NAPSNet Daily Report Monday, August 16, 2004

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NAPSNet Daily Report Monday, August 16, 2004

NAPSNet Daily Report Monday, August 16, 2004

United States

II. ROK

Preceding NAPSNet Report

I. United States

1. US on DPRK Nuclear Issue

Reuters (“US URGES N. KOREA TO ‘MAKE A MOVE’ ON NUKE PROPOSAL”, 2004-08-13) reported that the US wants the DPRK to respond to its June proposal for ending the nation’s suspected nuclear arms program after a rare meeting this week indicated talks progress remains glacial. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Washington showed flexibility by allowing aid incentives in its most concrete proposal at the last round of six-party talks and would go no farther until DPRK replied. “The burden, frankly, in my judgment, is on North Korea to make a move,” Powell told Japanese reporters in an interview. The transcript was released on Friday.

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2. US on Working Level Talks

Yonhap (“U.S. OFFERS TO HOST NUCLEAR TALKS “, 2004-08-16) reported that the US has proposed a working-level meeting with the DPRK and four other countries in New York to discuss the standoff over Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions, according to the DPKR’s media and ROK officials Monday. Citing a Foreign Ministry spokesman, the North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) revealed that the US made the offer when officials from the six countries convened in New York for a private seminar on the nuclear issue earlier this month.

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3. DPRK on Multilateral Talks

Korean Central News Agency of the DPRK (“MOFA SPOKESMAN: US HAS “DESTROYED FOUNDATION” FOR NUCLEAR TALKS”, 2004-08-16) reported that a spokesman for the DPRK ministry of foreign affairs Monday gave the following answer to a question put by KCNA as regards the prospect of the fourth round of the six-party talks: as the DPRK has already clarified more than once, the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is the goal the DPRK wants to achieve and its stand to seek a negotiated peaceful solution to the nuclear issue remains unchanged. Given that the nuclear issue between the DPRK and the US was spawned by the latter’s extremely hostile policy towards the former, the US should begin the work to find a solution to the issue with dropping its hostile policy towards the DPRK. Now that the process of the six-party talks is retracting from the desired direction due to the US attitude and nothing can be expected from the next round of the talks, it is clear such talks for the form’s sake would be helpful to no one.

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4. Multilateral Talks

Reuters (“N.KOREA SHUNS NUCLEAR TALKS; OTHERS SEE POSTURING”, 2004-08-16) reported that the DPRK ruled out Monday attending proposed six-way working-level talks on its nuclear arms programs and questioned the entire negotiating process, blaming hostile US policy for the DPRK’s tougher stance. But a PRC analyst and ROK officials saw a large measure of pre-talks bluster in the comments from a DPRK Foreign Ministry spokesman and predicted the talks would go ahead before the end of September. The DPRK has in the past raised the rhetorical volume before attending talks or making a concession. “This is the North Koreans putting on pressure,” said the official. “I wouldn’t want to say that this thing is about really quitting the six-party process or the working-group talks.” Another ROK official said the DPRK would be speaking to the PRC “very soon” and so it would be premature to assume the working-level talks were irretrievable.

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5. DPRK on HEU Program

Korea Times (“N. KOREA DID NOT DENY HEU PROGRAM: OFFICIALS”, 2004-08-16) reported that the DPRK did not explicitly rule out the existence of a uranium enrichment program for peaceful purposes at a recent seminar in New York, participants of the meeting and a diplomatic source said Friday. At the three-day meeting of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy held earlier this week, Ri Gun, Pyongyang’s deputy chief delegate to the six-party nuclear talks, reiterated that his country does not have a nuclear arms program using highly enriched uranium (HEU), they said. Asked whether the DPRK has a uranium enrichment program for peaceful purposes, however, Ri only replied, “We are entitled to have it for peaceful purposes,” according to the participants and the source.

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6. ROK on DPRK Nuclear Issue

Reuters (“S.KOREA’S ROH URGES NORTH TO DITCH ATOMIC ARMS NOW”, 2004-08-14) reported that ROK President Roh Moo-hyun stepped up calls Sunday for the DPRK to drop its nuclear ambitions promptly and reap the benefits of joining the international community. In a Liberation Day speech to mark 59 years of independence as a republic, Roh also spoke of his determination to disperse the imbalance of development in the country by moving the administrative capital away from crowded Seoul. He said the country’s economic difficulties would be overcome quickly. “North Korea must make a decision now,” Roh said, reiterating Seoul’s proposal that it would offer “comprehensive and specific” assistance to help the impoverished and reclusive DPRK to undertake reform and open up to the world. “The North Korean nuclear problem must be resolved peacefully and quickly for the sake of a brighter future,” Roh said in his speech from the Independence Hall in central ROK.

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7. Australia on DPRK Nuclear Issue

The Associated Press (“AUSTRALIAN MINISTER TO VISIT N. KOREA”, 2004-08-12) reported that Australia’s foreign minister said Friday he will tell the DPRK during an upcoming visit that they must abandon any nuclear ambitions before receiving more aid from the West. Alexander Downer is due to make a two-day visit to the reclusive communist nation next week. “The strategy this time is to say to them ‘Yes, you will get some aid, you will get some economic rewards but first of all you must dismantle your nuclear programs,'” Downer told Sydney radio station 2GB. “They’ve got to understand that that’s going to be the sequencing of it this time around.”

