NAPSNet Daily Report 22 March, 2002

Recommended Citation

"NAPSNet Daily Report 22 March, 2002", NAPSNet Daily Report, March 22, 2002, https://nautilus.org/napsnet/napsnet-daily-report/napsnet-daily-report-22-march-2002/

 
CONTENTS

I. United States

1. DPRK Security Patrols in PRC
2. Nuclear Weapons Rhetoric
3. Japan Constitutional Revision
4. Philippines-US Anti-terror War
5. Japan-ROK World Cup Relations
6. Taiwan Security Raid
7. DPRK-Japan Espionage Abductions
II. Republic of Korea 1. Japanese Prime Minister ROK Visit
2. DPRK-US Relations
3. ROK-Japan Relations
III. Japan 2. Japan-RF Relations
3. US-Japan Military Cooperation
4. Japanese New Security Legislation

I. United States

1. DPRK Security Patrols in PRC Agence France-Presse, “UNIFORMED NORTH KOREANS SWEEPING NE CHINA FOR REFUGEES,” 03/22/02) reported that uniformed DPRK agents are scouring PRC border towns for refugees who have fled the DPRK. “Panic-stricken Chinese citizens… were dumbfounded to find uniformed North Korean security patrols freely operating in their cities,” said a release from Norbert Vollertsen, a Seoul-based German doctor assisting DPRK refugees. “The North Koreans are believed to be dispatched from the North Korean State Security Agency,” said the release, which cited anonymous sources. A separate ROK source, who asked not to be identified, said Friday that refugees apprehended during the operations were sometimes “badly beaten” on the spot by the agents. Most DPRK agents participating in the operation had now donned plain clothes, the source said.

2. Nuclear Weapons Rhetoric

The Associated Press (Christopher Newton, “NUCLEAR WEAPONS TALK ON THE RISE,” Washington, 03/22/02) carried an analytical article that observed nations around the world seem to be creeping toward a new military philosophy that does not rule out using nuclear weapons on the battlefield or to settle regional disputes. There are signs that “the unthinkable” is being redefined to accommodate new anxieties and advancing technology. Those who watch attitudes toward nuclear weapons say the “temperature” is rising. “The world is searching for a new status quo, that will involve new players and new dangers,” said Retired Army Colonel Daniel Smith, who is chief of research at the US-based Center for Defense Information. “Our nuclear posture seems to move us closer toward use of nuclear weapons in a conflict even against a country that has no nuclear weapons of any kind,” he said. “The belief that countries that do develop chemical or biological weapons would be able to blackmail the US is prompting us to look into ways to change the equation.” Some of those who oppose the development of nuclear weapons say the US is worsening the situation. “The approach of this administration has been to throw arms control out the window and attempt to obtain overwhelmingly superior force against everyone, through new weapons and missile defense,” said Randall Forsberg, director for the Institute for Defense and Disarmament. “That is going to cause small nations to develop weapons, not stop them.”

3. Japan Constitutional Revision

Reuters (“POLL: MORE LAWMAKERS FAVOR REVISING JAPAN’S CONSTITUTION AFTER U.S. TERROR ATTACKS,” Tokyo, 03/21/02) reported that more Japanese lawmakers favor revising Japan’s constitution to allow the military to take a bigger international role, according to a newspaper poll published Friday. 71% of legislators surveyed said that they favor changing the pacifist constitution, up 11% from a similar poll conducted five years ago, Japan’s largest daily, Yomiuri, said. The constitution, which has never been revised, has been a source of comfort to many Japanese who see peace as the key to prosperity. The increase in those favoring amendment reflected changes in thinking following September 11 and the December shootout between the Japan Coast Guard and a suspected DPRK spy vessel in the East China Sea, the poll found. The survey showed that 55% of lawmakers queried said Article 9, which renounces war, should be altered because Japan can no longer respond to changing situations through constitutional reinterpretations alone. That was up by 14% over the 1997 poll. Fourteen percent of the respondents said the clause should be strictly respected, the newspaper said. The poll, conducted over the first 18 days of March, covered all 724 members of the lower and upper houses of Parliament. A total of 469 lawmakers, or 64.8%, responded.

4. Philippines-US Anti-terror War

Agence France-Presse (“ABU SAYYAF ON THE ROPES AMID JOINT US-PHILIPPINES CAMPAIGN: ARROYO,” 03/22/02) reported that Philippines President Gloria Arroyo announced that seven weeks into a joint US-Philippines campaign against global terrorism, Abu Sayyaf Muslim guerrillas are on the run. Arroyo also stated, “Our troops are hot on the trail of the terrorists, aided by sophisticated intelligence gathering” provided by US military aircraft and other means. Arroyo said her government has “no opposition” to a proposal to expand the US military involvement in the south to providing a “community development” aspect by building roads and other infrastructure in Basilan. Filipino officials said a proposal to send about 300 US military engineers to the island was on the table.

