NAPSNet Daily Report Tuesday, November 21, 2006

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NAPSNet Daily Report Tuesday, November 21, 2006

NAPSNet Daily Report Tuesday, November 21, 2006

I. NAPSNet

II. CanKor

Preceding NAPSNet Report

I. NAPSNet

1. US-PRC on Six Party Talks, BDA Assets

Bloomberg News (“NORTH KOREA NUCLEAR TALKS MAY BE HELD MID-DECEMBER, HILL SAYS”, 2006-11-21) reported that although no firm date has been set, the Six Party Talks may be resumed as early as mid-December. US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill met Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei over two days of talks. Hill declined to comment on a report by the ROK’s Yonhap News agency that the PRC had relaxed some restrictions on DPRK financial assets at Banco Delta Asia in Macau. Yonhap said that Hill traveled to Beijing to discuss the issue of the BDA assets, citing an unidentified official in South Korea’s Foreign Ministry. Contrary to another Yonhap report, Hill did not meet Kim Kye Gwan, the head of the DPRK delegation to the talks, during the visit, a US Embassy officer said, requesting anonymity.

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2. EU Sanctions on DPRK

All Headline News (“EU IMPOSES SANCTIONS ON NORTH KOREA”, 2006-11-20) reported that the European Union has decided to enforce a series of sanctions penalizing the DPRK for its nuclear testing. The sanctions include an embargo on arms, nuclear and missile technology and luxury products. All cargo from the DPRK sent to EU nations will be required to undergo inspections.

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3. Canada visits DPRK on Six Party Talks

Xinhua (“CANADIAN AMBASSADOR TO SOUTH KOREA VISITS DPRK ON NUCLEAR ISSUE”, 2006-11-18) reported that Canada has dispatched Marius Grinius, its ambassador to the Koreas, to Pyongyang on a diplomatic mission in an attempt to smooth tense international relations over the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula. The news of Grinius’ visit to the DPRK was first announced by the ROK delegation after President Roh Moo-hyun met with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the APEC conference in Hanoi. The Canadian government had confirmed the news several hours after the announcement by the ROK delegation. Meanwhile, Canadian government has denied reports that the U.S. asked Canada to help patrol waters around DPRK to ensure that no nuclear weapons could come into the country by sea.

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4. DPRK Human Rights

Chosun Ilbo (“NORTH KOREA SLAMS UN RIGHTS VOTE “, 2006-11-21) Reported that the DPRK harshly condemned last week’s United Nations resolution accusing the communist state of human rights abuses. The UN human rights committee overwhelmingly passed the resolution Friday. It cites a wide range of alleged rights abuses by Pyongyang, including torture, arbitrary imprisonment and forced labor. The resolution is expected to be backed by the broader UN General Assembly next month. In a broadcast by the official DPRK news agency, Pyongyang said it “categorically rejects” the resolution, describing it as a “political plot” against it. Conditions in the DPRK, however, have created a verifiable flood of refugees, who cross by the thousands into the PRC. Chinese authorities have taken steps indicating they expect the flow of refugees to increase. In addition to building barbed wire fences at key border crossing areas, reports indicate the PRC is investing in high-tech surveillance.

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5. Japan on PRC Military

Agence France-Presse (“JAPAN’S PM ASKS DENMARK TO OPPOSE ARMS SALES TO CHINA “, 2006-11-21) reported that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe asked Denmark to keep an eye on the PRC’s military spending, reiterating Tokyo’s opposition to European moves to sell weapons to Beijing. “China’s economic growth is a big chance for Japan and the world,” Abe told his Danish counterpart Anders Fogh Rasmussen. “However, at the same time, there is a need to scrutinize the lack of transparency of its military build-up in the long term.”

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6. US on Cross Strait Relations

Agence France-Presse (“DE FACTO US ENVOY CALLS FOR DIRECT TAIWAN-CHINA LINKS”, 2006-11-21) reported that the US urged Taiwan to open direct transportation and business links with the PRC despite lingering hostility across the strait. Calls for the resumption of direct links have been mounting given ever closer economic ties but Taiwan says government-level negotiations — which would imply Beijing recognition — are required before the ban can be lifted. Taiwan also fears its security could be compromised in light of the PRC’s military build-up.

