NAPSNet Daily Report Monday, February 07, 2005

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NAPSNet Daily Report Monday, February 07, 2005

NAPSNet Daily Report Monday, February 07, 2005

I. United States

II. CanKor

Preceding NAPSNet Report

I. United States

1. US on DPRK Nuclear Program

Reuters (“EX-U.S. OFFICIALS BACK BUSH CLAIMS ON NORTH KOREA”, 2005-02-07) reported that the US has compelling evidence the DPRK has a uranium-based nuclear weapons program and ending this activity is essential to resolving the nuclear dispute with Pyongyang, according to two key former US officials. Mitchell Reiss, until recently a senior Bush administration political appointee at the State Department, and Democrat Robert Gallucci, the Clinton’s administration’s top negotiator with the DPRK, make their case in the March-April issue of Foreign Affairs magazine.

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2. ROK, US on DPRK Nuclear Talks

Joongang Ilbo (“BUSH, ROH AGREE TO PUSH SIX-WAY TALKS”, 2005-02-07) reported that President Roh Moo-hyun and US President George W. Bush agreed in a telephone conversation Saturday to make joint efforts to resume the six-party talks on the DPRK nuclear problem as early as possible. The two leaders then discussed the DPRK nuclear issue, Mr. Kim said. Mr. Roh reportedly told Mr. Bush, “The six-party talks should take place as soon as possible to solve the nuclear issue peacefully. All participants in the talks, including Korea and the United States, should make redoubled efforts.”

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3. ROK on DPRK Nuclear Talks

Chosun Ilbo (“NEXT ROUND OF SIX-PARTY TALKS FAST APPROACHING”, 2005-02-07) reported that Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said Monday that he believed the reconvening of the six-party talks was fast approaching. Appearing on KBS radio, Chung said delaying the talks would not improve the DPRK’s situation and could, in fact, make the situation worse, because he could not assure that the patience of the international community would last forever.

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4. Inter – Korean Aid / Talks

Reuters (“S.KOREA WANTS TALKS BEFORE TACKLING NORTH FARM AID”, 2005-02-07) reported that the ROK will likely wait until the DPRK returns to talks before dealing with a request for fertilizer to help its faltering agricultural sector, a ROK government minister said on Monday. The ROK has been trying to coax the DPRK back to both six-country talks aimed at dismantling its nuclear programs and to bilateral dialogue. Both negotiations have been stalled since last year.

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5. ROK on DPRK Nuclear Program

Yonhap (“TOP S. KOREAN OFFICIALS DISCUSS N. KOREAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS”, 2005-02-07) reported that top ROK officials discussed the DPRK’s nuclear weapons program Saturday, ahead of a series of international talks aimed at ending the 28-month global dispute, officials said. A flurry of international diplomatic efforts are underway to persuade the DPRK to give up its nuclear weapons program.

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6. DPRK on US Nuclear Program

Yonhap (“N. KOREA ACCUSES U.S. OF SEEKING NUCLEAR ‘BUNKER BUSTER’ WEAPONS”, 2005-02-07) reported that the DPRK accused the US Saturday of pushing to develop nuclear weapons as part of efforts to realize its ambition of conquering the world. Citing a report in the Feb. 1 edition of the Washington Post, the official Pyongyang Broadcasting said US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called for then-Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham to renew research to develop nuclear “bunker buster” weapons.

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7. DPRK on Nuclear Talks

Yonhap (“PRO-N.K. PAPER SAYS IT’S TOO EARLY TO SEE CHANGES IN U.S. POLICY”, 2005-02-07) reported that a pro-DPRK newspaper published in Japan said on Sunday it is too early to determine any changes in the DPRK policy of US President George Bush’s second-term administration. Chosun Sinbo, organ of the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon), said changes will not be known until the Bush administration clarifies its stance on the DPRK’s “freeze-for-compensation” proposal for the settlement of its nuclear standoff.

