NAPSNet Daily Report 30 March, 2009

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NAPSNet Daily Report 30 March, 2009

Contents in this Issue:

Preceding NAPSNet Report

MARKTWO

I. Napsnet

1. DPRK Missile Program

Chosun Ilbo (“N.KOREA THREATENS ‘STRONGER MEASURES'”, Seoul, 2009/03/30) reported that the DPRK’s Rodong Shinmun newspaper on Sunday said once the rocket issue is “raised at the UN Security Council for discussion, the six-party nuclear talks will come to a complete rupture.” It warned the DPRK will “take a stronger measure.”

Kyodo (“SATELLITE IMAGE CONFIRMS N. KOREAN ROCKET IN PLACE FOR LAUNCH”, Washington, 2009/03/29) reported that the Institute for Science and International Security said Sunday it has confirmed through a satellite image that the DPRK has placed a rocket on a launch pad. The image, taken at about 11 a.m. Sunday local time in the DPRK, is the first of its kind since reports came out in midweek that the rocket has been positioned at the Musudanri facility.

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2. US, Japan, ROK on DPRK Missile Program

Dong-A Ilbo (“‘NK LAUNCH TO BE BROUGHT TO SECURITY COUNCIL'”, 2009/03/30) reported that the ROK, Japan and the United States on Friday agreed to take action at the U.N. Security Council if the DPRK launches a rocket. ROK top nuclear negotiator Wi Sung-lac, President Obama’s chief representative on the DPRK Stephen Bosworth, and Japanese nuclear envoy Akitaka Saiki held a series of bilateral and trilateral meetings in Washington Friday. After the discussions, Wi said, “We have discussed how to deal with the rocket launch at the U.N. Security Council. It would be in violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718, and North Korea will face consequences.” Saiki said, “We will immediately discuss the matter at the U.N. Security Council. I believe there was no disagreement on that.”

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3. US, PRC on DPRK Missile Program

Yonhap (“OBAMA, HU TO DISCUSS N. KOREA’S ROCKET LAUNCH: WHITE HOUSE”, Washington, 2009/03/29) reported that Denis McDonough, White House deputy national security adviser, said Saturday U.S. President Barack Obama will discuss the DPRK’s rocket launch when he meets PRC President Hu Jintao on the sidelines of the G20 economic summit in London. “We’ll obviously want to take an opportunity to discuss our shared concerns about preparations in North Korea for a launch that we, as you know, would consider to be counter to U.N. Security Council resolution 1718,” McDonough said.

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4. US on DPRK Missile Program

New York Times (Thom Shanker, “NO U.S. PLAN TO STOP KOREA ICBM TEST”, Washington, 2009/03/29) reported that Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday the United States has no plans for military action to pre-empt the launching of a long-range missile by the DPRK. Gates said, “I don’t know anyone at a senior level in the American government who does not believe this technology is intended as a mask for the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile.” “If we had an aberrant missile, one that was headed for Hawaii, that looked like it was headed for Hawaii or something like that, we might consider” shooting it down, he said.

Reuters (Jon Herskovitz, “U.S. DEPLOYS ANTI-MISSILE SHIPS BEFORE N. KOREA LAUNCH”, Seoul, 2009/03/30) reported that the United States deployed a missile-interceptor ship from the ROK on Monday, a military spokesman said. U.S. Forces Korea dispatched one Aegis-equipped destroyer on Monday and plans to send another one later in the day from Busan , a spokesman said without offering further details.

Los Angeles Times (Greg Miller, “U.S. OFFICIAL CHALLENGES NORTH KOREA’S SATELLITE CLAIM”, Washington, 2009/03/27) reported that US National Intelligence Director Dennis C. Blair said that the DPRK’s threatened missile launch is intended to demonstrate its ability to carry out an intercontinental military strike. “Most of the world understands the game they are playing,”  Blair said. “I think they’re risking international opprobrium and hopefully worse if they successfully launch it.”

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5. ROK on DPRK Missile Program

Associated Press (Jae-Soon Chang, “SKOREA OPPOSES MILITARY REACTION TO NKOREAN LAUNCH”, Seoul, 2009/03/30) reported that ROK President Lee Myung-bak said the ROK opposes any military response to the DPRK’s planned launch of a rocket. In an interview with the Financial Times published Monday, Lee said all countries, including the PRC and Russia, oppose the DPRK’s plans. “What I do oppose is to militarily respond to these kind of actions,” Lee said, according to a transcript of the interview released by the presidential office.

