CONTENTS
1. PRC-ROK DPRK Asylum Seekers
2. DPRK World Cup Broadcast
3. NATO on Bio, Chem, and Nuclear Weapons
4. PRC-RF Security Group Summit
5. PRC-RF Relations
6. US on HK Democracy
II. Japan 1. Misuse of Personal Data by SDF
I. United States
1. PRC-ROK DPRK Asylum Seekers
Reuters (“ANOTHER NORTH KOREAN ENTERS SEOUL’S CHINA CONSULATE,” Beijing, 06/06/02) reported that another DPRK asylum seeker has slipped into the ROK’s consulate in Beijing, joining four others stuck in the middle of a diplomatic wrangle between the ROK and PRC over what to do with them. “He’s in his 20s,” an ROK diplomat said on Thursday. “He came directly from the border area to Beijing. He hasn’t been in China very long.” The diplomat said the man entered the consulate — located separately from the embassy — on Saturday, about a week after four others including an officer from the DPRK army sneaked into the consulate. The five were holed up in the mission with no immediate signs of a break in the deadlock over their fate. The ROK has said the asylum seekers must have the final say on where they go next and asked the PRC to allow them to travel to the ROK. But the PRC, which has allowed 38 DPRK asylum-seekers who entered foreign diplomatic missions to leave via other countries for the ROK in the past two months, has taken a harder line in this case. On Thursday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao reiterated the PRC’s demand that the consulate turn over the asylum seekers for investigation and to verify their identities. “The South Korean embassy has notified the Chinese side that five people have entered the embassy and the Chinese side has requested the South Korean embassy hand over the five people for investigation and verification,” he said.
2. DPRK World Cup Broadcast
The Associated Press (Christopher Torchia, “LETTING IN A BIT OF THE OUTSIDE WORLD, NORTH KOREA SHOWS WORLD CUP GAMES ON STATE TELEVISION,” Seoul, 06/06/02) reported that the DPRK is getting more than their usual state television fare. They’re watching World Cup soccer games, some of them played across the sealed, fortified border with the ROK. The broadcasts on state-run television have given North Koreans a rare glimpse of South Korea, which is co-hosting the World Cup with Japan and won its first-ever game at the championship with a victory Tuesday over Poland. The broadcasts, monitored by South Korean authorities, show advertising billboards in the brand-new stadiums as well as signs of host cities such as Seoul and Busan. “I’ve never seen or heard of broadcasts of the World Cup (in North Korea) before. North Korea’s principle has been to broadcast only international events in which it participates,” said Kim Hyong-deok, a 28-year-old DPRK defector who fled his country in 1994. “North Korea seems to be responding to its people’s interest in the World Cup, which is just as high as in other countries,” Koh Yu-hwan, a DPRK affairs professor at Dongguk University in Seoul, said Thursday. Also Thursday, soccer officials in the ROK said the DPRK planned to send its national soccer team for a friendly match on September 8 in Seoul – the first such game since 1990. The DPRK has not confirmed the match, however. The DPRK did not try to qualify for this year’s tournament, and did not take up the ROK’s offer for it to host a couple of games.
The Associated Press (“N. KOREA TO PLAY SOUTH IN FALL,” Seoul, 06/06/02) reported that the DPRK tentatively agreed to send its national soccer team to the ROK for an exhibition match on September 8 in Seoul. ROK match organizers said Thursday details have yet to be worked out, and the DPRK has not officially announced its participation. But the Korean Football Association, a match sponsor, confirmed the plan. Park Geun-hye, an independent ROK lawmaker, said last month she proposed the match to DPRK leader Kim Jong Il during a visit, and Kim agreed. The DPRK team would fly to Seoul on September 6 for a four-day stay, the foundation said. The match will be played at Seoul’s World Cup Stadium. “We are pushing to make this happen. We still need to work out some details, including the number of Northern delegates,” said Park Yong-soo, a KFA spokesman. The DPRK and ROK played two friendly matches in 1990 – one in Pyongyang and one in Seoul. The ROK won in Seoul and the DPRK won in Pyongyang.
3. NATO on Bio, Chem, and Nuclear Weapons
Reuters (“BIOLOGICAL, CHEMICAL, NUCLEAR WEAPONS ON NATO AGENDA,” Brussels, 06/06/02) reported that NATO defense ministers agreed to develop a plan to improve their ability to protect themselves against threats from biological, chemical and nuclear weapons, a senior US defense official said on Thursday. He said the ministers had had detailed discussions on the problem of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), links between such weapons and terrorism and the need to develop new ways to deal with problems and threats the alliance would face in the 21st century. He told reporters they also discussed a broad range of countries, including Iran, Iraq and the DPRK, and also Cuba, Libya and Syria. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said there was a “sense of urgency to this WMD problem and that NATO will be a very important part of responding to that for the members of the alliance, along with other international partners including the European Union.”
