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In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

I. United States

1. US Congressional Representatives Visit to DPRK

The Associated Press (“US ENVOY: N. KOREA ARMY STOLE FOOD,” Seoul, 8/13/97) and Reuters (“U.S. OFFICIALS: FOOD AID GOING TO MILITARY?,” Seoul, 8/13/97) reported that members of the US Congressional delegation that visited the DPRK August 9-11 said Wednesday that the DPRK’s military and government elite may have siphoned off some of the foreign food aid intended for its starving citizens. Representative Jane Harmon (D- Calif.) was quoted as saying at the delegation’s news conference in Seoul, “I believe we would all agree that some food aid has probably ended up in the hands of the military and the other elites in the country and we are concerned about that.” No other delegation member contested Harmon’s remarks. The representatives said they saw serious food problems and agreed on the need for more aid, and Harmon added that international aid workers had “confirmed that some food is reaching the people.” However, representative Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said, “Despite repeated requests by members of this delegation to visit a distribution center we were not able to do that.” Many suspect that the DPRK’s 1.1 million-member army — the world’s fifth largest — is the first to get food because of its role as the backbone of the country’s communist regime. The representatives said they would seek measures to ensure that any future US aid to the DPRK would go directly to hunger-stricken people, and Pelosi said she thought any increase in US aid would depend on how well the DPRK allows the distribution system to be monitored. The DPRK has demanded an increase in aid as a condition for its participation in the US-ROK proposed four-party Korean peace talks. The US has rejected this demand.

US Presidential Press Secretary Mike McCurry (“WHITE HOUSE DAILY BRIEFING, AUGUST 13, 1997,” USIA Transcript, 8/13/97) on Tuesday replied to a question concerning the DPRK visit by a US Congressional delegation and US concerns over the current situation in the DPRK. McCurry stated, “We will be interested in a report of the congressional delegation and learning more about what they’ve seen. They’ve had some access that will be useful I think as we understand more of what’s happening in a society that is very difficult at times to penetrate.” McCurry also credited the efforts of UN World Food Program relief workers in distribution of food aid. “They do very hard work, sometimes under difficult circumstances, to assure that that assistance goes to those citizens who are suffering. And it would be contrary to the wishes of the international community and the program itself to see any diversion of that to satisfy only one segment of the population — the military, for example,” McCurry said.

2. DPRK Aims in Peace Talks

The Associated Press (“N.KOREA WANTS IMPROVED TIES WITH US,

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Russian Federation

III. Analysis Response

I. United States

1. US Congressional Representatives Visit DPRK

A statement issued by the bipartisan delegation from the US House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence that visited the DPRK August 9-11 (“STATEMENT OF HOUSE INTELLIGENCE CODEL ON N. KOREA VISIT,” USIA Transcript, 8/12/97) concluded that there exists opportunity for further constructive dialogue between the US and the DPRK. The statement said the delegation, in its meetings with DPRK officials, stressed a number of points on issues such as reducing tensions, controlling arms proliferation, the US commitment to the ROK, and DPRK commitment to current agreements. The statement said, “The delegation believes talks were constructive in demonstrating bipartisan support for United States policy to encourage North Korea to engage in honest and good faith negotiations to lessen tensions in the region.” The statement continued, “The North Koreans were focused on seeing United States sanctions lifted and the need for additional food assistance. In addition, the North Koreans stated their refusal to abandon their centralized political and economic systems. The delegation emphasized that Americans are a compassionate people, generous in their willingness to alleviate suffering, but who seek assurance that food relief is used to feed those North Korean people most in need. The delegation stressed that sanctions must be negotiated as part of a larger political package involving proliferation and other security matters.”

Reuters (“US DELEGATION SAYS PYONGYANG REFUSES TO CHANGE,” Seoul, 8/12/97) reported that US officials said Tuesday that the DPRK told the US Congressional delegation that visited August 9-11 that the US must lift economic sanctions against it and not try to change the DPRK’s centralized economic system. “The North Koreans stressed the need for the lifting of U.S. sanctions and for additional food aid,” a US embassy official said. “The North Koreans also made clear they will refuse to abandon their centralized political and economic systems,” he added. Shortly before flying to Seoul, delegation head Porter Goss, chairman of the US House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told a news conference in Tokyo that the DPRK also was unwilling to deal with the ROK until President Kim Young-sam ended his five-year term next February. “They absolutely want nothing to do with the present leadership,” Goss said. The ROK president has been a daily target of abuse from the DPRK official media since he refused to mourn the death of DPRK “Great Leader” Kim Il-sung in 1994. Seoul foreign ministry officials said the visit by the congressmen was the largest yet by U.S. officials. Wednesday, the delegation is due to meet ROK Foreign Minister Yoo Chong-ha and General John Tilelli, commander of the 37,000 US troops stationed in the ROK.