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6. UN on DPRK Missile Program

Yonhap (“U.N. CHIEF VOICES CONCERN OVER N. KOREAN ROCKET LAUNCH”, Moscow, 2009/03/29) reported that U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed deep concern about the DPRK’s plan to launch a rocket. “This will threaten the peace and stability in the region,” he said.

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7. UK on DPRK Missile Program

Korea Herald (Kim Ji-hyun, “U.K. SUPPORTS SEOUL ON N. KOREAN ROCKET”, Seoul, 2009/03/30) reported that the United Kingdom supports the notion that DPRK’s imminent rocket launch would violate U.N. Security Council resolution 1718, said Martin Uden, British ambassador to the ROK on Sunday. “(The British government position is) that we should try to take whatever measures we can in the Security Council,” he said in a press conference. “But we don’t know what the reaction of some of the other crucial Security Council members will be,” he added. He noted that the PRC and Russia’s cooperation may be difficult to attain due to their relations with the DPRK.

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8. US Policy toward DPRK

Washington Post (Glenn Kessler, “ENVOYS STATUS RAISES EYEBROWS”, Washington, 2009/03/28) reported that DPRK Special Envoy Stephen W. Bosworth said in an interview that he is not giving up his post as dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and is “planning on spending a day or two in Washington every week or two and probably a week every four to six weeks, depending upon the pace, in Asia.” “Steve Bosworth is a highly capable diplomat with exactly the right experience to take this on, but there are already grumblings in Tokyo and Seoul that Washington is only interested in containing the problem,” said Michael J. Green, who was the top Asia adviser in the White House during the Bush administration. “I think the real test will not be whether Ambassador Bosworth is full time, but how the administration responds to North Korea’s likely missile test in April.” Mitchell B. Reiss said Bosworth’s distance from Washington may be an advantage. “It gives you a better perspective, and you do not get nibbled to death by bureaucratic details and minutiae,” he said.

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9. Inter-Korea Relations

Yonhap (“N. KOREA CALLS SOUTH ‘TRAITOR’ FOR BACKING U.N. SANCTIONS AGAINST ROCKET LAUNCH”, Seoul, 2009/03/26) reported that the DPRK on Thursday blasted Seoul as a “traitor” for backing U.N. sanctions against its imminent rocket launch. “The Lee Myung-bak group of traitors is showing themselves in their true color as confrontational maniacs who spread malicious insults at whatever their brethren does,” said the Minju Joson, a newspaper of the DPRK Cabinet. “It is a traitor’s behavior that the Lee group clamors for ‘resolute measures through international coordination'” against the rocket launch.

Associated Press (Jae-Soon Chang, “VOA WINS POWERFUL BASE FOR BROADCASTS INTO NK”, Seoul, 2009/03/28) reported that ROK President Lee Myung-bak ‘s administration is allowing the U.S. government-funded Voice of America to use transmission equipment in the ROK to send its dispatches into the DPRK for the first time since the 1970s. That makes the signal much clearer than VOA’s long-running shortwave broadcasts from stations in the Philippines, Thailand and Saipan. It’s an AM signal, so listening in doesn’t require a shortwave radio .

Yonhap (Kim Hyun, “N. KOREA DETAINS S. KOREAN WORKER FOR CRITICIZING PYONGYANG”, Seoul, 2009/03/30) reported that the DPRK sent a fax message to the ROK at 11:50 a.m. on Monday, saying that an ROK worker at the Kaesong industrial complex was put under detention for “denouncing our political system,” ROK Unification Ministry spokesperson Lee Jong-joo said. According to another ministry official, the DPRK notice also said the worker “degenerated and spoiled our female employee to instigate defection.”

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10. DPRK Defectors

Dong-A Ilbo (“N. KOREAN WOMEN SOLD INTO MARRAIGE IN CHINA”, Seoul, 2009/03/28) reported that Chinese human trafficking rings are selling DPRK women into marriage in the PRC. The rings receive details on age and other preferences from Chinese men, recruit women from all regions in the DPRK, get the women across the border, and then sell them to Chinese men living in rural areas. The price of a DPRK wife is set at between 3,000 yuan (439 U.S. dollars) and 10,000 yuan (1,464 dollars).

