the North Korean embassy last August were used in drugs seized in Japan and South Korea. However, the timing makes it likely that North Korea lied to Thai officials and intended all along to use the chemical to make illegal drugs. ..."

FoxNews 5/13/99 Fox News reported that classified intelligence data about a North Korean nuclear reactor may have been ignored by the Clinton administration in 1998. According to sources familiar with the situation, the administration pushed forward funding for a new, cleaner reactor for North Korea, even though there was evidence that the North Koreans were using the old reactor's plutonium fuel rods for weapons development instead of sending the material to the new facility for energy development. Sources said there was a fierce debate over withholding funds for the reactor project, but the White House insisted on going ahead anyway, despite the evidence of North Korea's misuse of the fuel rods.

Special to World Tribune.com 5/14/99 "…North Korea continues to strengthen its military and has deployed most of its troops near the border to prepare for a war against South Korea, the U.S. military chief of staff says. In a statement to the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on defense on Tuesday, General Henry Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Pyongyang has deployed the majority of its more than 1 million North Korean soldiers near the demilitarized zone and Seoul. He said the tensions from this deployment has been exacerbated by Pyongyang's nuclear and missile program. "Despite its collapsed economy and struggle to feed its own population," Shelton said, "the North Korean government continues to pour resources into its military and to pursue a policy of confrontation with South Korea and its neighbors in the region."More than one million North Korean soldiers serve on active duty, the vast majority deployed within hours of the DMZ and South Korea's capital city, Seoul."…"

***Media Research Center CyberAlert*** 5/13/99 Vol Four No 82 "..." 3) Only FNC cared that a top Democrat criticized Justice for turning down the FBI's warrant request for Wen Ho Lee. FNC's Carl Cameron exclusively revealed how the Clinton team ignored evidence about misuse of plutonium by North Korea. 4) No Chung on Wednesday's morning shows, but they had time for a story about a beach party for a furniture store's staff and a discussion about Star Wars toys. CNS picked up how Chung's sentencing judge said if the DNC didn't know then they were dumb. .... Cameron began his May 12 story over video of a nuclear plant in North Korea: "Classified intelligence data about this North Korean nuclear energy reactor, Fox News has learned, was ignored by the Clinton administration just last year. The administration pushed forward with funding for a new cleaner reactor for North Korea even though there was evidence that the North Koreans were using the old reactor's plutonium fuel rods for weapons development instead of sending the material to the new facility for energy production. Sources say there was a huge debate about withholding funds for the new project, but the White House insisted on going ahead anyway." Jumping to Chinese espionage, Cameron showed how at a Senate hearing ignored by the other networks Energy official Mary Ann Sullivan said her department followed proper procedure in deferring the espionage investigation to the FBI. Cameron picked up: "But the FBI says it was denied wiretaps and search warrants by Justice Department brass. That had Attorney General Janet Reno called on the congressional carpet and blasted by members of both parties." .....Cameron concluded with this intriguing development: "Senators were supposed to receive a top secret briefing from House lawmakers who conducted an in depth investigation of China's nuclear espionage, but at the last minute sources say Democratic Senators urged House Democrats not to show up to brief them and the meeting was canceled."...."

Fox News (http://www.foxnews.com/stage08.sml) 5/14/99 Carl Cameron "...Meanwhile, Fox News reported that classified intelligence data about a North Korean nuclear reactor may have been ignored by the Clinton administration in 1998. According to sources familiar with the situation, the administration pushed forward funding for a new, cleaner reactor for North Korea, even though there was evidence that the North Koreans were using the old reactor's plutonium fuel rods for weapons development instead of sending the material to the new facility for energy development. Sources said there was a fierce debate over withholding funds for the reactor project, but the White House insisted on going ahead anyway, despite the evidence of North Korea's misuse of the fuel rods...."

Washington Times 5/17/99 Bill Gertz Excerpts from Betrayal "...North Korea fired its first Taepo Dong missile Aug. 31 from a remote facility. The missile, accelerating quickly, traveled over northern Japan. Despite monitoring by U.S. and Japanese ships, surveillance aircraft and space sensors, initial reaction from the Clinton administration was that the missile was a two-stage rocket, nothing more....."They have gone some way down toward developing a missile with a much longer-range capability," Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon told reporters two weeks later, on Sept. 15. "We're talking something that could be approaching intercontinental ballistic missile range." In short, North Korea had taken a quantum leap in its relatively primitive missile program, which had been based on 1950s Scud missile technology. Mr. Bacon called it "worrisome." Inside the Pentagon, the news was explosive. Though the satellite failed, U.S. intelligence agencies analyzing the trajectory of debris concluded that the Taepo Dong missile's range was roughly between 2,500 miles and 3,700 miles. At the high end, a North Korean missile could hit almost all of Alaska and reach the northernmost Hawaiian islands, according to a Pentagon chart....The Communist regime in Pyongyang had achieved a major breakthrough. With a huge arsenal of chemical weapons and a secret nuclear program, could a warhead containing a weapon of mass destruction be far behind? Many analysts feared that a Taepo Dong missile with a third stage perhaps could lob chemical or biological weapons not just on Alaska and Hawaii, but on some of the western United States. Other Pentagon officials confessed to this reporter that with just one more test, the North Koreans could achieve something few other nations had done: develop an ICBM -- an intercontinental ballistic missile. The White House added its own spin. North Korea still had to "master the unique and fairly daunting challenges of returning a re-entry vehicle back to land, re-entering the Earth's atmosphere to hit a target without burning up," White House Press Secretary Michael McCurry said..... "

WorldNetDaily 5/17/99 J R Nyquist "... According to General Henry Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, North Korea has deployed most of its one million troops near the South Korean border to prepare for war. "Despite its collapsed economy and struggle to feed its own population," explained Shelton, "the North Korean government continues to pour resources into its military and to pursue a policy of confrontation with South Korea and its neighbors in the region." Shelton further said that the threat from North Korea is serious. In recent months the North Koreans, who are close allies of Moscow and Beijing, have declared, "The United States will [soon] be reduced to ashes and will no longer exist. ..." North Korean headlines from the first week of 1999 proclaimed that: "U.S. Imperialist Aggressors Will Be Unable to Avoid Annihilating Strikes." Another North Korean newspaper stated that the Americans would be wiped "from this planet for good." In the New Year's message of the North Korean government, the Communists called on their citizens to "love rifles, earnestly learn military affairs and turn the whole country into an impregnable fortress." ..."

Stratfor 3/22/99 "...Recent agreements with the United States and summits in Seoul have focused on Pyongyang's possession and use of weapons of mass destruction. This is a victory of North Korean foreign policy, which has shifted the agenda from the question of North Korean survival to North Korean aggression. North Korea has no intention of using its weapons. It is much more interested in emerging from isolation into closer relations with Moscow and Beijing. Washington, Seoul and Tokyo are all missing the meaning of North Korean behavior...."

Koenig's International News 5/19/99 Charles Smith "... The transfer in late 1994, known as the Hua Mei project, involved advanced telecommunications technology -- with a variety of battlefield and civilian applications -- from AT&T via SC&M Brooks in St. Louis to Galaxy New Technology in China. The fiber-optic technology sold to Galaxy New Technology is not a weapon itself, but it greatly enhances the command and control system linking the Chinese army, navy and air force. The Chinese may have repackaged the same system and resold it to Iraq, where it would be able to threaten the lives of U.S. pilots flying reconnaissance missions. According to Aviation Week & Space Technology, Iraq's air-defense system -- code- named "Tiger-Song" by NATO commanders -- is an advanced internet for surface-to-air missile batteries using secure fiber-optic communications. One of the advantages of Tiger-Song is that it allows the Iraqi radar installations not associated with Iraqi missile batteries to lock in on U.S. aircraft and transfer the information to the missile operators through the secure fiber-optic network. Perry faced a firestorm of criticism in early 1996 following reports that he overruled objections from the Pentagon's technology directorate, as well as from critics in the National Security Agency, who wanted to block the transfer in 1994...."

Koenig's International News 5/19/99 Charles Smith "...Newly released documents from the Commerce Department reveal that Perry and other officials met with several leading generals of the PLA at an unannounced closed-door meeting at Commerce on Nov. 17, 1994. The documents show the level of contact between the Chinese army and the Clinton Commerce Department to be far deeper than previously admitted. On the U.S. side, Perry was assisted by his friend and colleague at Stan ford University, John Lewis, who was a business partner of Galaxy New Technology and a member of the Defense Policy Board of the Pentagon, as well as a civilian consultant to the Secretary of Defense, according to Pentagon documents. In 1994 Lewis was executive director of Chicago-based SCM (which later became SC&M and merged with St. Louis-based Brooks Telecom.) According to the Far Eastern Economic Review, Lewis was a member of the SCM board until January, 1995, although Lewis told the Review that he left SCM at the time he was appointed to the Defense Policy Board in August, 1994. SC&M Brooks was acting as a conduit for AT&T fiber-optic technology wanted by the Chinese generals. SC&M/Brooks was financed on the U.S. side by Perry's investment-banking firm, Hambrecht and Quist, according to one of the bank's advertisements in 1995. Perry in 1985 helped found Hambrecht and Quist, which also is the financial backer of the liberal-leaning Salon magazine...The Chinese delegation was led by PLA Gen. Ding Henggao -- the head of the Chinese Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, or COSTIND -- who brought with him some of the highest-ranking PLA officers to travel outside of China. Dine brought his aide and second in Command at COSTIND, Lt. Gen. Huai Guomo, as well as Maj. Gen. Fu Jiaping and Maj. Gen. Chen Kaizeng. Ding even brought one of the spymasters of the Chinese army, Major Gen. Hou Gang, deputy director of the Intelligence Department of the PLA. The military affiliation of the company officials meeting with Perry should have raised serious doubt as to the supposed civilian application of the fiber-optic system being traded, as required by Commerce Department licensing regulations. The cochairmen of the Hua Mei joint venture in 1994, according to Pentagon documents, were former senator Adlai E. Stevenson III and Madam Nie Li, wife of Ding. Lie holds her own military rank -- Madam General Nie of the People's Liberation Army. Lewis is listed in the same document as one of five directors under Stevenson's chairmanship...."

