NAPSNet Daily Report 29 June, 2010

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"NAPSNet Daily Report 29 June, 2010", NAPSNet Daily Report, June 29, 2010, https://nautilus.org/napsnet/napsnet-daily-report/napsnet-daily-report-29-june-2010/

NAPSNet Daily Report 29 June, 2010

Contents in this Issue:

  1. I. NAPSNet
  2. DPRK-US Relations
  3. US on DPRK Economy
  4. US on DPRK-US Relations
  5. ROK Response to Naval Sinking
  6. US on ROK Naval Ship Sinking
  7. Japan on Sino-DPRK Relations
  8. DPRK on ROK Naval Ship Sinking
  9. Inter-Korean Relations
  10. DPRK Leadership
  11. US-ROK Joint Naval Exercises
  12. PRC Naval Exercise
  13. ROK-Japanese Territorial Dispute
  14. US Transit of Nuclear Weapons Through Japan
  15. Sino-Japanese Defense Relations
  16. Russo-Japanese Territorial Dispute
  17. Sino-US Relations
  18. Sino-Russian Nuclear Cooperation
  19. PRC Nuclear Power
  20. Hong Kong Government
  21. PRC Science and Technology
  22. PRC Migrant Labor
  23. PRC Environment
  24. PRC Internet Control
  25. II. PRC Report
  26. PRC Civil Society
  27. PRC Social Welfare

1. I. NAPSNet

 

 

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2. DPRK-US Relations

Reuters (“NORTH KOREA ISSUES NEW WARNING TO U.S. OVER TRUCE VILLAGE”, 2010/06/28) reported that the DPRK warned of military action against the ROK and the US, claiming the allied forces had brought “heavy weapons” into the DMZ truce village of Panmunjom. “U.S. forces introduced weapons (to the truce village) at around 7:25 a.m. on June 26,” the DPRK’s official KCNA news agency said, quoting its military, adding that the weapons must be withdrawn immediately. “If it does not comply with the principled demand of the Korean People’s Army, strong military counter-measures will be taken in the area,” the agency said.

 

 

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3. US on DPRK Economy

The Associated Press (“US: NKOREAN WAR DAMAGES CLAIM ‘PREPOSTEROUS'”, 2010/06/28) reported that the Obama administration ridiculed the DPRK for claiming $65 trillion from the United States in Korean War damages, saying the DPRK is an economic “basket case” due its own failed policies. Marking the 60th anniversary of the start of the conflict, the State Department said the DPRK had no one but itself to blame for its isolation and the misery of its people. Spokesman P.J. Crowley called the compensation claim “preposterous” and said the DPRK should abide by agreements to give up nuclear weapons and stop threatening its neighbors.

 

 

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4. US on DPRK-US Relations

The Associated Press (“CIA’S PANETTA: NORTH KOREA TO BACK AWAY FROM BRINK”, 2010/06/28) reported that CIA director Leon Panetta says he doesn’t think the skirmishes involving the DPRK will lead to a military confrontation on the Korean peninsula. Panetta tells ABC’s “This Week” that for many years, “we’ve been going through these kinds of provocations and skirmishes with a rogue regime.” Panetta says that in the end, “they always back away from the brink and I think they’ll do that now.” He says the attack could be related to who might succeed DPRK leader Kim Jong Il — possibly his youngest son.

 

 

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5. ROK Response to Naval Sinking

Yonhap (“SEOUL SAYS UNSC MEASURE SIMILAR TO G-8 STATEMENT WOULD BE ACCEPTABLE”, Seoul, 2010/01/29) reported that the ROK will find acceptable a U.N. Security Council measure on the DPRK similar to the statement issued by G-8 leaders last week that condemns the attack on the Cheonan without naming the DPRK as the culprit, a high-ranking source here said Tuesday. “The statement specifically refers to the conclusion and condemned the attack in that context,” he said. “Anyone could easily see that the leaders condemned North Korea.” He added that there was “some consensus” within the Security Council that the attack on the warship should be condemned. “The contentious issue at hand is whether to specifically name North Korea,” he said.

 

 

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6. US on ROK Naval Ship Sinking

The Associated Press (“OBAMA: NORTH KOREA’S BEHAVIOR IS UNACCEPTABL”, 2010/06/28) reported that President Barack Obama says that the DPRK “engaged in belligerent behavior that is unacceptable to the international community” in sinking a ROK ship. Obama said he wants the U.N. Security Council to produce a “crystal-clear acknowledgment” of that. And Obama said that shying away from ugly facts on the DPRK‘s behavior is, in his words, “a bad habit we need to break.”