Yonhap (“TWO MORE COMMUNITY CENTERS FOR N. KOREAN DEFECTORS OPEN”, Seoul, 2009/03/30) reported that the ROK opened two more community centers for DPRK defectors on Monday, following one that was launched last week. “Looking forward to peaceful reunification in the future, our government is preparing for systematic and comprehensive measures to help North Korean defectors settle in our society,” Unification Ministry Hyun In-taek said in an opening ceremony in Bucheon. He also said the ROK’s support for defectors’ adjustment is a litmus test for its preparedness for reunification.

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11. DPRK Leadership

Yonhap (“N. KOREAN PAPER URGES CITIZENS TO FOLLOW LEADER ON ECONOMIC DRIVE”, Seoul, 2009/03/30) reported that the Rodong Sinmun on Monday called on DPRK citizens to follow leader Kim Jong-il. “This year is a pivotal year that will become a watershed in achieving our party’s grand plan,” it said in an editorial. “All workers should live in the spirit of our great general who has set himself a hard schedule and should become men of action in the era of a great surge,” it said. On Saturday it quoted Kim as saying, “Comrades worry about my health as I am about to make another fiend guidance trip, but it is my pleasure to walk on the rough road for our homeland and for our people.”

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12. ROK-EU Trade Relations

Yonhap (“GOV’T TO PUSH FOR RATIFICATION OF KOREA-EU FTA WITHIN THIS YEAR”, Seoul, 2009/03/30) reported that the ROK aims to ratify a free trade deal with the European Union by the end of this year and start to enforce the pact from the first quarter of next year, government officials were quoted as saying. The broad timetable for Korea-EU FTA was unveiled after the government held a free trade task force meeting earlier in the day, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.

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13. ROK-Russian Relations

Chosun Ilbo (“KOREA GETS GREATER FISHING QUOTA FROM RUSSIA”, Seoul, 2009/03/30) reported that the Alaska pollack quota for ROK fishermen in Russia’s exclusive economic zone has risen to 40,000 tons this year, a nearly two-fold increase from 2008’s quota of 20,500 tons. The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on Sunday said the ROK and Russia agreed on this at bilateral fisheries talks in Moscow last Thursday and Friday.

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14. ROK Climate Change

Chosun Ilbo (“BUYERS TO GET SUBSIDY FOR ECO-FRIENDLY, COMPACT CARS”, Seoul, 2009/03/30) reported that the an ROK Knowledge Economy Ministry official on Sunday said the government is formulating a policy to give W1 million to those who want to put cars registered before January 2000 out of service and buy compact cars or eco-friendly green cars such as hybrid cars.

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15. ROK Internet Censorship

Hankyoreh (“GOOGLE COMPROMISES ON INTERNET FREE SPEECH IN KOREA”, Seoul, 2009/03/30) reported that Google plans to reorganize its site beginning April 1 so that subscribers in the ROK must confirm their real names before posting materials or replies on YouTube Korea. April 1 is when the amendment to the ROK Act on the Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and User Protection will go into effect. A representative of Google Korea says that the ROK “is the first country worldwide for which Google will be collecting real-name information that can be used to identify individuals.”

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16. ROK Human Rights

Yonhap (“RIGHTS WATCHDOG FILES CONSTITUTIONAL PETITION AGAINST FORCED DOWNSIZING”, Seoul, 2009/03/30) reported that the ROK’s National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) said on Monday that it lodged a petition with the Constitutional Court against the government’s recent decision to downsize its organization. The Ministry of Public Administration and Security has ordered the NHRCK to restructure and slash its staff by one-fifth. “The ministry has infringed the commission’s independent affairs and neglected the legal procedures to push forward the downsizing plan,” the watchdog said in a statement. “So the commission decided to request the constitutional court’s judgment on the violation and procedural matters.”

