NAPSNet Daily Report Tuesday, December 05, 2006
- 1. ElBaradei on DPRK Sanctions
2. ROK Radioactivity Monitoring
3. DPRK-Russia Relations
4. DPRK Industry
5. PRC Oil Supply
6. PRC Export Control Regulations
7. PRC Media Control
8. PRC AIDS Issue
9. PRC Anti-Graft Measures
10. Sino-Indian Relations
11. ROK-PRC Territorial Dispute
12. The Vatican and Cross Strait Relations
13. US-ROK Trade Relations
14. ROK-Japan Relations
15. USFJ Base Realignment
16. Russo-Indian Energy Trade
I. NAPSNet
1. ElBaradei on DPRK Sanctions
Irish Examiner (“SANCTIONS ALONE ‘WON’T SOLVE KOREA CRISIS'”, 2006-12-05) reported that, in a speech at one of the PRC’s top universities, Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said that sanctions alone would not resolve the DPRK’s nuclear weapons programme. He said there had to be economic development in countries such as the DPRK to create a sense of security. “The solution will have to address the security, economic and other concerns of the DPRK. Quite often these nuclear crises underline a sense of insecurity that clearly needs to be addressed, and a sense of imbalance, economic discrimination, also needs to be addressed,” he told students at Tsinghua University in Beijing. “You can work through sanctions, but sanctions alone will not resolve the issue. You need to couple pressure with a package of incentives. This applies in the case of North Korea and it applies in the case of Iran, in my view,” he said. ElBaradei, who received an honorary degree from Tsinghua, has said in the past that IAEA inspectors were ready to go back to verify Pyongyang’s moves at any time.
2. ROK Radioactivity Monitoring
Associated Press (“SOUTH KOREA TO BOLSTER RADIOACTIVITY MONITORING IN WAKE OF NORTH’S NUCLEAR TEST”, 2006-12-05) reported that the ROK will increase the monitoring of radioactivity around the country following the DPRK’s recent nuclear test. By adding more monitoring stations, the ROK aims to strengthen the monitoring of abnormal radiation in and around Seoul and along the coast and the border with the DPRK, the Ministry of Science and Technology said in a statement. An additional 23 monitoring centers will be built by the end of 2007, the ministry said. The ROK will also buy sophisticated radioactivity detectors to strengthen monitoring of underground nuclear tests by “neighboring countries,” it added.
3. DPRK-Russia Relations
ITAR-Tass (“RUSSIA CALLS REPORT OF NORTH KOREA URANIUM OFFER ‘PROVOCATIVE'”, 2006-12-05) reported that the Russian Foreign Ministry has called reports that the DPRK would offer Russia exclusive rights to its uranium deposits in exchange for support at stalled talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions, “provocative.” “The Russian Foreign Ministry does not consider it necessary to comment on reports by certain mass media that have a provocative character,” the ministry said in response to a query from ITAR-Tass, the agency reported. The Interfax news agency cited Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alexeyev as saying he knew nothing about the purported offer. A spokesman for Rosatom, the country’s atomic energy agency, said “the origin of this information isn’t known, but on principle Rosatom does not comment on rumors,” IITAR-Tass said.
(return to top) Reuters (“RUSSIA DECLINES COMMENT ON REPORTED N. KOREA OFFER”, 2006-12-04) reported that Russia’s atomic energy agency declined to comment on Japanese news reports that the DPRK had offered Russia exclusive rights to its natural uranium deposits in exchange for support at six-way talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons. “We were surprised to read the information in a Japanese newspaper. We don’t know where this information has come from and therefore will not comment on the rumors at this moment,” Rosatom spokesman Sergei Novikov told RIA news agency. On Sunday Japanese daily Tokyo Shimbun cited Russian government sources as saying that Moscow and Pyongyang had been in secret talks since 2002 over a plan for Russia to import the uranium and enrich it before selling it on as nuclear fuel to China and Vietnam. Russia would need to guarantee any uranium it imported from the DPRK would be used for peaceful purposes, the paper said. Russia, which is already a major exporter of oil and natural gas, is also seeking to position itself as an exporter of nuclear fuel, the paper said. (return to top)
4. DPRK Industry
Radio Free Asia (“NORTH KOREA QUIETLY EMERGES AS MAJOR PLAYER IN ANIMATION INDUSTRY”, 2006-12-06) reported that the DPRK is emerging as a global leader in animation, regularly commissioned by Japanese, RO Korean and European companies. Media experts say DPRK production values are top quality. The state-run SEK studio is one of the largest in the world, employing 1,600 staff working with state-of-the-art equipment. Among its clients are the Korean-American studio KOAA, for whom SEK worked on a U.S. $6.5 million feature titled Empress Chung. Another North Korean studio, Samcholli, helped produce “Lazy Cat Dinga” for Hanaro Telecom. Others include Disney feature films The Lion King and Pocahontas, as well as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
5. PRC Oil Supply
The Associated Press (“CHINA SEEKS DIRECT TALKS WITH OPEC “, 2006-12-04) reported that the PRC wants to start direct negotiations with OPEC to secure a stable oil supply and an equitable share of the oil market, a top official said, in comments that underline the PRC economy’s rapidly growing energy needs. “Only through this can we maintain security and stability of our oil imports,” Zhai Jun, the PRC’s assistant minister of foreign affairs, said in a speech.