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8. DPRK on US-DPRK Relations

Reuters (“N.KOREA CONDEMNS BUSH FOR PROVOKING ‘SEA OF FIRE'”, 2005-02-07) reported that in its first reaction to President Bush’s State of the Union address, the DPRK said Bush had threatened to turn the world into a “sea of fire,” the ROK media reported on Saturday citing a Pyongyang broadcast. In a commentary carried by the DPRK’s official Radio Pyongyang, the broadcast cast Bush as saying in his State of the Union address on Wednesday that the fire of freedom would flare up in every corner of the world, Yonhap News reported, citing a Friday broadcast. “But that means the United States will have the freedom to throw the world into a sea of battle fires,” the DPRK said.

(return to top) The Associated Press (“N. KOREA THREATENS ATTACKS ON U.S. BASES”, 2005-02-07) reported that the DPRK will turn US military bases in the region into a “sea of fire” if war breaks out on the Korean Peninsula, DPRK media on Friday quoted a DPRK officer as saying. The DPRK’s state-run news media highlighted the comment hours after the ROK released a new defense policy paper that revealed a US reinforcement plan to dispatch 690,000 troops and 2,000 warplanes if war breaks out in Korea. “If the US imperialists ignite flames of war, we will first of all strike all bases of US imperialist aggressors and turn them into a sea of fire,” the DPRK’s Central Radio quoted officer Hur Ryong as saying, according to the ROK news agency Yonhap. (return to top) Yonhap (“NORTH KOREA WARNS AGAINST POSSIBLE NUCLEAR ATTACKS FROM U.S.”, 2005-02-07) reported that the DPRK insisted Sunday the US is moving to launch nuclear attacks to destroy the DPRK. Citing the US weekly Defense News, Rodong Sinmun, the organ of the DPRK’s Workers Party, said the US Department of Defense is now suspected of working out scores of new “war plan scenarios” against the DPRK and other countries. (return to top)

9. PRC on DPRK Nuclear Issue

Voice of America News (“CHINESE OFFICIAL TO DISCUSS NUCLEAR TALKS WITH NORTH KOREA”, 2005-02-07) reported that the ROK says a senior PRC official will visit the DPRK to try to persuade the DPRK to return to nuclear talks. ROK Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said Friday, the PRC official plans to visit the DPRK some time after next week’s Lunar New Year holiday.

(return to top) Kyodo (“N. KOREAN PRIME MINISTER TO VISIT CHINA”, 2005-02-07) reported that DPRK Prime Minister Pak Pong Ju will visit the PRC late this month amid renewed international efforts to resume six-party talks on the DPRK’s nuclear ambitions, the ROK’s Yonhap News Agency reported Friday.Pak’s trip will begin Feb. 28 and the two countries are in talks to schedule his meetings and set the topics for discussion, an unidentified source reportedly said. “The agenda seems likely to include organizing a new round of six-party talks considering that the plan to visit came right after US President Bush’s State of the Union address,” the source was quoted as saying. (return to top) Kyodo (“CHINA, U.S. HELD MEETING TO PREPARE FOR 6-WAY TALKS: SOURCES”, 2005-02-07) reported that the PRC and US government officials met in Beijing last week to lay the groundwork for the next round of six-way talks on the DPRK’s nuclear ambitions, diplomatic sources said Monday. The meeting came amid a flurry of diplomatic activity to revive the stalled talks. The focus is on whether Pyongyang will agree to attend a fresh round. (return to top)

10. IAEA on DPRK Nuclear Transfer

Joongang Ilbo (“AGENCY CAUTIOUS ON URANIUM TRANSFER”, 2005-02-07) reported that the International Atomic Energy Agency is not ruling out that Libya could have obtained its cache of uranium from a country other than the DPRK, a spokeswoman said yesterday. Ms. Fleming pointed out that in order to be absolutely sure whether Pyeongyang had any hand in the transfer, samples from the DPRK’s uranium would be needed. The agency also still has to determine whether Pyeongyang’s nuclear program is capable of producing highly-enriched uranium. Another official of the nuclear watchdog, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said it would be hard to believe that the nuclear material originated from the DPRK.