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17. Japanese Missile Defense

Asahi Shimbun (Kuniichi Tanida, “DEFENSES SOUND, OFFICIALS INSIST, BUT MUCH DEPENDS ON N. KOREA”, Tokyo, 2009/03/30) reported that Japan has deployed a two-tiered ballistic missile defense system. The sea-based Standard Missile-3 (SM-3), fired from an Aegis-equipped destroyer, uses a heat seeker to detect a target, then approaches and waits at the predicted trajectory to make a strike. If the target missile gets past the SM-3, a radar from Earth will then guide the ground-based Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile to attack the target on descent. A Defense Ministry official said the “combination of the SM-3 and PAC-3 will improve the ratio of success.” If the DPRK launches a satellite, it will pass over Japan at a maximum altitude of about 250 kilometers. Since the greatest altitude at which an SM-3 can intercept a target is said to be 500 km, “theoretically it is highly possible” (to shoot it down), a senior official at the ministry said. But if the DPRK launches a Taepodong-2 ballistic missile, which can reach heights of 600 to 1,000 km, the SM-3 would be ineffective.

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18. Japanese Politics

Asahi Shimbun (“63% THINK OZAWA SHOULD QUIT AS MINSHUTO CHIEF”, Tokyo, 2009/03/30) reported that sixty-three percent of voters think Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) President Ichiro Ozawa should step down following the indictment of his key aide over suspected illegal donations, an Asahi Shimbun poll showed. Twenty-four percent said he should stay on. Asked which party they would vote for under the proportional representation system if a Lower House election were held now, 31 percent cited Minshuto, while 27 percent picked the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Currently, 27 percent of voters support the LDP while 20 percent back Minshuto.

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19. Japanese Climate Change

Asahi Shimbun (Keiji Takeuchi and Daisuke Sudo, “NEW POWER PLAN REWARDS SOLAR HOME OWNERS”, Tokyo, 2009/03/30) reported that Japanese power companies will be obliged to pay a higher price for excess energy generated by solar-equipped households under a new renewable energy policy. A bill to implement the “Japanese Feed-in Tariff (FIT) system” is expected to be passed during the current Diet session. The new purchase price for excess power will be twice the current rate and implemented for about 10 years, likely to start in the first half of 2010. Solar system owners can, therefore, expect to recover capital investment costs faster–in about 10 years or so, compared with the current 20 years plus.

Asahi Shimbun (“JOB PLAN FOCUSES ON ENVIRONMENT, HEALTH”, Tokyo, 2009/03/30) reported that the Japanese government plans to create up to 2 million jobs and demand worth 60 trillion yen over the next three years by investing heavily in the environmental and health-care areas, according to a draft. Under the “low carbon revolution,” the government plans to reduce energy consumption by promoting purchases of next-generation automobiles and raising the target of solar photovoltaic energy generation in 2020 to “20 times as much as now.” Other strategies in this category include installing solar power generation devices in each public school, urging households to buy more energy-efficient appliances and completing early beltways in the country’s three biggest urban areas.

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20. US-Japan Energy Cooperation

Yomiuri Shimbun (“JAPAN, U.S. PLAN TIE-UP IN ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY FIELDS”, Tokyo, 2009/03/29) reported that the Japanese and U.S. governments will form a comprehensive tie-up to jointly study state-of-the-art technologies in eight fields. Related bodies will sign a memorandum as early as April and launch a joint public-private taskforce, according to sources. The tie-up includes Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology; and five U.S. national research centers; including the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The eight fields include solar power generation; production of biofuels from plant cellulose, excluding grains; and carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS).

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21. Russo-Japanese Energy Cooperation

Vladivostock Times (“FIRST RUSSIAN GAS TO JAPAN”, Vladivostock, 2009/03/30) reported that the first scheduled Russian LNG cargo departed Prigorodnoye port on 29 March bound for Sodegaura terminal, Tokyo Bay, with a cargo of some 145 thousand cubic metres of LNG. This consignment, the first ever Russian gas to be delivered to Japan, will be taken by two of the Company’s foundation customers – Tokyo Gas and Tokyo Electric.

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22. PRC Tibet Issue

Associated Press (“TIBET WILL REOPEN TO FOREIGN TOURISTS ON APRIL 5”, Beijing, 2009/03/29) reported that Tibet would resume receiving foreign tourists as early as next week, Bachug, head of the Tibetan regional government’s tourism administration, was quoted as saying by the Xinhua News Agency in a report late Sunday. Visits from foreign tourists were suspended “for the sake of travelers’ safety,” said Bachug. “Tibet is harmonious and safe now.”

