NAPSNet Daily Report Monday, November 08, 2004

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NAPSNet Daily Report Monday, November 08, 2004

NAPSNet Daily Report Monday, November 08, 2004

I. United States

II. Japan

III. CanKor

Preceding NAPSNet Report

I. United States

1. US on DPRK Nuclear Talks

Wall Street Journal (“NORTH KOREAN POLICY OF U.S. FACES STRAINS; AS DIPLOMATS LOOK TO REVIVE TALKS, HARD-LINERS WEIGH MORE-COERCIVE OPTIONS”, 2004-11-08) reported that with the US election over, a push is on to jump-start talks with the DPRK over its nuclear-weapons programs. Diplomats expect such talks to be given a chance — but should they fail to show progress, tensions between the US and Asian governments over whether to offer Pyongyang more carrots or more sticks are likely to come back to the fore.

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2. DPRK on Nuclear Talks

The Associated Press (“N. KOREA VOICES DOUBT OVER NUCLEAR TALKS”, 2004-11-05) reported that the DPRK doesn’t expect six-nation talks on its nuclear weapons program to resume anytime soon under a second-term administration of President Bush, a top DPRK envoy said in a report published Friday. Han Song Ryol, deputy chief of the DPRK’s mission to the United Nations, said the nuclear talks can resume only if Bush changes what the DPRK calls a hostile US policy aimed at overthrowing the Pyongyang regime.

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3. ROK on DPRK Nuclear Talks

Korea Times (“SEOUL AWAITS PYONGYANG’S RETURN”, 2004-11-08) reported that the ROK is waiting for the DPRK’s return to the negotiation table as it tries to build up closer coordination with the US and Japan for an early resumption of the stalled six-party nuclear talks. Seoul officials believe the DPRK, despite the usual rhetoric, might soon come back to the talks after reshaping its negotiation strategies, with which it is expected to try to wangle compensation from the US if a face-saving exit is provided.

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4. ROK – US on DPRK Nuclear Talks

Reuters (“S. KOREA URGES U.S. TO PUSH FOR ARMS TALKS”, 2004-11-07) reported that ROK President Roh Moo Hyun telephoned President Bush to propose that solving the nuclear crisis involving the DPRK be a priority for Bush’s second term in office. Bush agreed on the need to push forward with stalled six-party talks on ending the DPRK’s nuclear weapons programs, the Blue House, the ROK’s executive quarters, said in a statement.

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5. Japan on DPRK Nuclear Talks

Kyodo News (“SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT, JAPANESE FOREIGN MINISTER DISCUSS NORTH KOREA”, 2004-11-06) reported that Japan told the ROK on Saturday 6 November it will urge the DPRK in bilateral talks next week to return to the six-party talks on its nuclear programs unconditionally by the end of this year, a Japanese official said.

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6. US on Bilateral DPRK Talks

Yonhap (“U.S. WILL NOT HOLD BILATERAL NUKE TALKS WITH N.K.: ENVOY TO JAPAN “, 2004-11-08) reported that the US will not engage in two-way talks with the DPRK over the latter’s nuclear weapons program, the American ambassador to Japan said Monday. Howard Baker said although efforts to resolve the crisis are an important part of US diplomacy, Washington will not accept Pyongyang’s demands to hold bilateral talks

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7. Sino – DPRK Talks on Nuclear Issue

Yonhap (“N. KOREA’S VICE FM ARRIVES IN BEIJING, NUKE CRISIS TALKS EXPECTED”, 2004-11-08) reported that a DPRK delegation led by Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong-il arrived in Beijing Monday for talks with PRC officials. The purpose and duration of Kim’s trip have not been revealed, but the ranking diplomat is expected to discuss the six-nation negotiations over his country’s nuclear weapons program, according to analysts.

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8. Sino – DPRK Military Relations

Yonhap (“CHINA, N. KOREA TO EXPAND MILITARY TIES: CHINESE DEFENSE MINISTER “, 2004-11-06) reported that the PRC and DPRK will continue to expand military cooperation, a report by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Saturday, citing the PRC’s defense minister. The state-run media agency said Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan has reiterated the PRC’s firm policy of further developing close ties between the PRC and DPRK.

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9. Sino – DPRK Economic Cooperation

Yonhap (“NORTH KOREA DECIDES NOT TO PURSUE SINUIJU ECONOMIC ZONE PROJECT – JAPAN PAPER”, 2004-11-07) reported that the DPRK has notified the PRC of its intention not to pursue a plan to develop the town of Sinuiju, located on the border of the two countries, into a special economic zone, a Japanese newspaper reported Sunday 7 November. DPRK leader Kim Jong-il asked for the PRC’s support when he met with PRC President Hu Jintao in Beijing in April, but failed to get a clear answer from Hu, according to the Japanese daily.

