NAPSNet Daily Report 23 June, 2010
Contents in this Issue:
- I. NAPSNet
- ROK on Naval Ship Sinking
- PRC on Naval Ship Sinking
- Japan on Naval Ship Sinking
- DPRK-Japan Illicit Trade
- Inter-Korea Relations
- DPRK Leadership
- DPRK Environment
- DPRK Human Rights
- DPRK Humanitarian Aid
- ROK on Six-Party Talks
- ROK Naval Ship Sinking
- PRC on ROK-US Military Cooperation
- ROK Military Procurements
- ROK-Japan Relations
- USFJ Base Relocation
- Japan Self-Defense Force
- Japan Whaling Issue
- PRC Ethnic Unrest
- PRC Labor Unrest
- Cross-Strait Relations
- II. PRC Report
- PRC Environment
- PRC Civil Society
1. I. NAPSNet
2. ROK on Naval Ship Sinking
Agence France Presse (“S.KOREA ACCUSES N.KOREA OF ‘BLACKMAIL'”, 2010/06/22) reported that the ROK’s foreign minister accused the DPRK Tuesday of blackmailing the international community to avoid any censure for the sinking of a ROK warship in March. Foreign Minister Yu Myung-Hwan told parliament that the PRC and Russia were concerned about the DPRK’s possible reaction to any UN moves “rather than the truth” about the Cheonan. But he added that the PRC and Russia would not want to be “orphans” when the international community decides on its response. The ROK will continue efforts to win over the PRC and Russia, Yu said, adding that 58 countries have so far condemned Pyongyang for the attack on the Cheonan and expressed support for Seoul.
Donga Ilbo (“`NK TORPEDO HAD QUALITY ASSURANCE MARK IN CATALOG`”, 2010/06/22) reported that a catalog promoting a DPRK torpedo that allegedly sank the ROK warship Cheonan had the name of a DPRK economic organization printed on it as well as a certification of quality, a ROK government source said. The civilian-military joint investigation team found six parts of the torpedo written in Japanese after enlarging the weapon’s design. This is because fonts were broken when design drawings contained in a CD-Rom were printed out on a Korean computer. A paper catalog made by the DPRK is also known to have been printed entirely in Korean.
4. PRC on Naval Ship Sinking
Xinhua News Agency (“CHINA TO SERIOUSLY STUDY ROK SHIP SINKING: FOREIGN MINISTRY”, 2010/06/22) reported that the PRC said on Tuesday it was seriously deliberating on the joint investigation into the sinking of a Republic of Korea (ROK) warship and the responses of all parties. “The sinking of Navy frigate ‘Cheonan’ is a complicated incident, and China doesn’t have the first-hand information. China will objectively and fairly deal with the incident in accordance with the facts,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang at a regular press briefing. Qin said the Security Council was discussing the issue, and held an unofficial dialogue. “The statements by the ROK and the DPRK on that occasion will help the member countries of the Security Council to learn the situation.”
Yonhap News (“U.S. IN CONSULTATIONS WITH CHINA ON N. KOREA: U.S. AMBASSADOR IN CHINA”, 2010/06/22) reported that the United States has been in close consultations with the PRC on how to deal with the DPRK accused by Seoul of sinking one of its warships in March, the top U.S. envoy in the PRC said. “We’ve had many conversations with China about North Korea,” U.S. Ambassador to the PRC Jon Huntsman Jr. said. “We’ve talked about the importance of supporting what South Korea is desirous of doing, which is taking the matter to the U.N. security council,” the ambassador said.
6. Japan on Naval Ship Sinking
Kyodo News (“JAPAN TO SEEK INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ON SHIP SINKING AT SUMMIT”, 2010/06/22) reported that Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Tuesday Japan will seek strong cooperation with Washington and Seoul in handling the issue of a ROK warship allegedly sunk by the DPRK at this weekend’s meetings of government heads in Canada. ”It is crucial to enhance collaborations within the international community, especially between Japan, the United States and South Korea” while there are calls for the United Nations to determine punishment for the DPRK over the deadly sinking in March, Kan said at a meeting of his Cabinet ministers related to the issue.
7. DPRK-Japan Illicit Trade
Global Security Newswire (“JAPANESE FIRMS SUSPECTED OF SELLING NORTH KOREA POSSIBLE MISSILE PARTS”, 2010/06/22) reported that the presidents of two Japanese firms are expected to be detained today based on suspicions that they illicitly sold equipment to the DPRK that could be used in the country’s missile development program, Kyodo News reported. Japanese authorities planned to arrest the two executives in southwestern Japan’s Kyushu region for purportedly violating a ban on sending the DPRK power shovels, equipment considered “dual use” technology that the aspiring nuclear power could use for launch pads for its Taepodong and Rodong missiles.
