NAPSNet Daily Report Thursday, August 11, 2005

Recommended Citation

"NAPSNet Daily Report Thursday, August 11, 2005", NAPSNet Daily Report, August 11, 2005, https://nautilus.org/napsnet/napsnet-daily-report/napsnet-daily-report-thursday-august-11-2005/

NAPSNet Daily Report Thursday, August 11, 2005

NAPSNet Daily Report Thursday, August 11, 2005

I. United States

II. CanKor

Preceding NAPSNet Report

I. United States

1. US on Six Party Talks

Agence France Presse (“US HOPES FOR NORTH KOREA NUCLEAR DEAL BY SEPTEMBER”, 2005-08-11) reported that Christopher Hill said he hoped a deal could emerge from six-party talks to end the DPRK crisis as early as September, but warned Pyongyang must get out of the “nuclear weapons business.” He did divulge that the DPRK left the talks in Beijing on Sunday apparently content at the offer on the table.

(return to top)

2. US on DPRK Nuclear Program

Joong Ang Ilbo (“TRUST IS ISSUE BETWEEN NORTH, US, SAYS BUSH”, 2005-08-11) reported that US President George W. Bush said Tuesday that a lack of trust is why Washington is opposed to letting the DPRK have a civilian nuclear power program. Asked why the US supports a civilian nuclear program for Iran but not the DPRK, Mr. Bush said, “North Korea is in a different situation.”

(return to top)

3. Foreign Investment in DPRK

International Herald Tribune (“INVESTORS SHOW NEW INTEREST IN N. KOREA”, 2005-08-11) reported that since being granted the right to open an office in Pyongyang last October, Chia, from Singapore, says his firm has been approached by about 20 companies from Europe, Southeast Asia and Australia with an interest in investing in the DPRK. Chia’s firm was the first wholly-owned foreign legal practice in the DPRK. “I think there is an upsurge of interest in that country,” said Chia, who runs an office of two lawyers in the DPRK capital and has plans to expand.

(return to top)

4. Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation

Yonhap News (“S. KOREA SAYS RAPPROCHMENT MAY EASE AGRICULTURAL PRESSURES”, 2005-08-11) reported that close cooperation with the DPRK could help the ROK tide over growing international pressure to liberalize its market, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Park Hong-soo said Thursday.

(return to top)

5. Inter-Korean Red Cross Meetings

Donga IIibo (“TWO KOREAS TO DISCUSS REPARATION OF SOUTH KOREAN POWS AND ABDUCTEES”, 2005-08-12) reported that the two Koreas are scheduled to hold a sixth inter-Korean Red Cross meeting at Mt. Geumgang from August 23 to 25 in a bid to discuss the matter of the repatriation of ROK POWs and abductees in the DPRK. Inter-Korean Red Cross meetings will be held for the first time in 21 months since November 2003.

(return to top)

6. DPRK Animee Movie

Reuters (“NORTH KOREA: AN OUTPOST OF ANIMATION”, 2005-08-11) reported that “Empress Chung” will be the first major feature animated entirely in the DPRK, the movie is set to enjoy a wide release across the country when it opens in the ROK.

(return to top)

7. ROK-Japan Trade Relations

Asia Pulse (“ANALYSIS – S.KOREA’S ECONOMIC RELIANCE ON JAPAN DEEPENS”, 2005-08-11) reported that sixty years after the ROK was liberated from Japan’s colonial rule, Asia’s fourth-largest economy is quietly struggling with another threat from the former foe — a burgeoning trade deficit. Last year, the ROK reported its largest-ever trade deficit of US$24.4 billion with Japan, the highest level on record among all its trading partners, according to the nation’s Commerce Ministry.

(return to top)

8. UNSC Expansion

Reuters (“ANNAN ACKNOWLEDGES DELAYS IN UN COUNCIL REFORM”, 2005-08-11) reported that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan moved the target date for expansion of the Security Council from September to December on Wednesday, an acknowledgment that the controversy would not be solved soon. “If they are not able to resolve it before the summit, the issue is not going to die. They will have to pursue it and I hope resolve it before we all go away for Christmas,” Annan told reporters after a luncheon with Security Council members.

(return to top)

9. Japan Energy Supply

Mainichi Daily News (“JAPAN WON’T DIP INTO STRATEGIC OIL RESERVES DESPITE ESCALATING PRICES, GOVERNMENT SAYS”, 2005-08-11) reported that Japan has no plans to begin using its strategic oil reserves, and instead will look toward energy conservation efforts to ease the effects of soaring oil prices, a top Japanese trade ministry official said Thursday. Hideji Sugiyama, Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, said energy conservation was an effective tool in mitigating the negative economic effects of high oil prices.

