NAPSNet Daily Report Wednesday, August 03, 2005
- 1. Final Statement of Principles
2. Progress of Six Party Talks
3. US on Russian Built Nuclear Power Plant in DPRK
4. Japan on Normalizing Relations with DPRK
5. Mt.Kumgang Tourist Operation
6. ROK-Japanese Territorial Dispute
7. Japan on UNSC Expansion
8. Japan Textbook Issue
9. Japanese Remilitarization
10. Sino-Japanese Relations
11. Cross Strait Relations
12. PRC Land Disputes
13. Sino-US Relations
I. Unites States
1. Final Statement of Principles
Korea Times (“SIX PARTIES MOVE TOWARDS NUKE ENDGAME”, 2005-08-03) reported that the six top envoys were expected to notify the PRC of their home countries comments on the latest draft of principles in order to move the six-party talks forward. Christopher Hill, told reporters that Washington has no problem with the draft, indicating that there will be an agreement on signing a joint statement should the DPRK consent to the draft.
(return to top) Chosun Ilbo (“N. KOREA KEEPS NEGOTIATORS ON TENTERHOOKS”, 2005-08-03) reported that with the exception of the DPRK, all the other parties were satisfied with the final draft of the joint statement. The DPRK reportedly objects to a portion of the draft that reads, “North Korea abandons all nuclear weapons and nuclear programs.” That would include even peaceful-use nuclear facilities, which it wants to keep. (return to top)
2. Progress of Six Party Talks
Washington Post (“N. KOREA TALKS MAY END WITHOUT RESOLUTION”, 2005-08-03) reported that diplomats struggled to break a stalemate between the US and the DPRK that has bogged down six-party negotiations and threatened to send the talks into another long-term stall. The standoff, over some of the same issues that have held up progress over two years of on-and-off negotiations, dramatized the difficulties in persuading the DPRK to abandon its nuclear weapons program despite what was described as an improved atmosphere when the current round of talks.
3. US on Russian Built Nuclear Power Plant in DPRK
Yonhap News (“US REASSERTS OPPOSITION TO NORTH KOREA CIVILIAN NUCLEAR PROGRAMME”, 2005-08-02) reported that the State Department reasserted Monday that the US opposes the DPRK having civilian nuclear power as well as nuclear weapons. “Our position hasn’t changed on that,” department spokesman Tom Casey told a daily briefing. He was responding to a press report from Moscow that quoted a Russian official who said his government could build a nuclear power plant in the DPRK to partially solve the communist ally’s energy shortage.
4. Japan on Normalizing Relations with DPRK
Asahi.com (“TOKYO URGED TO OPEN 2-WAY NORMALIZATION TALKS”, 2005-08-03) reported that a group of regional security experts urged Tokyo to gear up for resuming normalization talks with the DPRK if the six-party negotiations in Beijing produce a nuclear accord. “It will certainly be a difficult decision for Japan, with the abduction issue unresolved,” said Masao Okonogi, a Keio University professor of law who chairs the Project for Northeast Asian Security of the Japan Institute of International Affairs, a Tokyo-based think tank. “But Japan should not miss the opportunity, and should start preparing to resume normalization talks,” he said.
5. Mt.Kumgang Tourist Operation
La Times (“COASTAL RESORT BRINGS HARD CURRENCY TO NORTH KOREA”, 2005-08-02) reported that since it opened in 1998, the Mt. Kumgang tourist operation has provided the regime with at least $490 million, becoming one of the DPRK’s largest legal sources of hard currency, say Western diplomats who have analyzed the country’s finances. Through ventures such as Onjung-ri, the main tourist center of the Mt. Kumgang enclave on the DPRK’s southeastern coast, the regime is trying to meld Kim Il Sung’s anti-capitalist ideology with its need for money.
6. ROK-Japanese Territorial Dispute
Kyodo (“S. KOREA PROTESTS AGAINST JAPAN’S NEW DEFENSE WHITE PAPER”, 2005-08-03) reported that the ROK on Wednesday lodged a formal diplomatic protest with Japan over references in Tokyo’s latest defense white paper to a pair of islets controlled by the ROK but claimed by Japan. Defense Ministry officials summoned Fumihiro Araki, the military attache at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, to complain about the “Defense of Japan” report released Tuesday.
7. Japan on UNSC Expansion
Agence France-Presse (“JAPAN COMPLAINS ABOUT US “LIP SERVICE” ON UN REFORM”, 2005-08-03) reported that Japan said it had complained to close ally the US about blocking expansion of the UN Security Council, saying its support for Tokyo’s bid to join bordered on “lip service.” Japan conveyed the complaint to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura told a parliamentary committee. Japan told her that US support “would be mere lip service unless (Washington) shows what program it has for Japan to achieve becoming a permanent Security Council member,” Machimura said, as quoted by Jiji Press.
8. Japan Textbook Issue
Chosun Ilbo (“FEW TAKERS FOR JAPAN’S WHITEWASH TEXTBOOKS”, 2005-08-03) reported that Japanese textbooks that exercised the country’s colonial victims for months may have been approved but will hardly be taught anywhere, a group says. Children and Textbooks Japan Network 21 says the history and social studies textbooks, sponsored by the rightwing Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform, will be adopted by no more than 1 percent of middle schools, amounting to about 13,000 copies.
9. Japanese Remilitarization
Donga Ilbo (“JAPAN’S LDP: “POSSESSION OF SELF-DEFENSE FORCE ALLOWED IN CONSTITUTION””, 2005-08-03) reported that Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) confirmed the draft of the revised constitution, which upgrades the Japanese Self-Defense Force to Self-Defense Troops, and allows for military action abroad. As a result, the defense principle of full defense tactics will be abandoned to focus on dispatching troops abroad.
10. Sino-Japanese Relations
The New York Times (“ILL WILL RISING BETWEEN CHINA AND JAPAN”, 2005-08-03) reported that Japanese lawmakers on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a resolution that plays down this country’s militarist policies in World War II. But in the weeks leading to Aug. 15, the leaders of the PRC have been making sure that their view of the war, simply called the Anti-Japanese War there, gets across. Never before in modern times has East Asia had to contend with a strong PRC and a strong Japan at the same time, and the prospect feeds suspicion and hostility in both countries.
11. Cross Strait Relations
Agence France-Presse (“TAIWAN URGES CHINA INTO TALKS ON THE USE OF MAINLAND AIRSPACE”, 2005-08-03) reported that Taiwan urged the PRC into talks aimed at opening up more direct charter flights between the two rivals and allowing Taiwanese airlines to fly over mainland airspace. The need for Taiwanese commercial aircraft to fly over the mainland to save time and costs had become urgent after recent sharp rises in international crude oil prices, said cabinet spokesman Cho Jung-tai.
12. PRC Land Disputes
BBC News (“CHINA FACES GROWING LAND DISPUTES”, 2005-08-03) reported that the riot in Shengyou in June was actually nothing new. Such skirmishes over land are getting increasingly common in the PRC. But what was different about this one – and what ultimately made it stand out as an example of a much wider problem – was that the incident was filmed by a local resident and smuggled out to the international media. The battle of Shengyou village has come to highlight one of the PRC’s sharpest social issues – the Communist Party’s complete control of land allocation.
13. Sino-US Relations
China Daily (“CHINA-US STRATEGIC DIALOGUE HAILED A SUCCESS”, 2005-08-03) reported that the PRC and the US yesterday hailed their first strategic dialogue a success, saying it will help expand consensus and give “a better sense of perspective.” “Thanks to joint efforts from both sides, the first Sino-US strategic dialogue has been a success,” said Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing when meeting with US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick.