Japan and the United States are reported to have agreed to change the way American soldiers will be re-distributed throughout the region – a seeming breakthrough to the long-stalled relocation process…If the reports are true, 4,700 marines will be transferred to Guam regardless of what happens to the Futenma airbase while the remaining 3,300 will be transferred elsewhere around the region.
Radio interview with Nautilus Associate, Richard Tanter. Click here for audio.
North Korea allowed limited access to cell phones in December of 2008 and limited access to the internet is available on mobile devices since three years ago. It is estimated that only 0.09 percent of its total population, around 20,000 people (from 23 million citizens), now have cell phones even though 400 million dollars estimated was spent to build the infrastructure of 3G network in the country.
It changes drastically now. November last year, according to Reuters, with 49,000 percent growth, they have hit 1 million users on its new 3G network. Another report from Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability said around 60 percent of people between the ages of 20 and 50 used cell phones in the capital city, Pyongyang, which has a total population of 3 million.
Statistics from last year suggested that more than 1.1 million (less than 5 percent) of the country owned a fixed-line telephone, which had traditionally been more available than mobile, but the increasingly popularity of mobile means it will likely be dominant soon. However, as a report from The Nautilus Institute noted, the cost of devices and tariffs remain beyond the reach of many North Koreans.
Fewer than 70,000 North Koreans used cell phones two years ago and a year ago the figure stood at about 300,000. One recent study by the Nautilus Institute says 60 percent of Pyeongyang residents aged 20 to 50 use cell phones.
This summary report is based on the proceedings and presentations given at the East Asia Nuclear Security workshop held on November 11, 2011 in Tokyo, Japan. The workshop aimed to evaluate the robustness of proposals to establish a nuclear weapons-free zone in Northeast Asia (NEA-NWFZ) and to identify pathways leading to its creation. The workshop was organized by the Nautilus Institute, the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation and Nautilus Australia – RMIT Global Studies, and co-hosted by the Asia Pacific Leadership Network.
Papers and presentations given at the East Asia Nuclear Workshop are available here, along with the full agenda, participant list and a workshop photo gallery.
Analysts at the time said that the network posed little of a threat to the regime, mainly because officials had controlled outside information so tightly. Additionally, severe limitations on the internet restrict access to any domain except a handful of historical sites that are accessible to a select few people. However, as the Nautilus Institute’s Alexandre Mansourov said in a report, “The DPRK mobile communications industry has crossed the Rubicon and the North Korean government can no longer roll it back without paying a severe political price.”
Nak-chung Paik, Editor of The Quarterly Changbi and Professor Emeritus of English Literature at Seoul National University, asks “Which will be the greater variable, the leadership change in North Korea or the 2013 regime change in South Korea?” Paik asserts that since the North Korean succession does not show signs of sparking an imminent political or social upheaval, South Korea, with upcoming elections, has the opportunity to engage North Korea, establish a peace agreement and perhaps eventually an inter-Korean confederation. The key, Paik writes, is the 2013 South Korean regime: “Will we content ourselves with the same old ruling forces who have changed face and succeeded in “differentiation from Lee Myung-bak,” or will we make the historic transition to a new epoch not only in the South but possibly shared by South and North?”
This 1978 report by Bryan Jack is the second volume of a three part report that considers the possible role of nuclear weapons that might be possessed by new nuclear powers in three key regions-the Arabian Sea, Northeast Asia and the South China Sea. This volume focuses on China, Korea and Japan and the particular circumstances facing each country, including: what might influence the decision to acquire nuclear weapons, the kind of weapons systems that might be acquired, possible types of weapons deployment both for deterrence or actual use, the impact on regional security of weapons acquisition and the policies that might be adopted by states in the region and by the United States to deter acquisition or to mitigate the consequences if acquired.
This report was released to the Nautilus Institute under the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). See the Institute’s FOIA Global Disclosure Project page to read more chronologies, histories and reports released to Nautilus.