(return to top)

10. PRC Military

Chicago Tribune (“U.S. REPORT WARNS OF CHINA SUB THREAT”, 2005-08-11) reported that little noticed by the public, a just-released Pentagon report to Congress carries a strong warning that the PRC’s rapidly expanding and improving submarine fleet poses a mounting military threat to the US. The PRC, though still well behind the US in terms of the strength of its submarine fleet, has turned to the diesel-electric attack submarine–to boost its arsenal. And it is equipping its submarines with new technology from Germany and elsewhere to make the craft harder to detect and more lethal than ever before. Experts predict that the PRC’s submarine fleet will substantially outnumber that of the US within the next 15 years.

(return to top)

11. US-Mongolian Relations

The Guardian (“US TRIES TO SPIN A WEB STRONG ENOUGH TO CONTAIN CHINA “, 2005-08-11) reported that George Bush’s personal interest in Mongolia might be thought limited. Yet, when the country’s then leader visited Washington last year, the US president enthusiastically declared “a new era of comprehensive partnership”. Mongolia is geographically sandwiched between the PRC and Russia. And it has been steadily drawn into what Walter Russell Mead of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York calls the “strategic net” being woven by the US in Asia to “persuade China to keep its ambitions within reason”.

(return to top)

12. Sino-US Trade Relations

The Assocaited Press (“U.S. TO SEEK TEXTILE DEAL WITH CHINA”, 2005-08-11) reported that the Bush administration announced Thursday that it will try to reach a comprehensive agreement with the PRC to stem a surge of clothing and textile imports flooding into the US. The administration has already re-imposed quotas on several categories of PRC clothing imports at the request of the US industry, which has contended that a surge of shipments since global quotas were removed on Jan. 1 has cost thousands of US textile jobs already and forced the closing of a number of plants.

(return to top)

13. Cross Strait Relations

Reuters (“TAIWAN HIGHLIGHTS CHINA THREAT IN VIRTUAL WAR GAME”, 2005-08-11) reported that after holding months of live-fire war games to highlight a perceived growing military threat from giant neighbor PRC, Taiwan’s military gave its people a taste of virtual war on Thursday. Two computer games featuring missile strikes against the world’s tallest building in downtown Taipei and a naval blockade around the island’s major ports were on display at a defense exhibition on Thursday, the latest in a string of campaigns to promote a controversial $15 billion arms budget.

(return to top)

14. Sino-Japanese Relations

The Asahi Shimbun (“CHINESE WEB SITES CALL FOR ANTI-JAPAN DEMONSTRATIONS ON AUG. 15.”, 2005-08-11) reported that there’s trouble brewing in the PRC ahead of Monday’s 60th anniversary of the end of World War II as Internet sites across the country try to stir up anti-Japanese protests. The campaign is reminiscent of similar developments in April that swept major cities. One group of extreme rightists announced plans to distribute fliers with slogans like “Remember the national disgrace” at 14 locations in the city of Dalian in Liaoning province from Saturday through Monday.

(return to top)

15. Sino-Russian Energy Cooperation

RIA Novosti (“RUSSIA TO SUPPLY 15 MILLION TONS OF OIL TO CHINA”, 2005-08-11) reported that Russia plans to deliver 15 million metric tons of hydrocarbons to the PRC in 2006, Russia’s new ambassador to the PRC said in a newspaper interview published Thursday. In an interview with Vremya Novostei, Sergei Razov said Russian crude oil exports to the PRC by rail had tripled in the last few years. A pipeline between Taishet (Eastern Siberia) and Skovorodino (the Amur region on the border with the PRC) with a capacity of 30 million tons a year will be completed in 2008, he said.

(return to top)

16. PRC Power Supply

People’s Daily Online (“MORE THAN 80% POWER IN CHINA IS THERMAL “, 2005-08-11) reported that the PRC’s installed capacity for power generation has reached 440 million kilowatt, of which 325 million are thermal power, and thermal power generation accounts for 82.6 percent of the total generation. Installed hydroelectric capacity reached 108 million kilowatt accounting for 24.5 percent of total installed capacity while installed nuclear power capacity makes up 1.6 percent and nuclear power generation represents 2.3 percent. Main renewable energy sources are wind power and solar power generation which accounts for little.