 

 

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7. Japan on Sino-DPRK Relations

Agence France-Presse (“JAPAN PM URGES CHINA TO SLAM SKOREA SHIP SINKING”, 2010/06/28) reported that Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has said he asked PRC President Hu Jintao in talks to condemn the DPRK’s alleged sinking of a ROK warship. Citing a G8 summit declaration condemning the attack that left 46 people dead, Kan said he “encouraged China to move in a similar direction,” pointing out to Hu that Beijing’s condemnation was “necessary.” Kan did not say how Hu responded to his call but Japanese officials said the PRC leader urged the international community to be calm and not jump to conclusions.

 

 

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8. DPRK on ROK Naval Ship Sinking

Xinhua News (“DPRK PROPOSES NORTH-SOUTH MILITARY TALKS OVER SINKING OF S. KOREAN WARSHIP”, 2010/06/28) reported that the DPRK proposed holding high-level military talks with the ROK over the investigation of a sunken ROK warship, the official KCNA news agency reported. “If the South Korean authorities respond to our proposal, we will promptly come out for a working contact for the opening of the military talks,” the KCNA quoted the official as saying. “The working contact will discuss the issue of sending the inspection group of our National Defense Commission to the spot of South Korea for successfully ensuring the proposed high-level military talks, the time and venue for opening the talks, the composition of delegations of both sides and other working matters,” it said.

 

 

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9. Inter-Korean Relations

Yonhap News (“HUMAN RIGHTS BODY DIVIDED OVER RESUMPTION OF ANTI-N.K. BROADCASTS”, 2010/06/28) reported that the ROK’s state human rights agency discussed a proposal that calls for the government to resume anti-DPRK propaganda broadcasts on the border amid criticism the move could provoke the DPRK and heighten tensions, but failed to draw a conclusion. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) held a nine-member committee meeting to discuss the proposal that advises the government to resume anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts on the heavily armed border.

 

 

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10. DPRK Leadership

Associated Press (Hyung-jin Kim, “REPORTS: KIM’S YOUNGEST SON IS NKOREA LEGISLATOR”, Seoul, 2010/06/29) reported that on Tuesday, the Dong-a Ilbo quoted a high-level Western source knowledgeable about the as saying that Kim Jong Un was elected to the DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly Constituency No. 216. The source said he obtained the information from unidentified DPR Koreans about two months after the vote. The Joongang Ilbo carried a similar report, saying the comments would confirm that Kim has formally entered government service. A spokesman at the ROK National Intelligence Service said his organization believes there is a low probability the younger Kim became a member of parliament.

 

 

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11. US-ROK Joint Naval Exercises

Yonhap News (“S. KOREA, U.S. TO DECIDE ON NAVAL EXERCISES IN STEP WITH U.N. ACTION ON N. KOREA”, 2010/06/28) reported that the ROK and the United States are expected to fix dates for their joint naval exercises after assessing progress in Seoul’s diplomatic efforts to rebuke the DPRK at the U.N. Security Council, an official said. “The dates for the joint exercises are expected to be fixed after watching progress in discussions of the Cheonan incident at the U.N. Security Council,” the official at the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said on the condition of anonymity. Officials here have said the U.S. plans to send the 97,000-ton USS George Washington, an Aegis-equipped destroyer and a nuclear submarine for the exercises. A 4,500-ton destroyer, a submarine and F-15K fighter jets are to participate from the Seoul side.

 

 

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12. PRC Naval Exercise

Xinhua News (“PLA TO HOLD MILITARY EXERCISE IN EAST CHINA SEA “, 2010/06/28) reported that the East China Sea Fleet of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) recently announced that it would hold live-fire exercises in the East China Sea from June 30 to July 5. It is rare for the PRC military to make such an announcement ahead of time, according to Ming Pao Daily News. In an apparent coincidence, the drill was announced shortly before the start of the US and ROK’s joint military exercise on June 28 in the Yellow Sea.

 

 

Associated Press (Tini Tran, “CHINA TO CONDUCT LIVE-FIRE SEA DRILL THIS WEEK”, Beijing, 2010/06/29) reported that the PRC military exercises are seen by some analysts as a response to one by the United States and the ROK. “Though the Chinese government did not say anything about the drill, anybody with common sense on military strategy will bet that they are related,” Shi Yinhong, an expert on U.S. studies at Renmin University, was quoted as saying in the official China Daily. However, the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday denied there was a link, calling he naval exercise “regular military training.” “This has nothing to do with the situation on the Korean peninsula,” spokesman Qin Gang said.

