I. United States

1. DPRK on Nuclear Talks

The New York Times (“NORTH KOREA SAID TO REJECT CHINA’S BID ON NUCLEAR TALKS”, 2005-04-9) reported that after two senior-level meetings between DPRK and PRC leaders over the last two weeks to discuss the DPRK’s nuclear-weapons program, the PRC have failed so far to persuade DPRK to rejoin nuclear disarmament talks, senior administration officials and diplomats said. As a result of the continuing deadlock, informal discussions have begun among the five parties to the talks on new, more aggressive strategies that could be used if and when it is decided that the talks have reached a dead end.

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2. DPRK on Nuclear Program

The New York Times (“NORTH KOREA DEALS A BLOW TO ARMS TALKS”, 2005-04-11) reported that the DPRK government has disavowed a commitment to negotiate a step-by-step elimination of its nuclear weapons program with the Bush administration but may freeze the production of nuclear bombs under strict conditions, said an American specialist on the DPRK who completed a visit there this weekend. The specialist, Selig S. Harrison of the Center for International Policy in the US, said in an interview that he had been informed by several top-ranking DPRK leaders that the US must pledge to respect the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity before any freeze could be discussed.

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3. PRC on DPRK Nuclear Talks

Korea Times (“CHINESE LEADER TIPPED TO VISIT NK THIS MONTH”, 2005-04-11) reported that PRC President Hu Jintao is likely to push ahead with a proposed visit to the DPRK within this month, seeking to provide the spark needed to re-ignite failing six-party talks on dismantling Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programs, an unidentified expert predicted. Hu will use the state visit to Pyongyang to press the DPRK to return to the nuclear disarmament talks, which have remained stalled since June last year, the DPRK specialist said.

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4. US on DPRK Nuclear Talks

Reuters (“U.S. SAYS NO DEADLINE, CONCESSIONS FOR N.KOREA”, 2005-04-11) reported that the DPRK is a destabilizing force that has exported atomic material, but there are no deadlines or concessions to be offered for it to return to nuclear talks, the chief US negotiator said. US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs Christopher Hill said in an interview he was reluctant to put a deadline for the DPRK to get back to the table, but did say options where being considered in case the talks fell through. “We are not going to make concessions for the purpose of bringing them back to the talks,” he said.

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5. ROK on DPRK Nuclear Talks

Choson Ilbo (“ROH GETS TOUGH ON NORTH KOREA”, 2005-04-11) reported that President Roh Moo-hyun on Monday signaled a tougher line with the DPRK over its reluctance to return to nuclear disarmament talks, saying there are times when Seoul needs to get “red in the face” with anger in its relationship with the DPRK. “In the intra-Korean relationship as well, we must express criticism and get red in the face when it’s time to get red in the face,” Roh said, quoting his own remarks during a trip to Washington last year, then directed at the US.

(return to top) Joongang Ilbo (“IN BERLIN, ROH CITES FAILINGS OF NORTH POLICY”, 2005-04-11) reported that in some of his toughest criticism aimed at the DPRK since he came into office two years ago, President Roh Moo-hyun told ROK residents here yesterday that Pyongyang should respond to the call to ban nuclear weapons and move to improve inter-Korean relations. When asked whether Seoul had plans to declare peace with Pyongyang, Mr. Roh said such a move would require the DPRK’s agreement to abide by the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT. (return to top) Joongang Ilbo (“ROH SAYS SEOUL GOT U.S. TO GO SOFTER ON NORTH”, 2005-04-09) reported that in an interview with the German daily, Frankfurter Allgemeine, President Roh Moo-hyun said yesterday that the ROK played a role in getting the US to ease its stance towards the DPRK in the six-party nuclear talks. “We asked the United States not to make any remarks towards the North that would suggest regime change or anything beyond the scrapping of nuclear weapons,” said the president. Pointing out that the overall US attitude towards the DPRK has changed compared to the beginning of 2003, Mr. Roh said, “So far, sometimes the United States has used emotional expressions, but it has clearly stated that it has no intention of attacking the North.” (return to top)

6. DPRK Bird Flu Outbreak

Agence France Presse (“NORTH KOREA PROPOSES BIRD FLU TALKS WITH SOUTH KOREA”, 2005-04-11) reported that the DPRK has proposed holding talks with the ROK next week to discuss Seoul’s offer of aid in combating a bird flu outbreak in the DPRK, officials said. In a message sent Monday through a border hotline, the DPRK’s quarantine authorities called for talks with their southern counterparts in the country’s border town of Kaesong between April 20-22, the ministry said. The DPRK also sent a list of medicine and quarantine equipment needed to contain the outbreak, it said.

