The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, January 12, 2004, Page 14, Image 14
North Korea opens nuclear plant to delegation
BY JAE-SUK YOO
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - North
Korea said Saturday that it
showed its “nuclear deterrent" to
an unofficial U.S. delegation that
visited the disputed Yongbyon nu
clear complex, which had been
closed to outsiders since the North
expelled U.N. inspectors more
than a year ago.
A member of the delegation,
which included experts and for
mer government officials, said the
five Americans were allowed to
see everything they requested, but
it was not clear if the “nuclear de
terrent” was 3 bomb. Delegates
said they could give no further de
tails until they reported to
Washington.
The visit came amid efforts to
arrange a new round of six-nation
talks on ending the standoff over
the North’s suspected nuclear
weapohs program, which
Pyongyang says is necessary to de
fend the country against a possi
ble U.S. invasion. A first round of
talks in August ended without
much progress.
“As everybody knows, the
United States compelled the DPRK
to build a nuclear deterrent,”
North Korea’s official KCNA news
agency quoted a Foreign Ministry
spokesman as saying.
“We showed this to Lewis and
his party this time,” the
spokesman said, referring to one
of the delegates, John W. Lewis, a
Stanford University professor
emeritus of international relations.
The delegates, who returned
Saturday to Beijing, would not say
how much time they spent at
Yongbyon. Lewis said they met
North Korean military, foreign af
fairs, scientific and economic offi
cials but would not identify them
or say what they discussed.
“We are a private delegation,”
Lewis said. “We were not there to
negotiate. We were not there to be
inspectors.”
U.S. officials believe the North
already has one or two nuclear
bombs and could make several
more within months. North Korea
has never confirmed or denied
having atomic weapons.
The delegation was the first
group from outside the reclusive
communist country to visit the
Yongbyon facility since the ex
pulsion of U.N. inspectors at the
end of 2002.
“The delegation’s visit to the fa
cility was not an inspection but a
visit at the invitation” of North
Korea, the spokesman said.
The visit was to “ensure trans
parency as speculative reports and
ambiguous information about the
DPRK’s nuclear activities are
throwing hurdles in the way of set
tling the pending nuclear issue,”
he said, referring to North Korea
by its official name, the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea.
“Transparency serves as a ba
sis of realistic thinking and, at the
same time, a basis for solving the
issue,” he said.
Besides Lewis, the delegation
included Sig Hecker, a former di
rector of Los Alamos Laboratory
in New Mexico; Jack Pritchard, a
former staff member of the U.S.
National Security Council and a
former State Department official;
and two staff members of the U.S.
Senate Foreign Relations
Committee.
The start of the visit Tuesday
coincided with the North’s an
nouncement that it would not test
or produce nuclear weapons and
even stop operating its nuclear
power industry, in exchange for
concessions from Washington.
Secretary of State Colin Powell
called the offer positive.
But on Friday, Pyongyang sug
gested that such negotiations
might be tough, warning against
expecting the North to follow
“some Middle East countries” —
an apparent reference to Libya’s
decision to renounce weapons of
mass destruction. Libya an
nounced such a decision last
month after talks with the United
States and Britain.
Washington said it hoped oth
er countries would do the same.
“To expect any ‘change’ from
the DPRK stand is as foolish as ex
pecting a shower from clear sky,”
a Foreign Ministry spokesman
said. “It is the historic^ truth that
peace is won and defended only
with strength.”
Meanwhile, Japai’s Asahi
newspaper said Satirday that
China had offered its Noth Korean
ally $50 million in aid V take part
in a new round of six-prty talks.
China’s No. 2 leder, Wu
Bangguo, presented fee offer to
North Korean leader Km Jong II
during a visit to th capital,
Pyongyang, in Octoberthe news
paper said, citing unlentified
sources. It said North Kcea would
get the money only aftr the con
clusion of the talks.