 

 

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14. ROK-Japanese Territorial Dispute

Yonhap News (“S. KOREAN TEXTBOOKS TO INCREASE REFERENCES ON DOKDO”, 2010/06/28) reported that the government will increase the amount and depth of references to the ROK’s Dokdo islets in school textbooks to counter Japan’s repeated territorial claim to them, the education minister said. “The ministry is planning to establish a new education system, including new guidelines that require publishers to include more detailed descriptions of Dokdo in the textbooks,” Minister of Education, Science and Technology Ahn Byong-man told a National Assembly committee. The new textbooks will be used in elementary schools starting in spring 2011 and in middle schools from 2012, according to the ministry.

 

 

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15. US Transit of Nuclear Weapons Through Japan

Kyodo News (“NO NUCLEAR-ARMED U.S. SHIPS MADE PORT CALLS IN JAPAN: MINISTRY”, 2010/06/28) reported that the Japanese Foreign Ministry has told the Okinawa prefectural government that no ships carrying nuclear weapons have made port calls at US naval facilities at White Beach in the prefecture, a public document showed. In a document responding to questions submitted by the local government, the ministry said that while it is “difficult to say for certain,” it has determined that no U.S. ships carrying nuclear weapons had made port calls in Japan “as of this moment, based on US nuclear policy.” The ministry said, “There is no change in the policy of the Cabinet of (Prime Minister Naoto) Kan to hold fast to the three non-nuclear principles.”

 

 

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16. Sino-Japanese Defense Relations

Kyodo News (“JAPAN, CHINA TO ENHANCE DEFENSE DIALOGUE “, 2010/06/28) reported that Japan and the PRC agreed to beef up dialogue between defense authorities to build mutual trust amid disputes such as those caused by recent PRC military activities around Japanese waters, a Japanese official said. Hu said he wants to reinforce dialogue between the defense authorities, governments, parliaments and political parties of the two countries, in an attempt to enhance mutual trust. Kan responded that he agreed with the idea and said he ‘‘would like to strengthen dialogue between defense authorities and build a trustful relationship,’’ the official said.

 

 

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17. Russo-Japanese Territorial Dispute

Kyodo News (“SUMMIT TALKS EYED FOR ISLES DISPUTE”, 2010/06/28) reported that Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed Saturday to seek progress on a long-standing territorial dispute through high-level talks, including at the summit level, a Japanese official said. In a meeting on the sidelines of a Group of Eight summit in the Canadian resort town of Huntsville, Kan told Medvedev that settling the bilateral dispute has been an ardent wish of the Japanese people over the past 65 years. “I want to seek a final settlement on this issue at the bilateral summit level, which was the highest priority issue of my predecessor Prime Minister (Yukio) Hatoyama,” Kan was quoted as telling Medvedev.

 

 

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18. Sino-US Relations

Agence France-Presse (“CHINA AIMS TO ‘STRENGTHEN’ COORDINATION WITH US: HU”, 2010/06/28) reported that the PRC hopes to “strengthen” coordination with the United States on major issues, PRC President Hu Jintao said as he met US leader Barack Obama. “I’m happy to note that thanks to the joint efforts of both sides recently, real progress has been made in this relationship,” Hu said, noting that both countries were confronted with tackling the economic recovery. “We need to continue to follow the spirit of staying the same course and uniting together,” Hu said.

 

 

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19. Sino-Russian Nuclear Cooperation

Dow Jones (“CHINA STILL IN TALKS WITH RUSSIA ON DETAILS OF FAST REACTOR COOPERATION”, 2010/06/28) reported that the PRC is still in discussions with Russia on the details of cooperation on fast-reactor nuclear power technology, following a framework agreement signed earlier this year, a senior engineer with the China Institute of Atomic Energy said. China National Nuclear Corp., CIAE’s parent and the country’s top nuclear power developer in terms of installed capacity, said in March that it signed a memorandum of understanding with Russia’s Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corp. to cooperate in building two reactors in PRC using the “experimental fast reactor” technology. CNNC also established a joint venture company with the local Fujian provincial government to build the plant designed with two 800-megawatt reactors in the province’s Sanming city using the advanced technology, which can raise the efficiency of uranium use and reduce nuclear waste.

 

 

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20. PRC Nuclear Power

Dow Jones (“CHINA NATIONAL NUCLEAR: PLAN TO BUILD POWER PLANT IN SICHUAN”, 2010/06/28) reported that China National Nuclear Corp. has officially launched preliminary work on a plan to build a nuclear power plant in southwestern PRC’s Sichuan province, the company said on its website. Under a framework agreement signed last week, CNNC and the Sichuan government will cooperate in preliminary work on the planned nuclear plant, of which CNNC will hold a controlling stake and aims to obtain approval from the central government as soon as possible. In addition, the two sides will also work together on uranium exploration and production in Sichuan as well as nuclear fuel processing.

