NAPSNet Daily Report Tuesday, July 19, 2005

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NAPSNet Daily Report Tuesday, July 19, 2005

NAPSNet Daily Report Tuesday, July 19, 2005

I. Unites States

II. CanKor

Preceding NAPSNet Report

I. Unites States

1. New Format for Six Party Talks

Yonhap News (“TALKS UNDER WAY IN CHANGING MODALITY OF SIX-PARTY TALKS:MCCORMACK”, 2005-07-19) reported that according to State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, the US has been talking with the ROK and Japan about changing the format of the upcoming six-party talks. Officials in charge of preparing for the next round have been saying that the format must change in order to allow more in-depth discussions among lead negotiators who have the authority to thrust the talks forward. They have also suggested that the involved parties not be bound by a closing date.

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2. DPRK Human Rights Issue at Six Party Talks

Chosun Ilbo (“U.S. OFFICIAL CLAIMS N.K. HUMAN RIGHTS ON TALK AGENDA”, 2005-07-19) reported that a high-ranking US government official claimed the ROK, the US and Japan agreed to raise the issue of human rights in the DPRK during six-party talks. However, there is little support for the claim. Asked whether the US would raise the human rights issue, White House spokesman Scott McClellan was noncommittal. “Well, the talks that will begin next week are focused on North Korea and the nuclear issue,” he said. “The President is concerned about the plight of the people in North Korea. That’s why we have provided large amounts of food assistance, larger amounts than any other nation, to help those in North Korea who are in need of that assistance.”

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3. Japan on DPRK Nuclear Technology at Six Party Talks

Forbes (“JAPAN TO SEEK BAN ON ALL USE OF NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY NY NKOREA – REPORT”, 2005-07-19) reported that according to Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, Japan has decided to urge the US, PRC, Russia and the ROK to adopt a policy of pressing for a ban on the use of any nuclear technology by the DPRK, even for peaceful purposes. Japan hopes to present the policy at the six party talks and will grant the DPRK energy assistance if they comply.

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4. Russia on Six Party Talks

Interfax (“TALKS ONLY WAY TO SETTLE N.KOREA NUCLEAR PROBLEM – MARGELOV”, 2005-07-18) reported that according to Federation Council International Affairs Committee Chairman Mikhail Margelov, the DPRK nuclear problem can only be settled peacefully. “There are no and cannot be any means to influence the North Korean leadership except political means and negotiations. This issue has no military solution,” Margelov said.

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5. ROK on DPRK Counter Proposal

Korea Times (“N. KOREA TO PRESENT DEAL TO ENERGY PROPOSAL”, 2005-07-19) reported that Pyongyang will likely present a counterproposal to Seoul’s offer of electricity aid, demanding that Seoul also build power plants in the DPRK, a former unification minister said. However, a high-ranking Seoul official, said that the DPRK would accept the ROK’s proposal at the six-party talks and will not request big changes to it.

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6. Kissinger on ROK Aid to DPRK

Yonhap News (“KISSINGER SAYS SEOUL’S AID TO P’YANG COULD BECOME OBSTACLE LATER”, 2005-07-18) reported that according to former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the DPRK may be looking for a way out of bankruptcy by resolving its nuclear row. Thus, the ROK’s continued aid to the country “could become an obstacle.” “The North Koreans may be beginning to look for a way out, from what I’ve heard, now from all sides,” he said. “And if that is true, the frantic efforts of the South Koreans, who keep offering more and more, at some point could become an obstacle,” said Kissinger.

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7. ROK Opposition on Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation

Korea Times (“GNP HEAD OPPOSES GOV’T-LED ECONOMIC PROJECTS WITH NK”, 2005-07-18) reported that the chairwoman of the ROK’s Grand National Party made it clear that she opposes government-led economic projects with the DPRK unless the country abandons its nuclear ambitions. Rep. Park Geun-hye, leader of the GNP, stressed that any economic projects with the DPRK should be implemented based on the “principle of market economy,” and not be led by the government.

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8. Inter-Korean Independence Day Celebration

Chosun Ilbo (“SOUTH AND NORTH KOREA AGREE TO INDEPENDENCE DAY FOOTBALL MATCH”, 2005-07-19) reported that a soccer match between the ROK and the DPRK will likely mark one of the joint celebrations of the August 15 Independence Day. During her trip to the DPRK, Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jung-eun proposed the match on behalf of the ROK government and won a positive response from Kim Jong-il.

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9. DPRK on Defense Industry Defector

Yonhap News (“N. KOREA DENIES REPORT OF ASSEMBLYMAN’S DEFECTION TO S. KOREA”, 2005-07-18) reported that the DPRK denied reports that a DPRK assemblyman working in the defense industry has defected to the ROK. A spokesman for the DPRK’s Foreign Ministry said the report is “a sheer lie.”

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10. US Air Force Deploys Planes to ROK

Korea Times (“US TO DEPLOY UPGRADED SPY PLANES”, 2005-07-18) reported that the US Forces Korea will deploy a state-of-the-art unmanned aerial system in the ROK as part of efforts to upgrade its air surveillance and reconnaissance capability on the DPRK, a senior US military officer said.

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11. Japan on DPRK-Japanese Relations

Yonhap News (“KOIZUMI EXPRESSES HOPE FOR EARLY NORMALIZATION OF TIES WITH N.K. “, 2005-07-18) reported that Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi repeated his intention to normalize relations with the DPRK during his tenure. “I have no change in my position of normalizing relations with North Korea during my tenure through resolution of the North Korean nuclear and kidnapping issues,” Koizumi said.

