NAPSNet Daily Report 29 November, 2010
Contents in this Issue:
1. PRC on DPRK Nuclear Talks
The Associated Press (“CHINA CALLS FOR URGENT TALKS ON NORTH KOREA”, 2010/11/29) reported that the PRC quickened its diplomatic efforts to ease tensions between the DPRK and ROK, calling for an emergency meeting of envoys to the DPRK nuclear disarmament talks. PRC envoy Wu Dawei said chief negotiators to the six-nation talks are being asked to come to Beijing in early December for the emergency session “to exchange views on major issues of concern to the parties at present.” “I want to stress that a series of complicated factors have recently emerged on the Korean peninsula,” Wu said Sunday in a statement he read to reporters in Beijing.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101129/ap_on_re_as/as_china_koreas_nuclear_4
2. US on DPRK Nuclaer Talks
JoongAng Daily (Moon Gwang-lip , “JAPAN, U.S. REJECT CHINA’S PROPOSAL FOR 6-PARTY TALKS”, 2010/11/30) reported that after the ROK’s tepid response, the U.S. and Japan also reacted unenthusiastically to the PRC’s proposal for an emergency meeting among members of the stalled six-party talks on the DPRK’s nuclear programs. “The six-party talks cannot substitute for action by North Korea to comply with its obligations,” a U.S. State Department spokesman said. “We have called on China to urge the DPRK to restrain its provocations and responsibly act in the interests of peace and stability.”
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2929023
3. US-ROK Joint Naval Exercises
Washington Post (Keith B. Richburg, “U.S., SOUTH KOREA BEGIN MILITARY EXERCISES, AS CHINA CALLS FOR EMERGENCY TALKS ON NORTH KOREA”, 2010/11/29) reported that the ROK and the US began joint naval exercises that will include live fire and bombing drills, as hermetic DPRK deployed missiles close to the Yellow Sea and warned that it will turn the region into “a merciless shower of fire” if its territory is violated. ROK officials said the exercises began when the USS George Washington aircraft carrier strike group entered the exercise zone, along with ROK warships. Officials said the live firing would begin later in the day. The Naval maneuvers, involving 20 South Korean and American warships, are scheduled to last four days.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/27/AR2010112703600.html
4. DPRK on US-ROK Naval Exercises
Xinhua (“DPRK CALLS U.S.-ROK NAVAL DRILL A NEW PROVOCATION”, Pyongyang, 2010/11/29) reported that the ongoing joint naval drill of the United States and the ROK is a fresh provocation to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, a leading newspaper of the DPRK said on Monday. The four-day exercises, launched on Sunday in the waters west of the peninsula, are a “criminal move” that may bring the situation in the region to “an explosion,” the Rodong Sinmun warned in a commentary. Although the DPRK and the international community hope to ease up the tensions on the Korean Peninsula and keep peace there, the United States and the ROK rudely challenged the wish and tried to ignite the war by pouring oil on the flames, it said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-11/29/c_13626920.htm
5. Russia on Inter-Korean Relations
Korea Times (Kang Hyun-kyung, “RUSSIA TO BACK UNSC STATEMENT ON N. KOREA”, 2010/11/29) reported that the ROK’s push to take the DPRK’s latest deadly attack on an island in the West Sea to the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) gained momentum after Russia, a permanent council member, gave its explicit support. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed the hope that UNSC members will produce a statement to condemn the DPRK’s bombardment of Yeonpyeong Island. Lavrov was quoted as saying that he hoped the UNSC will “express its opinion” regarding the provocation and that this will help ease military escalation on the Korean Peninsula. “People were killed and this is the most important (issue),” Lavrov was quoted as saying during the briefing.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/11/113_77027.html