6. PRC Export Control Regulations
Press Trust of India (“CHINA TIGHTENS RULES TO STOP ‘NUCLEAR TERRORISM'”, 2006-12-04) reported that the PRC has tightened rules governing nuclear exports so as to guard against “nuclear terrorism”, while allowing the international peaceful use of atomic power. The new regulations, issued by the State Council, steps-up export controls over the end use of exported nuclear technology. The new regulations add an article that requires the government of countries importing PRC technology to guarantee they will seek PRC government consent before attempting to enrich uranium to a level above 20 per cent using the equipment provided by the PRC.
7. PRC Media Control
Boston Globe (“CHINA TO EASE RESTRICTIONS ON FOREIGN JOURNALISTS FOR ’08 SUMMER OLYMPICS”, 2006-12-04) reported that Foreign journalists usually need permission from PRC authorities before conducting interviews and traveling anywhere outside the city where they are based. Liu Jianchao, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, said the government will lift these restrictions from Jan. 1 next year until the end of the 2008 games to make it easier for foreign reporters to travel freely across the country. But once the Olympics are over, the old restrictions will be reinstated, Liu said.
8. PRC AIDS Issue
BBC News (“CHINA AIDS PATIENTS WIN DAMAGES”, 2006-12-05) reported that a group of Chinese people with AIDS are to receive more than 20m yuan ($2.5m; £1.3m) in compensation in a landmark case, state media report. The 19 people contracted HIV after receiving blood transfusions from illegal blood-sellers operating within a hospital in north-east PRC in 2004.
9. PRC Anti-Graft Measures
The Associated Press (“CHINA NAMES ANTI-GRAFT CHIEF IN SHANGHAI “, 2006-12-05) reported that the PRC’s leaders have named a former Supreme Court vice president to be Shanghai’s anti-graft chief, following a corruption scandal that toppled the city’s top leader. There was no formal announcement of 52-year-old Shen Deyong’s appointment as corruption buster for China’s biggest city, but state-run media reports this week began identifying the official by his new title: secretary for the city’s Commission for Discipline Inspection.
10. Sino-Indian Relations
Agence France-Presse (“ENOUGH ROOM FOR INDIA AND CHINA: PM SINGH”, 2006-12-05) reported that fast-growing India and the PRC can each pursue their ambitions despite inevitable competition, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said. “My own view is that the world is large enough to accommodate the development ambitions of both countries,” Singh told Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper. Japan has sought warmer ties with India in part to balance tension with the PRC. “India and Japan are the largest and the most developed democracies in Asia. We share a strong commitment to freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights,” Singh said.
11. ROK-PRC Territorial Dispute
The Associated Press (“CHINA, S.KOREA TO DISCUSS ISLAND DISPUTE”, 2006-12-05) reported that the PRC and ROK will meet Wednesday to discuss a territorial dispute over an island located in waters claimed by both countries, the PRC’s Foreign Ministry said. At the heart of the dispute is the uninhabited Ieo islet, 94 miles southwest of the ROK’s island of Mara, which both sides say is within their exclusive economic zone.
12. The Vatican and Cross Strait Relations
Reuters (“VATICAN WANTS CHINA TIES BUT WILL STICK BY TAIWAN”, 2006-12-05) reported that the Vatican will move to resume relations with the PRC after more than half a century if religious freedom is allowed but it will not abandon the PRC’s diplomatic rival Taiwan, an official said. The Vatican would seek to restore an apostolic nunciature in Beijing but would seek to keep a delegate in Taiwan.
13. US-ROK Trade Relations
Chosun Ilbo (“KEY U.S. SENATOR HOISTS BEEF TO TOP OF FTA AGENDA”, 2006-12-05) reported that the influential US senator Max Baucus said the ROK should completely lift its ban on US beef imports if it wants a free trade agreement with the US. The remarks spell trouble for the FTA negotiations, which run from Monday to Friday, since Baucus is to chair the Senate Finance Committee, a post that exerts powerful influence over Washington’s international trade deals. US.
14. ROK-Japan Relations
Chosun Ilbo (“KOREAN, JAPANESE DEFENSE MINISTERS TO MEET NEXT YEAR”, 2006-12-05) reported that meetings between defense ministers from Japan and the ROK that were put on hold in Jan. 2005 in the midst of friction between the two countries may resume in the first half of next year. “Representatives from both sides met in Tokyo on Dec. 1 for the 14th round of working-level policy talks between the two defense ministries, and decided to push ahead with plans for a meeting between Defense Minister Kim Jang-soo and Japanese Defense Minister Kyuma Fumio,” the Defense Ministry said.
15. USFJ Base Realignment
Kyodo (“U.S. UNLIKELY TO RESPOND TO LOCAL DEMAND TO CHANGE FUTEMMA MOVE “, 2006-12-05) reported that a visiting US official on defense said that Japan and the US have already reached agreement on all aspects of US military realignment and implied his government is unlikely to respond to demands by Okinawa Prefecture to make changes to a plan to relocate the US Marine Corps Futemma Air Station it hosts.
16. Russo-Indian Energy Trade
Vladivostok Times (“RUSSIA: INDIA WILL JOIN SAKHALIN-3”, 2006-12-05) reported that Russia has said India will participate in exploration and production of crude and gas in the Sakhalin-3 field. India will have a privilege of taking part in the exploration and production of crude and natural gas from the Sakhalin-3 field, said Vyscheslav Trubnikov, Russia’s envoy to India.