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In today’s Report:

I. United States

I. United States

1. Four-Party Peace Talks

US State Department Spokesman Jaime Rubin (“STATE DEPARTMENT NOON BRIEFING, SEPTEMBER 17,” USIA Transcript, 9/17/97) described Tuesday’s US-DPRK bilateral meeting in New York as “useful and constructive. They were conducted in a business-like atmosphere. The entire range of bilateral issues were discussed.” Rubin said the DPRK reacted favorably to a US proposal to send a team of experts to investigate the DPRK food shortage. The US also informed the DPRK of its intention to survey US citizens’ financial claims against the DPRK, which “would be the initial step necessary to eventually resolve the issue of remaining frozen North Korean assets in the US.” Regarding the recent DPRK defections, Rubin said, “I’m not aware that came up in any significant way. I mean, as we have stated earlier, we regard the defector issue as not linked to the four-party peace process or to other issues. As I understand it, they did raise it, but I doubt it got into much detail.” Rubin also said the US proposed resumption of missile proliferation talks in October, and that the DPRK delegation “said they would get back to us.”

United Press International (“U.S., CHINA, S.KOREA SET FOR PEACE TALKS,” Seoul, 9/17/97) reported that US officials were set to meet ROK and PRC officials in bilateral talks in preparation for resumption of the preliminary four-party Korean peace talks in New York on Thursday and Friday.

2. DPRK Tidal Wave Recovery

Reuters (“FLOODS THREATEN NEW CALAMITY IN NORTH KOREA-U.N.,” Beijing, 9/17/97) reported that Christian Lemaire, Pyongyang representative of the United Nations Development Program, said Wednesday that some 40,000 DPRK peasants are waging a desperate but probably futile effort to rebuild a sea wall flattened by a tidal wave in order to prevent worse damage to a key grain-producing region. In August, a tidal wave whipped up by a typhoon destroyed a 200,000-hectare (494,000-acre) swath of rice paddy running inland from the wall. Lemaire said that the peasants, malnourished and working around the clock using only bare hands, in just two days had rebuilt a head-high wall of mud and rock along a 40 kilometer (24 mile) stretch of eastern coastline. However, he said the effort probably was in vain, because an unusually high sea tide was expected to wash over the primitive dike on Saturday or Sunday, depositing a fresh blanket of salt over what was once some of the DPRK’s most fertile rice paddy fields. “They’ve done what they can, but it’s not enough,” Lemaire said during a visit to Beijing.

3. US Position on Landmine Ban

Reuters (“U.S. LEFT OUT OF LANDMINE AGREEMENT,” Oslo, 9/17/97) reported that an international treaty to ban landmines was endorsed Wednesday by the 89-nation conference in Oslo, Norway, but the US refused to sign the accord. US delegation head Eric Newsom said that he was disappointed the conference had refused to accept a US-proposed compromise formula that met US security concerns. “Completion of this treaty is certainly a significant accomplishment. I think it would have been a much stronger treaty had they taken the steps so that the U

In today’s Report:

I. United States

I. United States

1. Four-Party Peace Talks

The AP-Dow Jones News Service (“U.S., N. KOREA DIPLOMATS MEET FOR BILATERAL TALKS,” Seoul, 9/16/97) reported that US and DPRK diplomats met Tuesday for bilateral talks in preparation for resumption of the preliminary four-party Korean peace talks in New York on Thursday. A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the bilateral meeting had begun but refused to give other details. However, it was assumed that the DPRK would raise the issue of the US decision to grant asylum to the DPRK’s ambassador to Egypt, Chang Sung-kil, who defected last month with his brother, Chang Sung-ho, a diplomat on a trade mission to Paris.

US State Department Deputy Spokesman James Foley (“STATE DEPT. NOON BRIEFING, SEPTEMBER 16,” USIA Transcript, 9/16/97) confirmed that US and DPRK representatives were meeting Tuesday in New York, but did not comment on the meeting’s discussions. Foley added that US-ROK and US-PRC meetings would take place on Wednesday, in preparation for the second round of the preliminary four-party Korean peace talks set to begin Thursday at Columbia University in New York. Foley stated, “I don’t expect to provide any precise details about any of our bilateral meetings in advance of the Thursday talks.”