LA Times 5/21/99 Bob Drogin "....The United States will send the highest-level delegation in nearly half a century to North Korea next week, in hopes of charting a new relationship with one of the world's most isolated and authoritarian regimes, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Thursday. Former U.S. Defense Secretary William J. Perry, a special White House envoy, will carry a letter from President Clinton when he leads a seven-member team to North Korea's capital, Pyongyang, for a four-day visit beginning Tuesday. Perry met Thursday with Clinton for a final briefing..... Perry's mission represents a dramatic attempt to reach out to Pyongyang's enigmatic leadership. But it also reflects mounting White House and congressional frustration in dealing with an unpredictable regime that is heavily armed and that directly threatens South Korea and Japan, as well as U.S. troops in northeast Asia...."

5/25/99 BBC News "...The US Government says a team of American experts has completed its inspection of an underground site in North Korea, which it suspects could be part of a nuclear weapons programme. A State Department spokesman said the experts received "good cooperation" from North Korean officials but no details would be released until the team has returned to Washington and the inspection fully assessed. US officials are also hoping for the first meeting between a US official and North Korea's secretive leader Kim Jong-il. President Clinton's special envoy, William Perry has flown to North Korea as part of a wide review of American policy on the Korean peninsula. The former defence secretary was made special coordinator for North Korea last year....Mr Perry is expected to put pressure on the North Korean leadership to abandon its nuclear weapons and missile development programmes in exchange for lifting economic sanctions and normalising diplomatic relations. On Monday Mr Perry held talks with South Korean and Japanese officials, at which the three countries agreed the wording of a joint statement to be presented in Pyongyang....."

Reuters 5/29/99 Bill Tarrant "...The United States could offer a major expansion in ties with North Korea if the secretive communist state abandoned its nuclear and missile programs, U.S. presidential envoy William Perry said Saturday. During a four-day visit to North Korea this week, Perry said he had explored with Pyongyang ``my thinking about the possibility of a major expansion in our relations and cooperation as part of a process in which the U.S. and allied concerns about missile and nuclear programs are addressed.'' Perry declined to give details about what was on offer, saying the ideas about an expanded relationship had been developed over the past six months, after he was appointed by President Clinton to comprehensively review North Korean policy. ``For that reason, it is not surprising that I do not have for you at this time anything that I might characterize as a definitive DPRK (North Korea) response to this idea,'' Perry said, adding he had not been in Pyongyang to negotiate....."

China Times AFP "...Warning that aid has failed to defuse the North Korean threat, US lawmakers on Wednesday pushed for further curbs to drive Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear energy programs. "Clearly, we should be getting more for our money," said Republican Representative Benjamin Gilman, chairman of the House International Relations Committee, who introduced the bill..... The measure would limit the White House's ability to disburse funds under a five-year-old program under which North Korea agreed to freeze its nuclear energy program in exchange for US fuel for conventional power plants and Washington's pledge of "safer" light-water reactors...... Gilman's measure would mean food aid shipments to the Stalinist regime would continue only under assurances they were "not diverted to the North Korean military and that North Korea is taking steps to regain self-sufficiency in food production." Gilman's bill would also disburse 10 million dollars to create a joint early warning system in the Asia-Pacific region to share data on ballistic missile launches among participating governments...."

LA Times 5/21/99 Bob Drogin "....The United States will send the highest-level delegation in nearly half a century to North Korea next week, in hopes of charting a new relationship with one of the world's most isolated and authoritarian regimes, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Thursday. Former U.S. Defense Secretary William J. Perry, a special White House envoy, will carry a letter from President Clinton when he leads a seven-member team to North Korea's capital, Pyongyang, for a four-day visit beginning Tuesday. Perry met Thursday with Clinton for a final briefing..... Perry's mission represents a dramatic attempt to reach out to Pyongyang's enigmatic leadership. But it also reflects mounting White House and congressional frustration in dealing with an unpredictable regime that is heavily armed and that directly threatens South Korea and Japan, as well as U.S. troops in northeast Asia...."

5/25/99 BBC News "...The US Government says a team of American experts has completed its inspection of an underground site in North Korea, which it suspects could be part of a nuclear weapons programme. A State Department spokesman said the experts received "good cooperation" from North Korean officials but no details would be released until the team has returned to Washington and the inspection fully assessed. US officials are also hoping for the first meeting between a US official and North Korea's secretive leader Kim Jong-il. President Clinton's special envoy, William Perry has flown to North Korea as part of a wide review of American policy on the Korean peninsula. The former defence secretary was made special coordinator for North Korea last year....Mr Perry is expected to put pressure on the North Korean leadership to abandon its nuclear weapons and missile development programmes in exchange for lifting economic sanctions and normalising diplomatic relations. On Monday Mr Perry held talks with South Korean and Japanese officials, at which the three countries agreed the wording of a joint statement to be presented in Pyongyang....."

5/28/99 Reuters Freeper Thanatos "...North Korea denied U.S. presidential adviser William Perry an audience with leader Kim Jong-il Friday, the State Department said. A separate team of U.S. experts which visited an underground building site in North Korea this month has no reason to believe at this stage that the construction violated a 1994 agreement between Washington and Pyongyang, it added. Perry, who arrived in Pyongyang Tuesday and left Friday, is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit North Korea since the Korean War of 1950-53. He had hoped to see Kim, who rarely receives foreign visitors...."

5/28/99 BBC News Freeper Thanatos "...US experts investigating a suspected nuclear weapon site in North Korea have found only a large, empty tunnel. The inspection took four days, much shorter than expected, said the US State department. Further analysis was needed before they could reach any conclusions, a spokesman added. The site at Kumchang-ri, 40km (25 miles) north-east of the country's main nuclear complex at Yongbyon, was suspected to be part of a secret nuclear weapons project after the excavation was spotted by US spy satellites...."

5/28/99 AP "...U.S. inspection of a large tunnel complex in North Korea yielded no evidence that North Korea is in violation of a 5-year-old nuclear agreement, a State Department spokesman said today. The spokesman, James P. Rubin, also said that while special envoy William Perry did not meet with North Korean President Kim Jong Il, his delegation was ``well received'' in Pyongyang and met with a number of top officials during a visit that ended earlier in the day...."

Nando AP 6/8/99 "...Hours after a tense armed standoff with South Korean navy ships, five North Korean patrol boats returned to southern waters Wednesday, according to the Defense Ministry. One North Korean patrol boat was spotted crossing the western sea border after daybreak Wednesday and, within an hour, four more joined it deep inside South Korean waters, the ministry said. "The same situation as yesterday is going on," said Capt. Lim Won-kyu, spokesman for South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff. On Tuesday, six North Korean navy ships penetrated South Korean waters in the same general area, creating an 11-hour armed standoff with South Korean navy boats....."

Associated Press 6/9/99 George Gedda "...House International Relations Committee chairman Benjamin Gilman said Wednesday he is concerned that the Clinton administration is forging a new policy toward North Korea without adequate consultation with Congress. Gilman, R-N.Y., outlined his criticism in a statement after former Defense Secretary William Perry gave Gilman and other members of Congress an update on the North Korea policy review he initiated eight months ago at the request of President Clinton. Gilman said he was concerned that the administration has "actually completed its review and is moving forward with quiet diplomatic initiatives with North Korea'' without close consultation with the Congress...... As part of his review, Perry visited North Korea two weeks ago. He said immediately after the visit that he explored with North Korean officials the possibility of a "major expansion'' in U.S. relations with North Korea if U.S. and allied concerns about North Korea's missile and nuclear programs were addressed. Of particular concern is North Korea's development of long-range ballistic missiles. Perry said he traveled to Pyongyang as a presidential envoy and not as a negotiator. "It will take some time for the DPRK (North Korea) to further reflect on the views I expressed and for us to reflect on our visit,'' he said at the time....."

6/9/99 KCNA Freeper Thanatos "...The spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea today answered the question put by the KCNA over the groundless rumours afloat before the announcement of an official stand on the result of the U.S. delegation's visit to the Kumchang-ri project in the DPRK as follows: In line with the DPRK-U.S. agreement reached in New York in last March, the U.S. delegation visited the project in Kumchang-ri over May 20-22 at the invitation of the DPRK. At a time when the United States raised the issue of "suspected underground nuclear facility" of the DPRK, we held that we might allow a one-time visit to the Kumchang-ri project as an exception if the United States gives the DPRK either 300 million U.S. dollars in cash or other economic benefit of an appropriate form equivalent to that amount in compensation for its slandering and insulting the DPRK....."

6/11/99 AP "...The United States has invited North Korean leaders to Washington, the U.S. Embassy said Friday. The invitation to top North Korean officials was extended during a recent trip by U.S. envoy William Perry to continue "dialogue," but no visit has been set, an embassy spokesman said on customary condition of anonymity. If they accept the invitation, it would be the first such visit..... Perry did not receive a definitive North Korean response to a Western proposal that North Korea abandon its weapons programs in exchange for expanded economic and diplomatic benefits...."

Reuters 6/11/99 "....Communist North Korea Saturday demanded South Korea stop what it called provocation in the waters off the west coast and threatened to strike at South Korean forces there. "The South Korean authorities must know that if they continue reckless provocations despite our repeated warnings, they will meet with our strong self-defensive strikes. There is a limit to patience,'' the (North) Korean Central News Agency reported...."

6/11/99 Reuters "...North Korea threatened Saturday to carry out strikes in self-defense if South Korean forces did not halt ''reckless provocations'' in a standoff along their maritime boundary in the Yellow Sea. ``The South Korean authorities must know that if they continue reckless provocations despite our repeated warnings, they will meet with our strong self-defensive strikes. There is a limit to patience,'' said a North Korean statement out of the Korean War truce village of Panmunjom. Officials at South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korean boats had retreated by midnight and were now some six km north of the boundary dividing the bitter rivals' waters. The two countries have engaged in a tense cat-and-mouse game off the western coast of the Korean Peninsula for the past week. South Korea says Northern naval vessels have crossed into southern waters daily, apparently to protect a fleet of crab-catching vessels, before returning to the North in the evening...."