Associated Press (Christopher Bodeen, “BUDDHIST CLERIC: CHINA PROTECTS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM”, Wuxi, 2009/03/28) reported that the Panchen Lama on Saturday thanked the PRC government for sponsoring an international Buddhist forum in eastern China. “This event fully demonstrates that today’s China enjoys social harmony, stability, and religious freedom, and also shows that China is a nation that safeguards and promotes world peace,” the Panchen Lama said.

China Daily (Lan Tian and Cai Ke, “SICHUAN SOLDIER STABBED IN BACK”, Beijing and Leshan, 2009/03/30) reported that a Sichuan soldier was attacked outside army barracks last Thursday, just a week after another soldier was shot dead in neighboring Chongqing. A senior police official said Sunday that the attack might be connected to Tibetan separatists, without giving the reason. “If the two attacks are linked, they are definitely terrorist attacks,” said the source. “The terrorists’ purpose is to attract international attention as some Westerners still think the PLA entered Tibet to suppress, not to liberate.”

Reuters (Jason Subler, “CHINA MARKS ‘EMANCIPATION’ OF TIBET WITH NEW HOLIDAY”, Beijing, 2009/03/28) reported that marked its inaugural Serfs’ Emancipation Day on Saturday with testimonials by Tibetans on the merits of Communist rule, denunciations of the Dalai Lama and vows to crush any attempts at independence. Zhang Qingli, the region’s Communist Party chief, stated, “Any plots to make Tibet independent, to separate it from socialist China, are bound to fail. The skies above Tibet will always be clear blue; the bright red five-star flag of China will always fly high over Tibet.”

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23. PRC Civil Unrest

Washington Post (Ariana Eunjung Chung, “GRIEVING PARENTS GAIN CLOUT IN CHINA”, Beijing, 2009/03/28) reported that parents groups whose members’ children were hurt or killed in various tragedies such as the milk scandal, the Sichuan earthquake and the Tiananmen Square massacre have become an emerging political force in the PRC. They pose a special challenge to the PRC government, which has not been able to deal with them in the same manner it has dealt with others who challenge its authority. The parents, hugging pictures of their sick or deceased children, have captured the public’s empathy. Attempts to bully, bribe, harass or detain them have been met with harsh reprimands from ordinary citizens on Internet bulletin boards.

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24. PRC Cyber Warfare

New York Times (John Markoff, “VAST SPY SYSTEM LOOTS COMPUTERS IN 103 COUNTRIES”, Toronto, 2009/03/28) reported that a vast electronic spying operation has infiltrated computers and has stolen documents from hundreds of government and private offices around the world, according to researchers at the Munk Center for International Studies at the University of Toronto. The researchers said that the system was being controlled from computers based almost exclusively in the PRC, but that they could not say conclusively that the PRC government was involved. The operation in less than two years has infiltrated at least 1,295 computers in 103 countries, including many belonging to embassies, foreign ministries and other government offices, as well as the Dalai Lama’s Tibetan exile centers in India, Brussels, London and New York.

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25. PRC Internet Censorship

New York Times (Edward Wong, “CHINA: YOUTUBE AGAIN ACCESSIBLE”, Beijing, 2009/03/27) reported that the PRC government has lifted its block of YouTube. On Friday, people in Beijing could access the site without using special software to enter it through a proxy server.

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26. PRC in International Financial Institutions

BBC (“CHINA READY TO CONTRIBUTE TO IMF”, London, 2009/03/27) Vice premier Wang Qishan said the PRC is ready to contribute extra funds to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Wang said the scale of a country’s contribution should be determined by GDP per head, not by the size of a country’s currency reserves. “It is neither realistic nor fair to set the scale of contributions simply by the size of foreign exchange reserves,” he said.

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II. PRC Report

27. Shanghai World Expo

Xinhua Net (Wu Yu, “SHANGHAI EXPO TO HIRE 1M VOLUNTEERS”, 2009/03/25) reported that the 2010 expo will kick off its volunteer recruitment program in May this year. More than 1 million volunteers eager to be part of a global event will be hired. Chen Zhenmin, director of the Shanghai World Expo Social Mobilization Office, said yesterday that while most volunteers would be chosen from among college students, people from all walks of life were welcome to join. During the 184-day event that lasts from May 1 to Oct 31, volunteers will serve 14 to 20 days on average, he said. But authorities might consider extending the period in view of the public’s passionate and enthusiastic response.

