NAPSNet Daily Report Monday, August 08, 2005
- 1. Armstice Treaty
2. Six Party Talks
3. US on Six Party Talks
4. Japan on Six Party Talks
5. DPRK Business Relations
6. Aid to DPRK
7. DPRK Sports
8. DPRK Literature
9. Inter-Korean Liberation Day Festivities
10. ROK-Japan Relations
11. UNSC Expansion
12. Japan Elections
13. PRC-Russia War Games
14. Cross Strait Relations
15. PRC Journalist Charged
16. PRC Suicide Bombing
17. PRC SARS Vaccine
18. PRC Streptococcus Suis Outbreak
19. PRC Anthrax Outbreak
II. Call for Papers
I. United States
1. Armstice Treaty
Korea Times (“NK, US TO DISCUSS PEACE TREATY”, 2005-08-08) reported that the ROK and DPRK along with the PRC and the US will start discussions to replace the armistice treaty which ended the Korean War in 1953 with a peace treaty, a steppingstone to a normalized relationship between the US and the DPRK. A joint statement, which was drafted by the PRC for negotiations but could not be finally agreed upon due to fissures on some key points, included an article on the separate forum which will discuss measures to bring an everlasting peace to the Korean Peninsula.
2. Six Party Talks
LA Times (“PREPARING FOR ROUND 5 WITH NORTH KOREA”, 2005-08-08) reported that a three-week recess in talks aimed at eliminating the DPRK’s nuclear weapons program allows negotiators from six nations to return home, consult with their governments and come back with a renewed commitment to make a deal. Hill said DPRK leaders might be more ready to complete a deal on the nuclear issues after hearing about the impasse in the talks from their negotiators. Another hope is that having the PRC, the ROK, Japan and Russia exert pressure on Pyongyang in the interim, even as Washington and Pyongyang keep channels open, will help narrow differences.
(return to top) New York Times (“U.S. AND NORTH KOREA BLAME EACH OTHER FOR STALEMATE IN TALKS”, 2005-08-08) reported that the DPRK and the US each blamed the other after nearly two weeks of six-nation negotiations deadlocked over the issue of “peaceful use” nuclear programs said Christopher Hill, the US envoy. Hours before he was scheduled to fly back to Washington, Christopher R. Hill, the top American envoy, said the DPRK had derailed the process by unexpectedly making a late demand for the right to operate light-water nuclear reactors. American officials believe the DPRK could use such reactors to secretly make material for nuclear weapons. (return to top)
3. US on Six Party Talks
Boston Times (“N. KOREA TALKS BROKE OVER LIGHT-WATER REACTORS, US ENVOY SAYS”, 2005-08-08) reported that the DPRK’s unexpected insistence that it still has the right to build light-water reactors to generate electricity became the main deal-breaker during 13 days of sometimes acrimonious discussions on eliminating nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula. The goal during a three-week recess called by the PRC will be to encourage senior DPRK leaders to make a strategic decision to forgo and dismantle all nuclear capacity in return for recognition and economic aid, said the diplomat, Christopher Hill, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs.
(return to top) Chosun Ilbo (“N.K. TALKS PUT SPOTLIGHT ON U.S. ‘DOUBLE STANDARDS'”, 2005-08-08) reported that the US’ non-proliferation policy has come under fresh fire for double standards as six-party talks on the DPRK’s nuclear program went into recess amid disagreement between Washington and Pyongyang over the peaceful use of nuclear power. The US is adamant that the DPRK cannot be allowed a nuclear program of any kind, even as it applies quite different standards to Iran and India. When the EU last week proposed long-term support for Iran’s nuclear energy program on the conditions it gives up uranium enrichment and submits to IAEA inspections, Washington indicated support. (return to top) Bloomberg (“NORTH KOREA CAN’T BE TRUSTED TO KEEP NUCLEAR PLANTS, US SAYS”, 2005–08-05) reported that the DPRK can’t keep its nuclear power plants because the nation has a history of turning civilian atomic reactors to weapons factories, a US official said. “We have a concern with how, looking back to the recent past, at how a research reactor, a reactor that had been publicly described as research, over a course of several weeks really — two months — was turned into a weapons producing facility,” Hill said. (return to top)
4. Japan on Six Party Talks
Asahi Shimbun (“JAPAN, NORTH KOREA FINALLY TALK IN BEIJING; NO PROGRESS ON ABDUCTION ISSUE”, 2005-08-08) reported that although six-way talks on the DPRK’s nuclear weapons programs have gone into recess, there was one positive aspect for Japan: Delegates from the two countries held their first bilateral talks in more than eight months. However, as in the overall six-way framework, Japan and the DPRK remained deadlocked over the thorny abduction issue.