Reuters 6/11/99 "...South Korean navy vessels on Friday drove four North Korean patrol ships out of the South's territorial waters in an escalation of a five-day standoff in the Yellow Sea. ``We adopted a bump and push tactic between 11:40 a.m. and 12:10 p.m. (0240 GMT and 0310 GMT) which pushed three North Korean patrol boats back into their territory,'' said Col. Hwang Dong-kyu, spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). Neither side opened fire during the confrontation, he told reporters. Four South Korean high-speed patrol boats suffered light damage in the operation. Four North Korean ships were also damaged, including one which was partially submerged, a JCS official said. ``South Korea decided to take this tactic after four North Korean ships crossed over into Southern waters at 4:00 a.m. and two more followed at 10:48 a.m., continuing their intrusion,'' Col. Hwang said...."

6/11/99 SCMP Freeper Thanatos "...As the effect of North Korea's repeated incursions into South Korean waters rippled beyond the Korean Peninsula yesterday, explanations appeared increasingly elusive. Tuesday's 11-hour stand-off, followed by Wednesday's 18-hour, tense showdown involving a collision and then the return of North Korean naval and fishing boats yesterday morning, may suggest an improvised series of events or part of a long-term strategy, analysts said...."

6/13/99 Nando Media/AP "....U.S. government officials say Russia, Iraq and North Korea are probably concealing the deadly smallpox virus for military use, The New York Times reported Sunday. A secret federal intelligence assessment was completed late last year. It was based on evidence that includes disclosures by a senior Soviet defector, blood samples from the North Korean soldiers that show smallpox vaccinations and the fairly recent manufacture of smallpox vaccine by Iraq, according to the report. Officials told the Times that the assessment was an important factor in President Clinton's recent decision to reverse course and forgo destruction of American stockpiles of the virus...."

AP TampaBayOnline 6/12/99 "...Communist North Korea sent patrol boats across a disputed sea border Saturday after threatening to attack South Korean warships in contested waters of the Yellow Sea. The American-led U.N. Command, which oversees the fragile truce between the two bitter rivals, urged North Korea Saturday - for a third time this week - to hold a border military meeting to end the standoff.....The armed standoff in the Cold War's last flashpoint entered its fifth day Saturday, with the two Koreas hardening their stances after their ships nearly opened fire Friday. North Korea warned South Korea that it must withdraw its warships from the area, a rich fishing ground, or face military strikes. South Korea canceled weekend leaves for soldiers and massed more destroyers, frigates and even landing ships near the area and put its 650,000 military on heightened alert....."

Reuters 6/13/99 "...A tense cat-and-mouse standoff between the rival Koreas' in the Yellow Sea entered its eighth day Monday as North Korean patrol ships crossed again into South Korean waters, a defense ministry spokesman said. ''All seven ships had retreated to northern waters Sunday but two crossed the border again at around 6:00 a.m. Monday. The two have remained in our waters since then,'' the spokesman said. Another defense ministry official said the two North Korean vessels were about two miles inside the Northern Limit Line (NLL), which forms part of a buffer zone. He said South Korea had deployed seven navy boats against the North Korean ships. North Korea agreed Sunday to meet United Nations Command officers to discuss the confrontation...."

6/14/99 AP Paul Shin "...South Korea accused North Korea of intensifying their standoff at sea by sending warships back Monday to a disputed fishing zone. North Korea has agreed to meet with U.N. observers on Tuesday to discuss its incursions in a rich crab fishing grounds in the Yellow Sea. For the past week, North Korean warships have been sailing in and out of the disputed waters, apparently to guard the north's fishing boats in the area. On Friday, South Korean navy patrol boats rammed and briefly repelled North Korean warships, but there has been no exchange of fire...."

6/14/99 Paul Shin AP "...South and North Korean warships exchanged gunfire Tuesday in contested waters of the Yellow Sea only minutes before talks began to end the standoff, Seoul's Defense Ministry said. Col. Hwang Dong-kyu, spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said three North Korean ships shot first and their fire was returned by at least some of the eight South Korean ships patrolling the area. ``One North Korean ship was hit and is staying (in the area), but the other two returned to North Korean waters,'' Hwang said...."

6/15/99 Reuters Bill Tarrant "...South Korea said Tuesday it sank one North Korean gunboat and heavily damaged several others in their first naval clash in the Yellow Sea since the 1950-1953 Korean War. Four North Korean patrol boats and three torpedo boats intruded into South Korean waters early Tuesday and several began firing on a Southern patrol boat at 9:25 am, South Korea's defense ministry said. South Korean warships returned fire, sinking one North Korean patrol boat and heavily damaging several others. Three of the heavily damaged boats retreated to Northern waters along with two others which returned without damage during the exchange of fire, the spokesman said. One North Korean torpedo boat was reported wallowing in South Korean waters....South Korea said it had put its military on ``Defcon three'' readiness, which it defined as ``a serious situation...that could lead to deployment of North Korean military forces.'' ..."

6/15/99 AP Newsday "...North Korea is planning to launch a ballistic missile within two months, almost a year after the communist country fired a similar rocket that flew over Japan, a news report said Wednesday. U.S. satellite images and South Korean intelligence reports show that the North has gone into preparations for a test launch of its Taepodong ballistic missile, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said. Japanese government officials declined to comment on the report. The report comes a day after military boats from North and South Korea exchanged fire in the Yellow sea, drastically escalating tensions between the two rival states. In August, last year, a North Korean ballistic missile flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean...."

6/15/99 AFP "...North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has told Beijing he wants to visit China, and officials are now working out the details of the trip, a Chinese official said in a report here Tuesday. "China has requested a visit by Kim Jong-Il, and he has expressed his intention to accept China's invitation," said Li Shuzheng, former head of the Chinese Communist Party's international liaison department. The timing of the trip "is being negotiated through diplomatic channels," the Nihon Keizai Shimbun quoted Li saying as he held talks here Monday with Tsutomu Hata, the secretary-general of the opposition Democratic Party. The visit would mark a major event in the leadership of the mysterious Kim, the beneficiary in the world's first communist dynastic succession, who rarely meets foreigners at home and is averse to travelling abroad....."

New York Times 6/16/99 "…An early morning firefight Tuesday in disputed waters in the Yellow Sea receded into a verbal clash, as North Korea demanded an apology after South Korea sank one of its warships. Each side said the other fired first. All 17 aboard the North Korean warship were killed, said the South Korean state-owned Yonhap news agency. A U.S. defense official said as many as 30 North Koreans were killed. A South Korean army helicoptor with injured sailors on board lifts off headed to Seoul's military hospital following a confrontation with North Korean navy. Five North Korean patrol boats also were damaged. One South Korean boat sustained mild damage, and seven sailors were injured, none seriously…."

AP 6/16/99 "…Hoping to avoid further incidents in the Yellow Sea, the Clinton administration is urging North Korea to refrain from sending its vessels south of a line that has helped avert military tensions between the two Koreas for 46 years. An incident along that line Tuesday led to the sinking of a North Korean warship and the deaths of an estimated 30 sailors. The Pentagon said the vessel sank after a South Korean vessel bumped it while attempting to nudge it a northerly direction. North Korea said the incident put the two countries at the brink of war but U.S. officials said other North Korea vessels in the area appeared to be heading away from the area, thus easing tensions. However, new North Korean ships appeared in the area today. The Pentagon dispatched additional aircraft Tuesday to patrol the Yellow Sea. Additional U.S. ships or other resources also may be sent to the region…."

UPI Spotlight 6/16/99 "..U.S. officials tell UPI (Wednesday) the Pentagon is dispatching an aircraft carrier to waters near the Korean peninsula and bolstering its air forces in South Korea. The officials say the aircraft carrier, which was based in the region prior to duty in the Balkan conflict, will return to the Yellow Sea as a show of force during South Korea's naval conflict with North Korea…."

InsideChina 6/16/99 AFP "…Hong Kong's chief secretary said Tuesday she had defended the territory's export controls to the author of a US report alleging that China uses Hong Kong as an illicit transshipment point for high-tech US goods. Anson Chan said that she told Republican Representative Christopher Cox during a Monday meeting that "our control system is one of the world's best, (and) that we are determined to keep it that way (maintaining) close cooperation with trading partners like the United States." "I said that if he has any evidence of diversion occurring in Hong Kong, we would be ready to investigate without fear or favor," she said in a statement. Cox said "he believed Hong Kong has a sturdy control system, and he would not wish to undermine Hong Kong's autonomy," Chan said. Chan had specifically taken issue Monday with charges that Chinese army (PLA) vehicles pass uninspected through Hong Kong and that its personnel enjoy unrestricted access to Hong Kong computers. As to that concern, Chan said she told Cox that "his report's reference to unmonitored PLA vehicle movement across the border was unfounded. The vehicles were checked and any suspicions would be thoroughly investigated."…"

North Korean Embassy 6/11/99 "…The US-led NATO's indiscriminate air strike against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in defiance of recognized international law is an act of wanton aggression on a sovereign state, which gives rise to deep concern of the international community at present. In 1950s, the United States abused the name of the United Nations in the aggressive Korean war forcing the Security Council to adopt "resolutions" legalizing its aggression. This time of post-cold war, the U.S. bypassed the United Nations in launching the air strike against Yugoslavia. This shows that the arrogance of the United States abusing or bypassing the UN for its own interests has reached its culmination. What we take it still dangerous is the fact that the United States has been speeding up the preparations for a second aggressive Korean war while carrying on bombing of Yugoslavia. Some time ago, the United States newly revised the "Operation Plan 5027-98." This is the most belligerent and dangerous war scenario of aggressive nature to stifle our Republic and realize domination over the whole Korea by employing preemptive air strike as in Yugoslavia…… "

6/17/99 AFP/Agencies "...North Korea said yesterday it was severing contacts with South Korea "for the time being" following Tuesday's naval firefight in a disputed area of the Yellow Sea. A spokesman for the Committee for Peaceful Reunification of Fatherland, which is in charge of contacts with the South, accused Seoul of "bringing the situation to the brink of war". ,,,,:

Associated Press 6/16/99 George Gedda "...The Clinton administration is hoping to avoid further incidents it the Yellow Sea by sending two warships to the area. It is also urging North Korea not to send its vessels south of a line that has helped ease military tensions between the two Koreas for 46 years. Two U.S. Navy ships based in Japan will soon begin sailing off the Korean coast to monitor the situation, and a small number of additional American EA-6B electronic warfare jets will be added to existing air patrols, Pentagon spokesman Capt. Mike Doubleday said at a briefing for reporters in Washington...."

