NAPSNet Daily Report Thursday, June 28, 2007

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NAPSNet Daily Report Thursday, June 28, 2007

NAPSNet Daily Report Thursday, June 28, 2007

I. NAPSNet

Preceding NAPSNet Report

I. NAPSNet

1. DPRK Nuclear Program

Yonhap (“IAEA TO APPROVE PROCEDURES FOR N. KOREA’S NUCLEAR SHUTDOWN”, 2007-06-28) reported that the UN nuclear watchdog is to approve monitoring procedures for the DPRK’s nuclear reactor shutdown early next month and send a delegation of its inspectors within several days of the decision. Melissa Fleming, spokesperson for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said a special board meeting will be convened on July 9 to approve procedures for monitoring and verifying the shutdown based on a report from IAEA inspectors currently in the DPRK. Within several days of board approval, a delegation of IAEA inspectors will likely be dispatched to the DPRK to work out concrete steps to be taken in the future.

(return to top) Agence France-Presse (“RICE EXPECTS “RAPID PROGRESS” IN NKOREAN NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT”, 2007-06-28) reported that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she expected “rapid” progress in international efforts to end the DPRK’s nuclear weapons drive. She said her confidence stemmed from Pyongyang’s decision to implement what is called “initial action” under the six-party talks to disband its nuclear arms arsenal. (return to top)

2. DPRK Missile Launch

Yonhap (“N. KOREA TESTING NEWLY DEVELOPED MISSILES: DEFENSE MINISTRY “, 2007-06-28) reported that the DPRK’s recent missile launches are aimed at testing brand-new missiles, the Defense Ministry said. “The missiles that North Korea recently test-fired into the East Sea and the West Sea are ground-to-ground and ground-to-ship missiles with a range of around 100 kilometers,” the ministry said in a press release. “They have not been deployed, as they are still in the development stage.”

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3. US on DPRK Missile Launch

Korea Herald (“WASHINGTON WARNS AGAINST MISSILE TEST”, 2007-06-28) reported that the US yesterday issued a warning about the DPRK’s reported missile test. “The United States is deeply troubled that North Korea has decided to launch these missiles during a delicate time in the six-party talks,” National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in a statement. The US government expects North Korea “to refrain from conducting further provocative ballistic missile launches,” Johndroe said.

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4. Japan, Russia on DPRK Missile Launch

Kyodo (“JAPAN, RUSSIA URGE N. KOREA NOT TO ENDANGER 6-WAY TALKS”, 2007-06-28) reported that the Japanese and Russian chief delegates to the six-party talks on the DPRKs nuclear program implicitly urged the DPRK not to take actions that might derail the talks, following reported missile launches by the DPRK. Alexander Losyukov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, told reporters, “All the parties within the talks must show a certain reasonable approach in terms of action,” but said he has no “precise information” on the alleged missile launches.

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5. ROK Energy Aid to the DPRK

Yonhap (“KOREAS TO DISCUSS HEAVY FUEL OIL AID TO NORTH KOREA”, 2007-06-28) reported that officials from the ROK and DPRK will meet Friday to discuss provision of 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil to the DPRK in return for Pyongyang’s shutdown of a nuclear reactor that produces weapons-grade plutonium, officials said. “We will prepare to sign a contract to provide heavy fuel oil based on the outcome of working-level talks. It is too early to say when, but it will take at least three weeks to start the shipment,” a Unification Ministry official said.

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6. Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation

Korea Times (“SOFTWARE CENTER TO BE CREATED IN NK”, 2007-06-28) reported that a private association composed of the ROK’s major software developers plans to establish software centers in Pyongyang and Gaeseong late this year. The Korea Software Financial Cooperative (KSFC) said Wednesday that it aims to sign a contract on the centers with its northern counterpart, Samcholli General Corp., this summer.

(return to top) Korea Times (“HYUNDAI ASAN TO EXPAND MT. GEUMGANG TOURS”, 2007-06-28) reported that tourists who want to visit the inner part of Mt. Geumgang in the DPRK, better known as “Naegeumgang” in Korean, will be able to leave for the resort area on any day of the week, starting next month. Hyundai Asan, the ROK operator of the inter-Korean tourism project, said Tuesday that the Naegeumgang tour, which has so far been carried out three times a week, will be available everyday from July 1. (return to top)

7. DPRK on Abductee Issue

Kyodo (“N. KOREA TO PROBE ABDUCTED JAPANESE: REUTERS”, 2007-06-28) reported that the DPRK will conduct a thorough investigation into the abduction of Japanese citizens, marking a departure from its stand that the divisive issue has been settled, Reuters news service reported, quoting a source with ties to Pyongyang. “Kim Jong Il has ordered a thorough investigation into the issue…North Korea intends to resolve this issue,” the source told Reuters.