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10. Japan on DPRK Abductee Talks

The Associated Press (“JAPAN, NORTH KOREA MEET THIS WEEK ON ABDUCTION DISPUTE”, 2004-11-08) reported that Japan and the DPRK will discuss a dispute over the DPRK’s kidnapping of Japanese citizens during the 1970s and 1980s when officials from the two nations meet for four days in Pyongyang starting Tuesday. The talks are the first since Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura complained in September that the DPRK had been insincere during two previous rounds held in Beijing, adding Tokyo could consider using economic sanctions to prod a better response.

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11. UN on DPRK Abductee Talks

Kyodo News (“U.N. ENVOY VOWS TO COOPERATE WITH JAPAN OVER N. KOREA ABDUCTIONS”, 2004-11-08) reported that UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour vowed Monday to cooperate with Japan in dealing with the issue of the DPRK’s abductions of foreign citizens, Japanese government officials said. She made the comments during a meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura, calling the series of the DPRK’s abductions “an extremely tragic case.”

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12. Japan on DPRK Food Aid

Kyodo News (“JAPAN’S FOOD AID TO N. KOREA DISTRIBUTED APPROPRIATELY: OFFICIAL”, 2004-11-08) reported that Japan’s food aid to the DPRK has been distributed properly and reached ordinary people in the country, a senior official of the Japanese Foreign Ministry said Monday. The food aid has been “delivered to people in need, and they have recognized the aid is coming from Japan,” Vice Foreign Minister Yukio Takeuchi told reporters, referring to the result of a survey by the World Food Program.

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13. KEDO LWR Project

Jiji Press (“JAPAN, ROK AGREE TO KEEP ALIVE N-REACTOR PROJECT IN N. KOREA”, 2004-11-08) reported that Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura and his ROK counterpart Ban Ki Moon Saturday agreed to call the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization to keep its project to build light-water nuclear reactors in the DPRK, rather than scrapping the project.

(return to top) Asahi Shimbun (“TOKYO, SEOUL AGREE TO EXTEND KEDO FREEZE”, 2004-11-08) reported that Japan and the ROK agreed on the weekend to support a continued freeze of an international project to provide the DPRK with two light-water nuclear reactors. Meeting with his ROK counterpart Ban Ki Moon, Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura made clear it was preferable to continue the freeze rather than cancel the project altogether. (return to top)

14. US – DPRK Relations

Chosun Ilbo (“U.S. RESEARCHED, SIMULATED NUCLEAR STRIKES ON NORTH”, 2004-11-08) reported that it has been revealed that the US researched scenarios in which it used 30 nuclear weapons in the event of a DPRK invasion of the ROK. It also conducted training exercises in which aircraft dropped mock nuclear warheads in preparation for a worst-case emergency on the Korean Peninsula. In particular, it was revealed the US learned of the DPRK’s nuclear development program through satellite surveillance in 1982, 3 years before the DPRK joined the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

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15. DPRK Gaseous Flourine Export to Iran

TASS (“PYONGYANG SUPPLIES GASEOUS FLUORINE TO IRAN – JAPANESE NEWSPAPER “, 2004-11-07) reported that the DPRK supplied Iran with gas, which is used in atomic fuel enrichment and production of war-grade uranium and cannot be exported, Japan’s Sankei Shimbun newspaper reported on Sunday with the reference to a DPRK military source. The newspaper said that the shipment was made on May 20. It also said that Teheran signed an agreement on the delivery of gaseous fluorine, which helps to produce uranium hexafluoride that separates isotopes of uranium, because of the gas shortage at the Iranian nuclear research center in Isfahan.

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16. DPRK on US Elections

Chosun Ilbo (“N. KOREA STILL NOT ACKNOWLEDGING BUSH RE-ELECTION “, 2004-11-08) reported that the DPRK has not shown an official response to the re-election of US President George W. Bush as of Sunday afternoon. About this election, the DPRK has said, “It does not matter who becomes U.S. president,” and, “President Bush is a tyrant tenfold worse than Hitler.”