2. DPRK Famine Conditions

Reuters (“N.KOREA FAMINE WORST SINCE WW2 – GERMAN RED CROSS,” Bonn, 9/16/97) reported that the German Red Cross on Tuesday said some 10,000 children were dying of starvation every month in the DPRK, and called the country’s famine one of the worst the world has seen since World War II. German Red Cross spokeswoman Susanne Anger, who had just returned from two weeks in the DPRK, pleaded for more international food and medical aid to save lives. “An entire people are starving as the result of several natural disasters and a precarious economic situation,” Anger told a news conference in Bonn. “The mortality rate for children under seven has risen to 40 percent,” she said. “About 800,000 children are chronically undernourished and have severe developmental damage. Nine or ten-year-olds look like three or four-year-olds.” Anger said these calculations were made on the basis of the declining number of children attending kindergartens and information from other aid agencies. Anger added that the estimate by the international aid organization World Vision that at least half a million of the DPRK’s population of 22 million had already starved to death in the famine could not be ruled out. [Ed. note: See “DPRK Famine Conditions” in the September 15 Daily Report.]

Reuters (“N. KOREA EXPERTS DOUBT REPORT ON FAMINE DEATHS,” Bonn, 9/16/97) reported that some DPRK experts on Tuesday expressed doubt of World Vision’s estimate that between 500,000 and 2 million people have died in a famine in the DPRK, although experts agreed that the situation in the DPRK is dire and that massive food shortages are causing deaths. Brigitta Karlgren, country director for the World Food Program (WFP) in the DPRK, called into question data derived from a survey of people with first-hand information from numerous small

In today’s Report:

I. United States

I. United States

1. Four-Party Peace Talks

US Deputy State Department Spokesman James Foley (“STATE DEPARTMENT BRIEFING, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15,” USIA Transcript, 9/15/97) confirmed that the second round of the preliminary four-party peace talks are set to begin Tuesday in New York. Foley had no further comment on the upcoming meetings.

2. DPRK Famine Conditions

The New York Times (Barbara Crossette, “NORTH KOREA FAMINE MAY BE KILLING 15 PERCENT IN TOWNS, SURVEY SAYS,” 9/10/97, A6) reported that Andrew Natsios, vice president of the international relief organization World Vision, said Sunday that an informal survey conducted for Korean-American organizations has found that about 15 percent of people in the DPRK’s towns and villages may be dying of starvation and famine-related diseases. The DPRK government was not informed of the survey, which reached some 400 individuals, and which was carried out by ethnic Koreans living on the PRC side of the PRC-DPRK border who can travel freely into the DPRK. Respondents told stories of unclaimed bodies being collected from village streets and coffins being reused to save wood. “Fifteen percent is a huge famine,” Natsios said in a telephone interview Sunday from his home in Washington. “And the thing that’s alarming is that those three provinces on the Chinese border where the survey was conducted are ones where the World Food Program has found that people are the best fed.” Natsios said that if these figures are reflective of the national picture, as many as half a million of the DPRK’s 22 million population may have died. In addition to calling for more food aid, World Vision and other private relief organizations also asking the secretive DPRK government to allow relief experts and reporters to travel freely in the country, especially to remote areas. “The North Korean government must be pressed to open the country up so that we can judge its needs,” he said.

Reuters (“N. KOREA REPORTS INCREASED CORN CROP,” Tokyo, 9/15/97) reported that the DPRK’s official Radio and Television Broadcasting, monitored in Tokyo by the Radiopress news service, said on Monday that the DPRK expects to have a 30 percent increase in its corn harvest this year. The broadcast came days after the UN Food and Agricultural Organization and World Food Program expressed “very serious alarm” over the food shortage in the DPRK, where a drought and typhoon have aggravated two years of flooding. [Ed. note: See “DPRK Food Production Crisis” in the US section of the September 12 Daily Report.]

3. ROK Returns DPRK Body

Reuters (“S.KOREA SENDS HOME BODY OF N. KOREAN SOLDIER,” Panmunjom, ROK, 9/15/97) reported that the ROK on Monday returned to the DPRK the body of a DPRK soldier shot on the heavily fortified demilitarized zone last Tuesday. At the border village of Panmunjom, a six-member honor guard from the US-led UN Command handed over the coffin to six DPRK guards. The ROK Defense Ministry has said the soldier was shot after he neared the ROK border and aimed his rifle at ROK border guards. The US, ROK and DPRK have all played down