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8. Japan Arrest over Chongryon Deal

Kyodo (“EX-INTELLIGENCE AGENCY CHIEF OGATA HELD OVER CHONGRYON PREMISES DEAL”, 2007-06-28) reported that public prosecutors arrested former intelligence agency chief Shigetake Ogata and two other people on suspicion of fraud in connection with an aborted purchase of the head office of the pro-Pyongyang Korean residents group in Japan. The prosecutors suspect that 73-year-old Ogata, a lawyer who formerly headed the government’s Public Security Intelligence Agency, and the two others defrauded the General Association of Korean Residents of Japan, known as Chongryon, of the ownership of its headquarters building and associated land in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward.

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9. US-ROK Security Alliance

Korea Herald (“KOREA, U.S. AGREE TO COMPLETE NEW ALLIANCE STRUCTURE BY 2009”, 2007-06-28) reported that the ROK and the US agreed to set up a new joint military structure by 2009 as part of preparations for the planned transfer of wartime operational control of ROK armed forces from Washington to Seoul, the Defense Ministry said yesterday. Gen. Kim Kwan-jin, chairman of the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. Burwell Bell, commander of US Forces Korea, yesterday signed an action plan for implementing the transition scheduled for Apr. 17, 2012.

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10. US-ROK Trade Relations

Yonhap (“S. KOREA, U.S. MAY HAVE ONE MORE NEGOTIATING SESSION FOR FREE TRADE DEAL: MINISTER”, 2007-06-28) reported that the ROK expects an additional negotiating session to take place to amend parts of a free trade pact with the US, Seoul’s top economic policymaker said. “We expect there would probably be one more negotiation,” Minister of Finance and Economy Kwon O-kyu told reporters. “Negotiators hope the two sides will be able to sign the deal by the end of this month (as scheduled).”

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11. ROK Role in Iraq

Reuters (“S KOREA TO WITHDRAW ALL TROOPS FROM IRAQ”, 2007-06-28) reported that the ROK’s Defence Ministry submitted a plan to parliament for the complete pullout of its troops from Iraq, ending what once had been the third-largest deployment of foreign troops in that country. The ministry said in a statement it expected to make a decision by September on when to withdraw its soldiers.

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12. Cross Strait Relations

The Associated Press (“TAIWAN APPROVES CHINA CHIP INVESTMENT “, 2007-06-28) reported that Taiwan’s government approved plans by four chip testing and packaging firms to invest in the PRC, an official said Thursday, as the country further eases long-standing restrictions on high-tech investment in the PRC. Advanced Semiconductor — the world’s largest chip testing and packaging firm by revenue — has received the go ahead to take a 60 percent stake in a PRC unit owned by the Netherlands-based NXP Semiconductors, said Fan Liang-Tung, executive secretary of Taiwan’s Investment Commission.

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13. PRC Foreign Trade

Xinhua (“CHINA INAUGURATES FREE-TRADE HARBOR AREA IN DALIAN “, 2007-06-28) reported that the PRC inaugurated a harbor area with preferential tax rates in the northeastern city of Dalian, a major step towards forming a free trade zone between the PRC, Japan and the ROK. The Dayaowan Bonded Harbor Area, located at the Dagushan Peninsula in the northeastern part of Dalian, enjoys preferential taxation and foreign exchange policies, said Zhang Shikun, director of the Dalian Bonded Area Administrative Committee.

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14. PRC Protest

Washington Post (“TEXT MESSAGES GIVING VOICE TO CHINESE”, 2007-06-28) reported that urgent text messages ricocheted around cellphones in Xiamen, warning of a catastrophe that would spoil the city’s beautiful seaside environment and foul its sweet-smelling tropical breezes. The environmental activists behind the messages might have exaggerated the danger with their florid language, experts said. But their passionate opposition to the chemical plant generated an explosion of public anger that forced a halt in construction, pending further environmental impact studies by authorities in Beijing, and produced large demonstrations June 1 and 2, drawing national publicity.

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15. PRC Labor Reform

The Associated Press (“CHINA CRACKS DOWN ON LABOR PRACTICES”, 2007-06-28) reported that the PRC announced a new crackdown on illegal labor practices following an outcry over revelations of slave labor at brick factories in the country’s central provinces. Officials have been ordered to “fix illegal labor practices, attack illegal criminal behavior, conscientiously protect the personal interests of the broad masses of the people, and resolve … problems of the protection of the rights of migrant workers,” the statement said. That came a week after China’s Cabinet convened an extraordinary meeting to demand an investigation of the slavery scandal that has unleashed a flood of negative publicity against officials in Shanxi and Henan provinces.

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