[KS] Reporter's question on North Korea and Unification Church

[michael Robinson]

Dear John: 

You should contact the Billy Graham organization as well....this religious types seem to have all the pull with North korean contacts. 

Mrobinson
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: John Gorenfeld 
  To: Koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws 
  Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2005 1:07 PM
  Subject: [KS] Reporter's question on North Korea and Unification Church


  Dear Korean Studies mailing list,

  I'm writing a story for the American Prospect exploring relations between North Korea and independent groups based in the United States.

  Is there anyone out there who might be able to assess claims by Reverend Moon's remarkable Unification Church that the group operates as a back-channel for dialogue between the U.S. and North Korea? (See excerpt below). 

  Is anyone on the list familiar with this relationship, which goes back to about 1991?

  This is from the church publication "Truth Is My Sword":
  http://www.tparents.org/Library/Unification/Books/Tims2/Tims2-a02.htm 

  "The result of the historical encounter between President Kim Il Sung
  and Rev. Moon was expressed in a 10-point communique, one of which was
  an agreement to have prime ministerial talks between North and South
  Korea. This opened the door to a new era of relations between the DPRK
  and South Korea. This occurred a few days after Rev. Moon's departure
  from Pyongyang. Another area negotiated included North Korea's desire
  for light-water nuclear reactors to replace their old ones that
  created the so-called controversy of the DPRK nuclear weapons program.

  "In the following months and years, the Summit Council, under the
  direction of Dr. Pak, has effectively used back-door diplomacy to
  promote dialogue between the United States and the DPRK in order to
  resolve this potential nuclear buildup in northeast Asia. The Summit
  Council was responsible to nourish the process of diplomatic
  rapprochement between Washington and Pyongyang. This led to the final
  signing of the "Framework Agreement" on October 21, 1994, between the
  United States and the DPRK that froze the weapons-grade
  plutonium-producing reactors in exchange for light-water reactors."

  John


  -- 
  John Gorenfeld
  www.gorenfeld.net
  (415) 307-3898
  Fax: (815) 366-8165
  268 Bush St., #3416
  San Francisco, CA  94104


  -- 
  John Gorenfeld
  www.gorenfeld.net
  (415) 307-3898
  Fax: (815) 366-8165
  268 Bush St., #3416
  San Francisco, CA  94104
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