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

I. United States

1. DPRK Food Production Crisis

Reuters (“UN “SERIOUSLY ALARMED” ABOUT N.KOREA CROP,” Rome, 9/12/97) reported that the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Program (WFP) said Friday in a joint statement that drought and a tidal wave have eliminated the faint hope that the DPRK might be able to increase food production this year. The agencies said that the latest natural disasters, which followed two years of devastating floods, would almost certainly reduce the 1998 harvest, and FAO economist Ajay Markanday told a news conference that early estimates suggested next year’s food output would be even lower than in the flood years. “Guarded optimism expressed earlier for some recovery in food production this year is now replaced by very serious alarm at food security prospects for the coming months and year ahead,” the statement said. “As the general health of the population has now already been highly weakened by the shortage of adequate food … the anticipated shortfall this year is likely to have far-reaching implications that go beyond the devastation of 1995 and 1996,” it said. FAO and WFP representatives plan to visit the DPRK next month to conduct a full assessment of this year’s harvest.

2. PRC Nuclear Exports

The Associated Press (“CHINA ISSUES NEW NUKE EXPORT RULES,” Beijing, 9/11/97) and Reuters (“CHINA INSISTS NUCLEAR EXPORTS PEACEFUL,” Beijing, 9/11/97) reported that the PRC’s official Xinhua news agency said Thursday that the PRC has issued new rules to restrict exports of nuclear weapons and technology, pledging not to transfer the dangerous materials to countries opposing international safeguards. The regulations, if deemed strict enough, would counter US criticism of suspected PRC nuclear exports to Pakistan and Iran and improve the atmosphere for President Jiang Zemin’s Washington summit next month with President Bill Clinton, and would also meet a key US condition for ending a ban on US companies building nuclear power plants in the PRC. Premier Li Peng approved the regulations Thursday on behalf of the State Council, Xinhua said. “The government prohibits providing help to nuclear facilities not subject to the supervision of international atomic agencies and will not provide exports, personnel, technical exchange or cooperation to those facilities,” Xinhua reported the rules to read. The rules were issued “to strengthen controls on nuclear exports and to safeguard the security of the nation and public interests and to promote international cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy,” Xinhua said. US Embassy officials could not immediately be reached for comment. Diplomats and academics in recent weeks had expressed belief that the PRC was unlikely to have regulations ready by the late October summit, and the US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency told the US Congress last month it was uncertain whether the PRC was abiding by a pledge not to provide technology to su

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

I. United States

1. Four-Party Peace Talks

The US State Department (“STATE RELEASE ON 2ND KOREA 4-PARTY PREPARATORY MEETING,” USIA Transcript, 9/11/97) issued the following statement through the Office of the Spokesman: “KOREA – FOUR-PARTY PREPARATORY MEETING. A second Four-Party preparatory meeting with the participation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Republic of Korea, the United States, and the People’s Republic of China will be held in New York City on September 18 and 19, 1997. The preparatory meeting is to decide arrangements for the Four-Party plenary session. The meetings will be held at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. We wish to express our appreciation to Columbia University for its generosity in making these facilities available.”

US State Department Spokesman James Foley (“STATE DEPARTMENT BRIEFING, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11,” USIA Transcript, 9/11/97) discussed the announcement that US, PRC, DPRK and ROK representatives will meet at Columbia University in New York City September 18 and 19 for the second preparatory meeting to discuss arrangements for four-party talks on a peace agreement for the Korean peninsula. Foley stated that the US also will be holding prior bilateral meetings with each of the other participants in the four-party talks, but would not comment on “the particulars of those meetings.” Foley also continued to refuse comment on any aspect of the recent defections of DPRK Ambassador to Egypt Chang Song-kil and his brother and fellow diplomat Chang Song-ho. “In our view there is no linkage between the Chang case and the four-party peace process, or, indeed, any other issue,” Foley said. Asked to comment on reports that DPRK officials claim their renewed willingness to attend the talks resulted from a new US-DPRK agreement on other issues, Foley replied, “I’m aware that our policy has consistently been to acknowledge no linkage. I have nothing further to add.” Foley also would not comment on any aspect of the meetings between US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Charles Kartman and DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye-gwan in Beijing earlier in the week. Foley repeated the US position that it would treat seriously any new appeal for DPRK food aid from the UN World Food Program. Finally, Foley stated that no new date has been set for a next round of US-DPRK talks to discuss missile proliferation, following cancellation of talks set for the week of September 15 due to the defections.