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12. US-India Nuclear Cooperation

The Washington Post (“U.S., INDIA MAY SHARE NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY”, 2005-07-19) reported that President Bush agreed yesterday to share civilian nuclear technology with India, reversing decades of US policies designed to discourage countries from developing nuclear weapons. The agreement between Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which must win the approval of Congress, would create a major exception to the US prohibition of nuclear assistance to any country that doesn’t accept international monitoring of all of its nuclear facilities. India has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which requires such oversight.

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13. Sino-Japanese Relations

Agence France-Presse (“JAPANESE COURT REJECTS COMPENSATION FOR CHINESE WWII GERM WARFARE VICTIMS”, 2005-07-19) reported that a Tokyo court rejected compensation for PRC victims of Japan’s notorious World War II germ warfare unit, in the latest lawsuit amid a row between the two nations over wartime history. The judge had rejected the lawsuit but acknowledged that the Japanese military had engaged in germ warfare, said a lawyer for the plaintiffs, Jun Ogino.

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14. UNSC Expansion

The Japan Times (“JAPAN’S GROUP TO HOLD OFF ON UNSC VOTE”, 2005-07-19) reported that Japan, Germany, India and Brazil said Sunday they won’t seek a vote on their plan for UN Security Council reform until the end of July while they negotiate with the 53-nation African Union. The four countries’ foreign ministers, meeting in New York with several African officials, acknowledged they didn’t have the necessary two-thirds support of the 191-member UN General Assembly without the Africans, who have their own plan for council change.

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15. Sino-ROK Economic Cooperation

Xinhua (“ROK INDUSTRIAL PARK BEING BUILT IN NORTHEAST CHINA CITY”, 2005-07-19) reported that a business park catering to the ROK is being built in Harbin, capital of northeast PRC’s Heilongjiang Province. The park will have four zones specializing in the wholesale of light industrial commodities from the ROK, processing of ROK-oriented export organic food, IT and automotive businesses.

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16. PRC-Sudan Military Relations

Xinhua (“CHINA, SUDAN MILITARIES TO INCREASE EXCHANGES”, 2005-07-19 ) reported that the PRC and Sudanese militaries will increase exchanges and cooperation, said a senior PRC military officer here Tuesday. Liang Guanglie, chief of general staff of the PRC People’s Liberation Army (PLA), made the remark during his talks with his Sudanese counterpart Abbas Arabi Abdalla. Liang also expressed the PRC’s appreciation of Sudanese government’s adherence to the one-China policy and its support to the PRC on international issues such as human rights.

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17. PRC Bird Flu Outbreak

Washington Post (“CHINA HAS NOT SHARED CRUCIAL DATA ON BIRD FLU OUTBREAKS, OFFICIALS SAY”, 2005-07-19) reported that the PRC government has not provided information requested urgently by international health experts about recent avian flu outbreaks in birds, which now threaten to spread the highly lethal virus to previously unaffected countries, according to UN officials and independent researchers. While PRC authorities allowed a team of investigators from WHO and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization to visit Qinghai last month, the government has yet to respond to a June 17 request by international health experts to travel to Xinjiang, UN officials said. The PRC officials, saying the infection in Xinjiang has been contained, have given no indication they will authorize the trip.

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18. PRC Unrest

The New York Times (“ANGER IN CHINA RISES OVER THREAT TO ENVIRONMENT”, 2005-07-19) reported that after three nights of increasingly heavy rioting, the police were taking no chances on Monday, deploying dozens of busloads of officers before dusk and blocking every road leading to the factory. But the angry residents in this village 180 miles south of Shanghai had learned their lessons, too, they said, having studied reports of riots in towns near and far that have swept rural PRC in recent months. Sneaking over mountain paths and wading through rice paddies, they made their way to a pharmaceuticals plant, they said, determined to pursue a showdown over the environmental threat they say it poses.

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19. PRC Power Shortage

Associated Press (“BEIJING POWER CRUNCH PROMPTS SHUT DOWN”, 2005-07-19) reported that workers at thousands of Beijing companies are about to get an unscheduled vacation thanks to the scorching summer heat. Beginning this week, 4,689 businesses will take mandatory weeklong breaks on rotation to cut down on energy use in the PRC capital and avoid pushing up already rapidly climbing power prices, the official Xinhua News Agency said Tuesday.

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II. CanKor

20. Report #212

CanKor (“FOCUS: BEIJING INTERNATIONAL NGO CONFERENCE”, 2005-07-08) An international NGO conference on humanitarian assistance to the DPRK took place at the Tsinghua Uniscenter in Beijing, China from 28 to 31 May 2005. It was the fourth in a series of conferences that began in 1999, assembling representatives of the majority of non-governmental organizations, as well as UN and other agencies providing assistance to the DPRK. Organized by the Seoul-based “Korea NGO Council for Cooperation with North Korea,” the conference attracted 102 participants from South Korea, Japan, China, USA, UK, Switzerland, Canada, Thailand, Australia and Germany, in addition to several international organizations based in the DPRK. There were no Korean participants from the DPRK. This full-focus edition of CanKor includes ABC news coverage, the opening address by conference organizer Kang Moon-Kyu, a personal report by Canadian participant Glen Davis, a keynote speech by Kathi Zellweger, and the final Conference Statement.

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