NAPSNet Daily Report 30 November, 2001

Recommended Citation

"NAPSNet Daily Report 30 November, 2001", NAPSNet Daily Report, November 30, 2001, https://nautilus.org/napsnet/napsnet-daily-report/napsnet-daily-report-30-november-2001/

 
CONTENTS

I. United States

1. DPRK Defections
2. ROK Military Purchase
3. US-PRC Nonproliferation Talks
4. Taiwan Elections
II. Japan 1. DPRK-Japanese relations
2. Japan-PRC View on Terrorism
3. The Role of Japan in Afghan Issues
4. Japan Rejects Afghan refugees

I. United States

1. DPRK Defections

The Associated Press (“20 NORTH KOREANS DEFECT TO SOUTH KOREA,” Seoul, 11/30/01) reported that ROK’s National Intelligence Service said that twenty DPRK Nationals recently arrived in Seoul after defection. The defectors included 6 laborers, 12 students and 1 infant. The total number of DPRK Nationals who have defected to the ROK this year is 516. Last year, 312 DPRK Nationals defected to the ROK, up from 148 in 1999.

2. ROK Military Purchase

Reuters (“S.KOREA DEFENSE MINISTRY EYES MARCH FIGHTER CHOICE,” Seoul, 11/30/01) reported on Friday that the ROK defense ministry dismissed reports that announcements for the winning bidder of the US$4 billion contract for fighter jets would be delayed until late June. An ROK defense ministry spokesman stated, “Last week, the defense minister told lawmakers that the decision would be pushed back until the end of March, and we’ll stay with that until further notice.” US aircraft makers Boeing Company, France’s Dassault Aviation, Russia’s Sukhoi and Eurofighter International, which combines firms from Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain, are the major bidders.

3. US-PRC Nonproliferation Talks

Reuters (Carol Giacomo, “US TO ASK CHINA AGAIN: HALT PAKISTAN MISSILE AID,” Washington, 11/30/01) reported that US Undersecretary of State John Bolton and PRC Vice Foreign Minister Wang Guangya are expected to hold the most extensive senior-level nonproliferation talks between their countries on Friday since US President George W. Bush took office. An unnamed senior US official said that the US will be tough and reiterate a demand that the PRC must curb its missile cooperation with Pakistan. However, expectations are low that the two countries will reach an agreement that would enable the lifting of US sanctions. The senior official said, “We don’t have any reason to believe the Chinese position has changed. But we’ll be listening.” As for the US position, he said that the US preference has not changed and would deal with the PRC’s “proliferation behavior” across a range of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems. He added, “frankly, if they can’t address the missile sanction issue, then there is not a lot of point in talking about other aspects (of proliferation) at this stage.” The US may also use the meeting to voice its concern about PRC’s biological weapons program. PRC priorities are to talk about the lifting of sanctions and to learn the status of the US missile defense negotiations with Russia.

4. Taiwan Elections

The Associated Press (William Foreman, “TAIWAN URGES CHINA TO RESPECT VOTE,” Taipei, 11/30/01) reported that, vice chairman of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, Lin Chong-pin warned the PRC not to interfere with the island’s legislative election on November 31, “The election is Taiwan’s own affair. Any interference from Communist China would be inappropriate. The election results represent the will of the Taiwanese people and should be respected.”

II. Japan

1. DPRK-Japanese relations

Financial Times (Gillian Tett, “HEAD OF PRO-N KOREA GROUP ACCUSED IN JAPAN,” Tokyo, 11/29/01) reported that Japanese police on November 28 arrested the senior executive of a Japanese civic group which supported the DPRK in a financial scandal. Kan Young Kwan, an executive of Chongryon, the pro-DPRK group in Japan, was accused of having siphoned off around 820 million Yen of funds in a complicated scheme involving local credit unions that serve the DPRK population living in Japan. Yasuo Fukuda, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, denied on November 28 that the issue would hurt Japan-DPRK relations.

2. Japan-PRC View on Terrorism

Yomiuri Shinbun (“INTERNATIONAL SECURITY IS SUBJECT TO TERRORISM,” Beijing, 11/28/01, 2) reported that Japan and the PRC agreed that international terrorist groups are the primary factor which threaten the current international security in the consultation between Japan-PRC diplomacy authorities.

3. The Role of Japan in Afghan Issues

Yomiuri Shinbun (Fumiya Akagi, “PAKISTANI PRESIDENT EMPHASIS ON JAPANESE COOPERATION IN AFHGAN ISSUES,” Islamabad, 11/27/01) and the Daily Yomiuri (“TANAKA PLEDGES HELP FOR PAKISTAN,” Islamabad, 11/27/01) reported that in a meeting with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on November 26, Japanese Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka agreed to Japanese cooperation in the Afghan peace process and rehabilitation. Tanaka requested Pakistan’s attendance at the ministerial meeting of donors for Afghan reconstruction, to take place in Tokyo in late January.

Yomiuri Shinbun (“KOIZUMI KEEN TO HELP REBUID AFGHAN EDUCATION SYSTEM,” 11/29/01) reported that Japanese Prime Minister Jinichiro Koizumi, will offer educational support, including money to build schools and experts to advise on the education of women, as part of the Japanese package to help rebuild Afghanistan. The package will be announced in the coming Tokyo ministerial conference, to take place in late January. In response to Koizumi’s offer, Japan’s Education, Science, and Technology Ministry will help cover the costs of building approximately 100 primary and middle schools in Afghanistan in the next fiscal year.

4. Japan Rejects Afghan refugees

The Nikkei (the evening edition 11/28/01) reported that the Tokyo Immigration Bureau officially refused to recognize five Afghan men as refugees on November 28. The bureau said it regarded the five Afghans as entering Japan for work and will be deported. The defense counsel for Afghans plans to take an action to void the decision.

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:
International Policy Studies Institute 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

Gee Gee Wong: napsnet@nautilus.org
Berkeley, California, United States

Timothy L. Savage: napsnet@nautilus.org
Berkeley, California, United States

Kim Hee-sun: khs688@hotmail.com
Seoul, Republic of Korea

Hibiki Yamaguchi: hibikiy@dh.mbn.or.jp
Tokyo, Japan

Rumiko Seya: rumiko-seya@geocities.co.jp
Tokyo, Japan

Hiroya Takagi: hiroya_takagi@hotmail.com
Tokyo, Japan

Peter Razvin: icipu@glas.apc.org
Moscow, Russian Federation

Yunxia Cao: yunxiac@yahoo.com
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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