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17. UN Command DMZ Relocation

Reuters (“U.S.-LED UN COMMAND TO MOVE TO N.KOREA BORDER ZONE”, 2004-11-05) reported that the US-led United Nations Command plans to relocate its armistice team this month from Seoul to the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone border with the DPRK, Yonhap news agency reported on Friday. Yonhap quoted a commission official as saying the relocation of most of the commission’s personnel would help them handle traffic through the border when the inter-Korean railway is fully reconnected.

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18. DPRK on ROK – US CFC

Yonhap (“N. KOREA DEMANDS SCRAPPING OF S. KOREA-U.S. COMBINED COMMAND “, 2004-11-08) reported that the DPRK has renewed its demand for the dismantling of the ROK-US Combined Forces Command (CFC), calling it a “cancer” to peace on the Korean Peninsula in a commentary on Sunday. “The CFC started from the US purpose of eternally controlling South Korea as its military strategic tool and stepping up its adventurous scheme of a war against the North,” said “Uriminzokkiri,” an Internet site operated directly by Pyongyang.

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19. US – DPRK Joint POW-MIA Recovery

Yonhap (“U.S., N. KOREA TO HOLD TALKS ON RECOVERY OF KOREAN WAR REMAINS “, 2004-11-08) reported that the US and DPRK will hold talks in Thailand on the recovery of remains believed to be of US soldiers who died in the Korean War, a report by a US government-funded radio station said Saturday. The Radio Free Asia (RFA) broadcast monitored in Seoul cited Larry Greer, spokesman for the US Department of Defense for Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), as saying the meeting was tentatively set for Nov. 15 in Bangkok.

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20. US on DPRK Human Rights

Yonhap (“CONSERVATIVE GROUPS URGE ACTION ON N.K. HUMAN RIGHTS “, 2004-11-08) reported that a prominent US. civic activist took a critical stand against the policies of the ROK and PRC toward human rights conditions in the DPRK and urged them to pay more attention to the issue. “Human rights should not be a partisan issue,” Suzanne Scholte, president of the Washington-based Defense Forum, said during an exhibition of photographs depicting the human rights conditions in the DPRK.

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21. DPRK Human Rights

Reuters (“FORMER N.KOREA INMATES TELL OF SUFFERING IN CAMPS”, 2004-11-08) reported that three former DPRK inmates gave harrowing accounts on Monday of alleged suffering at political camps, part of an event organized by activists aimed at prodding Seoul to tackle Pyongyang on human rights. Two other former inmates, who said they had been held in a prison in Hamkyung province, also re-lived their past at the event entitled “North Korea Holocaust.”

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22. ROK on PSI

Yonhap (“THINK TANK URGES POSITIVE ATTITUDE ON U.S.-LED ANTI-WMD INITIATIVE “, 2004-11-07) reported that a state-run think tank Sunday urged ROK to have a positive attitude toward the Proliferation Strategy Initiative (PSI), an effort led by the US to establish a global system for preventing the DPRK and other rogue states from proliferating weapons of mass destruction (WMD). In a report, the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security said, “South Korea should consider the fact that the target of the PSI is nonproliferation of WMD and it is led by South Korea’s ally, the United States.”

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23. Singapore on Inter – Korean Economic Cooperation

Joongang Ilbo (“SINGAPORE TO INCLUDE GAESEONG IN TRADE PACT “, 2004-11-08) reported that in free trade talks with the ROK, Singapore has agreed to give products manufactured in the DPRK’s Gaeseong Industrial Complex the same status as ROK goods and levy the same tariffs. If an agreement with Singapore is signed by the end of the year, as forecast by officials, it would be the first international pact to at least partly define inter-Korean trade as domestic.

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24. IAEA on ROK Nuclear Experiment

Chosun Ilbo (“FINAL IAEA REPORT ON S. KOREA TO CIRCULATE NEXT WEEK “, 2004-11-08) reported that a government official said Monday, “The final International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report on South Korea’s past experiments with nuclear materials should be written up after Wednesday and circulated among the 35 nations on the IAEA’s Board of Governors from next week.”

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25. US Trade Relations with Asia

Agence France-Presse (“CHINA AND ASIA SHOULD BRACE THEMSELVES FOR US TRADE FRICTION: ECONOMIST”, 2004-11-08) reported that the PRC and other Asian economies should brace themselves for possible severe trade friction with the US due to large US trade deficits, a top US economist says. The specter of a more protectionist America is rising even though the US trade shortfalls are largely a problem of its own making, according to Stephen Roach, the chief international economist for US investment bank Morgan Stanley.