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11. ROK on DPRK Military

Joongang Ilbo (“DEFENSE PAPER: NORTH BOOSTS ARTILLERY BUT CUTS TANKS, ARMOR”, 2005-02-07) reported that the DPRK is trimming its forces but is putting more focus on raising the quality of its artillery, considered to be a main threat to ROK forces, according to a Defense Ministry report released yesterday. According to the paper, the DPRK’s ability to maintain old equipment has hit a wall, as it has becoming increasingly harder to purchase spare parts. The paper said that the number of DPRK military tanks and armored vehicles declined from 3,800 and 2,300 four years ago to 3,700 and 2,100. The number of submarines decreased in the same period from 90 to 70. Citing ROK intelligence reports, the paper concluded that the lack of fuel and electricity has made it difficult for the DPRK to maintain its armament industry and the production of spare parts.

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12. ROK on US Military

The Associated Press (“SOUTH KOREA UPDATES WAR PLAN VS. NORTH”, 2005-02-07) reported that the US would dispatch 690,000 troops and 2,000 warplanes if war breaks out on the Korean peninsula, according to a ROK defense policy paper released Friday. The brief revealed ROK efforts to redefine its 50-year-old stalemate with the DPRK and readjust its alliance with the US. “The reinforcement plan reflects a strong US commitment to defending South Korea,” the ROK memo said.

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13. Inter – Korean Military Relations

Reuters (“SOUTH KOREA DROPS ‘MAIN ENEMY’ TAG FOR NORTH”, 2005-02-07) reproted that for the first time in a decade, the ROK has stopped labeling the DPRK its “main enemy” but its latest Defense White Paper Friday said it suspects the DPRK of possessing nuclear weapons. The tag of main enemy has angered the DPRK in the past and the move to drop the label coincides with attempts by Seoul to coax the DPRK back to six-party talks on ending Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions. The Defense White Paper adopted the “main enemy” terminology in 1995, a year after a top DPRK general said the DPRK would turn Seoul into “a sea of fire” in the event of war.

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14. DPRK on US-ROK Military Alliance

Yonhap (“N. KOREA CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE ABOLITION OF SOFA”, 2005-02-07) reported that the DPRK demanded the immediate scrapping of a ROK-US agreement governing the status of American troops here Monday, saying it is a “modern-day slave document.” “The Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) should be abolished as early as possible,” the Korean Central News Agency, said in a commentary. The agreement awards extraterritoriality to US troops, but it is a slave treaty to the core that makes the ROK unhappy, it claimed.

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15. DPRK on Maritime Security

Yonhap (“SEOUL’S MILITARY PROVOCATION CREATES ‘TOUCH-AND-GO SITUATION’: N.K.”, 2005-02-07) reported that the DPRK warned the ROK on Monday against the ROK’s repeated intrusions into what it claims are the DPRK’s territorial waters, saying it is pushing the inter-Korean standoff toward a touch-and-go situation. The Navy Command of the DPRK’s Korean People’s Army claimed ROK vessels violated the disputed western sea border in a “premeditated, provocative” manner that it says would cause unpredictable consequences.

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16. ROK on Maritime Security

Agence France Presse (“SOUTH KOREAN NAVY WARNS NORTH KOREA OVER SEA BORDER DISPUTE”, 2005-02-07) reported that the ROK’s navy warned the DPRK that it is ready to repel any “militarily provocative” acts in disputed waters claimed by both Koreas. The warning came Saturday after the DPRK navy said a ROK battleship had intruded into its waters early Friday and warned such actions could provoke “unpredictable consequences.” “We consider this statement as tantamount to a militarily provocative act. We warn the North that we are fully prepared to sternly cope with any provocative acts,” the ROK navy said in a statement.

