NAPSNet Daily Report Thursday, August 10, 2006

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NAPSNet Daily Report Thursday, August 10, 2006

NAPSNet Daily Report Thursday, August 10, 2006

I. NAPSNet

Preceding NAPSNet Report

I. NAPSNet

1. DPRK Sanctions

Associated Press (“SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT EXPRESSES RESERVATIONS OVER MORE NORTH KOREAN SANCTIONS”, 2006-08-10) reported that ROK President Roh Moo-hyun expressed reservations about possible new US sanctions against the DPRK over its recent missile tests. Roh “felt a carrot was more useful with the North Koreans than a stick,” House International Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde told reporters after meeting with the president. “He expressed a lack of enthusiasm for more sanctions.”

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2. Aid to DPRK Flood Victims

Joong Ang Ilbo (“GOVERNMENT TO GIVE AID, RICE, TO THE NORTH “, 2006-08-11) reported that after consultation with the Red Cross, the ROK has agreed to provide an aid package including rice to help DPR Korean flood victims. The government will announce today its official participation in an emergency relief program, led by the Red Cross and civic groups. After the DPRK fired seven missiles last month, the ROK withheld its previously promised rice and fertilizer aid in protest.

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3. DPRK Weapons Exports

Associated Press (“MAN ARRESTED IN JAPAN IN KOREA CASE”, 2006-08-10) reported that Japanese authorities arrested a man who allegedly exported machinery to the DPRK that can be used to make biological weapons. The suspect, a former president of a trading company, is accused of illegally exporting a freeze dryer to the DPRK in 2002, and was charged with not obtaining proper approval from Japan’s trade ministry. Freeze dryers quickly dry solid substances in a vacuum and are often used in making instant coffee and instant noodles. But they can also be used to dry and store bacteria while producing biological weapons.

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4. Religion in the DPRK

Pravda (“FIRST RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH TO BE OPENED “, 2006-08-10) reported that the Trinity Church, the first Russian Orthodox church in the DPRK, will hold its first services Sunday and a Russian delegation will be visiting to mark the occasion. The DPRK allows freedom of religion in principle, but practice is severely restricted to officially recognized groups linked to the government, according to the US State Department said in its latest annual human rights report.

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5. US-ROK Security Alliance

International Herald Tribune (“SEOUL LOOKS TO ABANDON RELIANCE ON U.S. MILITARY”, 2006-08-10) reported that Seoul and Washington – at the request of the ROK – are working on a plan that will shift wartime operational control of ROK troops from the combined US-ROK forces command, headed by an US general, to the ROK. Responding to a growing storm of criticism over the plan, Roh said that the old agreement was anachronistic, something of which ROK citizens today should feel ashamed.

(return to top) Chosun Ilbo (“ROH UNDER FIRE OVER WARTIME COMMAND WITHDRAWAL”, 2006-08-10) reported that sixteen former defense ministers and nine retired generals expressed dismay at President Roh Moo-hyun’s remarks that suggested the ROK can withdraw wartime control of its troops from the US any time. In a statement, the ex-defense chiefs called on the government to seek public consent and parliamentary approval for the move, saying the transfer of operational command is a vital security matter and will cost the taxpayer an astronomical amount of money. (return to top)

6. Yasukuni Shrine Issue

Agence France-Presse (“JAPAN’S ABE DEFENDS SHRINE VISITS “, 2006-08-10) reported that Shinzo Abe, the front-runner to become Japan’s next prime minister, has defended a war shrine at the center of tensions with Asian neighbors and said leaders’ visits do not glorify past militarism. “None of them supported Japan’s past militarism because war leaders were enshrined,” Abe said.

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7. Japan Elections

Kyodo (“ABE’S LEAD SOLIDIFIES AS 2 GIVE UP, 3-WAY BATTLE LIKELY IN LDP RACE”, 2006-08-10) reported that Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe further broadened his support base for succeeding Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in September as the candidacy of Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga has become unlikely, and that another potential candidate, former LDP Vice President Taku Yamasaki, has also given up running in the race.

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8. PRC Bird Flu

Agence France-Presse (“CHINA DENIES BIRD FLU COVER-UP”, 2006-08-10) reported that the PRC has denied covering up a 2003 human death from bird flu which was only confirmed this week, but admitted shortcomings in its disease reporting. “At that time there was an outbreak of SARS. This case had similar symptoms to SARS but clinical tests based on SARS standards determined it was not a SARS case,” vice health minister Jiang Zuojun said. “It took time for scientific researchers to study the disease.”

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9. PRC Typhoon

The Los Angeles Times (“TYPHOON PROMPTS EVACUATION OF 500,000”, 2006-08-10) reported that nearly half a million Chinese were evacuated from coastal areas as Typhoon Saomai approached. It was expected to hit today between Hong Kong and Shanghai, just south of the booming city of Wenzhou. Heavy rain and strong wind had already hit in Zhejiang and Fujian provinces, the New China News Agency said.

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