Rueters 6/17/99 "…A Pentagon spokesman, U.S. Navy Captain Mike Doubleday, told reporters in Washington the cruiser Vincennes, now off Japan, would move off Korea with another ship he did not identify. A number of EA-6B surveillance and electronic warfare planes were also heading to the area to monitor events, although Doubleday stressed that tension had eased since an exchange of fire Tuesday in which a North Korean torpedo boat was sunk….. Washington, which has 37,000 troops in the South to deter an attack but is considering a thaw in its relations with the North, has been in direct contact with both sides to try to defuse the situation….. But North Korea abruptly said late Wednesday it would limit or temporarily halt contacts with South Korea because of heightened tensions over Tuesday's incident….."

The Associated Press 6/19/99 "….Three North Koreans have escaped their hunger-stricken homeland and arrived in South Korea to seek asylum, government officials said today. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade identified them as Kim Woo Suk, 38, his wife, Song Ki Sun, 25, and unrelated Kim Suk Hoon, 29. It said Kim Woo Suk served as a government official in charge of earning foreign currency until he and his wife left the North in March. Kim Suk Hoon was a school teacher until he left the communist country in March, 1997…."

http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/99/06/18/timfgnfar01001.html?1124027 6/18/99 Robert Whymant "…NORTH KOREA is developing a new ballistic missile capable of hitting the western United States, it was reported here yesterday. Japan's Jiji news agency quoted US and South Korean government sources as saying that Pyongyang was working to complete a Taepodong 3 missile with a range of more than 8,000 kilometres (5,000 miles). And the Kyodo News Agency, also quoting government sources, said that the reclusive communist country is almost ready to launch a Taepodong 2 missile, with a range of up to 6,000 kilometres (3,750 miles), The launchpad for the missile has been enlarged and fuel has been transported to storehouses for a test in July or August, the sources told Kyodo, citing information obtained through US spy satellites. They said a launch was not imminent, because the missile had not been fuelled or placed on the pad. The news is worrying for Tokyo, which was unnerved last August by a North Korean rocket that flew over northern Japan and landed in the Pacific. North Korea insisted it was a vehicle to put a satellite in orbit, but Japan said it was a test of the Taepodong 1, which has a range of about 1,300 kilometres (785 miles). US and Japanese military officials believe North Korea has deployed more than ten of these missiles, which could hit most areas of Japan…."

Drudge Report/A.P. 6/18/99 "…"North Korea accuses U.S. of trying to unleash new Korean War UNITED NATIONS (AP) - North Korea accused the United States on Friday of trying to unleash a new war on the Korean peninsula by deploying advanced weapons and provoking South Korea to fire on North Korean naval ships this week. ``The touch-and-go situation is now created in the Korean peninsula where a war may break out any time,'' North Korea's U.N. Ambassador Li Hyong Chol warned in a letter to the Security Council. The latest tensions involve rich crab fishing territory claimed by both Koreas off the peninsula's western ..." …"

Unclassified Statement for the Record by Special Assistant to the DCI for Nonproliferation John A. Lauder on the Worldwide WMD Threat to the Commission to Assess the Organization of the Federal Government to Combat the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction As Prepared for Delivery on 29 April 1999 … There is little positive that can be said about North Korea, the third major global proliferator, whose incentive to engage in such behavior increases as its economy continues to decline. Successes in the control of missile technology--for example, through the Missile Technology Control Regime--have created a market for countries like North Korea to exploit illicit avenues for conducting sales activities in this area. Missiles, and related technology and know-how, are North Korean products for which there is a real market. North Korea's sales of such products over the years have dramatically heightened the missile capabilities of countries such as Iran and Pakistan. North Korea's sales are the most striking example of what we call "secondary proliferation." Countries such as India, Pakistan, and Iran--traditionally seen as technology customers--have also now developed capabilities that they could export to others….With regard to North Korea, the "Agreed Framework" has frozen Pyongyang's ability to produce additional plutonium at Yongbyon, but we are deeply concerned that North Korea has a covert program. A key target for us to watch is the underground construction project at Kumchang-ni, which may be large enough to house a plutonium production reactor and perhaps a reprocessing plant as well….More disturbing is that foreign missiles of increased range and military potential are under development. North Korea's Taepo-Dong 1, launched last August, demonstrated the use of three stages and technology that, particularly with the resolution of some important technical issues, would give North Korea the ability to deliver a very small payload to intercontinental ranges--including parts of the United States--although not very accurately. The North Koreans are also working on another missile--the Taepo Dong-2. With two stages, the Taepo Dong-2, which has not yet been flight-tested, would be able to deliver significantly larger payloads to mainland Alaska and the Hawaiian Islands, and smaller payloads to other parts of the United States. In other words, the lighter the payload, the greater the range. With a third stage like the one demonstrated last August on the Taepo Dong-1, this missile would be able to deliver payloads to the rest of the United States…."

The Associated Press 6/21/99 Robert Burns "...Now that NATO's air campaign against Yugoslavia is over, the Pentagon intends to return an aircraft carrier to the western Pacific in a move made more urgent by renewed tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The Navy has been without an aircraft carrier in the Pacific since early April, when the USS Kitty Hawk carrier battle group went to the Persian Gulf to cover for the USS Theodore Roosevelt. The Theodore Roosevelt diverted to the Adriatic Sea to bolster allied aircraft striking at Yugoslavia. With NATO having officially declared its air campaign ended, the Theodore Roosevelt is expected to head to the Gulf, freeing the Kitty Hawk to return to its normal station at Yokosuka, Japan. The Pentagon also is expected to reduce the number of Air Force and Marine Corps aircraft in the Balkans in coming weeks, although the timing is uncertain...."

The Associated Press 6/20/99 "...North Korea says South Korean warships have been intruding into its territorial waters since last week's bloody naval clash and is threatening to retaliate. The North Korean accusations and warning came on the eve of talks between the two Koreas in Beijing on Monday, the first government contact between the two rival Korean states in 14 months. ``The enemies must know that there is a limit to our patience,'' the North's navy said in a statement Sunday night. ``They must stop acting rashly, mindful that every movement of theirs is within the gunsights of our sailors thirsting for revenge.'' ..."

BBC 6/24/99 "...The United States and North Korea are holding talks in the Chinese capital Beijing, a day after a meeting between the two Koreas broke down. There are fears that the latest discussions could be threatened by the same maritime border dispute between the North and the South that stalled Tuesday's talks. Arriving for the US-North Korea talks at a Beijing hotel, US representative Charles Kartman told reporters he expected to have a good meeting with his North Korean counterparts. Mr Kartman is in Beijing to discuss the results of last month's US inspection of a suspected nuclear weapons facility in North Korea, as well as arrangements for four-party peace talks with China and South Korea, due to start in August....."

World Tribune 6/24/99 "...North Korea shelved talks with its southern neighbor on Wednesday and held all-day, closed-door talks with U.S. officials. The meetings, thought to focus on plans for a missile test and the North's nuclear program, were to continue today. U.S. special envoy Charles Kartman began talks with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan. The U.S. side presented the preliminary findings of a U.S. inspection last month of a suspected North Korean nuclear weapons complex. Officials said Kartman was also prepared to discuss a potential groundbreaking review of Washington's policy toward Pyongyang that could lead to an end to sanctions, possible U.S. investment and even diplomatic relations, U.S. officials said..... Last week, Washington warned North Korea of "serious consequences" if Pyongyang were to follow through on suspected plans to test-launch a long-range missile...."

Reuters 6/25/99 "...South Korean President Kim Dae-jung said on Friday the United States, Japan and South Korea's top priority was to prevent North Korea from testing another missile, which he said would seriously damage relations. ``The top priority of the three nations is to firmly persuade and pressure North Korea to stop a missile launch,'' Kim told local reporters at a monthly news conference. ``We are making the hardest efforts. But if missile is launched, I believe the relations between North Korea and the three countries would be seriously damaged,'' he said. North Korea test-fired a long-range rocket that soared over Japan and into the Pacific last August. Kim was responding to questions over concerns that North Korea may soon test an even longer-range missile...."

Worldtribune 6/28/99 "...The United States and North Korea appeared headed for a collision regarding Pyongyang's plans to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile that can strike parts of the United States. Japanese officials said Pyongyang has completed preparations for the launch. They said the missile could be fired as early as within the next two weeks. Pyongyang has responded harshly to efforts to stop the missile test. North Korean newspapers have denounced the United States for raising the issue of the missile threat...."

Washington Post (AP) 6/30/99 "...Japan's foreign minister has warned lawmakers that North Korea has deployed over 10 Rodong ballistic missiles with a range of up to 800 miles, a newspaper reported today. Masahiko Komura told a parliamentary committee Tuesday that the communist nation has prepared at least 10 of the weapons for launch, the Nihon Keizai business daily reported. The report comes nearly a year after North Korea surprised the world by firing a rocket that flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean. North Korea claimed it had launched a satellite, but Western officials believe it was a test of a Taepodong missile with a range long enough to strike any part of the Japanese archipelago...... As tensions in the region mount, the U.S. military dispatched a ship to Japan's southern coast earlier this month. U.S. officials said the move was to monitor ``foreign missile launches.'' The U.S. Navy has also sent two guided missile cruisers, a nuclear submarine and a full battle group to Korean waters where warships of both Koreas exchanged fire in a disputed area of the Yellow Sea earlier this month...."

