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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: NickSE who wrote (63435)	12/29/2002 7:02:25 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Respond to of 281500

Neat article Ghostrider!!.. Thanks for sharing.. Hawk

To: NickSE who wrote (63435)	12/30/2002 1:15:00 PM
From: NickSE	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Kim Jong-il a schemer in shadows By Marc Lerner THE WASHINGTON TIMES washingtontimes.com [...]Interviews with North Korean defectors and Eastern European diplomats, as well as the observations of a handful of outsiders who have had access to the 60-year-old leader, reveal a portrait of a clever, ruthless leader who lives an opulent life and delights in geopolitical gamesmanship. Hwang Jang-yop was a longtime aide to Mr. Kim's late father, Kim Il-sung, and he schooled the current leader on the North Korean philosophy of self-reliance, or "juche," before defecting to South Korea in 1997. "He's ruthless and will do anything he needs to in order to cling to power," Mr. Hwang, the highest-ranking official to defect, said in an interview after fleeing. Mr. Hwang was sharply critical of the Agreed Framework, a deal negotiated by the Clinton administration late in 1994. It promised to provide North Korea with two nuclear reactors, from which it would be more difficult to extract weapons-grade material, and massive oil shipments until the reactors were up and running. In return, North Korea would halt work at a disputed nuclear plant, which Washington believed was producing plutonium for nuclear weapons. Work on the new plants has been halted, and Mr. Bush recently cut off oil shipments after North Korea acknowledged that it had begun another effort to make fuel for nuclear weapons. "If the United States keeps giving economic aid, Kim Jong-il will take that aid and make more missiles and nuclear weapons," Mr. Hwang said. "He's not the kind of person to say, 'Let's live in peace.' " ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kim Jong Il, the bon vivant James Brooke/NYT The New York Times iht.com [...]"I am the object of criticism around the world," Pulikovsky quotes Kim as saying in one meeting on the long train ride. "But I think that since I am being discussed, then I am on the right track." For North Korea's government, the most damaging accounts are descriptions of lengthy banquets, jarring tales for a country where as many as 2 million people starved to death during the mid-1990s. Human rights groups contend that the government diverted international food shipments to North Korea's 1.1-million-member military and to families of loyal cadres.[...]