NAPSNet Daily Report Monday, July 09, 2007
- 1. IAEA on DPRK Nuclear Shutdown
2. Inside DPRK
3. Inter-Korean Relations
4. Radio for Japanese Abductees
5. US-ROK Security Alliance
6. Japan-US Missile Defense Cooperation
7. Japan SDP Dispatch
8. Japan on PRC Military
9. Australia on PRC Military
10. Cross Strait Relations
11. PRC Rural Unrest
12. PRC Anti-Corruption Activities
I. NAPSNet
1. IAEA on DPRK Nuclear Shutdown
International Herald Tribune (“UN NUCLEAR MONITORING AGENCY TO SEND TEAM TO NORTH KOREA”, 2007-07-09) reported that the IAEA agreed to send experts to the DPRK as part of a process that is intended to lead to the eventual closure of the country’s nuclear facility. The decision was made by the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, who met in a special session to discuss a report by the agency’s director general on the monitoring and verification process in the DPRK.
2. Inside DPRK
The Economist (“SOME NORTH KOREANS TEST REGIME’S IRON GRIP”, 2007-07-07) reported that foreigners living in Pyongyang say that people break petty laws, daring to smoke beneath no-smoking signs and sitting on the moving rail of escalators. People have blocked traffic by selling furniture in streets famous for regimented traffic flow, and some have dared break the seal on their radios that block the reception of nonstate-provided broadcasts. At the same time, there are indications that the leadership is beset by infighting. For a brief time following the February six-nation agreement, fewer military officials were sighted in public with leader Kim Jong Il. Lately, the uniforms have returned.
3. Inter-Korean Relations
Yonhap (“S. KOREA PREPARING FOR INTER-KOREAN SUMMIT THIS YEAR: ROH ASSOCIATE”, 2007-07-09) reported that the ROK has begun preparations for an inter-Korean summit that will likely take place this year. “Unless there are any unexpected obstacles, it (the inter-Korean summit) will be possible this year,” Lee Hae-chan, who served as Roh’s prime minister, said in an interview with the daily Kyunghyang Shinmun.
4. Radio for Japanese Abductees
Associated Press (“JAPAN STARTS RADIO BROADCASTS TO NORTH KOREA ON ABDUCTION ISSUE”, 2007-07-09) reported that Japan began making propaganda radio broadcasts in the DPRK about international affairs intended to reach out to Japanese abductees living in the country. The hour-long programs on short-wave radio – 30 minutes each in Korean and Japanese – will be repeated daily for a week before being updated, the Cabinet Office said in a statement. The new broadcasts are meant to cheer up any surviving abductees in the DPRK with music, voices of relatives back home and reports on international affairs and relations between the two countries.
5. US-ROK Security Alliance
Korea Herald (“8TH U.S. ARMY STAYING IN KOREA”, 2007-07-09) reported that the US military has decided to retain its 8th Army headquarters on the peninsula even after the ROK takes over wartime operational control of its armed forces from the US, a ROK government source said. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source said the 8th Army, currently an administrative unit, will transform to a war-fighting command to lead US ground troop operations after the transition of operational control scheduled in 2012. After reorganization, the unit will be attached to a new top US military command in the ROK that will replace the current US Forces Korea command. The new command is tentatively named US KORCOM, he said.
6. Japan-US Missile Defense Cooperation
Donga Ilbo (“”JAPAN TO LAUNCH FIRST JOINT MISSILE DEFENSE EXERCISE WITH U.S.””, 2007-07-09) reported that Japan will launch its first marine missile defense (MD) joint exercise with the U.S. Navy in January next year, said the Yomiuri Shimbun on July 5, a Japanese daily newspaper, quoting Japanese government officials. The exercise aims to improve joint response capabilities of both naval forces to run a MD system. The exercise is likely to be held on the East Sea, and will assume that the DPRK is attacking with ballistic missiles.