8. Inter-Korea Relations
Associated Press (Claire Lee, “SKOREA, JAPAN ACTIVISTS FLY LEAFLETS TOWARD NKOREA”, Cheorwon, 2010/06/23) reported that ROK and Japanese activists floated hundreds of thousands of leaflets by balloon toward the border with the DPRK on Wednesday. The leaflets criticized DPRK’s late founding father Kim Il Sung for starting the Korean War and blamed the current government led by his son, Kim Jong Il, for a botched currency reform and the downing of the warship Cheonan.
9. DPRK Leadership
Agence France Presse (“N.KOREA WORKER’S FUNDS ‘DIVERTED TO LEADERSHIP'”, 2010/06/22) reported that the DPRK has diverted tens of millions of dollars earned by its workers on African construction projects into secret funds managed by leader Kim Jong-Il, a report said Tuesday. The impoverished country has earned more than 160 million dollars since early 2000 in orders from African countries for sculptures and other edifices, said Daily NK, a Seoul-based online newspaper run by defectors. It said the money has been managed by the communist party’s Department 39, which raises personal funds for Kim by controlling key state corporations and financial institutions.” Some of these dollars are used for domestic governance while the others go to secret accounts in Switzerland or Macau as Kim Jong-Il’s secret funds,” it quoted a source in the PRC as saying.
Chosun Ilbo (“KIM JONG-IL RESTORES SPECIAL DEPARTMENT TO SWELL COFFERS”, 2010/06/22) reported that the DPRK in March restored a special department in the Workers Party codenamed Room 38 which manages leader Kim Jong-il’s coffers and personal slush funds,. The DPRK last fall merged Room 38 with Room 39, which manages party slush funds. “Rooms 38 and 39 were merged to simplify Kim Jong-il’s slush funds,” said a DPRK source. “But when it became difficult to secure hard currency due to international sanctions, Room 38 seems to have been restored because there was a feeling that Room 39 alone can’t meet the need.” Room 39 tries to maximize earnings from gold and zinc mining and farming and fisheries. It also manages stores and hotels exclusively for foreigners in Pyongyang. Room 39 seems to have suffered badly due to the recent suspension of inter-Korean trade.
11. DPRK Environment
Agence France Presse (“NORTH KOREA SAYS PUTS “GREAT EFFORT” INTO ENVIRONMENT”, 2010/06/22) reported that state media said on Tuesday scientists were inventing new ways to cut air pollution and protect the environment. The country “has directed a great effort” to research environmental protection, the state news agency KCNA reported. “Researchers have developed a new material for removing exhaust fumes from automobiles so as to cut the greenhouse gas emissions and reduce air pollution 35-40 percent,” it said, without elaborating. It also said “units” in the capital, Pyongyang, that caused pollution had been registered, suggesting that dirty industries were under pressure to get clean.
12. DPRK Human Rights
Agence France Presse (“US HOPES NEW UN RIGHTS RAPPORTEUR CAN ENTER N.KOREA “, 2010/06/22) reported that the United States said it hopes the new UN human rights rapporteur for the DPRK will be able to enter the reclusive Stalinist state after his predecessor never gained access. “The United States welcomes the announcement of Marzuki Darusman as the special UN rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the DPRK,” State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said. “The United States hopes the North Korean government will grant Mr Darusman access to North Korea to observe conditions inside the country and hold direct discussions on human rights issues.” “The United States remains deeply concerned about the human rights situation in North Korea and the plight of North Korean refugees,” he added.
13. DPRK Humanitarian Aid
Korea Herald (“HUMANITARIAN GROUP CALLS FOR DEFUSING OF TENSION”, 2010/06/22) reported that a global humanitarian group Tuesday called for a defusing of mounting peninsular tension to continue providing humanitarian aid to the DPRK. This is because such aid will eventually reach out to people in the region to bring about change in the regime, according to Lesley-Anne Knight, secretary-general of Caritas Internationalis. “In our experience, humanitarian aid dampens tension because we are working at the grass roots level, and change comes from the bottom up,” Knight said in a press conference in Seoul. She noted how hardliners may believe all types of aid should be halted to punish the DPRK, but stressed that such moves would cause only further conflict.