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7. ROK Food Aid to the DPRK

Yonhap (“CATHOLIC RELIEF AGENCY TO SEND FOOD AID TO NORTH KOREA”, 2005-04-11) reported that a Catholic relief agency said it will provide 1,000 tons of wheat flour to the DPRK to help relieve its chronic food shortage, according the World Food Programme [WFP]. In an emergency report dated last week, the WFP also said Caritas Internationalis has confirmed a contribution of 100 tons of dry skimmed milk and 63 tons of sugar to the DPRK.

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8. DPRK on DMZ Fire

Donga Ilbo (“NORTH KOREA ALLOWS SOUTH KOREAN FIRE-FIGHTING HELICOPTER IN DMZ “, 2005-04-11) reported that the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said that the DPRK allowed the entry of a ROK fire helicopter into the demilitarized zone (DMZ), south of the military demarcation line (MDL) on April 8. The MND explained that the ROK sent a telephone message to the DPRK asking for the entry of helicopter to extinguish a fire that occurred inside the DMZ, in the Goseong area, Gangwon Province, through the United Nations Command in the morning of that day and that the DPRK sent a message back to the ROK, allowing the ROK’s request at around 1:30 p.m.

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9. ROK on DPRK Human Rights

Joongang Ilbo (“OPPOSITION PREPARING NORTH KOREA RIGHTS BILL”, 2005-04-11) reported that the opposition Grand National Party is preparing a DPRK human rights bill that would require the government to put aside funds for humanitarian aid to the DPRK, and to investigate the fate of defectors who are forcibly returned to DPRK. Unlike comparable laws in the US and Japan, however, the bill does not include provisions for imposing sanctions on the DPRK.

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10. DPRK Economic Reforms

South China Morning Post (“HERMIT STATE OPEN FOR BUSINESS; ONE OF THE LAST FRONTIERS OF PRIVATE ENTERPRISE IS NORTH KOREA. BUSINESS IS BUDDING, BUT POLITICS AND PARANOIA GET IN THE WAY”, 2005-04-11) reported that since 2002 the DPRK has been quietly building a market economy – but with the world focused on its nuclear arms and human rights, the handful of foreign entrepreneurs doing business in the DPRK say the obstacles they face there stem from global rather than domestic issues. Pyongyang enabled a tentative market-driven business scene after July 2002 “economic management improvement measures” raised prices and wages, slashed subsidies to unproductive factories and permitted markets. “The importance of commerce is increasing,” said Roger Barrett of Beijing -based Korea Business Consultants. “The reforms pervade the whole society; people now can be rewarded for initiative – they never were before.”

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11. DPRK on Defense

Kyodo News (“N. KOREA TO INCREASE DEFENSE SPENDING IN 2005 BUDGET”, 2005-04-11) reported that the DPRK will increase defense spending in the fiscal 2005 budget, the Korean Central News Agency said in a dispatch from Pyongyang. The KCNA report, monitored in Tokyo, gave no actual amounts for the new budget, only percentages of expenditures, but it quoted Finance Minister Mun Il Bong as telling the Supreme People’s Assembly, the DPRK’s parliament, state budgetary revenue for this year will increase 15.1 percent over the previous year.