(return to top) Japan Today (“ABDUCTEES’ FAMILIES CALL 6-PARTY TALKS DISASTROUS; WANT SANCTIONS”, 2005-08-08) reported that families of Japanese nationals abducted by the DPRK expressed disappointment Sunday that the six-party nuclear talks in Beijing failed to take up the abduction issue, demanding economic sanctions on the DPRK. (return to top) Mainichi Daily (“JAPANESE NUCLEAR ENVOY DEMANDS NORTH KOREA RETURN ABDUCTEES, HAND OVER KIDNAPPERS”, 2005-08-08) reported that Japan’s envoy to the DPRK nuclear talks met Sunday with the DPRK’s delegate and demanded that Pyongyang return abducted Japanese nationals and hand over their kidnappers. Japanese delegate Kenichiro Sasae told the DPRK’s Kim Kye Gwan that Tokyo “requests (North Korea) to send back all abductees still alive,” said a Japanese official. Japan also requested that the DPRK suspects in the kidnappings be handed over to the Japanese government, the official said. (return to top)
5. DPRK Business Relations
Donga IIibo (“KIM YUN-KYU’S CORRUPTION RELATED TO BUSINESS WITH NIRTH KOREA”, 2005-08-08) reported that it was confirmed yesterday that the Hyundai Group is inviting Hyundai Asan vice chairman Kim Yun-kyu, who has been playing a leading role in business with the DPRK, to resign after confirming that Kim committed personal corruption.
6. Aid to DPRK
Yonhap News (“ELDERLY FARMER TO SEND RICE AID TO NORTH KOREA IN GRATITUDE”, 2005-08-08) reported that an elderly farmer in this rural town will send 1,000 sacks of rice to the DPRK, returning the aid he received some two decades ago.
7. DPRK Sports
Donga IIibo (“IN UNPRECEDENTED MOVE, NORTH KOREA BROADCATS WOMEN’S SOCCER MATCH LOST TO SOUTH KOREA”, 2005-08-08) reported that in an unprecedented fashion, on August 6, the DPRK broadcast its women’s national soccer team game against the ROK in which it lost, 0-1. The sole TV station that broadcasts in all of the DPRK, Chosun Central TV, allocated 50 minutes of its prime time programming starting from 9:20 p.m. to broadcasting inter-Korean soccer matches of both men’s and women’s teams which were played at the East Asian Football Championship 2005.
8. DPRK Literature
Chosun Ilbo (“N.KOREA BOOKS GETS PRIME EXPOSURE IN U.S.”, 2005-08-08) reported that a book on the Kim Jong-il regime in the DPRK by the former Beijing bureau chief of the ROK Morning Post is getting prime exposure in the US press. Jasper Becker (49) is a British journalist who worked as a correspondent for the Western press in the PRC for about 20 years.
9. Inter-Korean Liberation Day Festivities
Yonhap News (“GROUP OF 150 OVERSEAS TO JOIN LIBERATION DAY FESTIVAL “, 2005-08-08) reported that an organization of Koreans overseas has named its 150-member delegation to the Aug. 15 Liberation Day festivities in Seoul. Minjok Tongshin said the preparation committee for the event named the participants from Australia, Canada, the PRC, Europe, Japan, Russia and the US. Japan and the US will send the largest delegations with 62 and 45 participants respectively.
10. ROK-Japan Relations
The Asahi Shimbun (“JAPAN DOWNPLAYS ROH’S DEMAND”, 2005-08-08) reported that the ROK leader says Tokyo should apologize for the past. Tokyo put on a calm face to unusually sharp words from ROK President Roh Moo Hyun on Tuesday about Japan’s colonial rule and what many say is Japan’s failure to appropriately settle the past. The Japanese Foreign Ministry takes the stand that the reparation issue between the two nations was resolved long ago.
(return to top) Arirang News (“SEOUL TO LAUNCH STATE-RUN HISTORICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION”, 2005-08-08) reported that to better react to inaccurate and distorted historical facts concerning the ROK, Seoul plans to launch a state-run research organization. Under Seoul’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, a Northeast Asian history foundation will be set up within this year. The foundation is expected to deal with among others the Japanese government’s sovereignty claim over the ROK’s Dokdo Islets and distortion of history in school textbooks. (return to top)
11. UNSC Expansion
The Asahi Shimbun (“AFRICAN DECISION REDUCES JAPAN’S CHANCES FOR PERMANENT U.N. SEAT TO `ZERO'”, 2005-08-08) reported that the African Union’s decision to pursue its own course for UN reform will likely prove the final nail in the coffin of Japan’s ailing bid for a permanent seat on the Security Council. At an ad hoc meeting held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Thursday, the 53 members of the African Union (AU) unanimously agreed to shun the G-4 resolution and pursue their own resolution on UN reform, sources said.