7. Japan SDP Dispatch
Japan Times (“JAPAN CONSIDERING DISPATCH OF SDF TO DARFUR”, 2007-07-09) reported that Japan has started to consider the possibility of dispatching the Self-Defense Forces to Sudan’s troubled Darfur region in line with the planned launch of full-fledged joint peacekeeping operations by the African Union and the United Nations, government sources revealed. The Japanese government has judged that it will be “inevitable for it to make personnel contributions including the SDF” in order for it to be able to lead discussions when it hosts next year’s Group of Eight summit as the conflict in Darfur has become a major issue for Europe, the US and Africa, a Foreign Ministry source said.
8. Japan on PRC Military
Kyodo (“JAPAN CAUTIOUS OVER CHINA’S FORWARD-DEPLOYED FORCES IN DEFENSE PAPER”, 2007-07-09) reported that Japan has expressed caution over the the PRC military’s forward deployment in the latest annual government report on defense released Friday. On the PRC, the white paper says the country’s navy and air force appear to be trying to modernize and expand their capacities to wider areas and notes that the military balance with Taiwan is shifting to give the PRC the advantage.
9. Australia on PRC Military
The Age (“CHINA’S MILITARY FEARS PUT TO REST”, 2007-07-09) reported that Australia has been forced to reassure the PRC that it does not regard its massive military modernization program as a threat. In Bejing last night, Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said he had reassured the PRC that Australia had no intention of expanding the Australia-US-Japan military relationship to include India and that Australia’s support of an anti-ballistic missile defence system being developed by the US and Japan was directed at “rogue states” such as North Korea and non-state actors and not at the PRC.
10. Cross Strait Relations
Washington Post (“TAIWAN LEADER VOWS TO PURSUE VOTE ON ISLAND’S NAME”, 2007-07-09) reported that President Chen Shui-bian said Taiwan will press ahead with a controversial referendum on whether the self-ruled island should apply for U.N. membership under the name Taiwan, dismissing US objections as appeasement of the PRC. Chen’s defiant stand, outlined in frank language during an interview Friday, raised the prospect of a rocky period in Taiwan’s relations with the Bush administration and a rise in tension across the volatile 100-mile strait separating Taiwan from the PRC.
(return to top) Washington Post (“CHINA’S DIPLOMATIC GAIN IS TAIWAN’S LOSS”, 2007-07-09) reported that after 63 years as a faithful ally of this self-ruled island, Costa Rica was switching diplomatic relations to the PRC, acknowledging that money was the big lure. As the PRC becomes more integrated into the world’s economic and political system the competition in recent years has become increasingly difficult for Taiwanese diplomats. The number of countries recognizing mainland PRC has risen to 169 while Taiwan’s score has declined to 24, most of them pocket-size countries where a small amount of aid money can make a big difference. (return to top)
11. PRC Rural Unrest
The Associated Press (“CHINA LINKS PROMOTIONS TO UNREST CONTROL”, 2007-07-09) reported that local PRC leaders will have a better chance of winning job promotions if they can limit social unrest in rural areas, state media quoted a ruling Communist Party official as saying. The party has become increasingly concerned at protests in recent years by ordinary PRC venting their anger over official corruption, a yawning rich-poor gap and land grabs. “Officials who perform poorly in maintaining social security in rural areas will not be qualified for promotion,” Ouyang Song, deputy head of the Organization Department of the party’s Central Committee, was quoted as saying.
12. PRC Anti-Corruption Activities
Xinhua (“CHINA CLOSES LAW LOOPHOLES TO BETTER COMBAT OFFICIAL CORRUPTION”, 2007-07-09) reported that the PRC’s top judiciaries issued a document targeting “new forms of corruption” in an effort to catch up with the tricks of wily, corrupt officials, following the regulation issued by the PRC’s disciplinary watchdog in June. The officials who take advantage of their posts to make profits for others but receive money or gifts after their tenures, and who seek profits through family members, relatives or specially-related persons should also be severely punished as bribe takers, the document said.
(return to top) Xinhua (“CHINESE OFFICIALS BREAK 1-CHILD POLICY”, 2007-07-09) reported that nearly 2,000 officials in central PRC’s Hunan province have been caught breaking the PRC’s strict one-child policy, state media reported. Xinhua said the officials were caught between 2000 and 2005 by the provincial family planning commission and included 21 national and local lawmakers and 24 political advisers. (return to top)