AFP 7/2/99"... Indian customs have detained a North Korean ship in the western port of Kandla on suspicion of carrying arms for arch-rival Pakistan, officials said Friday.Officials at the Kandla Port Trust told AFP the ship, Ku Wol Sun, was detained on Wednesday and was currently being searched by teams from the Customs and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence."A team of defence experts are also expected today to search the ship," the official said...."

Reuters 7/2/99 "...North Korea warned the United Nations Command Friday that ``more serious bloodshed will be inevitable'' unless South Korean warships withdrew from disputed waters on their Cold War frontier. ``More serious bloodshed will be inevitable unless (South Korean) army battleships' intrusion into our side's territorial waters is checked,'' North Korean Lt.-General Ri Chan Bok said at a meeting with generals from the U.S.-led United Nations Command in the U.N. truce village of Panmunjom. In the first naval clash on the Yellow Sea since the 1950-53 Korean War, South Korea said it sank a North Korean torpedo vessel during an exchange of gunfire on June 15, while the North insists it sank more than 10 South Korean vessels....."

New York Times 7/1/99 David Sanger Eric Schmitt "...The Clinton administration is increasingly worried that South Korea may be pushing ahead with several missile projects that could further fuel an arms race on the Korean peninsula, just as North Korea appears to be preparing another launch of a long-range missile. Administration officials say they will raise their concerns that a South Korean missile program could destabilize an already dangerous situation when South Korean President Kim Dae-jung visits Washington on Friday. Two weeks ago, the South sank a North Korean vessel in a firefight along their coastal border that resulted in more than 20 deaths. While Presidents Clinton and Kim will publicly declare that they have agreed on a common strategy for dealing with the North, one senior administration official said that the South Koreans feel "unduly constrained" by a two-decade-old agreement that sharply limits their ability to deploy a powerful fleet of missiles to deter Pyongyang. The political pressure in Seoul to deploy such missiles is bound to grow if the North fires a Taepo Dong 2 missile over the Sea of Japan in coming weeks. Kurt Campbell, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific affairs, on Wednesday became the first administration official to acknowledge publicly that U.S. intelligence had detected "some preparations" for a launch in coming weeks or months. "We'd view any potential launch of either a satellite or a missile as a very serious act with very real consequences for U.S. foreign policy toward North Korea," Campbell said...."

International Herald Tribune 7/2/99 Michael O'Hanlon "...What is going on these days in North Korea? After welcoming former Defense Secretary William Perry to Pyongyang in May and agreeing to let the United States inspect a suspected nuclear site on its territory in exchange for more food aid, the world's last true Stalinist regime promptly provoked a naval clash with South Korea. Now come intelligence reports that it is preparing to test a multistage ballistic missile, the Taepo Dong-2, with the potential to hit targets in the United States. Such a test would be calamitous for the security situation in Northeast Asia. In Washington, some Republicans are already challenging the U.S. administration's policy of giving North Korea large amounts of food aid. They are certain to intensify their resistance if the missile test occurs..... By contrast, North Korea sees its missile programs as a cash cow. Although its total arms exports have dropped to only about $50 million a year, it may hope to restore them to earlier levels, 10 times as high, by offering countries such as Iran a long-range missile. Some North Koreans have also suggested, with a straight face, that long-range missiles like the Taepo Dong class could be useful as space launch vehicles - and that if Seoul, Tokyo and Washington wished to buy out the program, they would have to compensate Pyongyang not only for the missile's arms export potential but also for its purported commercial value...."

WASHINGTON TIMES 7/1/99 Bill Gertz "...A senior Pentagon official yesterday confirmed that North Korea is preparing to test fire a new long-range missile that if carried out would have serious consequences for stability in northeast Asia. "We've seen some indications of a potential launch in the future," said Kurt Campbell, deputy assistant defense secretary for Asian and Pacific affairs. Mr. Campbell, the Pentagon's top Asia specialist, said the United States is trying "intensive diplomacy . . . to try to dissuade North Korea from taking an action which will have very real consequences for our ability and our desire to engage North Korea."..."

Washington Post Foreign Service 7/4/99 John Pomfret "...A last-minute attempt to restart stalled talks between North and South Korea collapsed in recriminations today as each government's negotiators assailed the other's as intransigent and then headed home...."

NY Times AP 7/2/99 "...With tensions rising on the Korean Peninsula, South Korean President Kim Dae-jung met today with President Clinton and said he hopes continued close cooperation between Washington and Seoul ``sends a clear message to North Korea.'' Just hours before Kim's arrival, South Korea suspended talks with North Korea in Beijing on reuniting families separated by division of the two countries. The impasse resulted from a demand by North Korea for fertilizer shipments from the South..."

UPI vny.vom 7/2/99 Paul Basken "...President Clinton hosted South Korean President Kim Dae Jung for their third summit in 16 months, offering more U.S. warnings against renewed North Korean military threats but avoiding a commitment on Kim's bid to boost the South Korean arsenal. Kim nevertheless took comfort in the symbolism of the meeting, declaring alongside Clinton in the Oval Office, "I do hope that this close cooperation sends a clear message to North Korea."..."

Reuters 7/8/99 "…" North Korea is building what appears to be an underground missile-launching base within miles of the Chinese border, a South Korean presidential spokesman told the Washington Post in an interview published Thursday. ``Something is being built in that location, and the South Korean and American military are very concerned about it,'' Chung Eun Sung, press secretary to President Kim Dae Jung, told the newspaper. Chung said that based on intelligence reports, South Korea has a ``well-grounded assumption'' that the site under construction in the mountainous area of Yeongjeo-dong about 12 miles (19 km) from China is a launching platform ..."

FOXNews.com 7/12/99 Jonathan Broder "…On Monday, Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., after meeting in Beijing with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan, said North Korea is poised to test-fire the longer range Taepodong-2 within the next two months. Western intelligence sources believe the new missile might be able to reach the West Coast of the United States. The United States has tried to convince North Korea to curtail its ballistic missile program because it would destabilize East Asia. After the launch last August, the United States and Japan began funding the development of an anti-missile defense system, which in turn angered China. … Clinton administration officials insist that despite the current chill in U.S.-China relations, both countries are still meeting to discuss ways to decrease tensions over Korea. "It’s not in China’s interest to have things blow up on its border," said an administration official. But others are far more skeptical of the Chinese, convinced Beijing sometimes colludes with North Korea to test-fire its missiles to keep the United States off balance in the region…"

Pacific Stars And Stripes 7/13/99 AP "…Given how isolated and secretive North Korea is, it’s never really possible to know what motivates its communist government, especially when it plays brinkmanship. But whatever North Korea hoped to achieve by stepping up its missile program, it has put China, its main ally, in a difficult diplomatic position and motivated East Asia and the United States to step up their military readiness. It all began last August, when North Korea surprised everyone by suddenly test-firing a new class of ballistic missile that flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean….. In Washington, U.S. legislators quickly began using charts showing that Alaska and Hawaii could fall within range of North Korea’s Taepodong-1 missile. And that information helped them build the support they needed to pass legislation approving the development of a new American missile defense system. Japan and the United States also agreed to fund a joint research project on a proposed Theater Missile Defense system in the Pacific. Taiwan said it would be interested in either buying or getting protection from such a missile defense shield. The whole plan has drawn bitter criticism from China…… But since then, North Korea has indicated it may be about to test-fire a more advanced Taepodong-2 missile, which might be able to reach as far as the west coast of the United States. On July 2, South Korean President Kim Dae-jung visited Washington to meet with President Clinton to discuss this and other issues. The two warned North Korea that any further missile tests on its part would pose "a serious obstacle to peace." In late June, the Group of Eight issued a similar statement, expressing concern about North Korea’s missile proliferation. The G-8 leaders did so at the request of Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, the only Asian country that belongs to the group of industrial powers. North Korea replied by saying once again that testing ballistic missiles is its "sovereign right" and criticized the United States for suggesting that another launch would threaten its bilateral agreements with Pyongyang….. In addition to prompting countries such as South Korea and Taiwan to call for improvements in their militaries, North Korea’s behavior has put China in a difficult position. China is North Korea’s only remaining ally in Asia, even though Beijing long ago dropped many of the closed-market, hard-line communist policies that Pyongyang still clings to….."

Indian Express 7/11/99 Chianand Rajghata "…According to informed accounts in non-proliferation circles, North Korea has been selling Pakistan weapons and blue prints for hard cash and food, following a deal struck during then Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto 1993 visit to that country. Analysts both in the west and in India say Pakistan's Ghauri missile is a thinly disguised version of the North Korean No-Dong medium range missile. According to intelligence sources, North Korea has a long and sustained history of ballistic missile development going back to the 1960s and linked to its own geostrategic perceptions vis-a-vis South Korea, Japan and the United States. The principle design outfit in North Korea is called the January 18th Machine Factory located in Kagamari in the southern province of Pyonghahn. This underground facility, which employs up to 10,000 people, has mastered missile technology by reverse engineering many Russian and Chinese missiles. The missiles are then manufactured at specific missile factories like the 125 Factory, also known as the Pyongyong Pig Factory, the Number 26 Factory, and the 118 Factory.Military delegations from buyer countries like Egypt, Iran and Pakistan are believed to have visited the rocket assembly lines in these factories. The technology transactions are believed to have been routed through companies like the Yongak-san Trading Company and the Changkwang Trading Company under the 2nd Economic Committee, the 15th Bureau (the General Bureau of Technology) in the Armed Forces Ministry….."