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17. DPRK on Military

Yonhap (“N. KOREAN LEADER MAKES PUBLIC APPEARANCE: REPORT”, 2005-02-07) reported that the DPRK leader Kim Jong-il made a rare public appearance recently to meet participants in a rally for his “songun” or “military-first” policy, the DPRK’s state-run news agency said Saturday. Songun is a guiding policy of the 63-year-old DPRK leader who relies on the DPRK’s 1.1-million-strong armed forces, the world’s fifth largest, as the backbone of his iron-fisted rule.

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18. DPRK Succession

Agence France Presse (“NORTH KOREA’S KIM JONG-IL TOUTS SONS TO KEEP REGIME ALIVE”, 2005-02-07) reported that as the DPRK gears up to celebrate the birthday of Kim Jong-Il this month, there is growing talk that the ageing dictator is looking to prolong the dynasty through one of his sons. Kim turns 63 on February 16 and, DPRK watchers say, appears to have no plans to stand down any time soon. He could be measuring up one of his own three sons for the job of third-generation dictator, they say.

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19. DPRK on Development

Yonhap (“NORTH KOREA VOWS ‘EPOCHAL’ CHANGES THIS YEAR”, 2005-02-07) reported that in an apparent gesture to mark the Lunar New Year holiday this week, the DPRK expressed strong optimism Monday that it will achieve “epochal” development in all areas of the country this year based on its military-first ideology. DPRK residents will celebrate Seol, or the Lunar New Year’s Day, on Wednesday and will also enjoy the days immediately before and after as holidays.

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20. DPRK on Agricultural Aid

Korea Times (“N. KOREA ASKS FOR 500,000 TONS OF FERTILIZER”, 2005-02-07) reported that the ROK has been agonizing over a recent request from the DPRK for an “unusually” large volume of fertilizer aid, officials in Seoul said Sunday. According to the Korean National Red Cross (KNRC), the DPRK’s Red Cross sent a telephone message on Jan. 13 asking for 500,000 tons of fertilizer for this spring. It marks a large increase from the 300,000 tons that Seoul has shipped to the DPRK every year since the historic 2000 inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang.

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21. DPRK on Energy Aid

Joongang Ilbo (“NORTH KOREA SEEKING ENERGY ASSISTANCE”, 2005-02-07) reported that the ROK Unification Ministry said yesterday that the DPRK has asked Seoul to send 20,000 tons of coal briquettes to address its energy needs. Earlier, Pyeongyang refused to accept the briquettes after the government announced that it would supply them to Gaeseong, where an inter-Korean industrial complex was recently opened. In response to the request, Seoul government decided to send 50,000 briquettes on Saturday and Monday along with 400 stoves to the DPRK.

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22. DPRK Leadership

Yonhap (“NORTH KOREAN LEADER’S YOUNGER SISTER SAID TO BE ALIVE”, 2005-02-07) reported that the younger sister of DPRK leader Kim Jong-il, who is reported to have committed suicide, is “alive and well”, an informed government source said Monday. There have been reports in Japan that Kim Kyong-hui, 59, a senior member of the DPRK’s ruling Workers’ Party, recently took her own life. “Such reports are groundless,” said the source, asking not to be named. “Kim remains alive.”

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23. Sino – DPRK Trade

Asia Pulse/Yonhap (“N. KOREA’S MINERAL EXPORTS TO CHINA RISE SHARPLY”, 2005-02-07) reported that the DPRK’s mineral exports to the PRC grew markedly last year as its mines stepped up their output, working aggressively to feed rising demand from the mainland, a report said. The Korea International Trade Association said the DPRK’s PRC-bound coal exports surged 218.2 per cent from 2003 to US $49 million last year.

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24. DPRK Censhorship

The Associated Press (“N. KOREA WANTS CZECH BAN OF ‘TEAM AMERICA'”, 2005-02-07) reported that the DPRK’s embassy in Prague has demanded that the film “Team America: World Police” be banned in the Czech Republic, saying the movie harms their country’s reputation, a report said Saturday. “We told them it’s an unrealistic wish,” ministry spokesman Vit Kolar was quoted as saying. “Obviously, it’s absurd to demand that in a democratic country.”

