NAPSNet Daily Report Monday, August 01, 2005

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NAPSNet Daily Report Monday, August 01, 2005

NAPSNet Daily Report Monday, August 01, 2005

I. Unites States

Preceding NAPSNet Report

I. Unites States

1. First Joint Statement of Principles at Six Party Talks

New York Times (“6 NATIONS WORK ON PRINCIPLES FOR NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR TALKS”, 2005-07-30) reported that six party talks entered a new stage on Friday, as the countries began to wrangle over a joint statement of principles that may move them toward further disarmament negotiations. “Today I think we went into a new phase,” Christopher Hill, told reporters. “We began to look at actual texts, actual words on paper.” The US and the DPRK met privately again on Friday to discuss the proposed joint statement. Mr. Hill said those discussions had been difficult and disagreements remained. But common ground is emerging, he said.

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2. Second Joint Statement of Principles at Six Party Talks

Reuters (“KOREA NUCLEAR TALKS TOIL IN VAIN ON JOINT TEXT”, 2005-08-01) reported that delegates toiled in vain on Monday on the seventh day of DPRK nuclear talks, failing to thrash out a consensus statement laying down even minimal principles for an eventual settlement. “We had vigorous discussions, but we can’t say there was major progress,” Japanese chief delegate Kenichiro Sasae said. “We concentrated our discussions on basic issues today, but the parties concerned remained far apart in each other’s positions,” the Japanese delegate said.

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3. US on Second Draft Statement of Principles

Korea Times (“6 NATIONS CHECK 2ND DRAFT OF PRINCIPLES”, 2005-08-01) reported that six delegations held a series of bilateral meetings on Monday to check whether their concerns are reflected in the second draft statement of principles, which the PRC presented overnight. “Overnight, there was the second draft that the Chinese host put together,” Christopher Hill told reporters. “We are going to see what comments we have in common and on what points we differ.”

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4. ROK Electricity Offer in Second Joint Statement

New York Times (“SEOUL TO OFFER ELECTRICITY AS REWARD IF NORTH KOREA ENDS NUCLEAR WORK”, 2005-08-01) reported that according to Christopher Hill, the second joint statement from the six-nation talks will include a ROK offer to send electricity to the DPRK. “The electricity offer of course is in the draft agreement,” Mr. Hill said after a day of negotiating the proposed statement.

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5. Third Draft Statement at Six Party Talks

Yonhap News (“CHINA TO INTRODUCE THIRD TEXT OF ‘PRINCIPLES’ IN NUKE TALKS”, 2005-08-01) reported that the PRC is expected to present a third draft text of principles overnight, ROK officials said. “Deputy heads of delegations met during the day. On the basis of their discussions, China will introduce a third draft statement overnight,” an ROK official said.

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6. US Intelligence on DPRK Nuclear Program

New York Times (“U.S. OFFERS NORTH KOREA EVIDENCE THAT NUCLEAR SECRETS CAME FROM PAKISTANI’S NETWORK”, 2005-07-28) reported that the Bush administration has for the first time presented the DPRK with specific evidence behind American allegations that the DPRK secretly obtained uranium enrichment technology from a founder of Pakistan’s nuclear program. The decision to share the intelligence with DPRK negotiators, officials said, was part of an effort to convince the DPRK that any discussions about disarmament must cover not only the nuclear weapons program it has boasted about, but a second one that it now denies exists.

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7. Expert on DPRK Nuclear Weapons Program

Korea Times (“US EXPERT QUESTIONS NK’ INTENSIONS TOWARD SOUTH”, 2005-08-01) reported that according to a US military analyst, the DPRK may be building up its nuclear weapons capabilities to pursue unification with the ROK by force. Andrew Scobell, a research professor at the US Army’s Strategic Studies Institute, said that while Pyongyang’s strategic objectives are ambiguous, concerns that the nation still aims to communize the ROK should not be discounted. “There is a real possibility that North Korea’s key strategic goals are to build up its WMD programs, engage in parasitic extortionism, and pursue unification by force or coercion,” Scobell said.

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8. DPRK on NPT, Inspections

Reuters (“NORTH KOREA VOWS TO REJOIN NPT IF NUCLEAR ISSUE SOLVED”, 2005-07-31) reported that according to Radio Pyongyang, the DPRK will rejoin the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and accept international inspections if the current nuclear standoff is resolved.