FoxNews REUTERS 7/6/99 "…North Korea Wednesday reiterated its stance that testing ballistic missiles is a "sovereign right'' and criticized the United States for suggesting a launch would threaten agreements with Pyongyang….. "We warn once again that we will punish any provocateurs encroaching upon our national sovereignty, whoever they may be.'' ….A new version of its Taepodong missile now being developed is believed to be capable of reaching the West Coast of the United States…."

THE WASHINGTON TIMES 7/16/99 Bill Gertz "…The Pentagon's newest spy ship, code named Cobra Gemini, was sent last month to waters near Korea to monitor the anticipated flight test of North Korea's new Taepo Dong-2 missile. The USNS Invincible is an ocean surveillance vessel outfitted with a new intelligence-gathering system developed specifically to monitor the electronic signals from short-, medium- and intermediate-range ballistic test missiles. It uses special eavesdropping equipment that is mounted on top of the ship that also can be placed on trucks. U.S. intelligence say the Taepo Dong-2 has enough range to reach the entire United States with a third stage and could be flight-tested some time this month. The missile was recently transported to a launch site on North Korea's east coast, according to a June 28 Defense Intelligence Agency report. A second spy ship, the USNS Observation Island, is also on missile-detection duty in the western Pacific. The ship, code named Cobra Judy, is watching central China for the expected flight test of a new DF-31 intercontinental ballistic missile…."

The Times of India 7/15/99 "…The discovery of missile components in a North Korean ship docked at Kandla should alert the West to the danger the Hermit Kingdom's northern half poses to not just East Asia but other parts of the world as well. The missile components were described in the ship's manifest as water purification equipment but inspection by DRDO experts has revealed their true purpose. The destination was listed as Malta but Indian intelligence sources are convinced the ship's deadly cargo was to have been unloaded in Karachi. It is well known that North Korea is a mercurial, unstable and highly unpredictable state. What makes it worse is that it is indigent as well. So indigent, in fact, that it compounded its sin of a clandestine missile sale to Pakistan with the folly of stopping in Bangkok to pick up a consignment of sugar for India…."

AP 7/17/99 "…Authorities have arrested the senior officers of a North Korean ship that was detained last month for allegedly carrying equipment to manufacture missiles, a newspaper reported Saturday. India suspects the shipment was headed for Pakistan…."

Wall St. Journal 7/14/99 "…Was South Korean Foreign Minister Hong Soon-young drawing a line in the sand Monday, when he said that if North Korea test-fires another ballistic missile, Seoul, Washington and Japan will cut off virtually all aid to the North? Mr. Hong's talk of cutoffs sure sounded tough. He also sounded confident that Pyongyang will back down. "If this aid is cut off," the Seoul newspaper Munhwa Ilbo quoted him as saying, "North Korea's survival can be threatened, and its diplomacy of brinkmanship will no longer work." We wish we were so sure. Already the U.S., South Korea and Japan have ruled out cutting off any aspects of the 1994 deal in which Pyongyang was promised a couple of nuclear power reactors and other help in return for promising to freeze its nuclear weapons program. Then there's the estimated $600 million in food, fertilizer and other aid North Korea received in the first half of this year. But much of that was for famine relief, and nobody is talking about stopping basic humanitarian aid…."

7/20/99 Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES "....The transfers were uncovered several weeks ago by U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and National Security Agency, and outlined in sensitive reports sent to senior Clinton administration officials late last month.... According to Pentagon intelligence officials, a DIA report said the Chinese technology sold to the North Korean missile program includes accelerometers, gyroscopes and special high-technology machinery. Accelerometers and gyroscopes are key missile-guidance components; the machinery was described by the officials as precision grinding equipment useful for building missiles, said officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity... One official said the DIA report also identified the origin of the missile technology as coming from China, Russia and the United States. "This could be guidance technology obtained from U.S. companies," the official said....Under U.S. export restrictions, American high-technology with weapons applications cannot be re-exported without U.S. government approval....According to a well-informed U.S. official, one recent Chinese sale to North Korea involved the transfer of specialty steel with applications for North Korea's missile program. Pentagon and White House officials said earlier this year that other intelligence reports showed that China was sharing space technology with North Korea that could boost Pyongyang's missile programs...."

Jane's Defense Weekley 7/20/99 "…North Korea's mystery ship ITS REPUTATION for selling ballistic missiles in return for hard currency and no questions asked is well known and one of its biggest customers in recent years has been Pakistan, the world's newest declared nuclear state. After Pakistan tested its Ghauri missile last year, the experts joked that the only difference between it and North Korea's No-dong missile was that it had a different flag painted on the side…."

 

http://www.stratfor.com/asia/default.htm?section=2.2 7/20/99 "…South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency published a report on July 20 quoting anonymous military sources who said, "The first-stage propelling rocket in the Taepodong-2 looks similar to that of China’s CSS-3 missile." The report also indicates that the booster stage of the rocket will use a liquid hydrogen-nitrogen mixed fuel identical to what is used by the CSS-3. On the same day, the Washington Times released a report alleging that Chinese state-controlled companies have been supplying critical missile technology to North Korea, particularly since the U.S. bombed China’s embassy in Belgrade….. The reports, taken together, suggest heavy Chinese involvement in North Korea’s missile program, with the Taepodong missile effectively a CSS-3 booster rocket with a North Korean Rodong-1 missile used for the second stage….."

AP Breaking 7/22/99 "...North Korea threw its support behind its ally China on Thursday in the current flare-up of tensions over Taiwan, accusing the island government of following a separatist policy. North Korea's ruling communist party compared Taiwan with its own bitter rival, South Korea, saying both talk about unification while pursuing a policy that increases the divide. The ``separatist policy'' of Taiwan ``cuts right across the Chinese people's desire for reunification and the reunification principles,'' said Rodong Sinmun, an organ of the ruling Workers' Party...."

New York Times 7/22/99 "...Despite warnings from the United States, Japan and South Korea, North Korea is proceeding with plans to test-fire a long-range ballistic missile this summer, diplomatic and security officials say....The long-range missile that North Korea intends to test is a Taepodong-2, which has a range of as much as 3,750 miles, making it capable, theoretically, of reaching Alaska or Hawaii, the officials said. The new rocket is an advanced version of the Taepodong-1, which North Korea fired over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean in August, raising fears across the region. That rocket has a range of 1,250 miles.<P. tolerated."....North Korean officials have said the Taepodong missiles are used to ferry communications satellites into space, but U.S. security experts disagree. They believe North Korea hopes one day to use the missiles to transport weapons of mass destruction. North Korea is also a supplier of missiles to the Middle East. ..."

AFP 7/22/99 "...American Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is worried about a report that Chinese companies had transferred missile components to North Korea. "Obviously we are concerned that North Korea may be seeking from China materials such as speciality steel for its missile programme," Ms Albright said in Washington. She was reacting to a story in the Washington Times claiming that Chinese companies had exported missile technology, including some with US origins, to North Korea last month...."

The Indian Express 7/26/99 "…Secretary of state Madeleine Albright today assured members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional forum on security that solidities with China were a top priority for Washington, reports AFP. In remarks prepared for distribution at the opening meeting of the ARF, Albright called the Sino-US relationship "a key to the Asia-Pacific's future," seeking to allay regional concerns that ties between the countries were in danger of breaking down. She also urged Stalinist North Korea to reapply for membership in the ARF, Asia's foremost security grouping…."

Washington Post 7/27/99 Keith Richburg "...High-ranking officials from the United States and several Asian nations urged North Korea not to conduct a widely anticipated ballistic missile test, warning that a launch could derail efforts to improve the isolated Stalinist state's relations with the rest of the world. Defense Secretary William S. Cohen told reporters on a flight to Japan a launch by North Korea would have "serious implications" for its relationship with the United States..."

Paul Shin/Associated Press 7/29/99 "...The United States and South Korea warned Thursday they will mobilize "all available means" against North Korea if the Stalinist state goes ahead with another ballistic missile launch. The warning was issued after U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen and his South Korean counterpart, Cho Sung-tae, reviewed the security situation in Northeast Asia, including the North Korean missile threat. ..."No one can predict the consequences of what might happen in the event of a missile launch," Cohen said...."

Pacific Stars And Stripes 8/5/99 AP "...North Korea warned Tuesday it would test-fire a missile if the United States steps up pressure on the isolated communist state. The United States has accused North Korea of preparing to test launch a long-range ballistic missile that could threaten stability in Northeast Asia. Until now, the North had denied the reports, indicating it was merely planning a satellite launch. Provocation by the United States "will encourage us to significantly increase our national defense capabilities and continue to push ahead with the missile test-fire, to say nothing of a satellite launch," a spokesman for the North Korean Foreign Ministry said...."

State department 8/2/99 James Rubin "...Rubin urged that no links be made between North Korea's missile tests and the Agreed Framework with the United States.

Members of the U.S. Congress and other international players who would consider ending the Agreed Framework because of North Korea's missile tests would be losing the considerable benefits of it, the spokesman said. Under the pact forged in 1994, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea agreed to dismantle its nuclear programs capable of weapons production in exchange for international aid to build safer light water nuclear reactors to meet North Korea's energy needs...."

CNSNews.com 8/3/99 Patrick Goodenough "...As American and North Korean officials prepared to meet in Geneva Tuesday to discuss Pyongyang's reported intention to test a long-range missile soon, the State Department argued that the US should proceed with an agreement to supply nuclear power to North Korea even if the test-firing goes ahead.

The agreement is too important to jeopardize, US officials said, because it provides the only way for the West to monitor whether North Korea has stopped its nuclear weapons program. However, attempts underway in Congress to condition release of funds for the project on full North Korean compliance suggest lawmakers would react strongly should the administration go ahead with it despite the provocation of a missile launch...."It would make no sense for the United States to proceed with the 'agreed framework' - which fundamentally is intended to deny North Korea plutonium that it could use to build nuclear bombs - if North Korea is developing the capability to enrich uranium as an alternative source of fissile material," Gilman said at the time. ..."

