U
nited States Action
|
|
U nited States Action |
|
|
North Korea: Axis of Evil
|
|
NORTH KOREA
"North Korea is a regime arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction, while starving its citizens."
NORTH KOREA NUCLEAR AND MISSILE THREAT
 |
 |
International
concerns over North Korea's alleged nuclear weapons program have increased, with
the communist state reactivating nuclear facilities that were frozen in 1994. The North has now also withdrawn from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and warned it may drop its self-imposed moratorium on ballistic missile tests. Pyongyang says these are self-defense measures forced on it by the 'hostile' policy of the United States that branded the North part of an "axis of evil." Although the war of words shows little sign of abating, diplomatic efforts continue to strive for a peaceful end to the crisis. |
 |
 |
KOREAN SITES
|
NORTH KOREA BACKGROUND |
|
NORTH KOREA TORTURE OF ITS
CITIZENS |
|
|
NORTH KOREA STARVING ITS PEOPLE Seven Million Koreans Facing Starvation - ... The UN scaled back its 2003 appeal for North Korea ... North Korea has suffered from famine for a decade, and at least two million people have died of starvation. ABCNEWS.com : Country Profile: North Korea - ... North Korea has one of the world's most centrally planned and isolated economies. World Food Programme - North Korea BBC News | ASIA-PACIFIC | North Korea faces 'looming' food crisis - ... one-third of North Koreans receive food aid Famine-hit North Korea will run ... aid has already run out in several provinces, the UN's World Food Programme said. FOOD-NORTH KOREA: Refugees in China Confirm Tales of Desperation - ... 'At the end of the twentieth century, this unprecedented mass starvation is rapidly developing all over the North Korea,'' said a petition signed by leaders.
|
NORTH KOREA - SOLUTIONS TO PEACE?
|
NO IMMEDIATE SOLUTION AS IF BY INSTINCT, the Bush administration took a hard line toward Pyongyang from the beginning of its term. But following through with aggressive economic or military action could trigger a devastating backlash for South Korea and the region. Further complicating the situation, the White House is focused on its building showdown with Iraq and reluctant to pursue two military conflicts at once. Pyongyang, a tough-as-nails negotiator even in better times, is gambling on these constraints to push its own demands - that the United States offer a formal promise of non-aggression and halt efforts to isolate the regime. For Bush, that presents a political problem. To some extent, the reclusive dictator Kim Jong Il may be bluffing, but that is uncertain, as is the extent of Pyongyang’s arsenal. Calling that bluff could have a much higher price tag than confronting Iraq, analysts say. The administration is in a bind now, says Eric Heginbotham, director of an independent task force on North Korea at the Council on Foreign Relations. A deal may be necessary to defuse the crisis, but, he says: Bush will take a lot of criticism from hawks in his own party. The latest chapter in the Korean crisis started in October, when the Bush administration says an official from communist North Korea, when presented with damning CIA evidence, admitted his country had a uranium enrichment program. That violated the spirit if not the letter of the 1994 Agreed Framework, under which Pyongyang agreed to mothball its nuclear reactors and stop all development of atomic weapons. In response, the White House announced it would suspend oil supplies provided to North Korea under the agreement. The South Korean government was also dampened any illusions of a quick solution to the impasse on Thursday. Defense Minister Lee Jun told a parliamentary hearing that the military was preparing for a “worst-cast scenario” should the standoff between Pyongyang and Washington turn violent. The comments, which did not include any specifics about the preparations, seemed aimed at dispelling the general complacency about North Korea in the South, where ordinary citizens have shown little sign of alarm. Lee, for example, said there was a “high” possibility that North Korea would target the South if it builds nuclear weapons. The North has argued that the only confrontation on the peninsula is between Koreans and Americans, not between the North and South. “We cannot conclude that it (North Korea) would target the Korean peninsula. But we cannot rule out the possibility, and such a possibility is high,” Lee said. U.S. officials believe the communist regime already has one or two nuclear bombs.
|
FOREIGN POLICY OPTIONS
U.S. Department of State: North Korea Consular Information
Sheet - provides country information and travel requirements for
North Korea. North Korea Foreign Policy Recommendations by CATO Institute Remarks by President Bush on North Korea Statement by the U.S. Delegation IAEA Board of Governor's Meeting on North Korea Joint statement by the Trilateral Coordination and Oversight Group (TCOG) -- Jan. 7 Foreign Policy Association - North and South Korea Challenge for the Bush Administration: Dealing with a Nuclear North Korea - Brookings Institute
North
Korea Through the Looking Glass - Brookings Institution CRS Issue Brief: North Korea - covers policy determinants, alternative outcomes, and U.S. policy approaches from the Congressional Research Service report for Congress, 1993. CRS Report: North Korea's Nuclear Weapons Program: U.S. Policy Options - 1994 report for Congress. Emerging From Conflict: North Korea - Stanley Foundation site featuring policy briefs, conference reports, and papers. Foreign Policy In Focus: U.S.-North Korea Relations - explores U.S. foreign policy problems and more, May 1999. U.S. Policy Toward North Korea: A Second Look - from the Council on Foreign Relations.
|