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7. Sino-Indian Relations

International Herald Tribune (“CHINA AND INDIA UNVEIL PLAN FOR TRADE AND COOPERATION”, 2006-11-21) reported that President Hu Jintao of the PRC and his Indian host, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, unveiled a 10-point plan that aims to double bilateral trade to $40 billion by 2010. They also pledged cooperation in the field of civilian nuclear energy – heralding the possible end of decades of nuclear rivalry and suspicion. However, despite the emphasis on collaboration, there was no sign of a significant breakthrough in any of the key areas of conflict, including border disputes, bilateral relations with Pakistan and the US, and tension over Tibet.

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8. PRC Renewable Energy

Agence France-Presse (“CHINA TO BUILD ONE OF EARTH’S BIGGEST SOLAR POWER STATIONS “, 2006-11-21) reported that the PRC intends to build one of the world’s biggest solar power stations at a cost of 765 million dollars, state press have reported. The 100-megawatt facility, to be built in Dunhuang, an oasis town in northwest PRC’s Gansu province, will be a collaborative effort between the local government and Beijing’s Zhonghao New Energy Investment, Xinhua news said Tuesday.

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9. PRC Environment

Xinhua (“OFFICIAL: PEARL RIVER AREA THREATENED BY WATER SHORTAGE”, 2006-11-21) reported that a severe water shortage in the drainage area of the PRC’s third longest river was predicted by an official with the Ministry of Water Resources here on Monday. By 2010, the gross yearly water consumption in the Pearl River area would reach 100.5 billion cubic meters, leaving a huge supply gap of 13.5 billion cubic meters, said Li Hailiang, deputy director of the Pearl River Water Resources Committee’s water resources section.

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II. CanKor

10. Report #267

CanKor (“CURRENT EVENTS”, 2006-11-21) Canadian Ambassador to both ROK and DPRK, Marius Grinius, is visiting Pyongyang to deliver a “frank message” from the Canadian government, asking his hosts to abandon their nuclear weapons programme, return to six-party talks, and refrain from trying to sell weapons materials to terrorists. At the same time, Prime Minister Stephen Harper says there is no plan for Canada to join the USA in intercepting and searching DPRK cargo ships. Although South Korea supports the principles and the purpose of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), it also declines taking part in intercepting North Korean vessels, in order to avert armed clashes that could escalate into war. Seoul believes its decision to halt subsidies for trips to Mt. Kumgang, and suspend private sector and government-level inter-Korean economic cooperation “are stronger sanctions against the North than those taken by any other nation in the world.” France intercepts a DPRK vessel on the island of Mayotte, the first such interception under Security Council Resolution 1718. After a “thorough and complete inspection”, no weapons, drugs or other prohibited material is found. 21 leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum express “strong concern” over Pyongyang’s nuclear test and endorse the raft of UN sanctions it triggered, but fail to agree on a written statement. A United Nations General Assembly committee passes a resolution calling on DPRK human rights, and for the first time the ROK votes in favour, eliciting a strong verbal reaction from the DPRK. A DPR Korean Foreign Affairs spokesperson blames US and EU collusion and takes solace in the fact that “almost all developing countries” opposed or abstained from voting on the resolution. An unidentified source close to the DPRK says that the northern DPRK Ryanggang region is experiencing an outbreak of scarlet fever that threatens to escalate into an epidemic.

(return to top) CanKor (“OPINION”, 2006-11-21) This week’s CanKor OPINION section features an article by former US State Department official Joel Witt warning that the six-party talks framework should be abandoned. Unless all countries demonstrate a new willingness to engage in serious give-and-take, one cannot rule out the specter either of a North Korean collapse (with all its political, security, economic and humanitarian consequences), or the possibility that Pyongyang could initiate military action. Leon Sigal, author of “Disarming Strangers: Nuclear Diplomacy with North Korea” examines the successful actions taken by the USA during the Cuban missile crisis of 1963, in order to glean lessons that may lead the way forward in the current confrontation with the DPRK. (return to top)