14. ROK on Six-Party Talks
Yonhap News (“FM RULES OUT SIX-WAY TALKS BEFORE RESOLVING CHEONAN INCIDENT”, 2010/06/22) reported that the ROK will consider discussing the resumption of international disarmament talks on the DPRK’s nuclear programs only after giving the communist nation a stern international response over the sinking of a ROK warship, the foreign minister said Tuesday. “As North Korea was found to have sunk the warship Cheonan, the government will concentrate on the Cheonan incident at this stage,” Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan told a parliamentary meeting. “(The government) will consult related countries on resuming six-party talks after completing its response.”
15. ROK Naval Ship Sinking
Associated Press (“ACTIVIST BLAMES SKOREA’S LEADER FOR SHIP SINKING”, 2010/06/22) reported that a ROK activist on an unauthorized trip to the DPRK on Tuesday blamed his country’s conservative president — not the communist DPRK — for the deadly sinking of one of Seoul’s warships. Rev. Han Sang-ryol who works for Seoul-based Korea Alliance Progressive Movements, gave a rare news conference Tuesday in Pyongyang, criticizing ROK President Lee Myung-bak for allegedly discarding past rapprochement accords with the DPRK and raising tension by staging joint military exercises with the United States. “One thing is clear, that Lee Myung-bak is to blame for the incident,” Han said, according to video footage from APTN in Pyongyang, referring to the sinking of the Cheonan warship.
16. PRC on ROK-US Military Cooperation
Reuters (“CHINA SAYS “CONCERNED” ABOUT SOUTH KOREA-U.S. DRILL”, 2010/06/22) reported that the PRC said on Tuesday it was concerned about reports that a U.S. aircraft carrier may join a military exercise with the ROK amid a tense standoff with the DPRK over the sinking of a ROK warship. PRC Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said he had seen the reports about the U.S. aircraft carrier joining the drill. “We’re extremely concerned about these reports and will closely follow developments,” he told a news conference. He said the PRC was worried the show of naval force could unsettle the region. “Under current circumstances, all the parties concerned should exercise calm and restraint and do nothing to escalate tensions and harm the interests of countries in this region,” Qin said.
17. ROK Military Procurements
Brahmand Defence and Aerospace News (“SKOREA’S NEW MILITARY HELICOPTER TAKES TO THE SKIES”, 2010/06/22) reported that the ROK Tuesday tested the third prototype of its new military transport helicopter ‘Surion’ a Yonhap report said. During the 20-minute flight, the third prototype flew at an altitude of 2,000 feet with a cruising speed of 140 knots (260 kilometers) per hour, the report said. “It is a historic day today as the Surion completed its initial flight tests,” Defense Minister Kim Tae-young was quoted as saying. “The successful development of the Surion laid groundwork for the nation’s aviation industry to stand on its own feet and the military to increase its combat capabilities,” Kim said in his congratulatory message.
18. ROK-Japan Relations
International Security Research and Intelligence Agency (“SOUTH KOREA – OUTCOME OF THE 10TH KOREA-JAPAN VICE FOREIGN MINISTERS’ STRATEGIC DIALOGUE”, 2010/06/22) reported that first Vice Foreign Minister Shin Kak-soo met his Japanese counterpart Mitoji Yabunaka in Japan for the 10th Korea-Japan Vice Foreign Ministers’ Strategic Dialogue. In the meeting, the two sides had a broad exchange of views on the current situation of the Korean peninsula, regional issues, ways for cooperation on the international stage and other issues of mutual interest. After exchanging in-depth views on the DPRK and its nuclear issues, the two Vice Ministers agreed on close ROK-Japan cooperation in responding to the Cheonan incident. Vice Minister Yabunaka, in particular, conveyed the Japanese government’s all-out support for the ROK government’s position on the Cheonan incident and reaffirmed its willingness to fully cooperate with appropriate measures by the UN Security Council.
19. USFJ Base Relocation
Kyodo (“KAN TO EASE BURDEN ON OKINAWA WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF U.S.-JAPAN ALLIANCE”, Naha, 2010/06/23) reported that Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Wednesday the government will seek to ease the burden on Okinawa Prefecture of hosting U.S. military bases, but suggested he will make such efforts only in a manner that does not harm the Japan-U.S. relationship. I would like to make every effort to ease the burden while conforming with the Japan-U.S. agreement,” Kan said in a meeting with Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima. Kan also said that Okinawa’s acceptance of the U.S. military presence ”has led to peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.”
