[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 85 (Wednesday, June 11, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H5178]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION VISITS NORTH KOREA

  (Mr. WILSON of South Carolina asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, in my travels over the 
years promoting democracy, I have visited communist nations, but none 
have had the anomalies of my visit to the capital of North Korea, 
Pyongyang, on a congressional delegation last week led by the gentleman 
from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon).
  The government officials tried to show North Korea as if nothing were 
wrong. Yet empty streets and buildings gave signs of a fragile economy, 
and the intense communist and anti-American propaganda gave signs of a 
weak society.
  President Bush has praised our troops for getting the world's 
attention with success in Afghanistan and Iraq. Our invitation was a 
reflection of this attention, summarized by delegation co-chairman, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Ortiz), who said, ``The world has either seen 
the light or felt the heat.''
  North Korea is a tipping point, struggling to hold up a crumbling 
society that was neglected in the pursuit of nuclear weapons. I support 
the efforts of President Bush to seek a peaceful solution with North 
Korea so they will be disarmed by the nuclear threat and that innocent 
North Korean civilian can be saved from tragedy.
  In conclusion, God bless our troops.

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