Washington continues to press its propaganda campaign against the government in the north, officially known as the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK). In the latest round of slanders, U.S. officials have speculated that the northern government will sell the plutonium byproducts of its just-restarted nuclear power plant at Yongbyon to "terrorists."

The government of north Korea has responded to Washington’s increase in military and economic pressure by restating its determination to defend itself if it comes under attack.

It has also explained that the Yongbyon reactor will provide a much needed source of electrical power. Speaking to the Guardian newspaper published February 6, Ri Pyong-Gap, the deputy director of the Foreign Ministry of north Korea, said that "faced with Washington’s cutoff of oil, the nuclear plant at Yongbyon is being restarted to meet the country’s electricity needs.

"Our nuclear activities will be confined only to producing electricity," Ri emphasized.

He warned Washington that any attack on the Yongbyon nuclear plant would be considered "an act of war." U.S. officials have publicly discussed launching an air strike against the plant at the same time as bolstering their forces around the peninsula.

The U.S. reinforcements involve ground and sea forces as well as aircraft. Some 2,000 U.S. troops will join the 37,000 already in south Korea. The commander of U.S. forces in the south also announced that 2,900 U.S. soldiers might be held past their tours of duty to ensure that all units remained "at 100 percent strength."

On February 6 the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson was ordered to the Western Pacific as the Kitty Hawk, previously stationed there, set sail for the Gulf to join preparations for the assault on Iraq.

U.S. officials have kept up a barrage of accusations that the DPRK government is developing nuclear weapons. In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage charged that the north not only wants to sell plutonium produced by the Yongbyon reactor to "terrorists," but would be able to build several nuclear weapons within months.

Asserting that north Korea already has a handful of such bombs, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld slandered Pyongyang as a "terrorist regime...a regime that has been involved in things that are harmful to other countries."

Administration officials have said that at the next meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency they will push to place north Korea’s action in restarting the plant before the United Nations Security Council. That body, in which Washington plays a dominant part, has the authority to declare further economic measures.

On February 5 the DPRK government said that Washington would be making a "big miscalculation" if it thought that north Korea would be frightened by sanctions.

While presenting itself as in favor of dialogue, Washington continues to insist that such "direct talks" involve a combination of Russia, China, South Korea, and Japan.

North Korea says that the administration is attempting to "evade its responsibility" for the crisis and to "create an atmosphere of international pressure" on Pyongyang.  
 
Cutoff of fuel and food supplies
The escalation of Washington’s hostile acts and statements against north Korea followed accusations by U.S. officials that Pyongyang was pursuing a program to develop a nuclear arsenal. Late last year Washington cut off fuel oil supplies to the north. Tokyo and Seoul followed suit. The actions led directly to the restart of the Yongbyon reactor.

The U.S. government also led the way in the cancellation of food shipments. United Nations officials organizing this aid have warned that 80,000 tons are needed on an emergency basis as part of a total yearly quota of 512,000 tons.

South Korea has also halted food shipments. The government proposes to deal with a rice surplus of 150,000 metric tons by lowering the price paid to farmers.

Officials in the World Food Program have also noted that the DPRK has just chalked up its "second consecutive year of reasonably good harvests." The improved results "will help underpin the advances made in food security at the national level," said a UN report, since the very low harvests of 1996–1998 and 2000–01. Food shortages remain in the north and northeast, however.

In the face of Pyongyang’s evident refusal to cave in before U.S. demands that it weaken its own defenses, including by moving troops back from the DMZ, some voices in U.S. politics criticize the Bush administration for its military focus on Iraq.

Such minority voices repeat the administration’s slander that north Korea has an aggressive stance in the region.

A February 5 editorial in the pro-Democratic Party New York Times claimed that the north’s alleged weapons program is "rapidly advancing," and described it as the "most urgent threat facing America today."
 
 
Related articles:
U.S. aims 125,000 troops at Iraq, boosts Korea forces
50 years of U.S. aggression against Korea  
 
 
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