In today’s Report:
2. ROK-DPRK Aviation Talks
3. Search for Remains of US MIAs
4. ROK Presidential Candidate Accused of Slush Fund
5. Clinton-Jiang Summit Meeting
2. DPRK Ballistic Missile Test
3. War Prospects on Korean Peninsula
4. RF-Japan Relations
5. Japan-US Security Cooperation
6. PRC-US Relations
7. RF Nuclear Weapons Safety
8. RF Ratification of Chemical Weapons Ban Convention
9. RF Views of Land Mines Ban Convention
10. RF President Will Visit Mongolia
I. United States
The AP-Dow Jones News Service (“S. KOREA PROVIDES ANOTHER $5.25 MLN IN AID FOR N. KOREA,” Seoul, 10/7/97) reported that the ROK government said Tuesday that it has provided US$4 million for the World Food Program (WFP) to buy nutritional supplements for starving children in the DPRK as part of a US$10 million package of food and other assistance that the ROK pledged in August. Separately, the ROK government said it also provided US$1.25 million for the WFP to finance its monitoring activities in the DPRK to ensure that aid reaches the needy. An ROK government report said that imports and international aid have reduced the DPRK’s food shortage from an estimated 1.3 million tons to 295,000 tons. The PRC will continue shipments and the WFP has pledged 130,000 tons of additional food, which will help the DPRK make it to this fall’s harvest, the report said.
The Associated Press (“TWO KOREAS NEAR DEAL TO OPEN SKIES,” Seoul, 10/7/97) reported that ROK Foreign Ministry officials said that the ROK and DPRK resumed aviation talks Tuesday in Bangkok aimed at opening their skies to each others’ flights. The DPRK accepted the ROK’s demand that the two sides’ air traffic control towers communicate through surface telephone lines crossing the border, the officials said, retracting its earlier insistence on using satellite connections.
3. Search for Remains of US MIAs
United Press International (“U.S. TEAM IN N. KOREA TO SEEK MIAS,” Washington, 10/7/97) and the Associated Press (“US SEARCHES N KOREA FOR MIA REMAINS, Washington, 10/6/97) reported that the US Defense Department said Monday that a Defense Department team has returned to the DPRK for its fourth attempt this year to find the remains of US servicemen missing from the Korean War. The search is focused in an area where US ground troops were routed by PRC forces in the fall of 1950. The US team plans to interview military officials and local residents to track down possible sites where US soldiers were buried. The DPRK has invited a small group of family and veteran’s organization officials to visit the joint operation site. The officials will leave the US Friday and are expected to stay in the DPRK for about four days. A repatriation ceremony for any remains excavated during the operation has been scheduled for Oct. 24 in Panmunjom.
4. ROK Presidential Candidate Accused of Slush Fund
Reuters (“S.KOREA’S OPPOSITION LEADER ACCUSED OF SLUSH FUND,” Seoul, 10/7/97) reported that Kang Sam-jae of the ROK’s ruling New Korea Party on Tuesday accused Kim Dae-jung, presidential candidate of the main opposition National Congress for New Politics, of amassing more than 67 billion won (US$73 million) in a “slush fund.” Kang told a news conference his party uncovered the funds deposited in 365 false and proxy name accounts. “Another shocking factor we foun