Archives

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

III. People’s Republic of China

I. United States

1. DPRK Famine Prospects

The Associated Press (Robert H. Reid, “U.N.: NORTH KOREA HAS FOOD CRISIS,” United Nations, 1/29/97) reported that UN World Food Program spokesman Michael Ross said Wednesday that the DPRK’s food shortage is so acute that many city dwellers are receiving only 15 percent of the daily ration given to refugees in UN-managed camps in Africa. Dwindling supplies have forced the DPRK government to reduce the amount of food provided by the state-run ration system from about 14 ounces per person a few months ago to 3 1/2 ounces. Refugees in UN-supported camps receive about 23 ounces of rations a day. The UN agency estimates that the DPRK has only enough food in warehouses to last until late spring or early summer. One World Food Program official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a sign of the crisis is the near total absence of animals — dogs, cats, chickens and cattle — throughout the DPRK. “This means they’ve been slaughtered for food,” the official said. The US State Department announced Monday that the DPRK had postponed by one week its meeting with US and ROK officials for a briefing on the four-party peace talks proposal, in order to conclude negotiations with Western firms on grain imports. Last week, InterAction, a coalition of 150 American humanitarian groups, said that the DPRK’s 23 million people are “in the throes of a life-threatening food shortage that could take on famine proportions in the months to come.” [Ed. note: For more information please see “DPRK Food Situation” in the US section of the January 23 Daily Report.]

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

I. United States

1. Briefing on Four Party Talks

US State Department Spokesman Nicholas Burns (“STATE DEPARTMENT NOON BRIEFING, JAN. 27,” USIA Transcript, 1/28/97) discussed the DPRK’s request to postpone the US-ROK joint briefing on proposed four-party peace talks. Burns said the US and ROK had both accepted the request to postpone the meeting, set to take place in New York City, from January 29 to February 5. Burns said the DPRK said it wanted to place first priority on concluding discussions for grain imports currently taking place with “some private Western companies,” which Burns termed “a satisfactory explanation.”

2. DPRK-Taiwan Nuclear Waste Deal

US State Department Spokesman Nicholas Burns (“STATE DEPARTMENT NOON BRIEFING, JAN. 27,” USIA Transcript, 1/28/97), in response to questions concerning the US position on the DPRK-Taiwan nuclear waste deal, said: “I’m not sure that the State Department has taken a position on that. We’ve heard about the deal, but I’m not sure we know enough about it to talk about it. Let me just say this; some positive things have happened concerning North Korea in recent weeks. We’ve seen the North state its deep regret for the submarine incident. There is every reason to think that implementation of the Agreed Framework continues to proceed normally. In fact, there’s no indication to the contrary, including the spent nuclear fuel canning operation at Yongbyon, North Korea, and the delivery of heavy

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

III. Russian Federation

I. United States

1. Four-Party Talks Briefing Delay

The Associated Press (“NORTH KOREA SEEKS DELAY IN TALKS,” Washington, 1/27/97) reported that the US State Department said Monday that the DPRK has postponed by one week the scheduled briefing by US and ROK officials on the four-party peace talks proposal. US State Department Spokesman Nicholas Burns said the planned meeting, whose venue is now set for New York, was being postponed from January 29 to February 5. Burns said the DPRK sought the postponement in order to conclude negotiations with Western firms on grain imports, and that he considered the DPRK explanation to be “satisfactory.” The negotiations apparently involve Cargill Inc., a commodities trading firm, which received Clinton administration approval a month ago to sell up to 500,000 metric tons of wheat or rice to the DPRK. [Ed. note: Please see the related item in the ROK section, below.]

