Taxing Issue For The Board of Equalization

The following diplomatic communique from the California Board of Equalization has just been received by Political Muscle:

"(Rolling Hills Estates, CA) - America's highest ranking Korean American elected official, Michelle Steel, issued the following statement condemning the North Korean nuclear agreement. Ms. Steel's comments coincide the conclusion of a two-day negotiation summit with North Korean diplomats, the first such meeting on US soil since 2000."

If the Board of Equalization is conducting diplomatic summits with North Korea, perhaps Steel should get a raise. The BOE press release did not mention California tax policy.

For Immediate Release

America's Highest Ranking Korean American Condemns Negotiations with Kim Jong Il

(Rolling Hills Estates, CA) - America's highest ranking Korean American elected official, Michelle Steel, issued the following statement condemning the North Korean nuclear agreement. Ms. Steel's comments coincide the conclusion of a two-day negotiation summit with North Korean diplomats, the first such meeting on US soil since 2000.

"Thirteen years ago, the Clinton administration took the easy way out of the North Korean crisis opting to appease Kim Jong Il and his evil regime. President Bush must not return to the Clinton administration's failed policy of diplomatic pandering and international extortion. We cannot trust a regime with a history of duplicity that deliberately brutalizes its own people.

President Bush must not be deceived by the early headlines that North Korea is implementing the nuclear agreement. In November 1994, one month after North Korea signed the "Agreed Framework," Kim Jong Il allowed IAEA weapons inspectors to review his nuclear facilities. Yet, those early promises were only Kim Jong Il's artful misdirection of our hopes that he would disarm his nuclear program.

As our government dines with North Korean diplomats, millions of North Koreans face political oppression, state-sponsored torture, and systematic starvation. Life in North Korea is so bad that each year hundreds of North Koreans trade life in North Korea for sex slavery in China as an improvement in their human condition. We cannot solve this international crisis by once again diplomatically negotiating with a madman.

When Kim Jong Il reneges on this agreement, we will have supplied him with the physical and rhetorical fuel to perpetuate his evil regime. We must not become silent partners in Kim Jong Il's persecution of North Korea."

Elected to the Board of Equalization in 2006, Michelle Steel serves as the country's highest ranking Korean-American elected official. She represents the over 8.5 million taxpayers of the Third Board of Equalization District, including the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Riverside, Imperial and San Bernardino.

US Fooled Again By Kim Jong Il  

"Fool Me Once Shame on You, Fool Me Twice Shame on Me." - Chinese Proverb   

Kim Jong Il Brutalized North Korea with Political Oppression, State-Sponsored Torture, and Systematic Starvation Amid "Compliance" with 1994 Agreed Framework.     

Kim Jong Il's Brutal Prison Camps Rival Stalin's Gulag. "More urgent is Kim's trafficking and testing of missiles, his production of nuclear bombs, and the horrible reality that with the full knowledge of the world, his government, which let millions of its people starve to death in the last 15 years, also runs prison camps which for brutality rival Stalin's gulag." ("North Korea's Inclusion Reveals U.N. Flaws," Philadelphia Inquirer, 02/06/07)

Kim Jong Il Sponsors Torture, Commits Infanticide, and Forces Abortions of North Korean People. "But when she started to hold the baby and wrap him in a blanket, a guard grabbed the newborn by one leg and threw it in a large, plastic-lined box. A doctor explained that since North Korea was short on food, the country should not have to feed the children of foreign fathers. When the box was full of babies, Former Detainee #24 later learned, it was taken outside and buried." ("The Hidden Gulag: Exposing North Korea's Prison Camps," US Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, 10/22/03)  

Kim Jong Il's Regime Oversees Systematic Starvation of North Korea People. "North Korea allowed perhaps one million and possibly many more of its own citizens to die during the famine in the 1990's. This was caused in part by the government's decision to reduce food purchases as international assistance increased so that it could divert resources to its military and nuclear program." ("Turn North Korea into a Human Rights Issue," New York Times, 10/30/06)  

Kim Jong Il's Famine Has Killed 5 Percent of the North Korean Population. "North Korea is well into its second decade of chronic food shortages. A famine in the 1990s killed as many as 1 million North Koreans or roughly 5 percent of the population." ("Hunger and Human Rights: The Politics of Famine in North Korea," US Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, 09/01/05)

Kim Jong Il's Duplicitous History Proves He Cannot Be Trusted to Comply with this Agreement.

Kim Jong Il Uses the Same 1994 Playbook to Trick the United States. "During their five-day visit to Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, inspectors from the U.N. agency confirmed that North Korea has suspended its nuclear program under an agreement with the United States, the North's official radio said Monday. " ("IAEA Inspectors Leave Pyongyang," Associated Press, 11/29/94)  

"North Korea Needs the Most Transparent, Most Intrusive, Most Pervasive Verification Systems"-John Bolton North Korea's aggressive mendacity puts it near the top of the list, perhaps tied with Iran for the lead, of countries that need the most transparent, most intrusive, most pervasive verification systems. For America to agree to anything less would be to make our national security, and that of close friends and allies like Japan, dependent on North Korea's word--never a safe bet. If we continue this approach, what is already a bad deal will become a dangerous deal, whether we make it with North Korea directly or in the six-party talks. (The North Korea Climbdown," Wall Street Journal Opinion Piece by John Bolton, 03/05/07)  

Current US Strategy & Weakened Intelligence Assessments Play Into Kim Jong Il's Hand. "By telegraphing to Kim that the U.S. has new doubts about his uranium plans, the Bush Administration is all but inviting Kim to declare as little as possible. The flip-flop has all the earmarks of the intelligence community trying to cover its own keister if Kim does precisely that."("Uranium Do-Over," Wall Street Journal, 03/02/07)  

Kim Jong Il Will Use the Latest Agreement as Real and Rhetorical Fuel for His Regime. 

Kim Jong Il Will Receive 50,000 Tons of Fuel Upfront, With the Promise of 950,000 Tons of Fuel Later. "In a breakthrough February 13 agreement in Beijing, North Korea agreed with South Korea, the United States, and three other countries to shut down within 60 days its nuclear facilities and allow inspectors in return for 50,000 tonnes of fuel oil.

Further steps to completely "disable" its nuclear weapons program will entitle the energy-strapped state to another 950,000 tonnes of oil or other forms of aid of equivalent value." ("North Korea fully ready to end nuclear work: envoy," Reuters, 03/04/07)

Kim Jong Il Uses Food Aid to Extort Public Admiration. "North Koreans usually receive benefits such as extra food, but it remains unclear whether the country can dole out such largesse this year, given chronic food shortages and U.N. sanctions imposed over its Oct. 9 nuclear test. ("North Korea marks Kim Jong Il's 65th b-day," Boston Globe, 02/15/07)

Kim Jong Il's Cult of Personality is Strengthened by this Agreement. "Holidays in North Korea mark occasions on which the leadership is obligated to show tangibly its ability to care for the people," said Scott Snyder, a senior associate at the Asia Foundation in Washington who served as chief of its Seoul office. North Korea's leadership "will be able to perform at a higher level in this area" amid reduced tensions with the international community following this week's nuclear agreement, Snyder added." ("North Korea marks Kim Jong Il's 65th birthday amid progress in nuclear row," Associated Press, 02/16/07)