The AP-Dow Jones News Service (“U.S. GROUP SAYS N

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

I. United States

1. Four-Party Peace Talks Preliminary Meeting Aftermath

The AP-Dow Jones News Service (“U.S. REJECTS LINKAGE BETWEEN FOOD AID, KOREA PEACE TALKS,” Washington, 8/11/97) reported that the US State Department on Monday rejected the DPRK’s appeal on Sunday for more food aid before taking part in a Korea peace conference. [Ed. note: See following item.] US State Department spokesman James P. Rubin was quoted as saying, “We do not believe that these talks should be conditioned on anything.” “These talks are designed to improve stability on the Korean Peninsula. They’re designed to improve the situation for the people in both sides of the divide in Korea. So we don’t think they ought to be linked to other issues,” he said. Rubin noted that the US has an excellent record of responding to appeals for food aid from the UN’s World Food Program, and promised a “good hard look” by the US if the WFP issues another appeal for food. Rubin said that, in the talks, the US wants a “general” agenda that focuses on stability, security and confidence-building measures.

The Associated Press (“NKOREA DEMAND FOOD AID BEFORE TALKS,” Seoul, 8/10/97) reported that on Sunday the DPRK Foreign Ministry said the DPRK wants to discuss obtaining more food aid before joining a Korean peace conference, and that its negotiators at the four-party peace talks preliminary meeting in New York were disappointed by a US insistence that food aid could be discussed only after the peace talks open. “With serious food problems, we guard against possible use of food assistance to [the DPRK] as a political weapon at the four-way talks,” a ministry spokesman told the DPRK’s official Korean Central News Agency. The US also resisted DPRK demands to discuss the withdrawal of US troops from the ROK and a separate US-DPRK bilateral peace treaty at the New York talks, whose results the DPRK spokesman described as “below our expectations.”

Reuters (Carol Giacomo, “U.S. OPTIMISTIC ON FUTURE OF KOREA TALKS,” Washington, 8/9/97) reported that following the failure of the four-party preliminary meeting to reach agreement to begin formal Korean peace talks, US officials remained optimistic about prospects for launching the talks eventually, but also ruled out negotiating the DPRK’s demand for a withdrawal of US forces from the Korean peninsula. “We’ve deployed our troops there for a very good reason. It’s a very dangerous place. And we see no reason now to speculate on what would change in an area this dangerous,” US State Department spokesman James Rubin said Friday. [Ed. note: See the following item.] Another senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, commented, “We are not going to negotiate with the North about our troop presence.” [Ed. note: See the full text of the unnamed US official’s briefing issued as a Special Report on August 8.] However, Rubin did

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

III. Japan

I. United States

1. Four-Party Peace Talks Preliminary Meeting

The Associated Press (“KOREA TALKS ADJOURN UNTIL SEPTEMBER,” New York, 8/8/97) and Reuters (“KOREA TALKS ADJOURN AFTER FALTERING ON AGENDA,” New York, 8/7/97) reported that the four-party Korean peace talks preliminary meeting in New York on Thursday adjourned without reaching a final agreement on commencement of the formal four-party peace talks themselves. Negotiators from the US, the ROK, the DPRK and the PRC did agree to reconvene for a second round of preliminary talks in New York beginning on September 15. The goal of the preliminary meeting, under way since Tuesday at Columbia University, was to arrange the timing, venue, and agenda for the formal talks. Negotiators did agree to convene the formal talks in Geneva six weeks after they finalize all details. However, agreement on the agenda was obstructed by the DPRK’s insistence that it include the withdrawal of the 37,000 US troops now stationed in the ROK and a separate peace agreement between the US and the DPRK. The DPRK’s chief negotiator, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye-gwan, said his delegation was the only one to submit specific agenda items. “We have put forward the withdrawal of US troops from South Korea and the surrounding areas as an agenda item,” Kim said. “We also proposed to set the issue on conclusion of a peace treaty between North Korea and the United States as one of the agenda items..” A senior US official, speaking on the record but on condition of anonymity, said the US, the ROK, and the PRC all resisted these demands, preferring instead a more general agenda less focused on specific issues. However, both US and DPRK officials said they were generally satisfied with the talks. Kim said they would “greatly help” the two sides understand one another. The senior US official said, “The atmosphere of this meeting was very good, and leaves me with some confidence that when we resume next month, we will enter into an atmosphere that is still good … and that we will finish the job in that session.” [Ed. note: The full transcript of the US official’s briefing will be distributed separately.]

