NAPSNet Daily Report 1 November, 2010
Contents in this Issue:
1. Inter-Korean Reunions
Xinhua News (Fang Yang, “REUNION OF SEPARATED FAMILIES, RELATIVES FROM DPRK, S. KOREA STARTS “, Pyongyang, 2010/11/01) reported that a reunion of separated families and relatives from the DPRK and the ROK started at Mt. Kumgang resort, the official KCNA news agency reported. According to the KCNA, the reunion, which is held under the agreement reached between the Red Cross organizations of the two sides, begun with group reunions of those from the DPRK with separated families and relatives from the ROK. They hugged their relatives “whom they have longed to see,” said the report. The Red Cross of the ROK held a banquet for the separated families and relatives from both sides on the same day.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-10/30/c_13583479.htm
2. PRC-US-Japan Relations
The Washington Post (“CLINTON PROPOSES CHINA, JAPAN JOIN 3-WAY TALKS WITH U.S. TO EASE TENSIONS”, 2010/11/01) reported that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told the PRC that she expects Beijing to press the DPRK not to take “provocative steps” against the ROK. She also appealed to PRC and Japanese officials to end their month-long spat. PRC officials told Clinton, for their part, that the PRC was committed to maintaining its exports of rare-earth minerals despite reports that it had halted its sales to gain diplomatic leverage over Japan and the US. “We’ve recommended to both [Japan and the PRC] that the United States is more than willing to host a trilateral where we would bring China and Japan and their foreign ministers together to discuss a range of issues,” Clinton said. The PRC’s Foreign Ministry did not mention the US proposal. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/30/AR2010103001380.html?wprss=rss_business/government
3. Russo-Japanese Territorial Dispute
Associated Press (Mari Yamaguchi, “RUSSIA LEADER VISITS DISPUTED ISLE, TOKYO PROTESTS”, TOKYO, 2010/11/01) reported that Russia’s president visited an island in the Pacific Ocean claimed by both Russia and Japan on Monday, triggering immediate protests from Tokyo, which is already involved in a heated dispute with the PRC over islands to the south. Japan’s Foreign Ministry said President Dmitry Medvedev landed on Kunashiri Island, just off Japan’s northern coast. The island, known in Russian as Kunashir, is part of a group of four claimed by both countries that Japan calls the Northern Territories and Russia calls the southern Kurils. Medvedev is the first Russian president to visit the island.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hregTxx8q45qI2B1DP_LavhrUz5Q?docId=e3a24d842dfc43bf95e607153f64d128
4. Japanese Nuclear Technology Exports
The Mainichi Daily News (“VIETNAM TO AWARD JAPAN CONTRACT FOR 2ND-PHASE NUCLEAR PLANT PROJECT”, HANOI, 2010/10/30) reported that Vietnam’s leadership has decided to award to Japan contracts to build two of four nuclear power plants that the country aims to set up by the early 2020s to deal with its power shortage, sources familiar with the matter said Friday. Premier Nguyen Tan Dung is expected to convey the Vietnamese Communist Party leadership’s decision Sunday when he meets with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan for bilateral talks on the sidelines of regional summits in Hanoi, they said.
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/business/news/20101030p2g00m0bu057000c.html
5. Japan Nuclear Power
The Japan Times (“WORK ON FIRST MOX PLANT STARTS”, 2010/10/29) reported that Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. started construction Thursday in Aomori Prefecture on the nation’s first commercial plant to produce plutonium-uranium mixed oxide, or MOX, fuel, an integral part of the nation’s nuclear fuel cycle aims. The plant in the village of Rokkasho, scheduled to be completed in March 2016 at a cost of around ¥190 billion, is expected to serve as a key facility in establishing the infrastructure for recycling spent nuclear fuel.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20101029a8.html