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25. DPRK Defectors in the US

Chosun Ilbo (“15 N. KOREANS NABBED CROSSING U.S.-MEXICO BORDER”, 2005-02-07) reported that fifteen presumed DPRK defectors who had settled in the ROK were arrested for trying to sneak into the US. The Los Angeles-based Association of People From Five Northern Provinces said on Sunday it learned that 15 DPRK defectors were arrested by US Border Patrol as they tried to smuggle themselves into the US from Tijuana, Mexico. But the association’s president Kim Ho-jeong added it remained to be confirmed whether the 15 really were defectors.

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26. DPRK Defectors in the PRC

Yonhap (“BROTHER CLAIMS FORMER N. KOREAN DEFECTOR ARRESTED IN CHINA”, 2005-02-07) reported that a former DPRK who resettled in the ROK after defection was arrested while on a trip to the PRC last week, his brother claimed Monday. PRC police or border guards are believed to have taken the defector-turned-businessman, identified only as Ahn, 48, into custody for his alleged involvement in helping DPRK defectors in the PRC flee to Mongolia, the brother said.

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27. DPRK Defectors’ Organization

Yonhap (“N. KOREAN ESCAPEES IN NEW YORK FORM ORGANIZATION: BROADCAST”, 2005-02-07) reported that a group of 11 DPRK defectors staying in New York has set up an organization in an effort to help Americans know more about the DPRK, a US-based radio station reported Sunday. The organization, named the “Good North Koreans’ Group,” will also urge the US government to have greater interest in DPRK refugees and help them settle in the US, said Radio Free Asia (RFA), monitored here.

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28. Japan on DPRK Human Rights

Donga Ilbo (“JAPAN’S LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY DRAFTS NORTH KOREAN HUMAN RIGHTS BILL “, 2005-02-07) reported that Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party has concluded its outline of the “North Korean Human Rights Law (tentatively named)” which contains an increase in financial assistance to NGOs engaged in improving the DPRK’s human rights situation and permission of DPRK defectors who enter into Japanese missions to settle in Japan. The LDP wrote a draft bill of the DPRK Human Rights Law, which primarily pertains to the protection of DPRK defectors, on February 3, and said that it would submit the bill to the regular parliamentary session early next month once the contents are finalized.

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29. Japan on DPRK Sanctions

Donga Ilbo (“JAPAN DECIDES TO PURSUE ECONOMIC SANCTIONS AGAINST NORTH KOREA IN TWO STAGES”, None) reported that instead of imposing full-scale economic sanctions on the DPRK that some Japanese politicians are demanding, including those from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the Japanese government decided to impose sanctions in two stages. The boycott against short-necked clams from the DPRK has already started, with its proponents concluding that reinforcing label of origin measures will help put pressure on the DPRK since it is difficult to disguise the origin of short-necked clams from the DPRK.

(return to top) UPI (“JAPAN STILL MULLING NORTH KOREA SANCTIONS”, 2005-02-07) reported that Japan cannot impose sanctions against the DPRK without discussing the move with its key allies, the Japanese foreign minister said Monday. In an interview with state television network NHK, Nobutaka Machimura said that while the government is considering imposing economic sanctions against the regime of DPRK leader Kim Jong-Il, it cannot do so without first discussing the matter with the PRC, ROK, and the US. (return to top)

30. DPRK – Japan World Cup Match

Agence France Presse (“NORTH KOREAN FOOTBALL TEAM ARRIVES IN JAPAN FOR TENSE WORLD CUP SHOWDOWN”, 2005-02-07) reported that the DPRK’s football team flew in Monday for a World Cup qualifier against Japan, where hostility is simmering toward the DPRK over its abductions of Japanese. About 100 ethnic Koreans, some waving the DPRK’s flag, cheered the team as the players arrived at Narita airport, with schoolgirls offering the players flowers amid a swarm of reporters.