The New York Times (Steven Lee Myers, “KOREAN PEACE TALKS FALTER BEFORE THEY BEGIN,” Washington, 8/8/97) reported that the failure of negotiators at the four-party peace talks preliminary meeting to resolve sharp differences over the agenda for future formal peace talks was a setback to US efforts to draw the DPRK into negotiations to replace the fragile armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War. The report noted that even the agreement at the meeting to hold future negotiations in Geneva six weeks after the current preliminary meetings end remained tentative, and indicated that US officials are showing signs of frustration. “You don’t come here to agree to have more preparatory talks,” one senior administration official was quoted as saying even before th

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

I. United States

1. Four-Party Peace Talks Preliminary Meeting

The Associated Press (“NEGOTIATORS IN KOREA TALKS TACKLE SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES,” New York, 8/6/97) reported that the DPRK’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper carried a commentary on Wednesday arguing that the withdrawal of US troops from the ROK is the “key to peace” on the Korean Peninsula and must be the main topic of the four-party peace talks that negotiators in New York are now trying to arrange. The US and the ROK long have insisted that any talk of withdrawing the 37,000 US troops must follow big steps by the DPRK to reduce its military threat to the ROK. The commentary called this position “unreasonable.” “To withdraw all its troops unconditionally from South Korea and its vicinity is what the United States should do first of all for peace on the Korean Peninsula,” the commentary said. The ROK’s Yonhap News Agency said the DPRK’s demands “foreboded hard times ahead” for the four-party talks. Sources close to the four-party preliminary meeting in New York said that, in Tuesday’s opening session, DPRK vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye-guan raised the issue of the US troops, describing them as an “outside force” standing in the way of Korean reunification. However, a senior ROK official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, described the atmosphere as “cozy” and “good.” US officials, while refusing to characterize the atmosphere at the first day’s session, insisted that the DPRK’s very participation in the current talks was a positive development.

The New York Times (Steven Lee Myers, “NORTH KOREA SITS DOWN FOR TALKS WITH SOUTH KOREA AND U.S.,” New York, 8/6/97) reported that US officials see the DPRK’s willingness to participate in Korean peace talks as a sign of its desperation over its increasingly severe food shortages. One senior US official was quoted as saying that DPRK leaders apparently decided the talks are “necessary to keep the international community engaged” in providing emergency food aid. A spokesman for the ROK delegation said that during the closed negotiations, the DPRK’s deputy minister for foreign affairs and delegate to the talks, Kim Gye-gwan, expressed hopes that the talks would “result in a fruitful conclusion.” However, US officials have remained wary and have sought to lower expectations. “I think that with respect to tension on the Korean peninsula, we are better off being engaged in this process and in this structure than we would be otherwise,” a senior US State Department official was quoted as saying. “So simply having commenced has some intangible benefit.”

The Washington Post (Blaine Harden, “FOUR NATIONS OPEN PRELIMINARY PEACE TALKS ON KOREA,” New York, 8/6/97, A16) reported that the reaffirmation of the validity of the Korean armistice by a DPRK foreign ministry official on Tuesday was described on Wednesday by a US State Department official as “a

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

I. United States

1. Four-Party Peace Talks Preliminary Meeting

Reuters (“FOUR-PARTY KOREAN PEACE TALKS OPEN IN NEW YORK,” New York, 8/5/97) reported that the four-party Korean peace talks preliminary meeting, including officials from the DPRK, the ROK, the US, and the PRC, opened Tuesday at Columbia University in New York. The immediate goal of the meeting was to agree on a specific date, time and agenda for beginning substantive negotiations intended to replace the Korean armistice from the 1950-53 Korean War with a more permanent peace, potentially in the form of a treaty. At its beginning, officials from the four states shook hands but gave no hint whether they thought the meeting would be successful. “I hope we have a good dialogue today,” Song Young-shik, the head of the ROK delegation, said at the start of the talks. US and ROK officials said they expected the talks to last several days. The DPRK agreed to the four-party preliminary meeting June 30, following protracted efforts culminating in a series of trilateral meetings involving the US, the DPRK and the ROK. Tuesday’s “talks about talks,” including the PRC for the first time, mark progress toward launching actual negotiations within the framework first proposed by the US and the ROK last year. “This is real progress. We have moved from a round table to a square table,” Kartman told the delegations in a reference to the presence of the PRC. US officials reportedly still harbor doubts about the DPRK’s real commitment to reducing tensions on the Korean peninsula, but insist that negotiations can still yield positive results. The US plans to propose new ways to ease tensions between the two Koreas, including such confidence building measures as exchanging military visits and providing advance notification of military maneuvers.