(return to top) Xinhua (“WIND POWER TO BE CHINA’S MOST PROMISING RENEWABLE RESOURCE: OFFICIAL “, 2005-08-11) reported that wind power is likely to be the most promising renewable energy resource contributing to the PRC’s power generation, an official said here Wednesday. The PRC should boost wind power utilization, as the country is rich in wind resources and the technology for wind power generation is relatively mature, said Zhang Guobao, deputy director with the State Development and Reform Commission(SDRC),at China Power 2005 Forum held in Beijing Wednesday. (return to top)

17. PRC Mine Accident

Agence France-Presse (“CHINA DETAINS 11 PEOPLE IN CONNECTION WITH DEADLY COAL MINE FLOODING”, 2005-08-11) reported that the PRC detained 11 people over the flooding of an unlicensed mine and warned of severe punishment for anyone ignoring safety regulations as the search continued for 122 missing workers. The 11 — who include the mine’s owner, manager, board chairman and chief technician — fled after Sunday’s flooding at the mine in southern Guangdong province but have since been detained.

(return to top)

18. PRC Population Development

Xinhua (“UN OFFICIAL: CHINA FACES CHALLENGES ON POPULATION DEVELOPMENT”, 2005-08-11) reported that the PRC has made headways on population development, but a number of challenges remain, said a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) official. Ronny Lindstrom, deputy representative of the UNFPA China Office, said the PRC has made many accomplishments such as improved mother and child health, access to reproductive health services and contraceptives in the PRC’s population programme since the International Conference on Population and Development in 1994, but “a number of concerns related to China’s population and development remain”.

(return to top)

19. PRC Cloning Experiment

Agence France-Presse (“CHINESE SCIENTISTS PRODUCE COUNTRY’S FIRST CLONED PIG”, 2005-08-11) reported that PRC scientists have successfully produced the country’s first cloned pig, state media said, hailing it as a major scientific breakthrough. The PRC Agriculture University announced that the healthy 1.1 kilogramme (2.4 pounds) piglet was born in the central province of Hebei on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported. “This cloned piglet’s birth shows that out country’s research in this field has reached a world standard,” the report said.

(return to top)

II. CanKor

20. #215

CanKor (“SIX-PARTY TALKS TAKE 3-WEEK RECESS”, 2005-08-08) Envoys to the six party talks agreed yesterday to take a three-week break after 13 days of intense negotiations failed to yield a breakthrough. Talks will resume on August 29.

(return to top) CanKor (“FOUR NATIONS TO DISCUSS PEACE TREATY”, 2005-08-08) The ROK, DPRK, PRC and US will start discussions to replace the armistice treaty with a peace treaty, a steppingstone to a normalized relationship between the US and the DPRK. (return to top) CanKor (“SIX-PARTY TALKS PUT SPOTLIGHT ON US ‘DOUBLE STANDARDS'”, 2005-08-08) The US non-proliferation policy has come under fresh fire for double standards. The US is adamant that the DPRK cannot be allowed a nuclear program of any kind, even as it applies quite different standards to Iran and India. That inconsistency, critics say, erodes trust in the US commitment to fighting nuclear proliferation. (return to top) CanKor (“SEOUL FACES DAUNTING DIPLOMATIC TASKS DURING RECESS”, 2005-08-08) Seoul will use the three-week break to make every diplomatic effort to narrow differences between the US and the DPRK over Pyongyang’s pursuit of civilian nuclear activity. (return to top) CanKor (“CAN DIFFERENCES BE RECONCILED AFTER RECESS?”, 2005-08-08) According to Christopher Hill the adoption of a joint statement is the most desirable, but if that is impossible, a recess is the second best option in terms of a solution on the six party talks. (return to top) CanKor (“INSPECTING DPRK NUCLEAR CAPABILITIES POSES CHALLENGE”, 2005-08-08) According to the IAEA, the task of verifying whether the Pyongyang government has truly disarmed is likely to prove challenging. A pledge of cooperation would be a good first step in resolving the DPRK nuclear crisis, but Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the IAEA, says a final agreement would have to go much further. (return to top) CanKor (“FRESH SIX-PARTY DRAFT LETS ALL SIDES SAVE FACE”, 2005-08-08) According to a ROK official said the final draft statement of principles at six-party talks was written to allow both Pyongyang and the US to claim they got their way. He said the draft allowed the DPRK to claim it won the right to continue peaceful use of nuclear energy while the US and Japan can claim that the DPRK has abandoned it. (return to top)