Reuters (“U.S., N.KOREA AGREE TO NEW PEACE TALKS,” Beijing, 9/11/97) reported that US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Charles Kartman and DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye-gwan, meeting in Beijing, agreed Thursday on resumption of preliminary four-party Korean talks in New York later this month. Although embassy officials on both sides had little comment, the DPRK’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) and a senior US diplomat in the ROK confirmed the agreement. KCNA said the US had removed

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

I. United States

1. Four-Party Peace Talks

The AP-Dow Jones News Service (“U.S. ENVOY STILL CAN’T SAY IF N. KOREA TO JOIN PEACE TALKS,” Beijing, 9/10/97) reported that US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Charles Kartman, following his meeting Wednesday with DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan, could not confirm that the DPRK would attend the second four-party peace talks preliminary meeting set to take place in New York next week, but did say that progress was made in the discussions and that the two envoys would meet again Thursday morning. Asked whether the DPRK would attend next week’s talks, Kartman said, “I’m afraid I can’t give you an answer.” “We’re still engaged and we’ll be able to make an announcement as soon as we know something,” he said in a telephone interview. Kartman added that Wednesday’s meeting “was lengthy but I think we made progress,” and then declined further questions.

US Deputy State Department Spokesman James Foley (“STATE DEPARTMENT BRIEFING, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10,” USIA Transcript, 9/10/97), commenting on the meeting between US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Charles Kartman and DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan Wednesday in Beijing, stated, “The meeting was useful and productive. It was conducted in a professional manner. They will meet again tomorrow to continue their discussions.” Foley later added, “We are pleased that there is going to be a second meeting tomorrow.” On whether the DPRK will still attend the second four-party peace talks preliminary meeting set to take place in New York next week, Foley said, “we have no concrete news yet on that issue, but I will repeat again what I’ve been saying every day from this podium, which is that we’ve received no indication from the North Koreans that they are not going to be attending the talks.” Foley refused requests to elaborate on these statements. In replies to numerous questions, Foley provided few other details of the discussions, and had no comment on how many more meetings Kartman and Kim might have in Beijing, whether the DPRK had raised the issue of food aid at the Beijing meeting, whether the subject of rescheduling the postponed missile talks had come up, or whether the two sides discussed the defection of DPRK Ambassador Chang Song-kil.

2. DPRK Soldier Killed in DMZ

The Washington Post (Mary Jordan, “N. KOREAN KILLED AFTER CROSSING BORDER,” Tokyo, 9/10/97, A18) reported that ROK government officials said the killing of a DPRK soldier in the DMZ Tuesday took place after an unknown number of DPRK soldiers crossed the border. The soldier killed was armed with a rifle and had come within yards of a ROK guard post, the officials said. The shooting was the first fatality from DPRK-ROK conflict since the ROK manhunt for the DPRK crewmen and commandos that fled the DPRK submarine that ran aground on the ROK coast last September.

US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Kenneth Bacon (“DEFENSE DEPARTMENT REG

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

III. Russian Federation

I. United States

1. US-DPRK Talks in Beijing

Reuters (“U.S. OFFICIALS IN BEIJING FOR N.KOREA TALKS,” Beijing, 9/9/97) reported that US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Charles Kartman on Tuesday arrived in Beijing to hold one day of talks with DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye-gwan on Wednesday, according to a US embassy spokesman. The talks will focus on DPRK attendance of the four-party Korean peace talks, the official said. The meeting will be the first of senior US and DPRK officials since the DPRK ambassador to Egypt, Chang Sung-kil, and his diplomat brother sought asylum in the US last month. The defections have raised doubts as to whether the DPRK will attend a second peace talks preparatory meeting set for the week of September 15 in New York, and the DPRK last week requested a meeting with US senior officials to discuss the defections and four-party talks, diplomats said. Kartman arrived from Seoul, where he had held consultations with ROK authorities.

The AP-Dow Jones News Service (“US, CHINA OFFICIALS MEET IN ATTEMPT TO KEEP N KOREA IN TALKS,” Beijing, 9/9/97) reported that US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Charles Kartman on Tuesday met with PRC officials to discuss his plans for Wednesday’s meeting in Beijing with DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan to dissuade Pyongyang from dropping out of the four-party peace talks. US Embassy officials provided no specifics on the discussions.

The Associated Press (“OFFICIAL SAYS KOREA TALKS STILL ON,” Beijing, 9/9/97) reported that US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Charles Kartman said Tuesday that the US still expects Korean peace talks to go ahead next week despite the defections of two DPRK diplomats. “I expect they’ll take place,” Kartman said in an interview. Kartman said the purpose his meeting Wednesday with DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan was to “stay in touch, make sure we’re communicating.” The PRC Foreign Ministry’s spokesman, Shen Guofang, said the PRC hoped all sides would work to ensure the talks begin on time, but added that rapid results should not be expected. “It’s not realistic to expect all the issues or most of the issues to be resolved in an instant,” Shen said. “We hope that all sides will maintain a calm, cool state of affairs so that they can continue to discuss issues of common concern.”