4. PRC-RF Security Group Summit
The Associated Press (Vladimir Isachenkov, “ASIAN SECURITY GROUP LED BY RUSSIA AND CHINA HOLDS SUMMIT,” St. Petersburg, 06/06/02) reported that the leaders of Russia, the PRC, and four Central Asian nations have converged on Russia’s capital for a summit intended to bolster the status of their security group and tighten efforts to fight terrorism. Russian President Vladimir Putin is using the summit Friday to assure the PRC that his efforts to build closer ties with the West do not threaten Russia’s burgeoning ties with the PRC. Putin, PRC President Jiang Zemin and leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are to sign the charter of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization – a document that would give the group a formal international legal status. The six leaders are also expected to form a joint body to coordinate their efforts to combat terrorism in the region. The group, which was set up in Shanghai in 1996, initially included five nations and called itself Shanghai Five. Last year it embraced Uzbekistan and renamed itself to reflect more ambitious goals. Recently, it has increasingly focused on combined efforts to fight extremism, terrorism and separatism. Russia and the PRC describe it as an important tool to increase stability in Asia and foster the concept of “multipolar world” intended to offset perceived US global domination.
5. PRC-RF Relations
The Associated Press (Vladimir Isachenkov, “PUTIN MOVES TO REASSURE CHINA OVER RUSSIA’S HONEYMOON WITH WEST,” St. Petersburg, 06/06/02) reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin is turning to the East where Russia’s “strategic partner,” the PRC has been watching Russia’s “honeymoon” with the US. Putin met with PRC President Jiang Zemin in St. Petersburg on Thursday on the eve of a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. Putin sought to assuage China’s concerns. “We believe that relations with our great eastern neighbor, China, are a major priority,” he said this week. “We have always conducted a balanced foreign policy. We intend to develop relations with both East and West.” While the PRC’s top concern was Russia’s efforts to befriend the US, many Russian politicians and the media were worried about the flow of Chinese migrants into Russia’s sparsely populated Far Eastern and Siberian regions.
6. US on HK Democracy
The Associated Press (Elaine Kurtenbach, “HONG KONG NEEDS TO MOVE TOWARD DEMOCRACY, PRESERVE AUTONOMY FROM CHINA, U.S. ENVOY SAYS,” Hong Kong, 06/06/02) and Reuters (Carrie Lee, “US ENVOY URGES HK TO DEFEND RULE OF LAW AND FREEDOMS,” Hong Kong, 06/06/02) reported that the US’ top envoy in Hong Kong urged the territory on Thursday to protect its rule of law, civil liberties and autonomy, voicing cautious support for a fast pace towards greater democratization. Outgoing US Consul General Michael Klosson made the remarks in the run-up to July 1, the fifth anniversary of the former British colony’s return to PRC rule. “The unfolding story of Hong Kong’s transition has been a positive one. With some notable exceptions, China has kept its fundamental promise to respect Hong Kong’s autonomy,” Klosson said in what was likely to be his last major speech in Hong Kong after serving his full three-year term. Klosson also expressed that Hong Kong should not sacrifice its high level of autonomy in its effort to forge deeper cooperation with the mainland for economic gain, such as a proposed arrangement similar to a free trade zone. “While we support as rapid progress as possible toward greater democratisation, we also understand that other peoples have their own history and cultures, their own opportunities and obstacles, their own dreams and fears, and thus must find their own distinctive path forward,” he said.
II. Japan
1. Misuse of Personal Data by SDF
The Japan Times (“OPPOSITION PARTIES TO DEMAND NAKATANI RESIGN OVER INFO LIST,” Tokyo, 06/05/02) reported that secretaries general of the four opposition parties agreed Tuesday to demand the resignation of Defense Agency chief Gen Nakatani over his agency’s systematic compilation of information on individuals who made information disclosure requests from the agency. The opposition camp says Nakatani should step down since the agency initially lied to the public by declaring that the information was gathered by one official acting at his own initiative. The Democratic Party of Japan, the Liberal Party, the Social Democratic Party and the Japanese Communist Party have indicated they will boycott Diet deliberations if the ruling bloc refuses to convene a special Diet session on the issue.
The Mainichi Shimbun (“MORIOKA DEFENDS DEFENSE AGENCY,” Tokyo, 06/05/02) reported that regarding the list of personal information of the applicants for information disclosure of the Defense Agency, Masahiro Morioka, a lawmaker of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), said, “Why is it bad to make a list? Rather than that, why the information was leaked was a more serious problem.” Morioka explained in detail to Mainichi Shimbun what he said at the joint meeting of the defense committee and security research council of the LDP. He said, “It is possible to make a list on the security of the state. But the defense agency officers dealt with the information wrongly, such as to put it on the agency’s LAN. It was conceivable that someone who aimed at doing intelligence operation had entered the defense agency. I just pointed out that the defense agency which tends to leak the information easily was a big problem.” On the other hand, Yasunari Ito, administrative vice minister of the Defense Agency said at the meeting, “It is right that it is the one who leaked the list who is to blame.”
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Brandon Yu: napsnet@nautilus.org
Berkeley, California, United States
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Berkeley, California, United States
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Seoul, Republic of Korea
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Tokyo, Japan
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Tokyo, Japan
Hiroya Takagi: hiroya_takagi@hotmail.com
Tokyo, Japan
Peter Razvin: icipu@online.ru
Moscow, Russian Federation
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Shanghai, People’s Republic of China
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Shanghai, People’s Republic of China
John McKay: John.McKay@adm.monash.edu.au
Clayton, Australia