(return to top) Yonhap news (“N.K. CALLS FOR STRONGER DEFENSE POWER AND LOYALTY TO KIM JONG-IL”, 2005-04-11) reported that the DPRK promised to strengthen its military power and urged its people to unite to safeguard leader Kim Jong-il, calling him a “peerlessly great man.” Rodong Sinmun, the DPRK’s main newspaper, lavished praise on Kim for turning the DPRK into an “invincible military power” under his “songun,” or “military-first” policy. (return to top)

12. DPRK on UN Command

Yonhap news (“N.K. DEMANDS DISSOLUTION OF AMERICAN-LED U.N. COMMAND”, 2005-04-11) reported that the DPRK accused the US of attempting to rebuild a “nominal” UN military command to force it to give up its nuclear program with the help of the world body. The DPRK was reacting to remarks reportedly made by Gen. Leon LaPorte, the top US military commander in the ROK, during a US congressional hearing on March 8 that the role of the UN Command on the Korean Peninsula should be bolstered.

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13. Abductee Issue

Yonhap news (“JAPANESE SCHOLARS CALL FOR RE-TEST OF ‘FAKE’ REMAINS”, 2005-04-11) reported that the long-running controversy over the “fake” remains of a Japanese girl kidnapped by the DPRK must be solved through re-examination of the subject matter, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper reported, quoting two Japanese professors. “It is necessary to examine the remains again to resolve the issue as it is in a situation where science and politics are intertwined,” Tadashi Kimiya, a professor at Tokyo University, said in a report carried by the Chosun Sinbo, a DPRK-aligned newspaper in Japan.

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14. Japan – DPRK Trade

The Asahi Shimbun (“IMPORTS OF N. KOREAN CLAMS FALL BY 91%”, 2005-04-11) reported that a clampdown on DPRK clam exports has virtually left the market high and dry, likely dealing a major economic blow to Pyongyang, say observers. In February, imports of DPRK short-necked clams plummeted by 91 percent year on year. This most likely was the result of a stricter application of laws in January against mislabeling to hide the origins of shellfish, officials said Thursday. The nose-dive in imports came about even before an insurance mandate for vessels of 100 tons or more went into effect March 1.

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15. ROK on Balancer Doctrine

The Associated Press (“SOUTH KOREA TRANSFORMING ALLIANCE WITH U.S. TO PLAY NEUTRAL ROLE IN NORTHEAST ASIA”, 2005-04-11) reported that the alliance that has kept the DPRK at bay for more than 50 years is being transformed as a newly confident ROK seeks to come out from under the US shadow and play a neutral role in the region where it straddles the fault lines of conflict. But President Roh Moo-hyun’s so-called “balancer” doctrine is raising worries at home that the ROK could be putting its security on the line as it faces a potentially nuclear-armed DPRK, and could lose the support of the US, its key security guarantor. “Breaking away from the Korea-U.S. alliance and diplomatically isolating ourselves will be no help to our national interests,” Park Geun-hye, chairwoman of the Grand National Party, said in parliament.

(return to top) Korea Times (“KOREA-US MILITARY ALLIANCE TURNS SOUR”, 2005-04-11) reported that the military alliance between the ROK and the US has shown signs of friction in recent months, affected by a series of developments between the two allies. The disclosure followed an announcement of the US Forces Korea last month that it will reduce its ROK workforce by 1,000 at US military facilities, to meet a potential funding shortfall in the wake of the ROK-US agreement to reduce Seoul’s share of defense costs. In addition, the USFK said it will remove some of its pre-positioned equipment and stock currently provided to the ROK’s armed forces by 2007 as part of cost-avoidance measures to maintain its troops here. The Seoul government’s efforts to increase military exchanges with the PRC to become a “power balancer” in Northeast Asia are also undermining the alliance, along with its plan to cut the number of troops in Iraq by 270, sources said. (return to top)

16. ROK on DMZ Security

Joongang Ilbo (“ROBOTS WILL GUARD DMZ, DEFENSE MINISTRY SAYS”, 2005-04-11) reported that the Defense Ministry said yesterday that it would install armed robots to guard the country’s border with the DPRK. The machines, a ministry official contended, would enable an eventual reduction in the thousands of soldiers who now are posted along the demilitarized zone. According to officials, 250 robots, which will cost 80 million won ($79,000) a piece, are to be set up between 2007 to 2011 along the 252-kilometer-long (155-mile) no man’s land.

