NAPSNet Daily Report 21 October, 1999

Recommended Citation

"NAPSNet Daily Report 21 October, 1999", NAPSNet Daily Report, October 21, 1999, https://nautilus.org/napsnet/napsnet-daily-report/napsnet-daily-report-21-october-1999/

 
CONTENTS

I. United States

II. Announcements

I. United States

1. Remains of US Soldiers from Korean War

Pacific Stars and Stripes (Richard Roesler, “4 SETS OF REMAINS BELIEVED THOSE OF U.S. SOLDIERS TO BE REPATRIATED,” Yokota Air Base, 10/22/99, 4) reported that the United Nations’ rear command, based in Japan, will hold a repatriation ceremony next Monday for four sets of remains believed to be those of US soldiers missing since the Korean War. Military officials said that a cargo plane will pick up the remains from the DPRK and bring them to Yokota. A Department of Defense news release said that Robert L. Jones, deputy assistant secretary of defense for POW/Missing Personnel, is leading the delegation to Pyongyang to accept the remains. [Ed. note: This article was included in the US Department of Defense’s Early Bird news service for October 21.]

2. Korean War Massacre

Pacific Stars and Stripes (Jim Lea, “KOREAN WAR PROBE EXPANDS,” Osan, 10/22/99, 1) and the Associated Press (“US BEGINS PROBE INTO KOREAN KILLINGS, MAY EXPAND SCOPE,” Washington, 10/20/99) reported that US Defense Department spokesman Kenneth Bacon said Wednesday that the US will expand its probe into the alleged mass killing of civilians at No Gun Ri to include other Korean War incidents. Bacon stated, “I think (the investigation) will be broader than No Gun Ri, but how broad I cannot tell you at this stage.” Bacon said investigators are working carefully to uncover any documented facts concerning the No Gun Ri incident but have not yet interviewed former soldiers. He stated, “This is serious business. It’s very complex, and we’d rather take the time and do it right rather than do it too hastily.” [Ed. note: This article was the top story in the US Department of Defense’s Early Bird news service for October 21.]

3. Japanese Nuclear Policy

Reuters carried an analytical article (Linda Sieg, “JAPAN NUCLEAR ARMS TABOO STILL INTACT,” Tokyo, 10/21/99) which said that while the taboos in Japanese political circles against talking about remilitarization appear to be lifting, there is unlikely to be a public debate about Japanese acquisition of nuclear arms. Takashi Inoguchi, a University of Tokyo political science professor, stated, “Constitutional revision has ceased to be a taboo.” The Sankei Shimbun, noting that Japan’s anti-nuclear principles had been government policy since 1968, argued, “That doesn’t mean the policy can never change. Amidst an international situation which is moving so bewilderingly, we cannot say that the time will never come when Japan will have to think seriously about nuclear (weapons).” Keith Henry, head of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Japan office, stated, “There is frustration that Japan is not getting the respect it wants. But in terms of putting the issue of nuclear weapons into a more structured discussion, no one is going to go near it.” He added, “Japan is not opposed to the use of nuclear arms to maintain stability in Asia. Every time they emphasize the U.S.-Japan security relation, that’s what they’re saying. But they are not willing to debate whether they should take the responsibility themselves.” John Neuffer, a political analyst at Mitsui Marine Research Institute, argued, “The bottom line is that most Japanese still hold pacifist views and don’t want Japan to go nuclear.”

4. Japanese Nuclear Industry

Nuclear Fuel (Mark Hibbs, “BURDEN OF PLUTONIUM USE IN JAPAN NOW TO BE SHOULDERED BY LWR OWNERS,” Tokyo, 10/18/99) reported that Japanese officials said that the accident at the Tokaimura conversion plant is likely to halt plutonium use in Japan for several years. Following the accident, the Fugen advanced thermal reactor (ATR) will be shut down prematurely in January, 2000, and the Monju fast breeder reactor (FBR) will remain offline indefinitely. Sources involved said that Japan’s program to commercially introduce thermal mixed oxide fuel (MOX) in light-water reactors would itself likely suffer some delays. One unnamed industry official said, “There are open question marks about all fuel cycle activities now. It will be up to the local governments to decide how fast we proceed.” The accident at the reprocessing plant also threatens to shut down the Joyo FBR, as the last batch of fuel for Joyo was made two years ago and refueling is immanent. An official stated, “If all the fuel isn’t there Joyo will soon have to shut down,” he said, noting that Joyo is “infrequently operated” and is a research facility which does not produce electricity.

5. Deployment of US Nuclear Weapons in Japan

The South China Morning Post (Sally Fisher, “JAPANESE ACTIVISTS SHOCKED AT STORAGE OF US WEAPONS,” Tokyo, 10/21/99) reported that Japanese political activists expressed shock at revelations by US researchers that nuclear weapons were stored in US bases on the Japanese mainland during the Cold War. An unnamed spokesman for the Citizens’ Organization Against Nuclear Weapons stated, “We believed this was restricted [to Okinawa]. It is very worrying because the Japanese people have been unaware that other parts of Japan were possibly exposed to these weapons.” He added, “It is also a problem because the Japanese Government probably knew about this but did nothing.” A Greenpeace Japan spokeswoman stated, “Even in 1999, Japan’s policy on US nuclear weapons is ‘We don’t want to know.’ The US is still keeping secrets as this report shows and doing things without the permission of the Japanese public.”