Drudge 8/3/99 "...North Korea's official news agency on Tuesday warned that there is "no guarantee for the safety of the U.S. mainland when the U.S. ignites a war against the north in the Korean peninsula." The threat came on the same day North Korea acknowledged for the first time that it is preparing to test a missile. Military officials have now become convinced that North Korea could, within the next few weeks, test a Taepodong 2 missile -- a powerful new rocket with a range of 3,800 to 6,000 miles that would put Alaska or Hawaii within its reach...."

Reuters 8/2/99 "...Although Washington has strongly urged North Korea not to proceed with a planned long-range missile test, Rubin expressed no concern about China's missile test Monday. Unlike North Korea, "China already has long-range missiles, and therefore the fact that they've tested a new missile is not a dramatic new development that requires massive effort and diplomacy to try to deter,'' he said....The United States in recent years has worked to bring China - one of the world's five acknowledged nuclear powers - into international regimes aimed at halting the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical arms and missiles that deliver them. In his comments Monday, Rubin drew a distinction between China and Stalinist North Korea. China has had missiles a long time but in the case of North Korea, the aim is to prevent a sophisticated missile program from being established, he said. "On the North Korean side we also are dealing with a regime that has not shown responsibility in a number of cases around the world, a regime that we have major problems with. And so that's the difference,'' Rubin added...."

THE WASHINGTON TIMES 8/3/99 Bill Gertz "...The CIA believes the DF-31, test-launched from a base in central China, will be the first new Chinese intercontinental ballistic missile to incorporate stolen U.S. warhead design and missile technology, according to U.S. officials. ...."It is a significant modernization that will make the People's Republic of China one of only two countries in the world with a road-mobile nuclear force," Mr. Cox said in an interview. "In effect, this will give the PRC a first-strike capability against every country in the region except Russia, while limiting U.S. options, were we to intervene against aggression." The DF-31 is estimated to have a maximum range of 5,000 miles, enough to hit targets in parts of the western United States. China's small nuclear missile force -- currently about 23 land-based ICBMs -- is watched closely by the Pentagon after the CIA reported last year that 13 of China's 18 deployed long-range missiles are targeted at U.S. cities..... "It is similar in concept to the [Russian] SS-25," Capt. Quigley said. "It is not a dramatic improvement in missile capability, but the mobile aspect is something we're watching with great interest." .... U.S. intelligence reports, however, indicated several weeks ago that China has transferred missile components and materials to North Korea, a problem acknowledged by Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright. ...."

New York Times 8/5/99 Editorial "... Unfortunately, North Korea has learned to use threats of menacing behavior as a bargaining tactic to extort economic and diplomatic rewards. That approach began in the early 1990's when Pyongyang appeared ready to reprocess nuclear reactor fuel into bomb ingredients. Washington responded imaginatively to that crisis by negotiating a useful agreement that committed the North to abandon reprocessing. In exchange, the United States, South Korea and Japan agreed to finance fuel-oil imports and construct a new, more safely designed reactor. But North Korea later renewed its threatening behavior. Last year it began excavations for what appeared to be a new reprocessing plant and then demanded increased food assistance for allowing inspection of the suspect site. As it turned out, no new reprocessing plant had been built. Now the North may be trying to win new concessions with its missile test preparations. In both earlier cases, North Korea backed off in time to avoid a crisis. But if it now proceeds to a missile test, it should get a very chilly response...."

AP 8/6/99 Robert Burns "...North Korea delivered rocket fuel this week to the launch site where U.S. officials believe it is preparing to test-fire a long-range missile, a senior U.S. official said Friday. The fuel deliveries were an additional indication that North Korea may test a long-range missile as early as this month, though no missile has yet been detected at the site, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. U.S. intelligence also has detected activity by North Korean radars at the launch facility this week, including those radars expected to be used in tracking a ballistic missile in flight, the official said. ....Adding to the worry in Washington is a belief that North Korea has or is pursuing nuclear weapons that could be delivered by missile. The Washington Times reported Friday that U.S. intelligence agencies believe several hundred North Korean military advisers are helping the government of President Laurent Kabila in the Congo's civil war and may be paid in uranium ore from the same mine that was the source of ore for the first U.S. nuclear weapons in the 1940s...."

BBC 8/7/99 Andrew Wood "...United States officials say they have uncovered further signs that North Korea could be about to test-fire a long-range missile in defiance of American and Japanese warnings. A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said rocket fuel had this week been delivered to what is thought to be the launch site. This was an additional sign that North Korea may test as early as this month, although no missile had yet been detected at the site, the official said. US intelligence had also detected activity by North Korean radars at the launch facility this week..."

AP 8/7/99 Robert Burns "...North Korea delivered rocket fuel this week to the missile launch site where U.S. officials believe it is preparing to fire a long-range missile in defiance of U.S. warnings, a senior U.S. official said today. The fuel deliveries were an additional indication that North Korea may launch as early as this month, although no missile has yet been detected at the site, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity...."

China Times 8/8/99 "....Stunned by North Korea's surprise missile test last August, the United States and its allies are bracing for a new missile test within weeks and finding their options limited in crafting a response. US officials now appear less hopeful that they can dissuade Pyongyang from test-firing a ballistic missile that could, with some improvements, hit the US mainland...."

Nando.net 8/7/99 "...North Korea has agreed to buy 40 MiG-21 fighter jets from a former Soviet republic, it was reported Saturday in South Korea. Parts for the planes began arriving in North Korea by air in July, and the Stalinist state is assembling the jets in secret bases, the daily Chosun Ilbo said. The respected newspaper cited a high-ranking government official but did not identify the exporting country...."

Associated Press 8/8/99 Martin Fackler "...Japan's foreign minister said Sunday that Tokyo may respond to an expected North Korean missile test by severing one of the impoverished communist country's only sources of hard cash -- money sent from Koreans living in Japan. Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said for the first time that Japan is considering halting the massive flow of yen from Japan-based North Koreans to relatives back home...."

AP 8/8/99 Christopher Torchia "...North Korea will ignore appeals and warnings from the United States, Japan and South Korea and test another missile, North Korea's state-run news agency reported Sunday. It was one of the strongest statements yet from the communist country, which Western military analysts say is poised to test an advanced version of a long-range missile that it fired over Japan last year. North Korea said the rocket fired over Japan launched a satellite, though U.S. space officials found no evidence to support the claim. The new missile, reportedly a Taepodong II, could hit Hawaii or Alaska. The test could unsettle regional security and further isolate the reclusive country, which invaded South Korea a half-century ago and today has troops on the heavily fortified border in the absence of a permanent peace treaty. The United States has 35,000 troops stationed in South Korea...."

Associated Press 8/8/99 Christopher Torchia "...North Korea will ignore appeals and warnings from the United States, Japan and South Korea and test another missile, North Korea's state-run news agency reported Sunday. It was one of the strongest statements yet from the communist country, which Western military analysts say is poised to test an advanced version of a long-range missile that it fired over Japan last year. North Korea said it had launched a satellite, though U.S. space officials found no evidence to support the claim. The new missile, reportedly a Taepodong II, is capable of reaching Hawaii or Alaska...."

8/9/99 Christopher Torchia "...Already high tensions in the Korean peninsula rose a notch Monday, with North Korea accusing the United States of trying to start a war in the region by insisting the communist country put off a test missile launch. Emotions have been running strong since reports surfaced recently that North Korea plans to test the long-range missile, despite warnings from the United States, South Korea and Japan. Some fear the test could accelerate arms-buying in Northeast Asia and further isolate the reclusive North Korea. Meanwhile, South Korea said Monday that it would go forward with a 3-year-old, $461 million contract to buy eight spy planes made by subsidiaries of Raytheon Co. in Lexington, Mass. Seoul sought to revise the contract last year after reports that some of the electronic devices to be installed on the Hawker-800XPs were old models...."

Hot Daily News - ISLAMABAD, Pakistan 8/9/99 AP "...One year after terrorist bombs ravaged its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and killed 224 people, the United States is no closer to arresting the man it believes masterminded the attacks. Washington has put suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden on its 10 Most Wanted List, offered a $5 million reward for his arrest and tried to make international pariahs of his hosts, Afghanistan's Taliban rulers. The efforts have largely failed. Because of fresh but unspecified terrorist threats, the United States is closing embassies and halting its popular public tours of FBI headquarters in Washington......The Taliban, who control 90 percent of the country and preach probably the harshest brand of Islam operating in the world today, seem unlikely to give up a man extolled as a hero by radical Islamic groups. In July, however, the Taliban did end their pretense of not knowing where bin Laden was, acknowledging he still lived in Afghanistan and still was a guest to be protected. They also denied reports he was planning to seek sanctuary in another Islamic country....``Bin laden is training his own people for terrorist activities around the world,'' said an Afghan who once trained with bin Laden at Tora Bora, also in eastern Afghanistan. ``They include Sudanese, Algerians, Tajiks, Iranians and Egyptians,'' he said. ``Osama has dozens of camps. They train on anti-aircraft guns, explosives, chemical and biological weapons.'' The same Afghan warrior, who didn't want to be identified because he feared for his life, said he had been trained to use chemical and biological weapons. The training was conducted by a North Korean.

Washington Post 8/10/99 Doug Struck "...North Korea said today it may pull out of talks with South Korea, and an increasingly tough-sounding Japan strengthened its warnings to North Korea not to test another long-range missile over Japanese territory. Pyongyang responded to the Japanese warning with another vow to test-launch the missile when it is ready, and North Korea's ruling party newspaper said that because of pressure from the United States, "the next war may break out on the Korean peninsula." ...."

AP 8/10/99 Christopher Torchia "... The United States and South Korea said Tuesday they will conduct a joint military exercise next week amid rising tensions with North Korea and fears that the isolated communist nation will test a new ballistic missile. The allies' annual exercise is likely to draw fresh condemnation from North Korea. This week, it accused the United States of conspiring to start another war on the Korean peninsula by insisting the communist country put off the test missile launch.. ..."

