Preceding NAPSNet Report

I. United States

1. DPRK on Relations with US

Korean Central News Agency of the DPRK (“DPRK COMMITTED TO DIALOGUE ON NUCLEAR ISSUE – UN ENVOY “, 2004-10-20) reported that the DPRK will, in the future too, bend all efforts available to remove the threat of foreign forces and ensure a permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula, declared the delegate of the DPRK on 12 October. The nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula is the US policy of nuclear threat based on its deep-rooted hostile policy towards the DPRK for over half a century.

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2. US on DPRK Nuclear Issue

Reuters (“U.S. OPEN TO DISCUSS ALL N. KOREA ISSUES ? POWELL”, 2004-10-20) reported that Secretary of State Colin Powell has rejected the notion that divisions in the Bush administration had hindered the US’ ability to roll back the DPRK’s nuclear program. “It takes time,” Powell said, referring to resolution of the DPRK’s nuclear crisis. “But what we have achieved is, all six parties, to include the North Koreans saying that our goal is a de-nuclearized peninsula.”

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3. DPRK on Nuclear Issue

Yonhap (“N.K. VOWS TO INCREASE ‘WAR DETERRENT FORCE’ “, 2004-10-20) reported that the DPRK vowed on Wednesday to bolster its war deterrent in quantity and quality to counter what it called the US hostile policy toward Pyongyang. “Today’s reality clearly illustrates the foresightedness of our choice to strengthen all of our means of self defense, including nuclear deterrent force, to cope with escalating US activities to disturb peace,” the Korean Central News Agency said.

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4. US on Relations with DPRK

Agence France-Presse (“POWELL DENIES SPLIT IN US GOVT HOBBLED NKOREA TALKS”, 2004-10-20) reported that US Secretary of State Colin Powell denied that a rift between hawks and doves in Washington made it more difficult to tackle the DPRK’s nuclear program. But he said in the interview at the State Department in Washington: “All I know is what the president has decided and he’s the only one I’d listen to. “He’s decided repeatedly over the last year that we would try to solve this diplomatically.”

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5. PRC on DPRK Nuclear Issue

Arirang TV (“CHINESE PRESIDENT SUPPORT PEACEFUL RESOLUTION OF N.KOREA NUKE ISSUE “, 2004-10-20) reported that according to the DPRK’s Korean Central News Agency, the PRC President pledged his support to seek a peaceful solution towards the nuclear issue. Mr.Hu said the PRC attaches great importance to relations with the DPRK and vowed to further strengthen bilateral ties in various fields.

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6. ROK on DPRK Talks, Human Rights

Agence France-Presse (“SEOUL WANTS US LAW ON NKOREA KEPT SEPARATE FROM NUCLEAR TALKS”, 2004-10-20) reported that ROK Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon wants to keep a new US law on promoting DPRK human rights separate from talks aimed at ending the DPRK’s nuclear program. “We will closely cooperate with the US government so that the law, which has gone into effect, should not negatively affect cooperation between the two Koreas and six-way talks,” Ban told a weekly briefing.

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7. ROK – Russian Relations

Yonhap (“RUSSIAN NUCLEAR NEGOTIATOR TO VISIT S. KOREA NEXT WEEK “, 2004-10-20) reported that a senior Russian diplomat, who serves as chief of his country’s delegation to the six-party talks on the DPRK’s nuclear program, will visit the ROK next week, Seoul’s foreign minister said Wednesday. Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alexeyev will arrive on Sunday for a four-day visit that includes talks with his ROK counterpart, Lee Soo-hyuck, on the troubled six-party talks, Ban Ki-moon said during his weekly press briefing.

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8. Japan – ROK on DPRK Nuclear Issue

Kyodo News (“JAPANESE MINISTER TO VISIT SOUTH KOREA 6-7 NOVEMBER”, 2004-10-20) reported that Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura will visit the ROK from 6 to 7 November for talks with ROK Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Ban Ki Moon over bilateral relations and ways to resolve the standoff over the DPRK’s nuclear ambitions, government sources said Wednesday.