 

 

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21. Hong Kong Government

The Associated Press (“HONG KONG VOTES TO ADD ELECTED LEGISLATIVE SEATS”, 2010/06/25) reported that Hong Kong’s legislature agreed to add 10 elected seats, completing a set of Beijing-backed electoral changes that critics say reinforce the territory’s undemocratic political system. The legislators approved the proposed changes by a vote of 46-12, concluding a three-day marathon debate. Hong Kong’s Beijing-appointed government has billed the proposals as a form of democratization in the semiautonomous territory, but critics say they only beef up an electoral system skewed in favor of the PRC government.

 

 

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22. PRC Science and Technology

Washington Post (“CHINA PUSHING THE ENVELOPE ON SCIENCE, AND SOMETIMES ETHICS”, 2010/06/28) reported that unburdened by social and legal constraints common in the West, the PRC’s trailblazing scientists are also pushing the limits of ethics and principle as they create a new — and to many, worrisome — Wild West in the Far East. But over the past five years, Western-educated scientists and gutsy entrepreneurs have conducted a rearguard action, battling the PRC’s hidebound bureaucracy to establish research institutes and companies. Those have lured home scores of Western-trained Chinese researchers dedicated to transforming the People’s Republic of China into a scientific superpower.

 

 

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23. PRC Migrant Labor

BBC News (“CHINA ‘MUST EASE MIGRANT WORKER PRESSURES'”, 2010/06/28) reported that officials in the PRC have urged the government to help ease the pressures caused by a record number of internal migrant workers. A report shows the PRC’s floating population increased to 211 million last year – a figure the officials say is causing high concern. Earlier this month, PRC’s Premier Wen Jiabao called for better living conditions for migrant workers from rural areas. He said the PRC owed them its wealth and tall buildings, and officials should treat them as their own children.

 

 

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24. PRC Environment

The Associated Press (“BIG ALGAE BLOOM EXPANDING OFF CHINA’S EAST COAST”, 2010/06/28) reported that a huge bright green algae bloom is blanketing the sea off the PRC’s east coast and wind is driving it closer to land, an official said. Cui Wenlin, an official with the State Oceanic Administration, said the slimy bloom is the biggest the PRC has seen since a huge outbreak in 2008 threatened to disrupt sailing events during the Beijing Summer Olympics. The current outbreak has nearly doubled in size since it was first spotted June 14 near eastern China’s Shandong province and now measures about 110 square miles (300 square kilometers), said Cui, who works at the administration’s North China Sea Environmental Monitoring Center.

 

 

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25. PRC Internet Control

BBC News (“CHINA BANS 2.3M PLA SOLDIERS FROM BLOGGING”, Beijing, 2010/06/26) reported that a new regulation prohibits the PRC’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) from creating websites or blogs, citing confidentiality concerns, Xinhua news agency says. “Soldiers cannot open blogs on the internet no matter (whether) he or she does it in the capacity of a soldier or not,” Xinhua quoted Wan Long, a political commissar of the PLA, as saying. “The internet is complicated and we should guard against online traps”.

 

 

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26. II. PRC Report

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27. PRC Civil Society

Sina.com (“FIRST JINGHUA PHILANTHROPIC BOOKSHELF SUBSCRIBED”, 2010/06/28) reported that Jinghua Philanthropic Bookshelf is a long-term public project promoting the whole society to care about the education in poverty areas. Since June 20 when the project was launched, there are already 24 bookshelves been subscribed by individuals. China Foundation for Women’s Development becomes the first NGO that subscribes the bookshelf and will donate 100,000 RMB for the purchase of books.

 

 

China Investment Net (“BEIJING JUNIOR CHAMBER IF COMMERCE ESTABLISHED”, 2010/06/28) Beijing Junior Chamber of Commerce was formally launched Monday in Beijing. The Chamber is sponsored by Beijing Commission of Communist Youth League and young entrepreneurs in Beijing. The Chamber will actively promote public welfare activities, establish three funds of teenagers’ development and provide service to member enterprise.

 

 

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29. PRC Social Welfare

South Urban Daily (“GUANGZHOUTO COLLECTS 2010 VOLUNTARY FAMILIES OF DRUG CONTROL”, 2010/06/28) reported that Haizhu District Drug Control Office of Guangzhou city will collect 2010 voluntary families of drug control in one year. Because many drug users take drugs again for lack of family support, so establishment of a voluntary family team is a good way to solve this problem.