5. Japan-ROK World Cup Relations

Reuters (Teruaki Ueno, “JAPAN, S. KOREA VOW SOLID TIES AHEAD OF WORLD CUP,” Seoul, 03/22/02) reported that after meeting with ROK President Kim Dae-jung, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said that he hoped that relations between Japan and the ROK did not fray again after football fever died down following the finals in May and June. “We confirmed that co-hosting of the World Cup will help the two countries build more forward-looking, friendly, cooperative relations,” Koizumi told a news conference after the summit. “It would be big waste to let this first-ever co-hosted finals end as just a soccer tournament.” Koizumi and Kim also signed an agreement to boost mutual direct investment. “I hope the investment agreement will become a major step forward toward closer economic cooperation,” Koizumi said. The agreement, a first for ROK, is expected to help the ROK attract huge investment from Japan and make it easier for Korean companies to enter Japanese markets.

Agence France-Presse (“SOUTH KOREA VOW TO BURY PAST, BUT EMPEROR WORLD CUP NO-SHOW,” 03/22/02) reported that Japanese officials confirmed in a briefing that Japanese Emperor Akihito, who had never been officially invited to the opening ceremony, would not use the World Cup tournament to carry out a landmark visit to the ROK. Normally the head of state of the host nation would attend the opening ceremony of the World Cup, which for this joint hosting will be in Seoul on May 31. The two leaders announced that instead Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi will return for the opening game and Kim will go to Japan for the final on June 30.

6. Taiwan Security Raid

Reuters (Alice Hung, “TAIWAN DEFENDS RAID ON HONG KONG MAGAZINE,” Taipei, 03/22/02) reported that Taiwan officials on Friday defended a raid on a magazine owned by Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai, saying it leaked state secrets and put national security in jeopardy. Lai’s weekly alleges that former president Lee Teng-hui approved the use of a T$3.5 billion (US$100 million) slush fund for the National Security Bureau to spy on the PRC. It said the fund also served as Taiwan’s war chest. “(The leak) will disrupt the government’s operations in the mainland and could have an impact on intelligence gathering in the future,” Chen Ming-tong, spokesperson for the cabinet’s Mainland Affairs Council told a news conference. Prosecutors raided Next magazine’s Taipei office, a reporter’s home and the magazine’s printing plant where they seized 160,000 copies on Wednesday. Local media suspected the document on which the article was based was leaked by a fugitive accountant, Colonel Liu Kuan-chun, who had embezzled US$5.5 million from the secret fund. Liu, who fled Taiwan in 2000 after the scandal came to light is still wanted by authorities. The magazine’s editor-in-chief Peir Woei said Next Taiwan is considering taking legal action against the government.

7. DPRK-Japan Espionage Abductions

The New York Times (James Brooke, “JAPANESE ANGRY OVER KOREAN KIDNAPPINGS,” Tokyo, 03/21/02) reported that new details about a DPRK program to kidnap Japanese citizens in the 1970’s and 1980’s are stoking animosity in Japan. Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi met Tuesday with Japanese citizens who say their relatives were kidnapped by DPRK agents during that era. Koizumi said he wanted the DPRK to understand the seriousness of the matter. “The problem involves not only the family members, but the whole state of Japan,” he said. In court, Meguni Yao, the former wife of a Japanese leftist, said that when the couple lived in the DPRK during the 1980’s, she tried to lure lonely Japanese students, some of them studying abroad, to the DPRK. There they were to either join a government-supported “Japan Revolutionary Village” or to train DPRK spies for work in Japan.

II. Republic of Korea

1. Japanese Prime Minister ROK Visit

Joongang Ilbo (Chun Young-gi, “GOODWILL SIGNS AS KOIZUMI STARTS TRIP,” Seoul, 03/22/02) reported that Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi flew into Seoul Thursday to begin his three-day visit to the ROK. Koizumi will meet with ROK Prsident Kim Dae-jung to discuss a proposed bilateral free trade agreement and review progress in the seven agreements reached last October, including formation of a joint research council to find a common interpretation of Japan’s colonization of ROK during 1910-1945. Koizumi made symbolic gestures of goodwill on his first day. He laid a wreath at the National Cemetery, paying respect to ROK’s independence fighters and the dead of the 1950-1953 Korean War. He stressed that he wants to expand ties with ROK that will not end when the World Cup games end on June 30.

2. DPRK-US Relations

Joongang Ilbo (“NORTH ACCUSES U.S. FOR NUCLEAR THREATS,” Seoul, 03/22/02) reported that the DPRK’s Korean Central News Agency claims that US President George W. Bush broke his promise not to threaten the DPRK with nuclear weapons. The broadcast accused the Bush administration in totally abandoning the 1993 DPRK-US joint communique which pledged to give up the usage and threats of nuclear weapons. The news then reiterated the DPRK’s existing stance that it would continue to struggle against the US “provocation of nuclear war.”