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26. Japanese Military

Washington Post (“EXERCISE DISPLAYS JAPAN’S AMBITIONS SEEKING NEW INTERNATIONAL STATURE, GOVERNMENT DEPARTS FROM PACIFIST PAST”, 2004-11-08) reported that seeking a more assertive role on the world stage, the Japanese government is now in the midst of a campaign to win a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and transform its Self-Defense Forces into a full military. “Japan has been changing its role in response to new threats and our desire to contribute more to the stability of the world,” said Masashi Nishihara, president of National Defense Academy, the country’s elite armed forces training school. “But it is a slow and gradual effort. It may sometimes seem like a contradiction, but this is the way it has to be.”

(return to top) Agence France-Presse (“KOIZUMI SAYS JAPAN’S MILITARY MUST CONTRIBUTE TO GLOBAL PEACE”, 2004-11-08) reported that Japan’s armed forces must contribute to global peace to secure safety at home, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said amid signs his government will extend an unpopular military deployment in Iraq. “From now on, to secure our own country’s safety and prosperity, it is necessary to positively contribute to the peace and stability of the international community,” said Koizumi, a fervent supporter of the US-led “war on terror.” (return to top)

27. Sino – Japanese Relations

Agence France-Presse (“JAPANESE DEFENSE PLANNERS PREPARING FOR POSSIBLE CHINESE ATTACKS”, 2004-11-08) reported that Japan has determined the PRC will become Asia’s top military power and charted out scenarios for a PRC attack against Japan which could be triggered by disputes over Taiwan or energy resources. Kyodo News agency says the outline for potential PRC attacks is part of a confidential report on Japan’s defense strategy drawn up by military planners in September.

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28. Sino – Japanese Trade Relations

Los Angeles Times (“SCRAPPING OVER PAPER PROFITS”, 2004-11-08) reported that spurred by rocketing demand from the PRC economy, old newspapers and magazines are being collected, crushed into one-ton cubes and exported to Japan’s voracious Asian neighbor in record amounts. As a result, Japan exported almost 83 times as much recycled paper last year as it did four years ago. And more than half now goes to the PRC — which in 1999 took in a mere 4% of Japanese paper exports.

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29. Cross Strait Relations

Asia Pulse (“ACADEMIC PROPOSES MAKING TAIWAN A NUCLEAR-FREE ZONE”, 2004-11-08) reported that to display the government’s resolve to maintain peace and prevent Taiwan from being attacked by nuclear arms, a scholar has raised the concept of making Taiwan and the Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu islands into nuclear-free zones. Yuan I, a researcher at the Institute of International Relations of National Chengchi University, raised the idea Wednesday at a seminar to discuss the US presidential election and Taipei-Beijing-Washington ties.

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30. US on Cross Strait Relations

Asia Pulse (“BUSH TO FURTHER PUSH FOR CROSS-STRAIT DIALOGUE: U.S. SCHOLARS”, 2004-11-05) reported that several US scholars in Washington, D.C., and former US diplomats said Wednesday that President Bush is expected to be more active during his second term in pushing for cross-Taiwan Strait dialogue. They also said that Taiwan and the US might also need to strengthen their dialogue in the future.

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31. Cross Strait Trade Relations

Reuters (“TAIWAN TO RULE ON CHIP PACKAGERS’ CHINA PLANS -PAPER”, 2004-11-08) reported that Taiwan has agreed in principle to allow microchip packaging firms to set up units in the PRC, but final approval will have to wait until local elections are completed next month, a newspaper said on Monday.

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32. Sino – Kazakhstan Uranium Agreement

The Associated Press (“KAZAKHSTAN AND CHINA STRIKE URANIUM DEAL”, 2004-11-08) reported that Kazakhstan’s national atomic company said Monday it has struck a long-term deal with the PRC’s nuclear agency to produce and process uranium. KazAtomProm and China National Nuclear Corporation signed the deal that runs through 2020 on Saturday in Beijing, said KazAtomProm spokeswoman Shynar Zhanibekova.

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33. Sino – Iranian Relations

The Associated Press (“CHINA SEEKS TO AVOID IRAN NUCLEAR ISSUE”, 2004-11-08) reported that the PRC does not want to see Iran hauled before the UN Security Council for possible sanctions over its nuclear program, but the nation’s foreign minister would not say Saturday if the PRC would veto any such censure.

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34. PRC Espionage Allegations

Agence France-Presse (“CHINA JAILS FORMER HONG KONG ENVOYS FOR SPYING FOR BRITAIN”, 2004-11-08) reported that two former senior PRC envoys to Hong Kong have been jailed in the PRC on charges of spying for Britain. Cai Xiaohong became the highest-ranking mainland official to be convicted of spying for the West when he was jailed for 15 years after a secret trial in the southern PRC city of Guangzhou, the South China Morning Post reported, citing PRC sources.