The Associated Press (“N. KOREA VOWS TO HONOR 1953 TRUCE,” New York, 8/5/97) reported that later on Tuesday officials from the DPRK, the ROK, the US, and the PRC, completed the first day of the four-party Korean peace talks preliminary meeting, agreeing to reconvene at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday. Although none of the four delegation chiefs responded when asked about progress during Tuesday’s talks, during the lunch break a beaming PRC Assistant Foreign Minister Chen Jian declared, “So far, so good,” and flashed a “V” for victory sign. Sources close to the talks said the delegations agreed to set a date for a peace conference first, to be followed by discussions on the venue and then the agenda. The last item is the stickiest due to the DPRK’s desire to include the issue of the withdrawal of US troops from the ROK. The DPRK’s head delegate, Kim Gye-gwan, said his country wanted a “fruitful conclusion” to the talks and indicated the DPRK would be willing to discuss confidence-building measures with the ROK. In Pyongyang, the DPRK’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Analysis

I. United States

1. DPRK Provides US POW Remains

Reuters (“N.KOREA HANDS OVER U.S. REMAINS,” Seoul, 8/4/97) and the Associated Press (“NORTH KOREA HANDS OVER MIA REMAINS,” Panmunjom, 8/4/97) reported that the DPRK on Monday handed over the remains of four US soldiers killed during the 1950-1953 Korean War to representatives of the US-led UN Command at the DMZ crossing of Panmunjom. The delivery of the remains was taken as a DPRK goodwill gesture on the eve of the four-party peace talks preliminary meeting set to begin Tuesday in New York. The remains of the four soldiers were excavated by a team of ten US experts, which has been in the DPRK since mid-July searching for remains of US soldiers missing in action from the war. Drenched by rain, US honor guards draped the caskets in UN flags after they were delivered to the southern side, while several members of the US search team watched the handover from the northern side. Alan Liotta, deputy director of the US Defense Department, said at Panmunjom that the remains, recovered in the DPRK’s Unsan County, were from soldiers of the Eighth Cavalry First Battalion who died in October of 1950. The remains will be sent to the US for identification, Liotta said, adding that the DPRK has opened its archives to the US for the first time, leading to hopes that more possible burial sites of US soldiers will be identified. Some 8,100 US soldiers remain unaccounted for from the Korean War, in which more than 50,000 US soldiers died. So far, 209 sets of remains have been returned to the US, but only seven have been positively identified.

2. DPRK Protests ROK Military Display

The AP-Dow Jones News Service (“N. KOREA ACCUSES S. KOREA OF BELLIGERENCE AT BORDER,” Tokyo, 8/4/97) reported that the DPRK’s official Radio Pyongyang, in a broadcast Sunday monitored by Japan-based Radiopress, accused the ROK of deploying tanks and firing artillery near the demilitarized zone in what it called a “serious provocation.” The broadcast said the artillery was displayed in a town about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the demilitarized zone, and that it fired shots toward the border for three hours last Friday morning. The broadcast said a group of tanks was deployed in another city nearby. In Seoul, the ROK Defense Ministry rejected the accusations as false. The accusations marked the DPRK’s ongoing denunciations of the ROK, and contrasted to its gestures of conciliation toward the US in the run-up to the four-party talks preliminary meeting Tuesday.

3. Four-Party Peace Talks Preliminary Meeting

The Associated Press (“KOREAN PEACE TALKS TO BEGIN,” New York, 8/4/97) reported that the four-party peace talks preliminary meeting was set to begin on Tuesday with hopes that direct negotiations to bring a formal peace treaty to the Korean peninsula could soon r

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

III. Japan

I. United States

1. US Secretary of State on ASEAN and Korea

US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, in a July 29 press briefing in Singapore following the ASEAN meetings in Kuala Lumpur (“ALBRIGHT 7/29 ASEAN OVERVIEW BRIEFING IN SINGAPORE,” USIA Transcript, 7/31/97), discussed the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and its relationship to security issues on the Korean peninsula. Albright praised the ARF for providing a focus for “the importance of the strategic underpinning to the economic and political relationships” in the region, and for providing the US with an opportunity to engage its members “as a group, but also individually.” Albright said that in her recent meetings with ARF members, the situation on the Korean peninsula was “number one on the list” of subjects discussed. “People really focused a lot on the fact that the major strategic disruptions that could come to the region could come from Korea,” she said, adding that “there is a lot of support for the four-party approach and a lot of recognition of the fact that this is a remaining problem, the one really serious strategic problem in the region.” Albright also said that ASEAN members expressed support for the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO), adding that she expects that “there will be greater support for KEDO financially than previously” from ASEAN countries.

