NAPSNet Daily Report Thursday, July 07, 2005

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NAPSNet Daily Report Thursday, July 07, 2005

NAPSNet Daily Report Thursday, July 07, 2005

I. United States

Preceding NAPSNet Report

I. United States

1. ROK on Six-Party Talks

Associated Press (“SOUTH KOREA SAYS NUCLEAR TALKS MAY RESUME IF NEGOTIATING PARTNERS STOP PROVOKING THE NORTH”, 2005-07-07) reported that according to Yonhap News, the ROK says nuclear talks may resume if negotiating partners stop provoking the DPRK. The stalled talks aimed at ending the DPRK’s nuclear ambitions could reconvene if the countries involved “hold back provoking North Korea for a while,” Unification Minister Chung Dong-young told government officials and civilian representatives.

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2. ROK on Joint Proposal to DPRK

Chosun Ilbo (“MYSTERY AROUND SEOUL’S OFFER TO N.KOREA DEEPENS”, 2005-07-07) reported that according to a high-ranking US State Department official, the merger of the ROK proposal with a US offer made at six-party talks in June last year is still “premature.” Roh said the proposal would only carry strategic significance if coordinated with the US.

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3. US on Proposal, Six-Party Talks

Yonhap News (“U.S. REAFFIRMS PROPOSAL FROM LAST SIX-PARTY TALKS”, 2005-07-07) reported that the State Department urged the DPRK to return to negotiations and address the proposal on the table. “It’s a robust proposal… open for discussion,” a senior department official said. If the DPRK gives a date on which it will return to the talks and engage in constructive negotiations, the US would be “pleased to answer any questions” about the proposal, the official said.

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4. ROK on Second Inter-Korean Summit

The Korea Times (“ROH SEES FEW SIGNS FOR 2ND INTER-KOREAN SUMMIT”, 2005-07-07) reported that President Roh Moo-hyun said Thursday the possibility of another round of inter-Korean talks remains low but pledged to continue to seek a solution to the stalemate over the DPRK’s nuclear program. Roh said whether to hold an inter-Korean summit is not as important as improving relations between the two Koreas and resolving the nuclear standoff.

(return to top) Yonhap News (“ROH REPEATS OFFER TO MEET KIM JONG-IL AMID FEW SIGNS OF 2ND SUMMIT”, 2005-07-07) reported that President Roh Moo-hyun repeated Thursday he is ready to meet with DPRK leader Kim Jong-il “at any time and any place”, although he did not see any imminent “good signs” for another inter-Korean summit. Roh has said he would meet with Kim Jong-il only if substantial progress is made on the DPRK’s nuclear weapons programs. (return to top)

5. ROK on Possibility of US Attack on DPRK

International Herald Tribune (“SEOUL VOWS TO BAR U.S. STRIKE AT NORTH”, 2005-07-07) reported that President Roh Moo Hyun declared Thursday that under no circumstances would ROK allow the US to resort to a military attack against DPRK.

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6. US-ROK Alliance

Joongang Ilbo (“U.S. ANALYST SAYS IT IS TIME TO END ALLIANCE”, 2005-07-07) reported that an analyst writing for a conservative US think tank has suggested in a recent publication that the US should end its half-century alliance with the ROK because the relationship constrains Washington’s political and military options with regard to the DPRK. In the latest issue of The American Enterprise, a bimonthly magazine of the think tank featuring current affairs, Daniel Kennelly, a contributing writer, characterized the administration of President Roh Moo-hyun as “the most anti-American in the short history of the Republic of Korea.” Mr. Kennelly, in his piece titled “Time For An Amicable Divorce with South Korea,” said, “It is a left-wing administration that has fanned public sentiment against US troops.”

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7. DPRK-Iran Nuclear Cooperation

The Korea Times (“INTELLIGENCE REPORT SEES NK-IRAN NUKE COLLUSION”, 2005-07-07) reported that nuclear cooperation between DPRK and Iran has increased appreciably in recent months, according to a new intelligence report, setting off alarms at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) headquarters in Vienna.”This nuclear cooperation between the two countries has apparently increased significantly during the past year as seen in the arrival of an academic delegation from North Korea in Iran and the existence of this special course,” it said. “It seems Iran is taking another step to promote its military nuclear project by exploiting North Korea’s extensive technological information in the nuclear sphere.”