(return to top) Reuters (“SOCCER RIVALRY SPOTLIGHTS JAPAN’S ETHNIC KOREANS”, 2005-02-07) reported that Lee Jae-sul was born and raised in Tokyo but like thousands of Koreans living in Japan, he’s hoping the DPRK will beat Japan in a World Cup soccer qualifying match on Wednesday. Lee, 48, is one of 150,000 Korean residents of Japan with allegiance to the DPRK. “We have not been treated as respectable human beings. We are something like refugees here in Japan. No passports and no jobs for us,” lamented Lee, who works at a pinball parlor. (return to top)

31. Nuclear Non-Proliferation Conference

Agence France Presse (“NUCLEAR EXPERTS GATHER IN TOKYO AMID SHOWDOWNS WITH NKOREA, IRAN”, 2005-02-07) reported that experts and diplomats from some 20 countries gathered in Tokyo on Monday to find ways to strengthen the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty amid showdowns with the DPRK and Iran. The 50 participants taking part in the closed-door talks ending Tuesday hope to exchange ideas before an international meeting in New York in May on the treaty.

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32. Japanese Constitutional Revision

The Japan Times (“ARTICLE 9 CHANGES COULD THREATEN REGIONAL SECURITY: NGOS”, 2005-02-07) reported that Japan should not revise the war-renouncing provision of Article 9 in its Constitution, East Asian nongovernmental organizations told a news conference in Tokyo on Friday. The NGOs — representing Japan, the ROK, the PRC, Mongolia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Russia — said that by changing Article 9, Japan would open the door to militarization. The provision is fundamental in preventing armed conflict in the region. Lee Jae Young, a member of the ROK NGO Korea Anabaptist Center, said that the people of the DPRK and ROK are concerned about any attempt to amend Article 9 due to Japan’s past colonization of the Korean Peninsula.

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33. Japan Nuclear Reactor Repairs

Agence France Presse (“TROUBLED JAPANESE NUCLEAR REACTOR ON COURSE TO RESUME OPERATION”, 2005-02-07) reported that a Japanese nuclear power plant where an accident triggered a nationwide scare a decade ago is set to reopen in two to three years after a plan was approved to repair it, an official said. The governor of Fukui prefecture, Issei Nishikawa, said Sunday that he backed the “responsible” plan by the central government to repair the state-backed Monju experimental fast-breeder reactor. He has yet to set a date for renewed operation of the 280,000-kilowatt reactor, built at a cost of six billion dollars in Tsuruga, 350 kilometers (220 miles) west of Tokyo.

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34. US Intelligence Reform

Reuters (“SENATE SCRUTINIZING U.S. INTELLIGENCE ON IRAN”, 2005-02-07) reported that the US Senate is tightening its scrutiny of intelligence reports on Iran, the DPRK, and PRC and other potential trouble spots in hopes of avoiding the intelligence lapses that led to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, congressional officials said on Sunday. The Senate panel would also give critical new attention to intelligence on the PRC and DPRK, said the officials, who asked not to be identified.

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35. US Nuclear Program

New York Times (“U.S. REDESIGNING ATOMIC WEAPONS”, 2005-02-07) reported that worried that the nation’s aging nuclear arsenal is increasingly fragile, American scientists have begun designing a new generation of nuclear arms meant to be sturdier and more reliable and to have longer lives, federal officials and private experts say. The officials say the program could help shrink the arsenal and the high cost of its maintenance. But critics say it could needlessly resuscitate the complex of factories and laboratories that make nuclear weapons and could possibly ignite a new arms race.