2. US Secretary of State on Four-Party Talks

US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (“ALBRIGHT 7/29 ASEAN OVERVIEW BRIEFING IN SINGAPORE,” USIA Transcript, 7/31/97) also commented directly on the four-party peace talks preliminary meeting set to take place August 5 in New York. Albright stated: “The talks are going to set the agenda and the venue, and I think we will have to see how quickly we could move to the next round. But the feeling that we have now is that the North Koreans are now more willing to engage in a North-South dialogue. The Chinese are definitely supportive of that approach. The South Koreans also — at least in the discussions that I had with Foreign Minister Yoo — are really prepared to be quite forthcoming. … I think they are interested in making the North-South dialogue work also in terms of their willingness to talk about food aid and basically interested in moving the process forward.”

3. US Congressional Trips to DPRK

The AP-Dow Jones News Service (“TWO U.S. CONGRESSIONAL TRIPS TO N. KOREA PLANNED FOR AUGUST,” Washington, 7/31/97) reported that two US congressional trips to the DPRK are being planned for the August recess. Rep. Tony Hall, D-Ohio, who visited the DPRK in April to examine the famine there, has asked for permissio

I. United States 1. ROK Support for KEDO Nuclear Project The AP-Dow Jones News Service (“S. KOREA PROVIDES $45 MLN FOR N. KOREAN NUCLEAR PROJECT,” Seoul, 7/31/97) reported that the ROK said Thursday it will provide US$45 million to the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) to enable construction to start on the two light-water […]

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

I. United States

1. ROK Support for KEDO Nuclear Project

The AP-Dow Jones News Service (“S. KOREA PROVIDES $45 MLN FOR N. KOREAN NUCLEAR PROJECT,” Seoul, 7/31/97) reported that the ROK said Thursday it will provide US$45 million to the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) to enable construction to start on the two light-water nuclear reactors in the DPRK called for in the 1994 US-DPRK Agreed Framework. The ROK has promised to pay most of the US$5 billion bill for the nuclear plants, which are being built in exchange for the DPRK’s promise to freeze its nuclear program suspected of developing nuclear weapons. The new reactors are safer and produce far less weapons-grade plutonium than the North’s outdated Soviet-designed system. The ROK payment to KEDO will enable it to break ground for the reactors in August. Final decisions on allocating the reactors’ cost has yet to be decided among KEDO’s three main members — the US, the ROK and Japan. The reactors will be built at an 887-hectare plot in Sinpo, a remote fishing village on the DPRK’s east coast, some 400 kilometers from Pyongyang.

2. DPRK Famine

Reuters (“U.N. ASKS FOR MORE BILATERAL AID TO N.KOREA,” Washington, 7/31/97) reported that Catherine Bertini, executive director of the UN World Food Program (WFP), at a news conference on Thursday appealed to Western countries to give more aid to the DPRK to meet a shortfall of up to 800,000 tons of food needed to ease a severe famine. “The World Food Program is pleading with donors to make bilateral donations,” Bertini said. “There are still millions and millions of people who have no food. … The whole country is in famine.” Bertini said starving North Koreans were harvesting seaweed and several factories were being used to bake cakes from tree parts that have no nutritional value but fill a person’s stomach. “If [the cakes] look brown, they are made of tree bark, if they are green they are made of tree leaves,” Bertini said. Earlier this month, the WFP launched a new appeal for US$46 million to ease the plight of about 2.6 million children under 6 years old who are already suffering from critical malnutrition. The US$46 million would cover about 130,000 metric tons of food. Bertini said donor response has been very generous and about 75 percent of this money has been raised. Bertini said, however, that the WFP estimated there is still a need for between 700,000 and 800,000 metric tons of food, and that direct bilateral donations are needed because the WFP is already stretched ensuring that current donations reach the hungry. [Ed. note: See also “DPRK Famine Seen Widening” in the July 29 Daily Report.]