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9. Japan on DPRK Nuclear Talks

Kyodo News (“JAPAN URGES N KOREA TO “UNCONDITIONALLY”ACCEPT FURTHER SIX-WAY TALKS”, 2004-10-20) reported that Japan on Wednesday stepped up its call on the DPRK to accept the resumption of the stalled six-party talks on the country’s nuclear ambitions without setting preconditions. “We continue to strongly expect North Korea to deal positively with the efforts to peacefully resolve the nuclear issue, including accepting the next round of six-party talks unconditionally and swiftly,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said in a press conference.

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10. DPRK on Japan PSI Drill

Yonhap (“N. KOREA DENOUNCES JAPAN’S PARTICIPATION IN NAVAL MANEUVER “, 2004-10-20) reported that the DPRK accused Japan of violating the spirit of a bilateral declaration by taking part in a US-led interdiction drill against ships or aircraft suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction. The statement aired on the Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station and monitored in Seoul accused Tokyo of duplicity.

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11. Japan on DPRK Abductees

Kyodo News (“JAPANESE PROTESTERS MEET NORTH KOREAN FERRY DOCKING AT NIIGATA PORT”, 2004-10-20) reported that the DPRK ferry Mangyongbong-92 arrived at Niigata port Wednesday with about 200 passengers and 65 tons of cargo. About 80 families and supporters of Japanese victims of abduction by the DPRK gathered near the port to protest the ferry’s visit, believed to be the last this year.

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12. ROK on Nuclear Experiment

Joongang Ilbo (“IN PURSUIT OF NUCLEAR DIPLOMACY”, None) reported that concerned that the International Atomic Energy Agency will condemn the ROK for conducting nuclear experiments barred by its obligations under international treaties, a senior official from Seoul has arrived in the US to plead and clarify the case. On Sunday, Deputy Foreign Minister Choi Young-jin made an unannounced visit to the US. He is expected to present the ROK’s view to US officials.

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13. US on ROK Nuclear Experiment

Chosun Ilbo (“SOUTH KOREA AND U.S. AT ODDS OVER UN INVOLVEMENT “, 2004-10-20) reported that the ROK and the US are at odds over whether the UN Security Council should be called in to assess Seoul’s nuclear program. The US considers it unavoidable, while Seoul opposes it, according to government officials Tuesday.

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14. DPRK on ROK Nuclear Experiment

Korean Central News Agency of the DPRK (“N KOREA SAYS US “ENCOURAGED” SOUTH NUCLEAR DEVELOPMENT FOR DECADES “, 2004-10-20) reported that the US is keeping mum about the experiments for nuclear weapons development made by ROK. The US has encouraged the ROK authorities to develop nuclear weapons since the 1960s. The US sometimes took an active part in the South Korean authorities’ moves to develop nuclear weapons. Many years ago, the US drew the plain conclusion that “South Korea has capability to produce nuclear weapons”, thus self-exposing that it was aware of the ROK’s nuclear weapons development and that it has connived at and encouraged it.

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15. ROK on DPRK Human Rights Bill

Korea Times (“RIGHTS ACT SHOULDN’T HARM S-N TIES'”, 2004-10-20) reported that the ROK will closely consult with the US so the DPRK human rights act would not hamper inter-Korean relations or badly affect the international efforts to frustrate the DPRK?s nuclear ambition, the ROK?s top diplomat said Wednesday.

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16. Inter – Korean Economic Exchange

The New York Times (“IN KOREAS, HIGH HOPES FOR AN INDUSTRIAL MARRIAGE “, 2004-10-20) reported that the marriage between the DPRK’s rock-bottom wages and the ROK’s capital and technology has so excited Seoul that on Oct. 20 almost a quarter of the ROK’s National Assembly members are to travel by bus to Kaesong, DPRK, to inaugurate the Kaesong Industrial Park. For half a century, Kaesong has been remembered as the site of the 1953 Korean War armistice negotiations. Now, Kaesong is starting to symbolize the peninsula’s new economic thaw.