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36. Ukraine Weapons Transfer

The Associated Press (“AP: UKRAINE CRACKS ILLICIT WEAPONS CASE”, 2005-02-07) reported that a government probe into lucrative illicit weapons sales by officials loyal to former President Leonid Kuchma has led to secret indictments or arrests of at least six arms dealers accused of selling nuclear-capable missiles to Iran and the PRC, a high-ranking intelligence official said Friday. The deals with Moscow-allied nations – which violate international nonproliferation treaties – put pressure on Ukraine’s new president to halt the country’s well-established illegal arms trade as he tries to boosts ties with and join NATO and the European Union.

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37. PRC Workers’ Rights

Washington Post (“BEIJING CABBIE FINDS THAT WORKERS’ RIGHTS DON’T APPLY”, 2005-02-07) reported that from the beginning, Dong Xin figured, cabbies should be able to bargain with the bosses who own their cars, control their working conditions and set their meager incomes. After nearly 10 years of struggle, however, Dong and his fellow drivers remain stuck with 15-hour workdays, low pay and lopsided relationships with the approximately 300 companies that control the PRC capital’s profitable taxi industry. In a pattern reproduced in workplaces across the country, their interests have been left to a branch of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, which is part of the same vast government bureaucracy that ultimately controls their cars and their lives.

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38. PRC Human Rights

Washington Post (“CHINA DISCLOSES PRISONER DETAILS”, 2005-02-07) reported that the PRC government has given US officials a list of 51 political prisoners who have been granted sentence reductions or are being considered for early release, a gesture that comes as the Bush administration is weighing whether to sponsor a resolution criticizing the PRC’s human rights record at a U.N. meeting next month. The list was delivered last week to a State Department delegation visiting Beijing for discussions about resuming a formal US-PRC dialogue on human rights, according to the Dui Hua Foundation, a human rights group in San Francisco that was also given a copy of the list by the PRC.

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39. PRC Currency Reform

The Associated Press (“CHINA WANTS MORE CURRENCY REFORM TIME”, 2005-02-07) reported that the PRC has no immediate plans to let the value of its currency rise, despite renewed pressure at a weekend meeting of Group of Seven finance officials, the government said Monday. Lobbying by the US and others at the G-7 meeting for the PRC to ease tight currency controls had little effect on Asian markets after the G-7 statement simply reiterated last year’s call for more flexible exchange rates. Beijing stood by its argument that the PRC banks are still too frail to survive the shock of discarding the policy that ties the yuan’s value to the dollar and prevents most trading of the currency.

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II. CanKor

40. CanKor #194

CANADA-KOREA ELECTRONIC INFORMATION SERVICE (“SIX MILLION NORTH KOREANS STILL NEED FOOD AID “, 2005-02-07) The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) reports that the DPRK still faces severe food shortages as it seeks to diversify its economy. Two-thirds of the 23.7 million population remain dependent on the government-run Public Distribution System (PDS), despite a UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) forecast that domestic cereal production will rise by 2.4 percent this year. Cereal rations for urbanised recipients have been lowered to 250 grams per day, providing only half the number of calories needed to survive.

(return to top) CANADA-KOREA ELECTRONIC INFORMATION SERVICE (“ROK PEACE STRATEGY EXPLAINED IN BERLIN AND DAVOS”, 2005-02-07) Stopping in Berlin on his way to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, President Roh Moo-hyun’s special envoy, Unification Minister Chung Dong-young outlines the Republic of Korea’s “three major peace strategies” to end the Cold War on the Korean Peninsula: the impermissibility of war, peaceful coexistence, and joint prosperity. In Davos he issued an appeal to the DPRK to attend the APEC Forum in ROK in November. (return to top) CANADA-KOREA ELECTRONIC INFORMATION SERVICE (“ANALYSIS OF CHANGES IN THE DPRK CRIMINAL CODE”, 2005-02-07) In April 2004, the DPRK revised its criminal code, a sign that emerging social phenomena in the country have put pressure on the ability of authorities to manage deviant behaviour. In this week’s FOCUS, Yoon Dae-Kyu of the Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES) analyzes the characteristics and consequences of these changes. (return to top)