Pacific Stars And Stripes 8/11/99 Greg Tyler "...The departure of two missile-tracking ships and a nuclear-powered submarine are unrelated to a possible North Korean missile launch, U.S. military sources said Tuesday. The two ships, the USNS Invincible and the USNS Observation Island, and the submarine, the USS Los Angeles, all pulled out of ports Monday. Their departure came at a time when North Korea has increased rhetoric indicating it will launch a missile believed to have a range up to 3,700 miles. The Japan Times quoted an unidentified Sasebo Naval Base source as saying the simultaneous departure of the three vessels was a sign the North Korean missile launch is "imminent." But Jon Nylander, spokesman for U.S. Naval Forces Japan, said the ships left the Japanese port as scheduled...."

http://www.worldtribune.com/index-one-text.html 8/11/99 Don Kirk "...Playing upon memories of Japanese colonialism and World War II, North Korea warned Tuesday of ''merciless retaliation'' against Japan if the Japanese attempted any ''reckless provocation'' on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea issued the statement shortly before the United States and South Korea, in a calculated decision not to be deterred by rhetoric from the North, announced war games involving 70,000 troops, including 14,000 Americans and 36,000 South Koreans. U.S. and South Korean officials described the exercise, set to run from Aug. 16 to Aug. 27, as a ''routine'' event that should not alarm North Korea. Just as routinely, such exercises elicit impassioned denunciations from Pyongyang. North Korea in the past has described the annual war games as a ''rehearsal for invasion.'' ..."

Stratfor.com 8/12/99 "...The head of South Korea's National Intelligence Service, Chun Yong Taek, announced August 11 that the construction of the Taepodong-2 ballistic missile has been completed. Chun indicated that it would take three to four weeks to transport the missile to the launch site and assemble the pieces for launch. "North Korea appears to be weighing possible economic and political losses and gains before deciding whether to go ahead with the missile launch," Chun told a parliamentary session. The report came in the midst of two other developments, the completion of support structures at the probable launch site and the final construction of more than 30 MiG-21 fighter jets imported from an unnamed Commonwealth of Independent States nation. The structures were reportedly support bunkers, part of the fueling apparatus for the missile. The warplanes, imported by train in crates in late July, represent a significant improvement over the North's decrepit MiG-15 and MiG-17 aircraft.....the very publicity of the events point to their political nature, rather than to their contribution to the military threat. As long as the North is flaunting its arms in an open display of defiance, concerned parties can be reassured by the transparency of the real situation. It's when the North becomes quiet that the region starts to worry...."

Associated Press 8/10/99 "...Amid rising tensions, North Korea threatened Japan today with ``merciless retaliation'' unless Tokyo atones for its colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. The strong words came in a statement issued to mark the 54th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japan on Aug. 15, 1945. ``If Japan opts to open good-neighborly relations through liquidation of the past, the (North) will welcome it with pleasure,'' said the statement, carried by the country's foreign news outlet, the Korean Central News Agency. ``But if it repeats its crime-woven history and undertakes a reckless provocation, the (North) will never miss the opportunity of meting out merciless retaliation,'' the statement said...."

South China Morning Post 8/10/99 Roger Dean Du Mars "....The US has agreed to sell South Korea eight spy planes capable of monitoring North Korea 24 hours a day. All of North Korea could be observed from the planes from 40km south of the Demilitarised Zone, analysts said. "Before the threat caused by North Korea launching a missile towards Japan last year, the United States was more reluctant to sell South Korea military equipment because Washington was afraid of an arms race on the Korean peninsula," an analyst specialising in Seoul-Washington diplomacy said. "But now the US thinks the weakened regional stability calls for a more independent South Korea." ..."

Chicago Tribune 8/10/99 "...Like a bratty child who would rather get in trouble than be ignored, the Stalinist regime that rules North Korea is always looking for ways to get the world's attention. It has found a good one in its preparations to test-fire a new long-range missile that could overfly Japan on its way to Alaska or Hawaii. In the past, North Korea has managed to use displays of its formidable troublemaking capacity to gain concessions from its adversaries. But this tactic has been rendered ineffectual by overuse. The expected test is more likely to spur the United States, Japan and South Korea to bolster their defenses and retreat from efforts to work constructively with the Pyongyang government..... What would not make sense is junking the 1994 deal in which the North agreed to give up its efforts to acquire nuclear weapons in exchange for our help in developing peaceful nuclear energy. A June inspection of a suspicious underground site confirmed that North Korea is keeping its end of the bargain. For the U.S. to scrap the deal now would only add a nuclear element to the looming missile threat...."

World Tribune 8/13/99 "...South Korea's parliament, despite reports of an imminent North Korean missile launch, approved on Thursday $3.2 billion for two nuclear power plants for its communist northern neighbor. The government-proposed bill, passed without opposition, will provide funding for the replacement of Pyongyang's Soviet-developed reactors with nuclear reactors developed in the West. Under a 1994 accord , North Korea was to freeze and eventually dismantle its nuclear weapons program by 2003. South Korea would cover 70 percent of the cost, or $3.2 billion, Japan would pay $1 billion and the European Union would provide about $88 million. Japan has threatened to halt funding if North Korea fires the Taepo Dong II intercontinental ballistic missile, capable of reaching the United States....."

Los Angeles Times 8/13/99 Jim Mann "...The Clinton administration is trying to work out a deal in which North Korea would agree not to test-launch its new long-range missile and in return would be rewarded with an easing or lifting of a decades-old U.S. trade embargo, according to U.S. officials and North Korea experts. Under this approach, North Korea would promise a moratorium on testing its new Taepodong 2 missile, which has a long enough range to strike many parts of Asia or even Alaska. In exchange, the United States -would remove North Korea from the provisions of the Trading With the Enemy Act, which for the past 49 years has barred all U.S. trade with the isolated Communist regime. Such an arrangement would resolve the immediate crisis over North Korea's plans to test its new missile. But it would leave other issues unsettled and fall far short of the more comprehensive proposal, offered to North Korean officials last spring by U.S. envoy William J. Perry, that administration officials had hoped would change North Korea's pattern of threatening behavior toward its neighbors..."

South China Morning Post 8/16/99 Roger Dean Du Mars "...Russia expelled two staff of the North Korean Embassy in Moscow in June after they tried to illegally obtain the blueprints for the MiG-21, a South Korean official said yesterday. Earlier this year, North Korea reportedly purchased 40 of the Russian jet fighters - which were considered technologically advanced in the 1950s - from Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic. The aircraft were shipped in parts, but putting the pieces together stumped the brightest minds of the Stalinist administration. So Pyongyang apparently ordered Kim Young-bu and Hong Young-hwan of the Second Economics Department, under the War Supplies Industrial Department in Moscow, to obtain blueprints of the aircraft by bribing a Russian engineer working at the National Security Industry...."

AP 8/16/99 "...The United States and South Korea kicked off a 12-day joint military exercise Monday amid rising tensions with North Korea and fears the communist country may test-fire a new long-range missile. North Korea warned that the exercise will hurt relations with the South and adversely affect talks under way between Pyongyang and Washington. Lee Ferguson, spokeswoman of the U.S. military command in Seoul, called the North Korean complaints unfounded and said the 25th annual drill is ``no more than a routine defensive training exercise.'' The exercise, code-named Ulji Focus Lens, is one of the largest conducted annually by the armed forces of the United States and South Korea. It largely involves computer simulations designed to evaluate and improve joint contingency operations..."

Investor's Business Daily 8/18/99 Brian Mitchell "…Earlier this month, though, State Department spokesman James Rubin stressed the importance of positive incentives to encourage good behavior by North Korea, according to the Agreed Framework between the U.S. and North Korea in 1994. ''The Agreed Framework has played a critical role in preventing North Korea from developing nuclear capability,'' Rubin said Aug. 2. ''We would intend and want to see that program and agreement continued even if we have problems and serious concerns about the missiles.'' Critics say the Agreed Framework is part of the problem. ''It's become bribery diplomacy on the Clinton administration's side and extortion statesmanship on the North Korean side,'' said Daryl Plunk, senior fellow of the Heritage Foundation…..''North Korea at one time was thought to be so poor and so isolated that it couldn't possibly develop advanced technology systems like ballistic missiles or nuclear weapons,'' said William R. Graham, former science adviser to President Reagan. Missile technology has become ''a major profit center'' for North Korea, said Graham, who was also a member of the recent congressional commission on missile threats chaired by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. North Korea recently has acquired new missile technology from China and has been an aggressive marketer of missile technology to countries like Iran, Pakistan and Syria….."

Time 8/23/99 Tim Larimer Barry Hillenbrand "…U.S. diplomats still hope they can scuttle this launch at the negotiating table. They've done it before. Pyongyang agreed to abandon plans to convert nuclear-reactor fuel into nuclear weaponry when the U.S. and Japan agreed to pay for oil imports and build two new reactors. And South Korea's President Kim Dae Jung has embarked on a policy of engagement, offering food and investment from South Korean companies. As thanks, North Korea has sent fishing boats into South Korean waters and provoked a naval clash (Seoul's forces sank one ship), dispatched a suspected spy vessel into Japan's seas (Japanese self-defense forces opened fire for the first time since World War II) and arrested foreigners (later released). It might sound like the moves of a country in chaos, but observers say it's deliberate. "They're great poker players," says a senior U.S. official. This time the strategy could backfire. Last week in private talks in Geneva, Washington and its allies in Tokyo and Seoul told the North Koreans they'll cut off financial and humanitarian aid if a missile is launched. That stance prompted a bellicose reaction from the North Koreans, who swore, "We are ready to annihilate mercilessly our enemies." Such talk has Japan nervously talking about remaking its demilitarized constitution. Can Pyongyang's missiles hit a target? Probably not for a long time. But, says Gill Jung Il, a North Korean specialist at Seoul's Yonsei University, "accuracy is not the issue here. Perhaps the fact that Taepo Dong lacks accuracy makes it a more potent weapon. No one would know where it would hit." It's hard to think of a more perfect weapon for North Korea: unpredictable and potentially dangerous…."