US Deputy State Department Spokesman James Foley (“STATE DEPARTMENT BRIEFING, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8,” USIA Transcript, 9/9/97) stated Monday that the US still expects the second round of the four-party peace talks preliminary meetings to take place on schedule in New York the week of September 15. “Now, there have been questions raised in the wake of some recent events. I can only say that we have not had any concrete news from the North Korean side about any change of plans. We are continuing to hope that indeed they will arrive and participate in the talks in New York next week, as has been scheduled,” Foley said. Foley confirmed that Deputy Assistant Secre

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

I. United States

1. US-DPRK Engagement

US State Department Spokesman James Foley (“STATE DEPARTMENT NOON BRIEFING,” USIA Transcript, 9/5/97) confirmed that US and DPRK officials met Thursday in New York, “at the level of the North Korea office director, Mark Minton.” Foley said further such meetings were possible but nothing specifically was scheduled. Asked if the DPRK representatives said whether they still intended to attend the upcoming four-party talks preliminary meeting, Foley replied, “They didn’t say that they were; they didn’t say that they were not. There’s been no change in their position. I have nothing new to report on that. Our offered assumption remains that they will come.” Foley had no further comment on Thursday’s meeting, or on the prospect for resumption of US-DPRK missile proliferation talks.

The AP-Dow Jones News Service (“U.S., N.KOREA OFFICIALS TO MEET IN CHINA ON PEACE PROCESS,” Washington, 9/8/97) reported that the US State Department said Monday that senior US and DPRK officials will meet Wednesday in the PRC to discuss the Korean peninsula peace process. The US will be represented by Acting Assistant Secretary of State Charles Kartman, and the DPRK by Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye-gwan. Kartman has been in Asia for meetings with ROK and PRC officials. Meetings among lower-level US and DPRK officials in New York prepared for the US-DPRK meeting in Beijing. The second round of preliminary meetings for the four-party peace talks, including US, PRC, DPRK and ROK representatives, is scheduled to begin September 15.

2. DPRK Leadership Meeting

The Associated Press (“N. KOREANS TOLD BRIGHTER DAYS AHEAD,” Seoul, 9/8/97) reported that the DPRK’s official Korean Central News Agency said that on Monday DPRK Vice Premier Hong Song Nam, speaking to Communist party and government officials gathered in Pyongyang on the eve of the forth-ninth anniversary of the nation’s founding, urged people to be optimistic about the future under the leadership of Kim Jong-il. “All the people and the officers and men of the People’s Army should have revolutionary optimism and firm faith, that led by the great comrade Kim Jong Il, the socialist homeland will be thriving and have a bright future,” Hong Song told the meeting.

3. New DPRK Defectors

The Associated Press (“THREE NKOREANS DEFECT TO SKOREA,” Seoul, 9/8/97) reported that the ROK Agency for National Security Planning (NSP) said Monday that a DPRK mother and her two grown sons had defected to the ROK. Jang In-suk, 56, defected to Seoul with sons Jung Ryong, 27, and Jung Nam, 24, to join Jang’s eldest son, Jung Hyun, 32, had defected in 1990. The NSP would not identify the third country though which the three defected. Some 170 DPRK citizens have defected to the ROK so far this year.

4. ROK Presidential Race

The AP-Dow Jones News Service (“S. KOREA PRESIDENT KIM TO GIVE UP HELM OF RUL

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

I. United States

1. Korean Landmines

United Press International (“N.KOREA HITS U.S. LAND MINE POLICY,” Seoul, 9/5/97) reported that the DPRK’s official Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a commentary Friday that US support for the use of anti-personnel land mines on the Korean peninsula casts doubt on whether the US can take a “realistic stand” in Korean peace talks. The US has called for a Korean exception to the landmine ban being advocated at a conference under way in Oslo, Norway. The report said, “This makes the world people doubt whether the U.S. would take a realistic stand to establish a new peace-keeping mechanism in the Korean Peninsula at such a negotiation as the four-way talks.” The second preliminary round of the four-party talks is due to convene in New York September 15. The KCNA report criticized the suggestion that if the US removed mines from the Korean peninsula, it would have to deploy 20,000 more troops, saying, “This fact shows that the U.S. is not interested in peace and peaceful reunification of Korea.” [Ed. note: See also “US Defends Korean Landmines” in the US section of the September 3 Daily Report.]