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17. DPRK Defectors

Yonhap (“ACTIVISTS PUSH TO BUILD SHELTER IN MONGOLIA FOR N.K. DEFECTORS “, 2004-10-20) reported that the issue of building a resettlement camp in Mongolia for DPRK defectors appears to be resurfacing after US President George W. Bush signed into law this week a bill designed to improve human rights conditions in the DPRK. Chun Ki-won, director of Seoul-based Durihana Missionary Foundation, said his group has been negotiating with the Mongolian government on the issue and the talks are scheduled to resume next month.

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18. DPRK Leadership

Yonhap (“REPORT ON INJURY OF KIM JONG-IL’S SISTER FALSE, OFFICIAL SAYS “, 2004-10-20) reported that a ROK official said Wednesday that a report in a Japanese newspaper claiming DPRK leader Kim Jong-il’s sister was seriously injured in a car accident was untrue, and she was found to be leading a normal life. “With the analysis of information from North Korea, we’ve found that (Kim’s sister) is living in a normal condition,” a government official said, asking not to be named.

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19. Russian Radioactive Material Found

Los Angeles Times (“RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL IS CONFISCATED”, 2004-10-20) reported that security services seized two containers filled with highly radioactive material at a scrap yard in central Russia, Interfax news agency said. Radiation levels at the scene in the town of Saratov, where the containers with uranium-238 were discovered, were 358 times higher than normal, Interfax said. Depleted uranium, where uranium-238 is usually found, theoretically can be used to make nuclear “dirty bombs.”

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20. ROK on National Security Law

Agence France-Presse (“SOUTH KOREA’S RULING CAMP INTRODUCES CONTROVERSIAL REFORM BILLS”, 2004-10-20) reported that the ROK’s ruling party has introduced legislation to parliament including a measure to scrap the country’s decades-old anti-communist law, triggering a head-on collision with the conservative opposition. The conservative opposition Grand National Party (GNP) said the raft of legislation undermined the ROK’s capitalist way of life and endangered national security.

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21. ROK on UN Stem Cell Meeting

Reuters (“S. KOREA BACKS U.N. MEETING ON STEM CELL RESEARCH”, 2004-10-20) reported that the ROK said on Tuesday it asked the US to accept another year’s delay in the drafting of a divisive treaty banning human cloning to allow time for a UN conference on the pros and cons of embryonic stem cell research. ROK U.N. envoy Hahn Myung-jae told Reuters he proposed the idea to a US diplomat on Monday to allow for a UN scientific conference in February on the merits of stem cell studies.

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22. ROK – Taiwanese Relations

Yonhap (“TAIWANESE PRESIDENT CALLS FOR ENHANCED RELATIONSHIP WITH SEOUL “, 2004-10-20) reported that President Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan on Wednesday called for increased cultural and political exchanges between his country and the ROK. In congratulatory speech to a meeting here of Korean Studies scholars from around the Asian-Pacific rim, the Taiwanese leader said the people of Taiwan have been deeply impressed by the ROK’s rapid economic growth and development in the IT sector.

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23. ROK Terror Alert

Chosun Ilbo (“SOUTH KOREA RECEIVES ANOTHER TERROR THREAT”, 2004-10-20) reported that another terrorism warning has been posted on an Islamic website threatening to attack the ROK if the ROK government does not withdraw its troops out of Iraq within seven days. The Associated Press reported Wednesday that a statement was posted on a website for Islamic terrorist groups.

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24. Japan Terror Arrest

The Associated Press (“TOKYO POLICE ARREST WIFE OF EX-MEMBER OF JAPAN TERROR GROUP”, 2004-10-20) reported that the wife of a hijacker and former member of the Japanese Red Army Faction terrorist group was arrested Tuesday as she stepped off a plane from the DPRK, accused of passport violations, media reports said. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said Tuesday that authorities would investigate whether Tanaka had a role in kidnapping Keiko Arimoto, a Japanese college student who had been studying in Europe when she disappeared in the early 1980s.

