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The Nautilus Weekly provides an overview of current releases from NAPSnet, summary of the bimonthly AESnet, highlights of developments in the global collaborative, recent publications on global problem solving and Freedom of Information Act, and updates on Nautilus activities and public relations. As a Nautilus Weekly subscriber, readers will also receive Nautilus Policy Forum Online and Special Reports, which bring timely insight and qualitative analysis on Northeast Asia issues to policymakers, journalists, and the general public. The Nautilus Weekly is disseminated to all subscribers of Nautilus Information Services, though readers may sign up to receive just the Nautilus Weekly. |
| Hayes Says Obstacles Complicate DPRK IT Aspirations
In an article called, “Hackers or Cyber-soldiers?” by Dr. Vladimir Golubev of the Computer Crime Research Center, Peter Hayes was quoted as saying, “in North Korea the lack of basic necessities, such as a reliable electrical grid, presents huge obstacles to the creation of information-technology infrastructure, according to Peter Hayes, executive director of the Nautilus Institute, who published a recent study of North Korea’s IT aspirations.”
NAPSNet Top Story: Signs Indicate N. Korea Preparing To Launch Rodong Missile The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that indications that the DPRK is preparing to launch a Rodong ballistic missile, which has the range to cover most of the Japanese archipelago, have been observed, government sources reported Wednesday. The sources said Tokyo and Washington detected the signs Tuesday afternoon. DPRK military vehicles, soldiers and missile engineers have been converging on several Rodong missile bases mainly in the eastern part of the nation, they said.
AESNet Top Story: China Energy And LEAP Model The Nautilus Institute released this report from the Asian Energy Security Workshop held in Beijing, China from May 11 – 14, 2004. The report reviews recent changes in China’s energy sector, emphasizing rapid growth in energy consumption. The authors stressed concern that overheated investment and rising prices in specific industries have and will continue to add to China’s energy shortages. The report argued, “driven by high profits, overheated investment will not slow down without government intervention.” Policy options and concerns for power supply and power saving include greater immersion in world oil markets and strategic planning for a national reserve system. Read the full PPT
Threatening Gestures as Cries for Help? Questioning an Overly Fixed Image of North Korea This is a Policy Forum Essay by Lutz Drescher. Drescher, lived as an ecumenical worker in the ROK from 1987 to 1995. Since 2001, he works for the Association of Churches and Missions in Southwest Germany (EMS) as liaison secretary for East Asia. He has participated in numerous meetings with representatives of the North Korean Christian Federation. He coordinated the first official Visit of an EKD (Evangelical Church Germany) delegation to the DPRK in May 2002. The essay states “there is thus freedom of religion, and yet it is a restricted freedom insofar as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is not a democratic country with individual rights of liberty in the Western sense. One can say that the members of the church in North Korea live out their faith under particularly harsh conditions. For precisely this reason, they depend on our intercessions and visits.” Read the full report.
Annual Report Of The United States Commission On International Religious Freedom This is an excerpt from the annual report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom dealing with religion in the DPRK. The report states “there is no evidence that religious freedom conditions have improved in the past year. The Commission continues to recommend that North Korea be designated a “country of particular concern,” or CPC, which the State Department has done since 2001.” |