2. DPRK-Taiwan Nuclear Waste Deal

United Press International (“TAIWAN DUMPING SPARKS S.KOREA PROTESTS,” Seoul, 1/25/97) reported that after Taiwan’s economy ministry said Thursday it will not block the shipment of some 60,000 barrels of low-level radioactive waste to the DPRK despite ROK objections, ROK demonstrators burned an effigy of Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui in angry protest. The Korea Federation for the Environmental Movement (KFEM) protested Saturday outside Taipei’s representative office in Seoul as other groups vowed to laun

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

III. Japan

I. United States

1. ROK-DPRK Relations

The AP-Dow Jones News Service (“N. KOREA ACCUSES S. KOREA OF TRYING TO BLOCK AID FROM JAPAN,” Seoul, 1/24/97) reported that the DPRK on Friday said that the ROK is trying to block Japanese humanitarian aid. The accusation, carried by the DPRK’s official Korean Central News Agency, came on the eve of a summit between Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto of Japan and ROK President Kim Young-sam. Japan hopes for a reopening of long-frozen talks on normalizing relations with the DPRK, which experts say will involve food aid as an incentive. The ROK wants its allies to hold off large assistance until the DPRK agrees to peace talks. [Ed. note: Please also see “ROK-Japan Relations” in this section, below.]

Reuters (“S.KOREA REOPENS DOOR TO INVESTMENT IN N.KOREA,” Seoul, 1/24/97) reported that the ROK on Friday opened the door for domestic companies to invest in the DPRK for the first time since the submarine incursion incident shut off all contact between the two sides. The ROK Unification Ministry said it had given approval to seven firms to open talks to develop a number of joint projects. But company executives and government officials cautioned against expecting speedy improvement in economic cooperation. “Today’s approval was just for contacts, not for any specific project. Our group also has no specific project there yet,” said a senior official of the Lotte Group, one of the seven firms. “There should first be development in the ove

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

I. United States

1. ROK Strikes

Reuters (“SEOUL WARNS STRIKERS, BLASTS OPPOSITION,” Seoul, 01/23/97) reported that ROK labor minister Jin Nyum was quoted by ministry officials as warning Thursday that the government would no longer tolerate illegal strikes. “The minister said the workers should stop illegal strikes while a solution is being sought by politicians,” Son Khong-ho, a director-general at the ministry, told Reuters. “He said no more illegal activities will be tolerated.” Jin did not specify what measures would be taken against strikers or when the government would act. Meanwhile, representatives of the ruling New Korea Party criticized opposition parties for dismissing President Kim Young-sam’s offer to reopen parliamentary debate over the new labor law. The opposition rejected Kim’s offer Wednesday, saying any debate in parliament could only be held on condition the law was first repealed. “It is really shameless behavior… for the opposition to demand the nullification of the law, while it could not provide an alternative and has not put forward its own draft,” a statement from the New Korea Party said. The party rammed the law through parliament during a seven-minute pre-dawn session December 26 while opposition legislators were asleep.

2. DPRK Defectors

Reuters (“HUNGER DROVE N. KOREANS ON TRIP TO SOUTH,” Seoul, 01/23/97) reported that a spokesman for the ROK Agency for National Security Planning was quoted in ROK media as

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

III. Russian Federation

IV. People’s Republic of China

I. United States

1. Four-Party Talks Briefing

US State Department Spokesman Nicholas Burns (“STATE DEPT. NOON BRIEFING, JAN. 21,” USIA Transcript, 01/22/97) said he had no new information concerning the venue for the joint US-ROK briefing of the DPRK on the four-party peace talks proposal scheduled for January 29. “We still are trying to work out with the North Koreans and the Republic of Korea where those talks would be held, and we don’t have the final decision on that,” Burns said. Burns told reporters, “I have asked that as soon as a decision is made about the site for those talks, that we give that to you.”

2. DPRK Defections

The Associated Press (“2 N. KOREA FAMILIES DEFECT,” Seoul, 01/22/97) reported that two families defected from the DPRK to the ROK by boat on Wednesday. ROK patrol boats found the eight North Koreans adrift south of the border and towed them to a nearby island, officials said. A police helicopter took them to the port of Inchon, west of Seoul. The defection was the first major escape by sea from the DPRK since the 1987 defection of an eleven-member family to Seoul by boat via Japan. The defection followed that of a seventeen-member family that arrived in the ROK December 9 after a 27-day journey through the PRC into Hong Kong, the largest single flight from the DPRK since the 1950-53 Korean War.

