16 March 2000
Text: International Relations Chair Gilman March 16 on N. Korea
(Gilman cites day-to-day horrors of North Korean Gulag) (1330) North Korea is a threat to U.S. interests despite a six-year effort to engage that regime and $1,000 million in aid, says Representative Ben Gilman, chairman of the House International Relations Committee. The communist regime in Pyongyang, Gilman said in opening remarks at a March 16 hearing on North Korea, continues "to develop the Taepo Dong II intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), despite a test moratorium, and could launch the missile this year should it decide to do so." A three-stage Taepo Dong II, he told fellow International Relations Committee members, "would be capable of delivering a several-hundred kilogram payload anywhere in the United States." The New York Republican listed provocative actions tied to the communist regime, noting that recent drugs seizures in Japan were alleged to have come from North Korea, and that Pyongyang harbors members of the Red Army, a Japanese terrorist group. The communist regime, he added, sells ballistic missiles and missile technology that endanger American allies and U.S. troops. The international community, Gilman lamented, "has not spoken out forcefully enough about the day to day horrors of the North Korean gulag." Pyongyang, he charged, is allowing its own people to die of starvation as it diverts food aid to the military and government officials. "This means more people will needlessly starve as Pyongyang chooses ideology over reform," Gilman said. Citing the report of the North Korea Advisory Group, Gilman warned, "the threat to U.S. and global interests from North Korea continues to grow despite almost six years of engagement and close to $1 billion in aid." The challenges North Korea presents the United States are "significant," Gilman said, and "managing the threat is a tremendous policy undertaking." Following is the text: (begin text) HOUSE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE PRESS RELEASE March 16, 2000 GILMAN CITES NORTH KOREA'S CONTINUED PURSUIT OF MISSILE AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAMS WASHINGTON (March 16) - U.S. Rep. Benjamin A. Gilman (20th-NY), Chairman of the House International Relations Committee, gave the following statement today at a Full Committee hearing on North Korea: Today, our House Committee on International Relations meets once again to review U.S. policy toward North Korea. This is the fifth hearing on Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in the last eighteen months held by the full Committee. Today's hearing will focus on the status and prospects for our policy toward North Korea in the aftermath of Dr. Bill Perry's report to the Congress last October. We are pleased to have gathered a distinguished group of witnesses to discuss this important national security matter. Regrettably, our concern about North Korea and our policy remains unabated. Let me discuss why we feel that way. The CIA reported in Congressional testimony last month that North Korea is continuing to develop the Taepo Dong II intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), despite a test moratorium, and could launch the missile this year should it decide to do so. The CIA further states that a three-stage Taepo Dong II would be capable of delivering a several-hundred kilogram payload anywhere in the United States. The CIA has also concluded that the DPRK is the world's major supplier of ballistic missiles and technology, primarily to South Asia and the Middle East. These transfers to Pakistan, Iran, Syria, and Libya pose a significant threat to U.S. interests, American forces, and our allies. It has also been alleged that North Korea may be pursuing an uranium-based nuclear weapons program while the cost of heavy fuel oil (HFO) for the 1994 Agreed Framework is likely to top $100 million this year. There is also continuing concern about being able to get the IAEA into North Korea to conduct its assessment of their nuclear program, as well as finding willing underwriters for the nuclear reactor project. In recent testimony, the Commander of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) called North Korea "the major threat to stability and security in northeast Asia and the country most likely to involve the U.S. in a large-scale war". General Schwartz further stated that North Korea's goal is to unify the peninsula by force. In addition, American military dependents, embassy staff and their families in Seoul were recently issued 14,000 gas masks because of the North Korean chemical weapons threat. According to the Commander in Chief of the Pacific, North Korea conducted its largest conventional force exercise in years this winter. Admiral Blair went on to say that North Korea continues to divert a disproportionate part of their meager national wealth to military programs. The DPRK recently declared the nullification of the Northern Limit Line where they fought a sea battle with South Korea last summer, and Pyongyang bought 40 Mig-21 fighter jets from Kazakhstan for $8 million. Recently, the Japanese police seized 250 kilograms (550 pounds) of amphetamines believed to have originated in North Korea. The seizure, with an alleged street value of 15 billion yen ($139.5 million), was the fifth largest single haul of illegal drugs ever seized in Japan. Confronted with impossible access to the most vulnerable groups of North Korean citizens, the French NGO, Action Against Hunger, withdrew from North Korea after two years. Their press release stated, "We are convinced that the international aid flowing into North Korea is not reaching the people most in need and that thousands of people continue to die despite the massive food aid provided to the government." In the press conference announcing their decision, the group said that international food aid is undoubtedly being diverted to the military and the civil servants. The Director of Central Intelligence said that instead of pursuing real reform, North Korea's strategy is to garner as much as aid as possible from overseas and has directed its global diplomacy to that end. This means more people will needlessly starve as Pyongyang chooses ideology over reform. The State Department is considering removing North Korea from the list of state-sponsors of terrorism despite the fact that North Korea abducted Japanese citizens for use in their intelligence apparatus; continues to harbor Red Army hijackers; and is reportedly involved in political assassinations abroad. DPRK agents recently may have also kidnapped a South Korean clergyman working in China near the border. The DPRK continues to severely oppress its citizens, and the international community has not spoken out forcefully enough about the day to day horrors of the North Korean gulag. In a highly celebrated case, several North Korean defectors were forcibly repatriated from China to a certain death. Diplomatically, North Korea is willing to talk with anyone but South Korea. They talk with Rome, Canberra, Tokyo, but not Seoul. Despite numerous overtures toward Pyongyang, Seoul is rebuffed time and time again. It was reported this morning that talks in New York over a visit to the United States by a high level North Korean official broke off without agreement. This visit was first proposed by Dr. Perry almost a year ago. These recent developments are hardly encouraging. As the North Korea Advisory Group pointed out in its report last October, before the aforementioned took place, the threat to U.S. and global interests from North Korea continues to grow despite almost six years of engagement and close to $1 billion in aid. It is clear that the challenges presented by North Korea are significant, and managing the threat is a tremendous policy undertaking. I look forward to today's testimony about how we plan to deal with the ever-widening and deepening threat presented by the DPRK to American interests. Testifying at the hearing were: The Honorable Wendy R. Sherman, Counselor, U.S. Department of State; The Honorable Douglas Paal, President, Asia Pacific Policy Center; Dr. Mitchell B. Reiss, Director, Reves Center for International Studies, College of William and Mary; and Mr. Scott Snyder, Representative of Asia Foundation/Korea. (end text) (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: usinfo.state.gov)
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