[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 15]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 22476]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   STANDING WITH OUR ALLY SOUTH KOREA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 16, 2010

  Mr. WOLF. Madam Speaker, I was deeply saddened and outraged by North 
Korea's recent attack on Yeonpyeong island which killed four South 
Koreans and wounded 20. Officials estimated that the North had fired 
roughly 200 artillery shells onto Yeonpyeong. The November 23 attack 
was the first on civilian-populated areas since the Korean War.
  This is just the latest provocation on the part of Pyongyang--a 
regime infamous for its deplorable human rights record and Soviet style 
gulags.
  Recently North Korea showed Dr. Siegfried Hecker, the former head of 
the U.S. Los Alamos National Laboratory, a new modern uranium 
enrichment facility with 2,000 centrifuges. The North Koreans claimed 
it is producing low enriched uranium destined for fuel for a new light-
water nuclear reactor. According to the Congressional Research Service, 
``Although Dr. Hecker has said that the centrifuge plant and the new 
reactor appear to be designed primarily for civilian nuclear power, the 
uranium facilities could also be used to produce fissile material 
suitable for nuclear weapons.''
  These are deeply troubling developments. During this time of 
heightened tensions in the Korean Peninsula we must actively work with 
our long-term ally South Korea to ensure a lasting peace in the region 
and continue to expose the true nature of the North Korea regime which 
the international community can no longer deny.

                          ____________________