I. NAPSNet

1. Six Party Talks

Agence France-Presse (“NKOREA EDGING CLOSER TOWARDS GIVING UP NUKES: US ENVOY”, 2007-09-28) reported that the DPRK has agreed to take further steps towards ending its nuclear weapons programmes but more needs to be done in pushing forward a landmark deal, the US envoy to disarmament talks said. After the six-nation talks wrapped up for a second day, US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said the DPRK has agreed to certain steps in declaring and disabling its programmes but that it differed with other parties over some of the details. He had also said the PRC, the host of the talks, was expected to distribute a draft joint statement on Friday from all six parties that would lay out exactly what the DPRK should do by the end of the year.

(return to top) Kyodo (“GAPS REMAIN AT 6-WAY TALKS, DELEGATES TO CONTINUE DISCUSSIONS”, 2007-09-28) reported that negotiators from six countries discussing the DPRK’s nuclear programs came out of their second day of talks in Beijing saying that differences remain over the next phase of denuclearization and that more talks are necessary to narrow the gaps. “The differences between North Korea and the five other countries remain big and the situation is difficult,” Japan’s top delegate Kenichiro Sasae told reporters. “At this point, we do not see prospects for compiling a joint document.” Delegates to the talks have acknowledged that differences remain over the disablement measures the DPRK must take and on what the DPRK should include when declaring its nuclear programs as required by a February denuclearization deal. (return to top)

2. DPRK Nuclear Program

Chosun Ilbo (“N.KOREA ‘TO REMOVE CORE DEVICES FROM REACTORS'”, 2007-09-28) reported that the DPRK is close to agreement with the US to remove or disable a core device from each of its three nuclear facilities in Yongbyon, sources said. Meanwhile, with regard to suspicions that it has a secret uranium enrichment, the DPRK reportedly admitted to importing about 150 tons of hard aluminum pipes, a material for a centrifugal separator, from Russia in the past. The pipes can be used to make some 2,600 centrifugal separators for the enrichment of uranium, a ROK government official said. The DPRK disclosed this in Washington-Pyongyang working talks on normalizing bilateral relations in Geneva early this month. But it did not say whether it had actually used the pipes to make centrifuges and enrich uranium. The DPRK will reportedly deal with this issue during the process of its declaration of nuclear programs.

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3. Inter-Korean Summit

Agence France-Presse (“NKOREA OPENS UP FOR SUMMIT, SAYS SKOREAN OFFICIAL”, 2007-09-28) reported that the DPRK is opening up to an unprecedented degree for next week’s inter-Korean summit, allowing hundreds of South Koreans to travel overland to its capital across the sensitive border, a senior official said. Vice Unification Minister Lee Kwan-Sei said the DPRK was proving to be more flexible and confident in arrangements for the October 2-4 summit in Pyongyang.

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4. Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation

Korea Times (“SAMSUNG, LG LIKELY TO EXPAND TV BUSINESS IN NORTH KOREA”, 2007-09-28) reported that Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are considering expanding investment in the TV business in the DPRK, according to company sources. Such expectations came after the government confirmed that Samsung Group Vice Chairman Yoon Jong-yong and LG Group Chairman Koo Bon-moo will join President Roh Moo-hyun’s entourage for the inter-Korean summit on Oct. 2-4. Expectations have arisen among business groups that the second inter-Korean summit will produce substantial results in creating more business opportunities in the DPRK, though big firms responded less enthusiastically than they did seven years ago.

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5. DPRK Economy

IFES NK Brief (“DPRK TRADE OFFICIALS CRACK DOWN ON CORRUPTION”, 2007-09-28) reported that since early this year, DPRK authorities have been systematically implementing a double-entry accounting system to keep track of cross border trade with the PRC, and as of late have been cracking down on private sales of goods imported under state requisitions. The crackdown appears to be because embezzlement and other forms of corruption are on the rise.

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6. Japan Government

Agence France-Presse (“JAPAN’S NEW PM ADMITS ACCOUNTING ERRORS”, 2007-09-28) reported that Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who took office this week vowing to turn a page on the last government’s scandals, voiced regret for accounting errors by his office but denied wrongdoing. Fukuda admitted media reports that his political support group in his constituency crossed off its name on receipts and instead attributed the receipts to the ruling party’s local chapter. He denied that the group was trying to divert funds to evade authorities, saying it was simply sloppy accounting.

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7. Cross Strait Relations

International Herald Tribune (“TAIWAN DEVELOPS MISSILES DESIGNED TO REACH TARGETS IN CHINA”, 2007-09-28) reported that faced with a threatening military buildup by the PRC, an increasingly outgunned Taiwan is quietly pushing ahead with plans to develop missiles that could strike the mainland, defense and security experts say. Taiwan has in recent months tested a land attack cruise missile with a range of 1,000 kilometers, or 621 miles, that could carry a 400-kilogram warhead to targets as distant as Shanghai, according to military analysts.

(return to top) The Associated Press (“CHINESE OFFICIAL SAYS TAIWAN STRAIT SITUATION ENTERING ‘PERIOD OF HIGH DANGER'”, 2007-09-28) reported that a top PRC official warned that moves by Taiwan to assert its independent identity have taken relations into a “period of high danger.” Speaking at a reception for Oct. 1 national day, Jia Qinglin said the PRC remained committed to using peaceful means to unify with the self-ruled island it claims as its own territory. However, he added that the PRC would never accept formal independence for Taiwan and said recent moves by the island’s government were driving up tensions. (return to top)

8. PRC Environment

The New York Times (“BENEATH BOOMING CITIES, CHINA’S FUTURE IS DRYING UP”, 2007-09-28) reported that for three decades, water has been indispensable in sustaining the rollicking economic expansion that has made the PRC a world power. Now, the PRC’s galloping, often wasteful style of economic growth is pushing the country toward a water crisis. Water pollution is rampant nationwide, while water scarcity has worsened severely in north PRC — even as demand keeps rising everywhere.

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