3. Profile of DPRK Leader

The Washington Post (Kevin Sullivan, “N. KOREA’S NEW KI

I. United States 1. Allies Plan DPRK Collapse Reuters (“US, ALLIES DISCUSS N. KOREA CONTINGENCY PLANS,” Tokyo, 01/21/97) reported that a senior Japanese government official, in an interview with the news agency on condition of anonymity, said Tuesday that the US, Japan, and the ROK have been discussing contingency plans in the event of a […]

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

I. United States

1. Allies Plan DPRK Collapse

Reuters (“US, ALLIES DISCUSS N. KOREA CONTINGENCY PLANS,” Tokyo, 01/21/97) reported that a senior Japanese government official, in an interview with the news agency on condition of anonymity, said Tuesday that the US, Japan, and the ROK have been discussing contingency plans in the event of a famine-driven “crisis” in the DPRK. “Japan, the United States and South Korea have been exchanging information on the situation in North Korea,” the official said. “I would say we (the three countries) have been discussing contingency plans in the event of a crisis,” he said. The official added that the ROK has already mapped out various crisis scenarios including a mass exodus of starving refugees, a military invasion and the collapse of Pyongyang’s government. Although the Japanese official did not expect an uncontrolled outflow of refugees any time soon or the imminent collapse of the DPRK government, he painted a gloomy picture of the next few months. “North Korea has already been in a considerable degree of (food) crisis,” he said. “Food stocks would become extremely tight in March or April.” “If North Korea failed in its efforts to secure enough food supplies from other countries, the food situation would reach a crisis point,” he said. “We believe North Korea does not have much food left now.” The report follows last month’s arrival in the ROK of a seventeen-member family that fled the DPRK through the PRC and Hong Kong, which alerted

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

III. Japan

I. United States

1. DPRK Opens Web Page

The Associated Press (“NORTH KOREA NEWS HITS INTERNET,” Tokyo, 01/17/97) reported that the DPRK’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Thursday opened a site on the World Wide Web (WWW) for dissemination of English-language news reports around the world. The web site address is: http://www.kcna.co.jp. However, only a few earlier news reports were immediately available on the site, and Lee Young Su, an editor of the Korean News Service in Tokyo, which acts as the Japanese agency for KCNA, admitted that KCNA wasn’t having an easy time with its new venue. “It’s been a little difficult for our young men in Pyongyang to master Internet, but never mind. Next month, it will be more up to date,” Lee said. By law, ROK citizens cannot read DPRK newspapers or other publications, and are not allowed to listen to DPRK radio broadcasts. The ROK Unification Ministry confirmed Friday that viewing the DPRK’s WWW page is illegal, but said it has not yet made any moves to block access to it. A ministry official said, on condition of anonymity, that the ministry has not asked ROK Internet providers to block access to the site because the same information can be found on so many other pages.

[Editor’s note: at the time of publication of this Daily Report, the KCNA site offered a list of news items for January 16, a link to an archive of news reports dating to December 2, 1996, a description of the Korean Central News Agency, and a photograph captioned, “The camp of Mt. Paekdu: Birthplace of Secretary Kim Jong Il.”]

2. ROK Strikes

Reuters (“SPECIAL FORCE

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

III. People’s Republic of China

I. United States

1. Venue Set for Four-Party Talks Briefing

United Press International (“N.KOREA AGREES TO DATE FOR BRIEFING,” Washington, 01/16/97) reported that the US State Department said Thursday that the DPRK has agreed to have the formal US briefing on the four-party peace talks proposal take place on January 29. The location is yet to be determined. Progress toward reaching an agreement to convene the four-party talks, which would involve the US, the PRC, the DPRK and the ROK, was interrupted by the DPRK submarine incursion into ROK territory last September. The DPRK agreed in principle to attend a briefing on the proposal as part of the resolution to the submarine incursion incident last month.

2. ROK Family Defects to DPRK

The Associated Press (“S. KOREA FAMILY FLEES TO NORTH,” Seoul, 01/16/97) reported that the DPRK’s official Korean Central News Agency announced Thursday that a ROK family of four has defected to the DPRK. Kuk Chol-jung, 36, who defected with his wife and their two children, aged seven and three, was quoted as saying, “I was convinced that the only way for my family is to come over to the North in which the popular masses form a great harmonious family.” While an increasing number of DPRK citizens are fleeing to the ROK, defections in the opposite direction are rare. [Ed. note: Please see related item in the ROK section, below.]

3. ROK Official Apo