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25. Japan on US Troop Realignment

Kyodo News (“DEFENSE CHIEF SAYS U.S. COMMAND IN JAPAN MAY GO BEYOND PACT”, 2004-10-20) reported that Defense Agency Director General Yoshinori Ono said Wednesday he personally sees no problem in Japan hosting a US Army headquarters that covers areas outside the scope of the Japan-US security treaty, further confusing the issue of how Japan would deal with US military realignment. Ono made it clear he was offering a personal opinion and not the official government view.

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26. Sino – Japanese Relations

The Associated Press (“JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER HOPES FOR CHINA’S UNDERSTANDING ON VISITS TO YASUKUNI WAR SHRINE”, 2004-10-20) reported that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Wednesday he hopes that the PRC will eventually understand his repeated pilgrimages to a Tokyo war shrine that Japan’s neighbors say glorifies the country’s militarist past. Speaking to an upper house parliamentary committee, Koizumi said he did not believe his visits to Yasukuni Shrine were obstructing relations between Japan and the PRC.

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27. Sino – Japanese Economic Relations

Kyodo News (“JAPANESE-CHINESE CONSORTIUM WINS BID FOR CHINA EXPRESS TRAIN PROJECT”, 2004-10-20) reported that a Japanese-PRC consortium has won a 140 billion yen contract for an express train project in the PRC, Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd., a member of the consortium, said Wednesday. The contract, concluded with the PRC’s Railway Ministry on Wednesday, calls for the delivery of 60 eight-car express trains to the PRC beginning February 2006.

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28. Sino – Indian Relations

Agence France-Presse (“INDIA, CHINA OFFICIALS MEET OVER BORDER DISPUTE”, 2004-10-20) reported that senior Indian and PRC officials met here to discuss a long-running border dispute between the two countries, India’s foreign office said. PRC State Councillor and former foreign minister Tang Jiaxuan and India’s National Security Advisor J.N. Dixit met to work out dates for the next round of formal talks on the row.

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29. PRC Media Freedom

Reuters (“CHINESE JOURNALISTS TEST LIMITS OF PRESS FREEDOM”, 2004-10-20) reported that one was held on suspicion of leaking state secrets to foreigners. Another was accused of corruption, detained for five months and then released without charge. A third has eluded punishment after issuing a rare, bold tirade against a very senior official of the Communist Youth League who had sacked a colleague. The fate of the three men may be different but their stories illustrate the constraints and risks liberal PRC journalists encounter in their struggle to tell the truth.

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30. PRC on NGOs, Religious Organizations

United Press International (“CHINA TO EASE POLICIES ON RELIGIONS, NGOS”, 2004-10-20) reported that the PRC plans to allow more autonomy to religious groups and curb arbitrary state interference in their activities, a Religious Affairs Bureau official says. The PRC also plans to ease controls on non-governmental organizations, the paper reported, allowing them to work without sponsorship from a government department, as is currently required.

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31. PRC Dam Project

The New York Times (“CHINESE GROUPS SEEK TO HALT A DAM AND SAVE A TREASURED PLACE”, 2004-10-20) reported that environmentalists in the PRC who earlier this year helped persuade Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to suspend a dam project in southwest PRC are now fighting plans for another hydropower project that they say would endanger one of the world’s deepest gorges and force the relocation of 100,000 people. The new dam proposal, for Tiger Leaping Gorge, would divert water from the Jinsha River in the mountainous northern section of Yunnan Province to the fast-growing provincial capital, Kunming, partly to ease urban water shortages.

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32. PRC Quake

Reuters (“CHINA QUAKE DESTROYS 20,000 HOMES, NO DEATHS”, 2004-10-20) reported that an earthquake has rocked a densely populated city in southwestern PRC, destroying more than 20,000 houses but killing no one, a local official said on Wednesday.

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33. PRC Space Program

Agence France-Presse (“CHINA LAUNCHES NEW SATELLITE TO MONITOR NATURAL DISASTERS”, 2004-10-20) reported that the PRC has launched a meteorological satellite capable of monitoring natural disasters. The 1.38-ton satellite, which has better resolution and observation capacity than its predecessors, is expected to help track natural disasters like hailstorms, while monitoring forest and grassland fires, fog and sandstorms.

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