NAPSNet Daily Report 13 August, 2002

Recommended Citation

"NAPSNet Daily Report 13 August, 2002", NAPSNet Daily Report, August 13, 2002, https://nautilus.org/napsnet/napsnet-daily-report/napsnet-daily-report-13-august-2002/

 
CONTENTS

I. United States

1. DPRK-US Nuclear Agreement
2. DPRK-US Military Relations
3. RF-PRC Espionage Case
4. PRC Air Raid Drills
II. Republic of Korea 1. Inter Korean Ministerial Talks
2. DPRK-Japan Relations
3. Japan’s Policy on Asylum-Seekers
4. NK Flag to Be Allowed in Stadiums and Quarters
III. Japan 1. Hiroshima 57th Anniversary
2. Overseas A-Bomb Survivors
3. US Bases in Okinawa
4. UN Conference on Disarmament in Kyoto
5. Yasukuni Shrine Visit
IV. CanKor E-Clipping Service 1. CanKor Issue #95: Economic changes in the DPRK

I. United States

1. DPRK-US Nuclear Agreement

The Associated Press (Yoo Jae-suk, “NORTH KOREA THREATENS TO WITHDRAW FROM NUCLEAR AGREEMENT WITH UNITED STATES,” Seoul, 08/13/02) and The Associated Press (Paul Shin, “KOREAS HOLD TALKS FOR SECOND DAY,” Seoul, 08/13/02) reported that the DPRK threatened Tuesday to withdraw from a 1994 accord with the US under which it would freeze its suspected nuclear weapons program in exchange for two nuclear reactors. To preserve the agreement, the US must compensate for the loss of electricity caused by the delay in building the reactors because the power shortage has “created grave difficulties in (the North’s) economy as a whole,” said a spokesman at the North’s Foreign Ministry. “The reality is pushing us to the phase where we should make a final decision to go our own way,” the unnamed spokesman told the DPRK’s official Korean Central News Agency, which was monitored in Seoul. The DPRK has yet to open its facilities to inspections by the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency and said Tuesday it would not do so until there has been significant progress in the US$4.6 billion reactor project. “We will move if the U.S. does,” the spokesman said.

2. DPRK-US Military Relations

Reuters (“US-NORTH KOREA MILITARY MEET TO REDUCE TENSIONS,” Seoul, 08/13/02) reported that the US and DPRK military officials met Tuesday to discuss further measures aimed at reducing tensions on the Korean peninsula. Earlier this month, the DPRK’s military agreed with the US-led United Nations Command to discuss confidence-building measures and ways to prevent clashes such as the recent naval battle with the ROK. “Today, we discussed the concept of emergency life saving support in case a ship is in serious distress and one side requests emergency humanitarian support from the other side,” US Major General James Soligan, deputy chief of staff at the United Nations Command, said in a statement. Representing the DPRK People’s Army was Colonel General Ri Chan-bok, who also headed the DPRK’s delegation in the last meeting, the statement said. “The next step is for both sides to meet later this week to closely work out associated emergency procedures,” he said.

3. RF-PRC Espionage Case

Reuters (“RUSSIAN PROSECUTORS COMPLETE SECOND INVESTIGATION INTO PHYSICIST ACCUSED OF SPYING FOR CHINA,” Moscow, 08/13/02) reported that prosecutors have completed an additional investigation into the case of a Russian physicist jailed on charges of spying for the PRC, preparing the way for his second trial which could begin next month, his lawyer said Tuesday. Valentin Danilov has been in jail in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk since February 2001 on charges of selling state secrets to a PRC company and of misappropriating money. Danilov maintains his innocence, saying the information he provided was no longer classified and had been published in scientific journals. Danilov’s trial was adjourned earlier this year when the court sent the case back to prosecutors for further investigation.

4. PRC Air Raid Drills

The Associated Press (Martin Fackler, “CHINA’S LARGEST CITY HOLDS AIR RAID DRILL AS TENSIONS HEAT WITH TAIWAN,” Shanghai, 08/13/02) reported that black smoke belched, explosions reverberated and air-raid sirens wailed in Shanghai for the first time in half a century Tuesday as the city held an air raid drill amid heightened tensions between the PRC and Taiwan. The drill was limited to a parking lot in a northern residential neighborhood of the PRC’s largest city, where about 500 soldiers, firefighters and rescue workers ran through exercises ranging from evacuating civilians and sending aloft balloons carrying tinfoil cubes meant to confuse enemy radar. Fireworks, flares and canisters spewing black smoke added realism to the display, which lasted about 30 minutes. While officials and local media turned out in force, the drill did not involve residents of the surrounding neighborhood, who went about their business despite the sometimes deafening roar of air raid sirens and the recorded clatter of anti-aircraft fire blared over loudspeakers. Officials called the exercise routine.