20. Japan Self-Defense Force
Kyodo News (“JAPAN CONSIDERING REFUELING FOREIGN SHIPS IN ANTIPIRACY OPERATIONS”, 2010/06/22) reported that the Japanese government is considering employing Maritime Self-Defense Force tankers to refuel foreign vessels engaged in antipiracy operations in waters off Somalia, government sources said Tuesday. Naoto Kan, is hoping to reveal the new international contribution during his planned talks with U.S. President Barack Obama in Canada, they said.
21. Japan Whaling Issue
Agence France Presse (“JAPAN LASHES OUT AT CRITICS AT WHALING TALKS”, 2010/06/22) reported that Japan hit out at its critics Tuesday at crunch talks on the future of commercial whaling, saying it had offered big concessions and that pro-conservation nations had refused to compromise. A spokesman for the Japanese delegation at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) also lashed out at green groups, accusing them of spreading lies and manipulating public opinion. “Japan has compromised,” said spokesman Glenn Inwood in an interview. “Anti-whaling countries have offered nothing. If this process is going to survive, it requires compromise from both sides.”
22. PRC Ethnic Unrest
Associated Press (“CHINA SAYS IT HAS CRACKED ‘MAJOR’ TERRORIST RING”, 2010/06/22) reported that the PRC said Tuesday that it had uncovered an unspecified “major terrorist organization,” a claim that came just ahead of the anniversary of bloody ethnic rioting in the far western region of Xinjiang. The Public Security Ministry gave little information in its brief announcement, which also coincided with the launch of a government propaganda campaign to promote patriotism in restive Xinjiang, following moves to strengthen security there. The announcement posted on the Public Security Ministry’s website said only that police had “cracked a case involving a major terrorist organization.” It said details would be given at a news conference Thursday.
23. PRC Labor Unrest
New York Times (“STRIKE FORCES TOYOTA TO HALT PRODUCTION AT CHINESE FACTORY”, 2010/06/22) reported that Toyota Motor was forced to halt production at a car factory in the PRC on Tuesday for the second time this month after workers at a supplier staged a walkout, the latest in a string of strikes that has hit Japanese carmakers. The supplier, an auto parts manufacturer in southern PRC that makes sensors and electronic control parts, has stopped shipping parts to Toyota since workers started striking on Monday, demanding higher pay, said Ririko Takeuchi, a Toyota spokeswoman in Tokyo. The Toyota affiliate Denso owns the parts maker, Denso Guangzhou Nansha, and employs about 1,100 workers.
24. Cross-Strait Relations
Central News Agency (“TAIWAN, CHINA TO EXCHANGE ‘EARLY HARVEST’ LISTS”, 2010/06/22) reported that Taiwan and the PRC are set to exchange “early harvest” lists in Taipei on Thursday when representatives meet to discuss a trade pact and details of a fifth round of semi-official cross-strait talks, Taiwan officials said Tuesday. The “early harvest” lists will contain items subject to preferential tariff treatment in cross-Taiwan Strait trade after a planned economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) is signed, which both sides hope to accomplish in late June or early July.
25. II. PRC Report
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26. PRC Environment
General Administration of News and Publications (“GANP LAUNCHES ENERGY-SAVING WEEK”, 2010/06/22) reported that in response to the theme of “Green Work, Low-Carbon Life” of public institutions’ energy-saving week, General Administration of News and Publications (GANP) launched its own energy-saving week from June 12 to 18. The officials of CANP will take public transportation, ride bikes, or walk. And the elevator in the agency will be used as little as possible.
27. PRC Civil Society
Sina.com (“ONE FOUNDATION PHILANTHROPY RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOUNDED IN BEIJING”, 2010/06/22) reported that One Foundation Philanthropy Research Institute was formally founded at the Beijing Normal University on June 21st in Beijing. The founder of the One Foundation – Jet Li—attended the opening ceremony. This Institute is the PRC’s first philanthropic theory research agency jointly sponsored by the university and the social organization. It will also cultivate philanthropic talents and provide counseling on public policy.
Xinhua News Agency (“SHANGHAI YUFO TEMPLE HELD 2ND CHARITY WEEK”, 2010/06/22) reported that the 2nd Juequn Charity Week, jointly sponsored by the Shanghai Charity Foundation and Shanghai Yufo Temple was unveiled in Shanghai Monday morning. Buddhists, government officials, and directors of charity foundations totaling over 300 people participated in the activity. The main theme was to discuss Buddhist’s role, status quo, and development in charity careers.