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28. PRC Environment

China Daily (Chen Jia, “SHANXI TO SLASH HALF OF ITS COALMINES”, 2009/03/25) reported that Shanxi province, which produces one-fourth of China’s coal, vowed to speed up the overhaul of its coalmines, cutting the number by more than half by the end of 2010, according to Wang Shouzhen, chief of Shanxi coal bureau. Mines without water inrush accident control and gas monitoring systems will be blacklisted, following Shanxi coal bureau requirements.

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III. ROK Report

29. Six-Party Talks

Hankyoreh (Jungsoo Chang, “US-CHINA-JAPAN TRILATERAL TALKS THREATENING THE KOREAN PENINSULA”, 2009/03/30) wrote that Morton Abramowitz, has called for US-Japan-PRC trilateral talks. It is not desirable for either the ROK and DPRK to have the US, China, and Japan discuss the DPRK nuclear issues, rather than holding Six-Party Talks with both ROK and DPRK participating. 

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30. DPRK Missile Program

Chosun Ilbo (“CHINA AND RUSSIA SHOULD’T BACK UP DPRK’S ‘SATELLITE’ CLAIM”, 2009/03/30) wrote in an editorial that in order to stop DPRK’s continuing provocation, the international society must, in one voice, urge the DPRK to stop any activities that threaten the peace and security of the Korean peninsula and warn that if DPRK refuses, it will have to “pay the corresponding price” for it. For such international effort to succeed, China and Russia’s role is very important. Increasing military tension around the Korean peninsula and strengthening US-Japan military arrangements because of DPRK’s launching of missiles are not desirable for both China and Russia. ROK, US, and Japan should also focus their diplomatic efforts under the understanding that the success of international cooperation regarding DPRK all depends on China and Russia.

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31. Inter-Korea Relations

PRESSian (Ahn Jungshik, “‘DPRK WARNS OF STRONG COUNTERMEASURES… HOW ROK MUST LOSE THE LEAST’ “, 2009/03/28) wrote that with the DPRK still not taking part in the Six-Party Talks, the only way the US could communicate with the DPRK is through a bilateral negotiation. Within this framework, the ROK will be left with two choices. One is to reflect its opinion through the US, and the other is to persuade the DPRK into bilateral negotiations. Though it is not likely, considering the current relations between North and South, it is best for ROK to find ways “to lose the least, rather than to win something.” In that sense, it is strategically not preferable to do anything provocative, which is why the ROK government’s consideration of entering into the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) and participation as a joint sponsor of the DPRK Human Rights Resolution in the UN Human Rights Council are such shames.

Tongil News (“6.15 JOINT COMMITTEE FAILS TO COME TO AN AGREEMENT ON 6.15 JOINT EVENT”, 2009/03/28) reported that from March 25, the 6.15 Joint Committee held a conference with ROK, DPRK, and foreign chairpersons in Pyongyang to discuss the 9 th anniversary event of the 6.15 Joint Declaration. Because the DPRK insisted holding the event separately, while the ROK insisted holding it together, they failed to come to an agreement. Instead, they set a “6.15 Joint Declaration Action Movement Term” from June 15 to October 4, agreeing to proceed with various projects during the term, and hold another conference in October to discuss a 10 th anniversary event for 2010.  

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32. PRC Military Development

Korea Institute of Future Studies (Park Youngjoon, “CHINA’S AIRCRAFT CARRIER AND SECURITY ORDER IN EAST ASIA”, 2009/03/23) wrote that it is likely that the PRC will be able to possess an aircraft carrier in the near future. Problems regarding China’s sovereignty should be respected. China’s GDP has overstepped Germany and became the world’s third economic power, and in the military sense, it has caught up with the US and Russia as the world’s third nuclear power. We cannot make any response whatsoever if China wants to possess an aircraft carrier for both national interest and national prestige. However, it is possible that China’s possession of aircraft carrier could increase insecurity in the East Asia, thus shaking its security order.