6. Bombing of PRC Embassy

The Associated Press (“CHINA SAYS EMBASSY BOMBING TALKS WITH U.S. ‘PRODUCTIVE’,” Beijing, 10/21/99) reported that PRC Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said at a briefing Thursday that the PRC and the US had fruitful talks Wednesday on compensation for the NATO bombing of the PRC Embassy in Belgrade. David Andrews, a US State Department legal adviser leading the US delegation, was scheduled to leave Beijing on Friday. The US Embassy in Beijing said that the talks were “positive and productive” and that the two sides agreed to meet again soon.

7. PRC Aid to Taiwan

The Associated Press (“CHINA: TAIWAN POLITICIZING RELIEF,” Beijing, 10/21/99) reported that the PRC Red Cross on Thursday sent the Taiwan Red Cross US$500,000 for earthquake relief. The PRC Red Cross said that the money was raised from the Chinese public. It added that it had previously sent another US$300,000. It also said that it was ready to send nine medical teams and supplies worth US$600,000 and invited Taiwanese medical specialists to the mainland to discuss epidemic prevention. PRC Red Cross official Lan Jun stated, “We feel it’s a great pity we can’t go. There is no political goal.” In a Wednesday report by the PRC’s state Xinhua news agency, Zhang Huaijun, an official of the Taiwan Affairs Office, criticized Taiwan for turning down previous aid offers. Zhang “urged those Taiwanese with ulterior motives to spend their energies in the anti-quake efforts, instead of trying to transfer the dissatisfaction of the Taiwan people over the ineffective anti-quake activities undertaken by the authorities.” Jan Jyh-horng, deputy secretary general of Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation, “They shouldn’t link this to politics. If you were a patient, would you mind whether your doctor is a communist or a capitalist?”

8. ABM Treaty

Reuters (Gareth Jones, “RUSSIA, U.S. IN THORNY ARMS CONTROL TALKS,” Moscow, 10/21/99) reported that Russian and US officials on Thursday resumed arms talks. A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman stated, “The talks will address the issue of the ABM treaty and the chances for concluding a START-3 treaty on nuclear arms reduction.” He said that the Russian delegation was headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Berdennikov, and the US side by John Holum, State Department senior adviser on arms control and international security. An unnamed Russian Foreign Ministry source was quoted as saying, “No particular results can be expected from this round of consultations.”

Reuters (“U.N. DRAFT OPPOSES U.S. BID TO CHANGE ABM TREATY,” United Nations, 10/21/99) reported that Russia, the PRC, and Belarus have introduced a UN General Assembly resolution calling for preservation and strengthening of the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) treaty. The draft calls for “renewed efforts by each of the parties to preserve and strengthen the ABM treaty through full and strict compliance.” It states that “there shall be no deployment of anti-ballistic missile systems for a defense of the territory of its country and no provision of a base for such defense.” It expresses support for “the efforts of the international community aimed at preventing any attempts to undermine or circumvent the ABM treaty.”

The Associated Press (“WHITE HOUSE HOPEFUL OVER ABM CHANGES,” Washington, 10/20/99) reported that White House spokesman Joe Lockhart expressed hope on Wednesday that Russia eventually will agree to a US proposal to amend the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty. Lockhart stated, “We’re going to continue working with them. We’re in the beginning of this process, and we’re going to keep the lines of communication open.”

9. Russian Ratification of CTBT

Reuters (“RUSSIA TO SEND NUCLEAR TEST TREATY TO DUMA-IVANOV,” Madrid, 10/21/99) reported that Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Thursday that the government is ready to present the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) to the Duma for ratification. Ivanov stated, “The (US) decision caused deep disappointment in Moscow. It worries us that this decision might be a blow to the non-proliferation process for…weapons of mass destruction like nuclear weapons.”

II. Announcements

1. Website on DPRK Nuclear Facilities

The Institute for Science and International Security has photos of the DPRK nuclear reactor at Yongbyon available on its website. The site includes links to satellite images of the underground facility at Kumchangri, and reports on the DPRK’s nuclear program.

2. North Korea Advisory Group Website

The North Korea Advisory Group, a group of senior Republican members of Congress reviewing US policy toward the DPRK, has launched a new website. The site includes the text of committee hearings, recent General Accounting Office reports on food and fuel distribution to the DPRK, and links to the members’ homepages. at:

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:
International Policy Studies Institute Seoul, Republic of Korea
The Center for Global Communications, Tokyo, Japan
Center for American Studies,
Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China
Asian Institute,
Monash University, Clayton, Australia

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

Kim Hee-sun: khs688@hotmail.com
Seoul, Republic of Korea

Hiroyasu Akutsu: akutsu@glocomnet.or.jp
Tokyo, Japan

Peter Razvin: icipu@glas.apc.org
Moscow, Russian Federation

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

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

Leanne Paton: anjlcake@webtime.com.au
Clayton, Australia

 


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