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9. Russia on Cooperation with Non-IAEA Members

Russian Information Agency Novosti (“RUSSIA CAN’T COOPERATE WITH IAEA NON-MEMBERS “, 2005-08-01) reported that according to Russian officials, Russia cannot cooperate in the peaceful nuclear energy industry with countries that are not members of the IAEA. “International law and Russian legislation do not permit cooperation, even in the peaceful nuclear energy sphere, with countries that are not IAEA members and have not entered into an agreement on guarantees with the IAEA,” said Valery Yermolov, deputy head of the Russian delegation at the six party talks.

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10. Russia to Build Nuclear Power Plant in DPRK

Yonhap News (“RUSSIA WILLING TO BUILD NUCLEAR POWER PLANT IN N. KOREA: ITAR-TASS”, 2005-08-01) reported that Russian specialists could build a nuclear power plant in the DPRK within six to seven years and thus partially solve its energy problems, an official at Russia’s Federal Agency for Atomic Energy told the Itar-Tass news agency. “This is quite possible if the construction of such nuclear power plant will be commercially profitable for Russia and North Korea will return to the treaty on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons,” the official said.

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11. Inter-Korean Railway

Reuters (“S.KOREA’S TRAIN TO NOWHERE WILL HEAD NORTH SOON”, 2005-08-01) reported that the ROK’s train to nowhere will go somewhere soon when it makes the first rail journey to the DPRK. The two Koreas agreed last weekend to open road and rail links through the border that divides the peninsula in October. “I am so thrilled because the railway could someday be the main driver to reunify the peninsula,” said Noh Jung-hee, an official at Dorasan, the last station on the southern side of the DMZ.

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12. Inter-Korean Liberation Day Events

Yonhap News (“SOUTH, NORTH KOREA FIX SCHEDULE FOR LIBERATION DAY EVENT”, 2005-08-01) reported that the ROK and DPRK have fixed the details of their joint celebration marking the 60th anniversary of Liberation Day next month, organizers in Seoul said Sunday. Civic representatives from the two Koreas met in Kaesong on Friday and Saturday to set the schedule for the joint event, which will be held August 14-17 in Seoul, they said.

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13. US Government Fund for DPRK Refugees

Yonhap News (“US FUND TO HELP NK REFUGEES”, 2005-07-28) reported that the US Congress has mandated the creation of a government fund to help DPRK refugees in its appropriations bill for next year, a step pressuring the reluctant administration to help refugees from the state.

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14. Human Rights Organization to Send Delegation to DPRK

Yonhap News (“ASIAN, U.S. LAWMAKERS TO INSPECT N.K. RIGHTS SITUATION: NHK”, 2005-08-01) reported that the International Parliamentarians’ Coalition for North Korean Human Rights and Refugees, an organization of more than 30 parliamentarians from the ROK, Japan, Mongolia, and the US plans to dispatch an delegation to the DPRK to review the human rights situation, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported.

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15. Red Cross Medical Aid to DPRK

Korea Times (“RED CROSS TO GIVE MEDICAL AID TO N. KOREA”, 2005-07-31) reported that a delegation of the ROK Red Cross embarks on its seven day visit to the DPRK to deliver medicine and medial equipment worth $3 million to the DPRK. The large medical package for the DPRK includes medicine, donated by 32 local pharmaceutical companies, and medical equipment.

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16. USFJ and USFK Command Reorganization

Chosun Ilbo (“NEW U.S. COMMAND IN JAPAN WOULD HANDLE KOREAN EMERGENCY”, 2005-08-01) reported that a new US Army command to be set up at Camp Zama in Japan would assume charge in an emergency on the Korean Peninsula, the Daily Yomiuri reported Monday. The command, a “UEX” under new acronymic US forces nomenclature, is smaller than the Washington-based Army First Corps command initially considered for the move to the camp in Kanagawa Prefecture, and combines the functions of a division and army corps. The daily said direct command of the UEX would be limited to an emergency on the Korean Peninsula, while the PRC-Taiwan “hot zone” and conflicts in Southeast Asia included in the “arc of instability” would come under the command of the Third Marine Expeditionary Force based in Okinawa. However, in any Korean emergency US Marine units in Okinawa would come under the operational command of the UEX.

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17. Japan on UNSC Expansion

Agence France-Presse (“KOIZUMI’S ASIAN DIPLOMACY COST JAPAN A UN SEAT: OPPOSITION LEADER”, 2005-08-01) reported that main opposition leader Katsuya Okada said that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi probably cost Japan its chance of a permanent seat on the UN Security Council by bungled diplomacy with Asian neighbors. Koizumi has outraged the ROK and PRC by visiting a shrine that honors Japan’s war dead including war criminals. Okada also accused Koizumi of not talking through the UN proposal with the US.