II. Republic of Korea

1. Inter Korean Ministerial Talks

Joongang Ilbo (Lee Young-jong, “BOTH SIDES REUNIONS ALMOST SET,” Seoul, 08/13/02) reported that the two Koreas are upbeat about another round of reunions between separated families in September, officials said after government ministers from ROK and DPRK held their cabinet-level talks in Seoul on Monday. The two delegations met at Seoul’s Hotel Shilla after nine months without senior-level government talks. This week’s meeting, which will conclude Wednesday, is the seventh round; the sixth round in November broke down with no agreements of any kind. “We proposed to North Korea to hold military talks as soon as possible in order to complete the construction project to relink the cross-border Gyeongui railroad before the end of this year,” Rhee Bong-jo, the Seoul delegation’s spokesman said. “We also proposed to reunite families of the two Koreas separated by the Korean War during the Chuseok holiday.”

2. DPRK-Japan Relations

Joongang Ilbo (“PYEONGYANG READY FOR SERIOUS DIALOGUE WITH TOKYO,” Seoul, 08/13/02) reported that DPRK is ready to engage in serious dialogue with Japan to resolve conflicts and normalize relations, the Rodong Shinmun, DPRK’s main state newspaper, said Monday. “The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is ready to settle the past problems with Japan on the matter of compensation and establishing diplomatic ties,” the paper said in a commentary. “The talks should be especially attentive to the joint statement released by DPRK Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun and his Japanese counterpart, Yoriko Kawaguchi, at the sidelines of the Asean Regional Forum meeting held in Brunei at the beginning of this month,” the paper added. The four-point agreement released at the time says the two sides should jointly make efforts to normalize diplomatic ties as soon as possible, promote dialogue, hold foreign ministry director-level talks by August and cooperate on resolving humanitarian issues at the next Red Cross talks.

3. Japan’s Policy on Asylum-Seekers

Joongang Ilbo (“JAPAN ALTERS POLICY ON ASYLUM-SEEKERS,” Tokyo, 0813/02) reported that the Japanese Foreign Ministry will allow its foreign missions to receive applications for refugee status. According to the newspaper, the measure is part of a larger plan to improve Japan’s refugee policy that the government and the ruling party were reviewing after a controversy erupted about the handling of DPRK asylum-seekers at its consulate in Shenyang, PRC. Under the revision, persons eligible for refugee status will be given temporary certificates to enter Japan if they do not have Japanese visas. Japanese missions will decide whether or not the applicants are qualified. Until now, only persons physically in Japan could apply for refugee status, ruling out anyone who had no Japanese visa.

4. NK Flag to Be Allowed in Stadiums and Quarters

Chosun Ilbo (Lee Myeong-jin, “NK FLAG TO BE ALLOWED IN STADIUMS AND QUARTERS,” Seoul, 08/13/02) reported that Supreme Public Prosecutors’ Office director Lee Jeong-su said Monday he was studying legal terms to see if the use of North Korean term “DPRK” and its national anthem and flag are allowed under the current law. SPPO has yet concluded for sure, but when it comes to flying the DPRK flag and playing the anthem, it will reportedly allow both in restricted areas such as stadiums and quarters. However, it is planning to regulate activities using the flag on campuses or other places considering it as an act of violating the law. SPPO is expected to go through a consultation with related organizations, including the ministry of unification and Asian Game organizing committee during this week. An official at SPPO said, it is an international practice to fly a participating nation’s flag but the DPRK flag violates the current national security law and so conditions should be applied.

III. Japan

1. Hiroshima 57th Anniversary

Kyodo (“SERVICE HELD FOR KOREAN A-BOMB VICTIMS,” Hiroshima, 08/06/02) reported that a memorial service for Koreans who died in or from the effects of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima was held in Peace Memorial Park, a day ahead of the 57th anniversary of the bombing. Pak So Sung, chief of the Hiroshima branch of the pro-KoreanResidents Union in Japan (Mindan), spoke of the Koreans who, because they have left Japan, have been unable to receive benefits under the law to support hibakusha (a-bomb survivors). Pak said the situation is far from satisfactory, and the Koreans “have never been treated the same as hibakusha residing in Japan.”

The Japan Times (Takuya Asakura, “HIBAKUSHA PROMOTES PEACE THROUGH STUDENT ENCOUNTERS,” Hiroshima, 08/06/02) reported that the survivor of the 1945 atomic bombing told her experiences to high school students from the US to inform them of the horror of nuclear weapons. Michiko Yamaoka was a 15-year-old junior high school student on August 6, 1945. Although her mother managed to save her from the rubble, she suffered terrible burns to her face and body, which made her look “like a monster” and caused her physical and psychological torment for years. Hiroyuki Suda of the US-Japan Culture Center, who organizes the annual program for American students, said he hopes the American teenagers learn something from hibakusha of Hiroshima who try not to hate Americans but war itself.