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17. Sino-US Relations

Washington Post (“U.S., CHINA AGREE TO REGULAR TALKS”, 2005-04-11) reported that President Bush has decided the US and PRC should begin holding regular senior-level talks on a range of political, security and possibly economic issues, signifying both the PRC’s interest in the prestige of such sessions and the administration’s efforts to come to grips with the PRC’s rising influence in Asia, senior administration officials said. Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick has been assigned to head the US delegation, and a PRC vice foreign minister will be his counterpart, officials said. Regular meetings between the two countries have never been held at such a level.

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18. Sino-Japanese Relations

The New York Times (“TOKYO PROTESTS ANTI-JAPAN RALLIES IN CHINA “, 2005-04-11) reported that Japan lodged a formal protest against the PRC after violent anti-Japanese demonstrations in Beijing, even as marches in front of Japanese government offices and businesses widened to southern PRC. The Japanese foreign minister, Nobutaka Machimura, summoned the PRC ambassador, Wang Yi, on Sunday morning. Afterward, Mr. Wang said the PRC government condemned the demonstrations in which protesters threw rocks at the Japanese Embassy in Beijing and vandalized Japanese businesses. “We formally demanded China’s apology and compensation,” Mr. Machimura said after the meeting, adding that Mr. Wang had not apologized.

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19. Sino-Indian Relations

The Associated Press (“INDIA, CHINA TO FORM STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP”, 2005-04-11) reported that India and the PRC, the world’s two most populous countries, agreed Monday to form a strategic partnership to end a border dispute and boost trade in a deal marking a major shift in relations between the Asian giants. The agreement, signed by both premiers, eases decades of mutual distrust between the nations, which share a mountainous, 2,500-mile border and fought a war in 1962. Parts of the border still are not demarcated. “India and China can together reshape the world order,” Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said at a ceremony for his PRC counterpart, Premier Wen Jiabao, at India’s presidential palace.

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20. CanKor #202

CANADA-KOREA ELECTRONIC INFORMATION SERVICE (“ROK TO ABSTAIN ON DPRK HUMAN RIGHTS RESOLUTION AT UN”, 2005-04-11) The vote on a new EU-Japanese sponsored UN resolution on North Korean human rights is scheduled for the birthday of the late DPRK leader Kim Il Sung. The ROK intends to abstain from voting for the third year in a row. www.cankor.ca

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II. CanKor

CANADA-KOREA ELECTRONIC INFORMATION SERVICE (“DPRK MAY ABANDON KEDO MEMORANDUM”, 2005-04-11) The DPRK has given notice that the memorandum concluded a year ago with KEDO might be abandoned. The memorandum stipulates agreements on such matters as the safety of about 120 South Korean workers who are still at the construction site after suspension of the light water reactor project. Top KEDO officials prepare to visit Pyongyang for discussions. www.cankor.ca

(return to top) CANADA-KOREA ELECTRONIC INFORMATION SERVICE (“KOREAS PUSH FOR JOINT INDUSTRIAL PARK IN PYONGYANG”, 2005-04-11) ROK and DPRK are working to set up another industrial park for small and medium-sized companies, this time close to the North Korean capital. www.cankor.ca (return to top) CANADA-KOREA ELECTRONIC INFORMATION SERVICE (“REPORT SAYS ECONOMIC REFORM IN DPRK “IRREVERSIBLE””, 2005-04-11) A new study by ROK’s Korean Institute of National Reunification (KINU) examines the progress of North Korea’s economic reforms, concluding that the DPRK’s evolution to a market economy is “irreversible.” This week’s FOCUS section of CanKor examines some of the unpredictable consequences of economic reform. It includes articles about the increase in the economic strength and status of women, the launch of foreign currency time deposits at a time when the local currency sinks to historic levels, the appearance of a Samsung logo in Pyongyang’s football stadium, and the way in which electronics are penetrating the DPRK’s isolation. www.cankor.ca (return to top)