The nuclear standol flared in
October 2002, when UJ officials
said North Korea admifed to run
ning a secret nuclear wepons pro
gram in violation of irernation
al agreements.
Families of Guantanamo Bay prisoners look for answers
BY STEVENSON JACOBS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS’
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL
BASE, CUBA — Two years after the
first prisoners began arriving at
Guantanamo Bay following the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, families
of detainees are asking how much
longer they must wait for their
loved ones to be tried or released.
As the prison camp marks its
second year anniversary Sunday,
the United States also faced criti
cism from foreign governments
and human rights groups, ques
tioning why hundreds of terror
suspects have been held for so long
without charges or legal repre
sentation.
“It is time to get our children
back or for them to be tried in an
impartial court,” said Khalid al
Odah, a Kuwaiti whose 26-year-old
son Fawzi was one of the first to
arrive at the bleak outpost. “But
nobody is listening. That is the
problem.”
Al-Odah is hanging his hopes
on his son’s release or trial on the
U.S. Supreme Court, which is to
hear the first appeal early this
year on whether the prisoners
, should have access to American
courts, something opposed by
President Bush.
Over the past two years, U.S. of
ficials have released 88 people held
at the detention camp in eastern
Cuba — but new ones have regu
larly been brought iri, bringing the
current number of detainees to
around 660.
While Washington has
promised tribunals, it also con
tinues to expand the prison.
Eventually it will have 1,100 cells,
raising further questions of what
the future holds for the mission.
Some U.S. lawmakers also have
raised concerns about prolonged
delays in the detainees’ cases.
“You have people sitting
there for two years with
rights under
international law being
utterly ignored by
administration.”
JAMIE FELLNER
U.S. DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Others say holding tribunals out
side the jurisdiction of U.S. courts
would make trials unfair.
Many critics say the United
States has abandoned its judicial
principles in its zeal to prevent an
other terrorist attack on its soil.
“You have people sitting there
for two years with rights under in
ternational law being utterly ig
nored by the administration,” said
Jamie Fellner, U.S. director of
Human Rights Watch.
Since the first prisoners arrived
on Jan. 11,2002, the U.S. govern
ment has classified the men as “en
emy combatants” and not prison
ers of war, which would afford
them more legal protection.
They have been held without
charge and interrogated repeat
edly. Only last month were mili
tary defense lawyers assigned —
and only to two prisoners.
“We want to do it quickly, but
we want to do it right,” said Air
Force Maj. John Smith, a lawyer
in the office of military commis
sions at the Pentagon. He said the
procedures now need only
“tweaks and minor additions.”
A retired U.S. Army general
has been appointed to oversee the
tribunals, which apply the death
penalty. A four-member review
panel has been chosen. The desks,
name plates, closed-circuit televi
sion and government seals are al
ready in place at a building in
Guantanamo. Yet no order has
been given for trials to start.
The first tribunals could begin
within 30 days of receiving an or
der, said Maj. Gen. Geoffrey
Miller, commander of the deten
tion operation.
The detainees from 44 countries
are being held on suspicion of links
to Afghanistan’s ousted Taliban
regime or al-Qaida terror network,
including three boys ages 13 to 15.
The indefinite detention has
drawn concern from several U.S.
allies including Britain, which has
nine citizens at the base.
Johan Steyn, one of a panel of
judges who sit in Britain’s House
of Lords, recently said holding the
tribunals in Cuba would be a
“monstrous failure of justice.”
Twenty-one prisoners have at
tempted suicide, some multiple
times and most by trying to hang
themselves, officials say.
The U.S. government has de
nied mistreatment, noting de
tainees can exchange censored let
ters with family, are wi fed and
receive quality medicalare.
Officials began rewtding de
tainees last year for god behav
ior — and for providingnforma
tion about terror cells. Mler says
the amount of useful inilligence
information has incresed, al
though he has refuseeto talk
about how the informtion has
helped the waron terror
Inside a medium-secuity area,
detainees deemed coo^rative
play soccer andtalk withother de
tainees.