2. Japanese Food Aid to DPRK

The AP-Dow Jones News Service (“JAPAN TO GIVE N. KOREA $20M IN FOOD AID THROUGH U.N.-KYODO,” Tokyo, 9/5/97) reported that Japan’s Kyodo News on Friday cited Japanese Foreign Ministry sources as saying that Japan plans to give the DPRK US$20 million worth of food aid through the United Nations, in response to an appeal by the UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs and the World Food Program. The report said the government will give the money to the UN, which will in turn buy 70,000 tons of rice from Japan. However, a Foreign Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Japanese officials were still debating whether to respond to the appeal and no such decision had yet been made. Japan provided 500,000 tons of rice to the DPRK in 1995 and extended US$6 million worth of aid in 1996, but has been hesitant to give following news reports that DPRK agents abducted a Japanese teen-age girl from Niigata in 1977. The US has provided US$52 million and the ROK US$26 million for food assistance this year.

3. DPRK Defectors May Reveal DPRK Spies

The New York Times (Nicholas D. Kristof, “NORTH KOREAN DEFECTOR’S ‘SPY LIST’ PROVES A HOT TOPIC IN SEOUL,” Seoul, 9/5/97, A3) reported that the high-level DPRK officials who have defected this year are widely thought to have taken with them some tips about the large number of DPRK agents, informants, and sympathizers presumably burrowed into ROK government and politics. In particular, many speculate as to the contents of “Hwang’s List,” the account of DPRK agents reportedly supplied by Hwang Jang-yop, the DPRK ideological leader who arrived in the ROK in April, becoming the highest-level DPRK official ever to defect. At a news conference, Hwang said he had not directly supervise

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

I. United States

1. Chang Defection

US Deputy State Department Spokesman James Foley (“STATE DEPARTMENT NOON BRIEFING, SEPTEMBER 3, 1997,” USIA Transcript, 9/3/97), was asked if the DPRK was telling the US diplomatically, as it was saying publicly, that US haven to diplomatic defectors Chang Sung-kil and Chang Sung-ho was a hurdle to continuing the preliminary four-party Korean peace talks. Foley replied, “Without getting into specifics, what you’ve seen publicly has been reflected. But we’ve seen no indication, to this point, of a change of plans in regard to the four-party talks, which we still hope will take place the week of September 15.” Foley added that he had nothing new to say on the issue of granting asylum to the defectors.

2. DPRK Famine Effects on DPRK Military

The Associated Press (Susanne M. Schafer, “N. KOREAN SOLDIERS HARVEST CROPS,” Seoul, 9/4/97) reported that a senior US military officer, who is based in the ROK and focuses on the defense of US and allied forces there, told reporters on condition of anonymity that the DPRK military has cut training time in half so troops can help harvest the drought-stricken nation’s summer crops. The officer said that for their efforts soldiers receive more food than the civilian population but not “a varied diet as we know it.” However, the officer added that the work does not appear to have affected the DPRK military’s readiness, and there appeared to be no lessening of discipline among the troops, nor a fracturing of the DPRK’s political and military leadership. Meanwhile, Rep. Benjamin Gilman (R-N.Y.), chairman of the US House Committee on International Relations, has requested a study of how US and other foreign food assistance to the DPRK is being used. Mark Kirk, chief counsel for the committee, said that the PRC, which provides the majority of the DPRK’s food aid, is “unconcerned” about monitoring it, and that expatriate North Koreans in Japan believe most of this aid goes to government and military officials.

3. US View of DPRK Tidal Wave, Food Aid

US Deputy State Department Spokesman James Foley (“STATE DEPARTMENT NOON BRIEFING, SEPTEMBER 3, 1997,” USIA Transcript, 9/3/97), asked about reports that a tidal wave on August 21 destroyed a large portion of this year’s DPRK corn crop and displaced some 28,000 people, replied, “Well, clearly the people of North Korea have been much plagued by calamity over the years and certainly in recent years.” Foley stated that the US “would be willing to look at any additional requests that the World Food Program might bring our way,” adding, “We made, I think, an important policy decision not to link political considerations with the plight of the North Korean people and what we feel is a responsibility that is shared by the American people to help people in need. That hasn’t changed.”

4. Private US Aid to DPRK

The New York Times (“NORTH KOREA TO ACC