The Japan Times (Takuya Asakura “HIROSHIMA MAYOR CALLS ON THE U.S. TO ‘SEVER THE CHAIN OF HATRED’,” Hiroshima, 08/07/02) reported that during the 57th anniversary ceremony of a-bombing of Hiroshima, Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba strongly criticized what he described as the unilateral approach of the US administration of George W. Bush in dealing with global problems. “The United States government has no right to force Pax Americana on the rest of us, or unilaterally determine the fate of the world,” Akiba said in the city’s annual peace declaration at Peace Memorial Park. He also said, “The probability that nuclear weapons will be used and the danger of nuclear war are increasing,” especially in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US, to which the Bush administration responded with its war on terrorism. He added, “The path of reconciliation, severing the chain of hatred, violence and retaliation, so long advocated by the survivors (of the 1945 atomic bombing) has been abandoned.” Delivering the declaration, Akiba urged Bush to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki to “confirm with his own eyes what nuclear weapons hold in store for us all.” Akiba also demanded that the Japanese government preserve its war-renouncing Constitution and not make Japan “a ‘normal country’ capable of making war like all other nations.”

2. Overseas A-Bomb Survivors

Kyodo (“CANADIAN FIRST TO QUALIFY FOR NEW HIBAKUSHA AID,” Nagasaki, 08/08/02) reported that Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito granted a certificate to a Japanese-Canadian man to show he is an atomic-bomb survivor, marking the first time a newly launched government program to support overseas A-bomb survivors has been implemented. Masataka Suga, 69, who resides in Vancouver, applied for the certificate at the Nagasaki municipal office. The city of Nagasaki now plans to supply Suga with expenses to travel to and from Japan, as well as to stay in this country. The certificate also allows the holder to receive medical treatment in Japan free of charge.

3. US Bases in Okinawa

Kyodo (“OKINAWA WANTS ACTION OVER U.S. MILITARY INCIDENTS,” Naha, 08/07/02) reported that the Okinawa Prefectural Government urged US military forces in the prefecture to investigate recent incidents in which a helicopter from the Futenma Air Station landed emergently on the shore about 50 meters from homes in the village of Ginoza, according to local government officials. The local government also requested measures to prevent a recurrence of the kind of incident off Kume Island late last month in which a helicopter from the US Navy’s Atsugi base in Kanagawa Prefecture told a local fishing boat to leave the area because it was conducting drills there. The area is not included in training zones set by the US military.

4. UN Conference on Disarmament in Kyoto

Kyodo (“KYOTO HOSTS U.N. SECURITY CONFAB,” Kyoto, 08/08/02) reported that a three-day annual UN conference on disarmament and security issues opened in Kyoto. The meeting brings together government officials, members of nongovernmental organizations and journalists from 12 countries to talk about the impact of last year’s terror attacks on security issues. They will also discuss weapons of mass destruction and terrorism in general. The conference is sponsored by the UN Regional Center for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific and is taken part in by thirty-seven people.

5. Yasukuni Shrine Visit

The Japan Times (“KOIZUMI TO AVOID AUG. 15 SHRINE VISIT,” Tokyo, 08/08/02) reported that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will not visit Yasukuni Shrine on August 15, the 57th anniversary of the end of World War II, the top government spokesman said. “Prime Minister Koizumi will not pay homage at the shrine on Aug. 15,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told reporters, noting that the prime minister visited the shrine in April. Meanwhile, trade minister Takeo Hiranuma said he would visit Yasukuni Shrine on August 15.

IV. CanKor E-Clipping Service

1. CanKor Issue #95: Economic changes in the DPRK

Because of the far-reaching importance of financial and economic changes enacted in the DPRK last month, CanKor is focusing this entire issue on the facts and likely consequences involved. A paper by the Humanitarian and Development Working Group (HDWG — an ad hoc coordinating group of humanitarian agencies resident in Pyongyang) gives details of the changes being instituted, while articles in The Economist and South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper consider how the changes are likely to affect the life of ordinary (and not so ordinary) DPR Koreans.

For back issues of CanKor, please visit our website at: http://www.pcaps.iar.ubc.ca/cankor

The NAPSNet Daily Report aims to serve as a forum for dialogue and exchange among peace and security specialists. Conventions for readers and a list of acronyms and abbreviations are available to all recipients. For descriptions of the world wide web sites used to gather information for this report, or for more information on web sites with related information, see the collection of other NAPSNet resources.
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Produced by the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainable Development in partnership with:

Ilmin Internationl Relations Institute
BK21 The Education and Research Corps for East Asian Studies
Department of Political Science, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Center for American Studies,
Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

International Peace Research Institute (PRIME),
Meiji Gakuin University, Tokyo, Japan

Monash Asia Institute,
Monash University, Clayton, Australia

Brandon Yu: napsnet@nautilus.org
Berkeley, California, United States

Timothy L. Savage: napsnet@nautilus.org
Berkeley, California, United States

Kim Young-soo: yskim328@hotmail.com
Seoul, Republic of Korea

Hibiki Yamaguchi: hibikiy84@hotmail.com
Tokyo, Japan

Saiko Iwata: saiko@akira.ne.jp
Tokyo, Japan

Hiroya Takagi: hiroya_takagi@hotmail.com
Tokyo, Japan

Peter Razvin: icipu@online.ru
Moscow, Russian Federation

Wu Chunsi: cswu@fudan.ac.cn
Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

Dingli Shen: dlshen@fudan.ac.cn
Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

John McKay: John.McKay@adm.monash.edu.au
Clayton, Australia

 


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