But one priviege thatias been
eliminated is contact vith the
camp’s Muslimspirituaadviser.
Authorities supended be meet
ings last year fter the irrest of
Muslim chaplau Capt. Janes Yee
on accusationsof mislandling
classified information.
He was one o*four arested by
investigators taking int< alleged
security breaches at the base.
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Palestinian leaders reaffirm
right to declare sovereign state
BY RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JERUSALEM — Palestinian lead
ers on Saturday reasserted the
right to unilaterally declare an in
dependent state in the absence of a
peace deal with Israel, responding
to Israel’s own threats of one-sided
action.
The go-it-alone declarations re
flect both sides’ frustrations with
more than three years of fighting
and stalled peace talks.
The PLO Executive Committee,
one of the Palestinians’ key lead
ership bodies, met Friday night to
discuss the ongoing conflict with
Israel and reiterated the right to
declare a state in the West Bank,
Gaza Strip and Arab parts of
Jerusalem — lands that Israel
took control of in the 1967 Mideast
war.
The Palestinians’ path to state
hood has come under question
amid warnings by Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon that he
could give up on peace talks and
draw a boundary that would leave
the Palestinians with much less
land than they seek.
Sharon recently outlined a plan
under which he would withdraw
forces from parts of the West Bank
and Gaza Strip, dismantle some
Jewish settlements along the way
and draw his own boundary be
tween Israel and the Palestinians
if peace talks remain stopped.
On Saturday, Saleh Rafat, a
member of the PLO committee,
said Israel’s actions will not pre
vent the Palestinians from
declaring "an independent
Palestinian state within the 1967
border.” But there are no imme
diate plans to declare a state,
Rafat said.
Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat
also emphasized that a "two-state
solution is the option of the
Palestinian leadl'ship.”
From exile n Tunis, the
Palestinian Natinal Council de
clared an indepeflent state in the
West Bank and aza in 1988 — a
move that was qver recognized
internationally.
In 1999, Yasse Arafat threat
ened to declare atate again, but
backed down afsr then-Israeli
Prime Ministr Benjamin
Netanyahu said g would annex
parts of the West Enk in response.
Now, the Palstinians face
threats from Isfiel that they
could be left wither less territo
ry than they’ve sught for a fu
ture state.
Some Israeli bicials believe
the Palestinians;>ossibly even
Arafat, are seekir a new strate
gy: waiting for daographics to
resolve the conflic Experts have
predicted the Paistinians will
outnumber Jewsn the coming
decades.
About 3.5 millia Palestinians
live in the West Bak and Gaza, in
addition to 1.2 milon Arab citi
zens of Israel. Ab-it 5.5 million
Jews live in Israel
In an interviw with The
Associated Presan Thursday,
Palestinian Priie Minister
Ahmed Qureia sai if peace talks
fail and Sharon flows through
with his "disengtement” plan,
the Palestinians wuld push for a
single binationaltate of Arabs
and Jews.
Such a scenaricrould spell dis
aster for Israel’s Swish charac
ter, because thePalestinians’
higher birthrate ould soon put
Arabs in the majdty.
Israel would thh face a choice
between giving Flestinians the
right to vote or looming a mi
nority-ruled *untry like
apartheid South /rica.
A decade of p^e talks in the
1990s always ailed for a two
state solution, nd the latest
peace plan — tf U.S.-backed
"road map” - calls for a
Palestinian staB in the West
Bank and Gaza b 2005.
Eliminating tb two-state solu
tion from dialog^ could lead to
greater Mideast jditical turmoil.
Palestinian potkal analyst Ali
Jerbawi said Qu#ia’s remarks on
a binational stab *d fresh state
ments on the urikteral declara
tion of a separjte independent
country reflectgr'wing frustra
tions over staJedsteps toward
statehood, f