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35. Russian Espionage Allegations

Washington Post (“RUSSIAN JURY CONVICTS SCIENTIST IN HIS RETRIAL”, 2004-11-05) reported that a jury in Siberia found a Russian scientist guilty Friday of illegally passing documents to the PRC, the latest ruling in a lengthy case in which the defendant was first acquitted, then ordered retried. Human rights groups have charged that the Danilov case is part of a pattern of questionable prosecutions of environmentalists, scientists and journalists.

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36. Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Movement

Agence France-Presse (“HONG KONG GOVERNMENT MOVES TO CHECK CALLS FOR DEMOCRACY REFERENDUM”, 2004-11-08) reported that Hong Kong’s government has sought to check growing calls for a referendum on democracy in the PRC territory as a report says the Catholic church has backed a territory-wide poll. The PRC has already ruled out such a vote, but if the government did not approve, proponents have said, they would organized their own unofficial poll.

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II. Japan

37. Japan Iraq Troops Dispatch

The Japan Times (“OPPOSITION DEMANDS SDF PULLOUT FROM IRAQ”, 2004-11-01) reported that opposition parties demanded that the Japanese government withdraw the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) from Iraq after a 24-year-old Japanese traveler who had been abducted by militants was found beheaded. The leaders of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) held separate news conferences at the Diet building within hours of the government’s positive identification that the body found in central Baghdad was that of Shosei Koda.

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38. Japan’s Emperor on National Flag and Anthem

The Asahi Shimbun (“HIS VIEW ON ‘KIMIGAYO’ AND HINOMARU/ EMPEROR: POLICY IS ‘NOT DESIRABLE’”, 2004-10-30) reported that Japan’s Emperor Akihito caused a stir on Oct. 28 when he broached the touchy issue of the “Kimigayo” national anthem and “Hinomaru” rising-sun flag, saying he did not agree that students should be made to stand for the two national emblems at school ceremonies. Last fall, the Tokyo government circulated detailed instructions on their use at school ceremonies, and punished nearly 200 public school teachers this year for not obeying them.

(return to top) The Japan Times (“ISHIHARA RESPONDS TO SLAP IN FACE BY EMPEROR”, 2004-10-30) reported that Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara defended the Tokyo metropolitan education board’s order that all schools display the national flag and sing the national anthem at ceremonies. Referring to an Emperor’s remark on the flag and anthem, Ishihara said: “I wasn’t nearby (at the time), and so (I don’t know) the (actual) dialogue and the nuance. I do not want to comment any further.” (return to top)

III. CanKor

39. CanKor # 184

CANADA-KOREA ELECTRONIC INFORMATION SERVICE (“CanKor # 184”, 2004-11-05) “Jettison your unilateralism and consult more with the international community.” This was the common message delivered by South Korea’s ideologically disparate newspapers in editorials following the re-election of US President George W. Bush. A North Korean logger seeking refuge at the American consulate in Vladivostok was refused asylum to the USA, according to Russian sources. South Korea has reportedly also refused to accept him. US consulate officials are deciding whether to hand him to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees or to Russia. The sources claim the rejection was due to fears that granting asylum to the defector would lead to a flood of requests for asylum at American missions in Russia and China. In a proposal aimed at improving inter-Korean relations, South Korea’s opposition Grand National Party is preparing legislation to recognize the DPRK as a state and to ease travel restrictions to the North. The DPRK would become a separate state in ROK domestic law, but unlike the Uri Party’s parallel bill, North Korea would retain its designation as an “enemy”. The DPRK has provided new information to Japan on two abductees, just days before Tokyo and Pyongyang begin another round of talks on 9th November. Canada’s exports to the DPRK have risen sharply in 2003 and during the first half of 2004, as also imports from the DPRK, for example parts for automatic data processing machines, piano parts and weighing equipment. The current issue’s OPINION section features another paper from an inter-religious peace conference organized by the Korea Peace Forum in Seoul from 21 – 23 October 2004. [See also CanKor #183] “Common Wellbeing Through Cooperation” was the title of the presentation by CanKor Senior Editor Erich Weingartner at the event, which was co-sponsored by the Asian Conference on Religion and Peace, the World Conference of Religions for Peace, the International Network for Engaged Buddhists, the International Peace Council and the World Council of Churches’ Commission of the Churches on International Affairs.

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