About the Yemen-North Korea deal: No penalties for Yemen [Archives:2002/35/Front Page]

In a speech on Saturday, President Saleh revealed that there is nothing to worry about concerning possible consequences of the deal that Yemen stroke with North Korea for the maintenance of part of its military equipment. He revealed that despite the unease of the US government about the agreement that took place more than a year ago between Yemen and North Korea, the USA has expressed no intention to carry out any action against Yemen.
He mentioned that the sanctions that may be imposed on North Korea because of this deal would not affect Yemen in any way as the country is cooperative with the USA in the war against terror and will not be harmed.
The New York Times (NYT) had reported on Friday about a US decision to impose symbolic sanctions on North Korea and the North Korean company Changgwang Sinyong Corp. for exporting medium or long-range missile components to Yemen.
According to the NYT, “North Korea sold Scud components to Yemen before U.S. President George W. Bush came to office in January 2001.
American officials say the shipment of Scud components to Yemen occurred during the Clinton administration. They also say the United States has raised its concerns with Yemen, which has indicated that it does not plan to buy any more missile technology from North Korea.”
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer had earlier on Friday said that, “Bush has no concerns about Yemen. The government of Yemen has been making constructive steps in working with the United States on the war against terror.””U.S. authorities asked Yemen why it bought the parts, and officials in that country apologized, promised not to do so again and pledged to help in other areas, the official said. The United States decided against any penalties for Yemen.”President Saleh said that Yemen’s role in supporting the war against terror was appreciated and that the USA is satisfied with Yemen’s cooperation in this regard, clearing any doubt of any possible consequences of Yemen’s agreement with North Korea.
According to AP, “When the sanctions against North Korea are announced in the Federal Register in coming days, Yemen will not be identified as the purchasing country. Yemen committed itself to joining the war on terrorism following the Sept. 11 attacks and has allowed American forces to enter the country to train its military to combat terrorists.”
However, this development did not prevent the president from strongly criticizing the US policies concerning the threats against Iraq.
In his inauguration speech of the sixth regular congress of the General People’s Congress party (GPC) in Sanaa, President Saleh said that Yemen opposes any possible military attack by the USA against Iraq, which will only be the beginning of a series of attacks against other Muslim countries. “What will happen to Iraq will happen to Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and other states. No state should think that it is distant from those threats.” he said. “Arab countries should have a unified stance and express total opposition to such a threat.”
During the inauguration session, the president reviewed a number of local, regional, and international issues in the in the ruling party congress, which has been heading since it was established in 1982. The meeting, which started on Saturday with the participation of GPC representatives totaling more than 5,000 will last for two days and would conclude its sessions today, August 26.
The party conference “is being held in critical and difficult regional conditions”, which marked 20 years since its establishment, was seen by observers as the first step of the GPC in its campaign for running the parliamentary elections scheduled for April 2003. Implicitly referring to the Yemeni Socialist Party, the President described the actions of the leftist parties in the past -in former South Yemen- as bloody massacres. On the other hand, and in what has been seen as criticism to Islah Party, the President condemned fundamentalist and rightist movements in general and accused Taliban of resulting in the September 11 attacks and the war against Afghanistan.
The President strongly criticized some mosque preachers, who according to him use their minarets to insult others and result in hatred among the ones who come to mosques to pray. “Mosques are for praying and worshipping God, not for insults and hatred.” he said.
However, the President wished that the rightist (conservative) and leftist parties would unite into creating a solid opposition bloc. “We have heard of efforts to have the (long-time rival) rightist and leftist parties come together. Oh how glad I will be if this happens!”
He also revealed that the September 11 incident resulted in threats against Yemen, but the threat was diverted after he exerted great efforts in cooperating in the war against terrorism.
The President also revealed that the news about Yemen receiving money in exchange for handing over territory to Saudi Arabia is baseless. “Trust me, we have received no single rial from the Saudis.” he said. He stressed on Yemen’s support and solidarity with Saudi Arabia against the unjust US media campaign launched against it. The President also said that despite the articles against the president that were published in Egyptian newspapers recently, Yemen also stands in solidarity with Egypt against the US campaign against it.
The President praised the local councils calling them the most important entities for a decentralized and democratic society. He also emphasized that the GPC’s has moderate views that allow greater participation of women in decision- making and other political and social activities.
Even though he emphasized that the press is the fourth authority, the President did not go without warning the opposition and partisan press saying that “some Yemeni newspapers do not regard national interest”, while noting that certain foreign and widely read newspapers sometimes report false stories of local newspapers.
On the Palestinian cause, the President said “As much as we condemn the terrorist attacks of September 11, we also condemn the Zionist terrorism in Palestine, Goulan Heights, and South Lebanon.”
The President had earlier in his speech presented a historical background about the GPC throughout its 20 years and concluded his speech by reading out a number of projects under construction “to provide more job opportunities for the Yemeni people in an attempt to reduce poverty.”

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