In today’s Report:
2. US Secretary of State on ASEAN Role in KEDO
3. US Secretary of State on Japanese Food Aid to DPRK
4. DPRK Famine Seen Widening
5. DPRK Policies Seen Improving
I. United States
1. Four Party Talks Preliminary Meeting
The US State Department issued a press release July 29 on the four-party preparatory meeting in New York on August 5 to discuss and decide procedural matters to begin the four-party Korean peace talks (“STATE DEPT. 7/29 ON KOREA FOUR PARTY PREPARATORY MEETING,” USIA Transcript, 7/29/97). The press release, titled “Statement By James B. Foley/Deputy Spokesman Korea — Four Party Preparatory Meeting,” read as follows: “A Four Party preparatory meeting for peace talks among 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 August 5, 1997. The preparatory meeting will discuss and decide procedural matters for the Four Party plenary session, including the earliest agreeable date, venue, and agenda. The U.S. delegation at the August 5 Four Party preparatory meeting will be led by Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Charles Kartman. Other delegation heads are: ROK Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Song Young Shik, DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan, and PRC Assistant Foreign Minister Chen Jian. The August 5 meeting 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.”
2. US Secretary of State on ASEAN Role in KEDO
Reuters (“ALBRIGHT SEES JAPAN HELPING NORTH KOREA,” Singapore, 7/29/97) reported that US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Tuesday that she expected that ASEAN countries will help fund the US$4.5 billion Korean Energy Development Organization (KEDO) project to construct light-water nuclear reactors in the DPRK. Although US officials said foreign ministers at the ASEAN regional meeting this week gave no specific commitment on her appeal for millions of dollars in funds to help underwrite the project, Albright told reporters she expected “more support for KEDO financially than previously … I thought there was quite a lot of receptivity but we’ll see if the check’s in the mail.” “People really focused a lot on the fact that the major strategic disruption that could come from the region could come from Korea, so there was a lot of focus on it,” she added, noting that a result of the extensive discussion of the DPRK at the ASEAN meeting was a greater understanding of KEDO’s financial difficulties and how support for this body is integral to stability on the Korean peninsula. US State Department officials said Albright asked ASEAN to make a one-time contribution in the range of US$10 million and then provide smaller contributions on an annual basis thereafter, but refused to specify the exact amount of the US request, saying it would be