3. ROK-Japan Relations

The Korea Times (Kim Sung-jin, “ROK, JAPAN TO UPGRADE FTA TALKS,” Seoul, 03/22/02) reported that the discussions for establishing a ROK-Japan Free Trade Agreement (FTA) are to be upgraded from the nongovernmental level to a semi-governmental level by July at the latest. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT) said Thursday that the ROK and Japan plan to institute a joint research committee where a panel of experts from the governmental, business and academic sectors of both countries will conduct research and studies of a ROK-Japan FTA by the first half of the year. It said that the committee plans to accelerate the momentum established by nongovernmental-level studies at the recent ROK-Japan FTA Business Forum meeting involving business groups from the two countries, including the ROK Chamber of Commerce and Industry. MOFAT said the formation of the committee will be discussed at the Korea- Japan summit as Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is expected to propose the launch of the committee during his visit to Seoul slated for March 21- 23. President Kim Dae-jung is expected to accommodate the proposal.

III. Japan

1. Japan-ROK Summit

The Mainichi Shinbun (“PM TELLS SEOUL JAPAN WILL PUSH PYONGYANG OVER KIDNAPPINGS,” Seoul, 03/22/02) reported that Japan will demand “tenaciously” that the DPRK admit to abducting Japanese people and that they help resolve the issue, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said when he met ROK President Kim Dae-jung Friday. Koizumi stressed that Japan will never compromise their demands for the DPRK to clarify and resolve the abduction issue in an apparent bid to ascertain the DPRK’s position before resuming suspended diplomatic talks. “The issue cannot be shelved due to the seriousness with which the Japanese people view it,” Koizumi told Kim during the summit talk at the Blue House presidential residence in Seoul. “We will resolutely demand that North Korea try to resolve the issue because it is a matter involving the lives of Japanese nationals.” In response, Kim told reporters after the summit meeting that the ROK would do whatever it can to help Japan to make progress in the abduction problem.

2. Japan-RF Relations The Mainichi Shinbun (“RUSSIAN TRADE OFFICERS FACES SPY CHARGES,” 03/22/02) reported that a former member of the Russian Trade Representative Office in Tokyo is facing espionage charges over soliciting military intelligence, security police said Friday. Investigative papers have been sent to prosecutors, accusing a man known only as Shelkonogov of spying. However, the chance of the official facing prosecution in Japan is virtually none, as he returned to Russia in March 2000. Police said Shelkonogov, a senior member of the Russian military intelligence, the GRU, tried to obtain classified maintenance manuals for the radar-guided Sparrow air-to-air missiles and the infrared heat-seeking Sidewinder air-to-air missiles from a retired Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) officer in October 1999. The former officer, who runs a maintenance firm that has business ties with the ASDF, had met the alleged GRU agent over a dozen times, but won’t face espionage charges because he refused to meet the Russian’s demand, investigators said.

3. US-Japan Military Cooperation

Jiji Press (“U.S. JOINT OPERABILITY,” Washington, 03/21/02) reported that the US is calling for joint operability of US and Japanese forces in a higher level of cooperation for ballistic missile defense. The US aims to achieve greater interoperability first by expanding its technological cooperation with Japan, a US government sources said. Such cooperation is likely to result mainly in the transfer of technology from the US, but Japan could also offer technology to the US. As part of this vision of greater coordination between Japanese and US military forces, the source hoped the countries will be able to take their BMD initiative to the development phase from the current research phase by 2005. The US government sources also hopes Japan will decide to enter the new phase in 2003 or 2004, before it draws up its next five-year defense buildup plan. The Japanese Defense Agency denies that the production of the prototype indicates that Japan has adopted the BMD strategy. The agency maintains that it has yet to decide on its involvement in the development phases.

4. Japanese New Security Legislation

The Japan Times (“DIET ROLE SET FORTH IN EMERGENCIES BILLS,” Tokyo, 03/22/02) reported that a Diet declaration of an emergency situation will be required before the government can invoke soon-to-be-proposed legislation stipulating Japan’s reaction to a foreign attack, Japanese government sources said Thursday. The government, which has been drafting a set of emergency bills, has already asked the three-party governing coalition to approve its proposal to make the parliamentary authorization a must, the sources said. It will be up to further talks between government officials and ruling bloc lawmakers whether Diet authorization must come before the government sets up a headquarters to deal with an emergency. The government has decided to seek Diet authorization to ensure civilian control over emergency situations partly in consideration of public concerns about the legislation allowing the government to restrict individual rights in the event of an attack on Japan according to the sources.

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:

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@glas.apc.org
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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