12. Japan Elections
Washington Post (“JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER DISSOLVES PARLIAMENT”, 2005-08-08) reported that Japan’s Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi put his job on the line Monday, dissolving the lower house of parliament and calling snap elections for Sept. 11 in an effort to win a new mandate for sweeping reform of the world’s second largest economy. The move came after ruling party legislators rebelled against the prime minister’s plan to privatize Japan’s gargantuan postal service — effectively blocking the centerpiece of Koizumi’s drive for economic reform.
13. PRC-Russia War Games
Asia Times (“CALCULATED MUSCLE-FLEXING”, 2005-08-08) reported that Russia’s unprecedented joint war games with the PRC can be viewed as a dual message to the US and the Central Asian republics of the extent to which Beijing and Moscow are prepared to go to protect their interests. The maneuvers are also viewed as a message to the US, as both Russia and the PRC are keen to sustain and expand their influence in Central Asia, confronting global dominance by Washington.
14. Cross Strait Relations
Taipei Times (“LEE SAYS CHINA DARE NOT ATTACK”, 2005-08-08) reported that former President Lee Teng-hui said yesterday that the PRC would not dare to attack Taiwan, because the US has deployed eight nuclear submarines in the Pacific Ocean carrying about 2,000 nuclear warheads targeted at the PRC, preventing Beijing from taking military action against its democratic neighbor. Implying that Taiwan is under the protection of the US, Lee said it was necessary to procure arms from the US.
15. PRC Journalist Charged
Washington Post (“REPORTER IN CHINA CHARGED AS SPY”, 2005-08-08) reported that the PRC formally charged a prominent Hong Kong journalist with spying for Taiwan on Friday, ratcheting up a politically sensitive investigation that has also resulted in the arrest of a mainland scholar with ties to PRC’s president, Hu Jintao. The government decided to charge Ching Cheong, chief PRC correspondent for the Straits Times newspaper of Singapore, despite appeals for his release from Hong Kong political figures and international media organizations.
16. PRC Suicide Bombing
Agence France-Presse (“BOMBER KILLS HIMSELF AND INJURES 31 ON BUS IN CHINA”, 2005-08-08) reported that a suicide bomber was killed and 31 people injured after a home-made device was detonated on a bus in southeastern PRC Monday, state media reported. The blast occurred near the downtown area of Fujian’s provincial capital Fuzhou at around 2:30 pm, Xinhua news agency reported. There were 1,130 bombings around the PRC last year, according to state press reports.
17. PRC SARS Vaccine
Agence France-Presse (“CHINA APPROVES HUMAN TRIALS FOR NEW SARS VACCINE”, 2005-08-08) reported that the PRC has approved a new vaccine for the pneumonia-like disease Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) to go through human trials, state media reported. The vaccine, developed by a Beijing-based inspection and quarantine body, was created in October and is undergoing clinical trials, the China Daily said Saturday.
18. PRC Streptococcus Suis Outbreak
The New York Times (“U.N. URGES CHINA TO DO MORE TESTS ON PIG DISEASE IN HUMANS”, 2005-08-08) reported that the World Health Organization urged the PRC yesterday to conduct more tests to clarify perplexing aspects of the largest outbreak in humans of a bacterial pig disease, including the reason the death rate among patients has been unusually high. The PRC has reported that the disease, caused by Streptococcus suis bacteria, infected 206 people in Sichuan Province from June 24 through July 21. Of these, 38 – or nearly 1 in 5 – died and 18 are critically ill.
19. PRC Anthrax Outbreak
The Australian (“FIRST PIG FLU, NOW ANTHRAX”, 2005-08-08) reported that Anthrax has killed one person and infected 12 in northeast PRC, state media reported on Sunday, in the latest outbreak of animal-borne disease to hit the country in recent weeks. Anthrax, a disease caused by spore-forming bacteria normally contracted through contact with infected livestock, struck on July 29 outside Shenyang, in Liaoning province, Xinhua news agency said on its Web site.
II. Call for Papers
20. KINU Call For Papers
Korea Institute for National Unification (“International Journal of Korean Unification Studies”, 2005-08-08) The Korea Institute for National Unification has issued a call for papers for its International Journal of Korean Unification Studies, biannually published journal by KINU. The deadline for submission is October 25, 2005. The feature subject for the forthcoming issue is “Six decades after national division and the two Koreas,” and the topics are as follows: Is North Korea transforming?, Comparison of South and North Korea, Development of Inter-Korean relations in historical perspectives, The Korean Peninsula and international affairs. Contributors are welcome to submit manuscripts on issues concerning Korean unification, inter-Korean relations, North Korea, Northeast Asian security and international affairs, transformation in socialist countries, etc. KINU will provide honorariums for the articles that have been chosen for publication. For more detailed information, please visit the KINU’s homepage at http://www.kinu.or.kr/eng/main/index.asp or e-mail kimmik@kinu.or.kr with additional inquiries concerning manuscript contribution.