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18. Japanese Remilitarization

The Associated Press (“THOUSANDS RALLY FOR JAPAN PACIFISM CLAUSE”, 2005-08-01) reported that thousands of people gathered Saturday at a conference aimed at opposing the government’s drive to change the pacifist clause of Japan’s constitution, organizers and news reports said. Public support for amending the constitution’s pacifist clause has grown as Japan tries to raise its international military and diplomatic profile.

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19. Malacca Straits Security

Agence France-Presse (“MALAYSIA OPEN TO COOPERATION WITH US, AUSTRALIA, JAPAN IN MALACCA STRAITS”, 2005-08-01) reported that Malaysia said it is open to cooperation with the US, Australia and Japan to combat piracy in the Malacca Straits, provided territorial rights are retained. However, if there was to be any cooperation with foreign countries, it must not jeopardize the territorial rights and sovereignty of the littoral states, he was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency.

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20. Russia Bird Flu Outbreak

The Associated Press (“DEADLY BIRD FLU STRAIN FOUND IN RUSSIA”, 2005-08-01) reported that hundreds of fowl in Siberia have died of the same strain of bird flu that has infected humans throughout Asia, the Russian government said Friday. No human infections have been reported from the Siberian outbreak, Russia’s Agriculture Ministry said in the brief statement identifying the virus as avian flu type H5N1.

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21. Russian Far East Missile Systems

RIA Novosti (“NEW MISSILE SYSTEMS TO BECOME OPERATIONAL IN RUSSIA’S FAR EAST IN 2006”, 2005-08-01) reported that Russia will begin to supply Iskander missile systems to its Far East military district in 2006, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Monday. Ivanov, on a tour of the Far East, said the country’s leadership was paying close attention to the Far Eastern military district, including measures to supply modern hardware to its units.

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22. Sino-Russian Defense Cooperation

RIA Novosti (“RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTER: RUSSIA AND CHINA ARE STRATEGIC PARTNERS IN DEFENSE SPHERE”, 2005-08-01) reported that Russian Foreign Minister called the PRC Russia’s strategic partner in the defense sphere. “We [Russia and China] are strategic partners, including in the sphere of defense,” he said. Speaking about the reasons for the Russian-PRC bilateral maneuvers in August 2005, the minister said, “We have actively participated in joint military exercise with the US, leading NATO countries, India and Japan recently. I do not see any reason why we cannot do it with China, as well.”

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23. Sino-US Relations

Agence France-Presse (“US AND CHINA LAUNCH FIRST REGULAR STRATEGIC DIALOGUE”, 2005-08-01) reported that the US and PRC kicked off the first round of a high-level strategic dialogue aimed at easing their mutual suspicions and improving their still rocky relationship. Amid tensions over the PRC’s rapidly growing economic, political and military clout, the content may be less important than the fact that the two powers are sitting down to talk in the first place, analysts say.

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24. Cross Strait Relations

Reuters (“CHINA ARMY SAYS IT’S NOT EXPANSIONIST, WARNS TAIWAN”, 2005-08-01) reported that the PRC, whose military buildup alarms the Pentagon, marked Army Day on Monday with a pledge never to engage in expansionism but warned self-ruled Taiwan against formally declaring statehood. General Cao Gangchuan, the defense minister, insisted that the PRC was a peace-loving nation but warned Taiwan it would never be allowed to formally secede, said the People’s Daily, the Communist Party mouthpiece.

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25. PRC on Domestic Unrest

The New York Times (“CHINA TELLS CITIZENS NOT TO TEST THE LAW”, 2005-08-01) reported that the PRC government has warned citizens that they must obey the law and that any threats to social stability will not be tolerated, a sign that top leaders are growing increasingly worried about unrest in the countryside. The warning came in a front-page commentary published last Thursday in People’s Daily, the chief mouthpiece of the Communist Party. “Protecting stability comes before all else,” it cautioned. “Any behavior that wrecks stability and challenges the law will directly damage the people’s fundamental interests.”

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26. PRC Streptococcus Suis Outbreak

The Los Angeles Times (“REPORTERS BARRED FROM DISEASE OUTBREAK AREA”, 2005-08-01) reported that PRC authorities have banned local reporters from visiting areas where an outbreak of a pig-borne disease has killed 34 farmers, ordering newspapers to use dispatches from the state news agency, a Hong Kong newspaper reported. Officials have reported 181 confirmed or suspected cases linked to the bacteria Streptococcus suis in the PRC’s southwestern Sichuan province.

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