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8. US Governor to Visit DPRK

The Korea Times (“US GOV. MAY INSPECT NK NUKE REACTOR”, 2005-07-07) reported that the DPRK has invited New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to Pyongyang and may allow him to visit the Yongbyon nuclear reactor. Richardson is likely to visit the DPRK from Tuesday or later next week.

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9. DPRK on US Barring of Religious Group Visit to US

Yonhap News (“N.KOREA ACCUSES OF U.S. BANNING VISIT OF ITS RELIGIOUS GROUP”, 2005-07-07) reported that the DPRK accused the US of “unexpectedly” banning its religious delegation from visiting to Washington, calling the move part of a hostile policy toward the DPRK. “The U.S. State Department one-sidedly called off the visit of our religious delegation without acceptable reasons,” a spokesman was quoted as saying.

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10. US NGO on DPRK Human Rights

Yonhap News (“FREEDOM HOUSE TO HOST SEMINARS ON N.KOREAN HUMAN RIGHTS”, 2005-07-07) reported that a US activist group plans to organize a series of international conferences in the coming months to highlight deteriorating human rights problems in DPRK.

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11. US Recovery of MIAs in DPRK

Yonhap News (“U.S. PAID N.K. $28 MILLION TO RECOVER SOLDIERS’ REMAINS: RFA”, 2005-07-07) reported that the US has paid DPRK a total of US$28 million since 1993 to help recover the remains of 8,000 US soldiers allegedly killed in the DPRK during the Korean War.

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12. Joint Naval Exercises

Chosun Ilbo (“REGIONAL STATES IN SHANGHAI NAVAL EXERCISES “, 2005-07-07) reported that Thursday saw a joint naval exercise of 10 regional nations including the ROK, PRC, Japan and Russia in the waters off Yangshan port in Shanghai, PRC, the Korea Coast Guard said. Participants conducted search and rescue, pollution prevention and counter-terrorism drills. The first-ever joint exercise came after a PRC request at a meeting of ROK, PRC, Japanese and Russian maritime search and rescue officials in November. The drills will become an annual fixture with rotating host nations.

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13. Ethnic Korean Prayer Meeting for DPRK

Yonhap News (“RIVAL ETHNIC KOREANS IN JAPAN TO JOINTLY PRAY FOR KOREAN PEACE”, 2005-07-07) reported that leading members of rival ethnic Korean groups in Japan will assemble in a ROK city just below the inter-Korean border to pray for the peaceful reunification of the two Koreas.

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14. Cross Strait Relations

The Assocaited Press (“TAIWAN CARRIES OUT MILITARY MANEUVERS”, 2005-07-07) reported that Taiwanese troops on Thursday carried out a major military exercise aimed at fending off an invasion from the PRC. The exercise is part of Taiwan’s annual Hankuang — Chinese Glory — maneuvers. About 6,000 soldiers and reserve forces in central Taiwan practiced repelling simulations of PRC troops landing at beaches and barring them from advancing into towns and cities on the island.

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15. PRC Unocal Bid

The New York Times (“A DEFT BALANCE IN ORCHESTRATING CHINA’S OIL OFFER”, 2005-07-07) reported that Fu Chengyu, the chairman of Cnooc Ltd., says that profits, not politics, are behind the PRC’s most ambitious takeover bid, his company’s $18.5 billion proposal to buy the Unocal Corporation. Strategic energy policy and the whims of Beijing leaders do not concern him much, Mr. Fu, an English-speaking, American-trained executive, said. “I have no talent for politics,” he said, “only business.” As Cnooc attempts the PRC’s largest foreign acquisition, Mr. Fu faces delicate dual tasks. He has had to prove his political reliability to PRC leaders even as he works to persuade the US that his company cares only about commerce.

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16. PRC Bird Flu Outbreak

The Los Angeles Times (“AVIAN FLU IN GEESE SIGNALS A POSSIBLE ROUTE TO EUROPE”, 2005-07-07) reported that an outbreak of bird flu among migrating geese in western PRC has opened a potential pathway for the disease to spread to India and Europe, according to studies published online Wednesday by the journals Science and Nature. The sick birds were discovered April 30 at Qinghai Lake, a breeding hub for bar-headed geese that migrate to Siberia, Myanmar, Australia, New Zealand and over the Himalayas into India — a possible jumping-off point for transmission of the virus to Europe. But PRC researchers said the outbreak, which has killed nearly 2,000 birds, might burn itself out before major seasonal bird migrations begin in September.

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