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8. DPRK on Food Aid

United Press International (“NORTH KOREA SAYS IT DOES NOT NEED FOOD AID”, 2004-08-14) reported that DPRK officials say their nation does not need humanitarian aid from the UN next year or later, the Kyodo news agency reported Saturday. Pyongyang’s message was conveyed by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on Friday, with no explanation as to why it no longer needs the U.N. aid. U.N. aid officials said they are baffled by the DPRK’s latest move since they believe that nation is suffering from an acute food shortage. According to the World Food Program, about 6.5 million people are in need of food in DPRK, but only 1.8 million people are being provided with aid due to a fund shortage.

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9. DPRK Food Aid

Yonhap (“SALVATION ARMY TO BUILD YOGHURT PROCESSING PLANT IN NORTH KOREA “, 2004-08-16) reported that the Salvation Army will provide equipment and training to establish a yoghurt processing and packaging plant in the DPRK to help improve the nutrition of people there, according to a U.N. relief agency. In a press release dated Aug. 6, ReliefWeb, a project of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said the Salvation Army will provide the packaging equipment, ship it to the DPRK’s town of Gyenam, install it and train local technicians to use and maintain the machinery.

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10. US Troop Redeployment

Financial Times (“20,000 US TROOPS TO BE MOVED OUT OF ASIA: SOUTH KOREA LIKELY TO LOSE MOST IN BIGGEST RESTRUCTURE OF OVERSEAS AMERICAN FORCES SINCE END OF COLD WAR”, 2004-08-16) reported that US President George W. Bush will today announce a draw-down of more than 20,000 troops from bases in east Asia as part of a reduction of 70,000 US personnel based overseas, officials familiar with the plan said at the weekend. Although the Pentagon declined to provide details of where the reductions would be made, the announcement of the biggest restructuring of US forces overseas since the end of the cold war is expected to focus on the ROK where as many as 12,500 troops could be withdrawn. The 3,500-strong army brigade which moved from the ROK to Iraq this month is not likely to return. The US had been in talks with Seoul for months, a senior state department official said, and the ROK government had agreed to the move.

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11. US – ROK Military Alliance

Chosun Ilbo (“RUMSFELD: GPR COULD TAKE FOUR TO SIX YEARS”, 2004-08-16) reported that Washington’s initiative to realign its military presence around the world could take five to six or more years. That’s according to U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The top U.S. defense official did not elaborate on the specifics of the plan called the Global Defense Posture Review, but said announcements will be made as they are finalized over the next few years. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says, it may take up to six years or more to complete the Pentagon’s realignment of U.S. troops around the world. He also did not specify how many troops would be affected by Washington’s initiative, in what’s called the Global Defense Posture Review or GPR, aimed at restructuring U.S. military capabilities overseas away from its Cold War alignment. To calm fears of a strain in ROK-U.S. relations, Washington has repeatedly stressed, the global restructuring will lead to greater flexibility in meeting post-Cold War challenges.

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12. US -ROK Military Relations

Agence France-Presse (“US FIGHTER SQUADRON TO BE DEPLOYED IN SKOREA NEXT MONTH”, 2004-08-16) reported that a squadron of US Air Force F-15E fighters based in Alaska will fly to the ROK next month for temporary deployment aimed at enhancing US firepower on the Korean peninsula, US authorities said. The US jets will stay in the ROK for up to three months of training “to get accustomed to geographical features of the peninsula”, a US military spokesman said. For similar training, the US deployed a squadron of F-117A stealth fighters in the ROK in June. “The deployment is part of US military enhancement plans announced earlier,” the spokesman said.

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13. ROK – US Relations

Yonhap (“[ROK] FOREIGN MINISTER MEETS NEW US ENVOY “, 2004-08-16) reported that new US Ambassador Christopher Hill visited ROK Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon on Monday as part of preparations to begin his official duties, ministry officials said. Hill submitted a copy of his credentials to Ban during the meeting, as the envoy is to present the credentials to President Roh Moo-hyun at a date to be set later, they said. Ban congratulated Hill on assuming the post and asked him to fully use his rich experience and negotiation ability in dealing with the DPRK, they said. Hill responded by saying that the ROK-US alliance is very important and he will contemplate what to do to develop this, Foreign Ministry officials said.

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14. ROK on Iraq Dispatch

The Associated Press (“THOUSANDS IN SOUTH KOREA PROTEST PLANNED DEPLOYMENT OF MORE TROOPS TO IRAQ”, 2004-08-15) reported that hundreds of protesters clashed with police Sunday near the US Embassy in Seoul during a demonstration against the country’s plans to send more troops to Iraq. “We are against war! We are against America!” the demonstrators chanted, ripping up a large replica of a US flag before attempting to charge through police blockades. Officers in riot gear sprayed water at the demonstrators, who jabbed back with flag poles. Those clashing with police were among about 5,000 demonstrators who converged on a street in the center of the ROK capital to urge President Roh Moo-hyun to abandon the troop deployment.

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15. US – Japanese Security Framework

Agence France-Presse (“JAPAN, US PLAN NEW SECURITY FRAMEWORK: REPORT”, 2004-08-14) reported that Japan and the US are drawing up a new security framework on their military cooperation against terrorism and other threats, a newspaper said. The Japanese and US governments are negotiating to draw up the Joint Security Declaration by early next year, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said. The declaration is expected to redefine bilateral military cooperation in Japan amid the ongoing transformation of the US military presence here, the business daily said. Japan and the US are also considering setting up a joint body to discuss the relocation of the US military bases in Japan, it said.

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16. US – Japanese Military Relations

Kyodo News (“US AIRCRAFT CARRIER, WARSHIPS TO CALL AT JAPANESE PORTS”, 2004-08-16) reported that the nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier John C. Stennis and four warships in its fleet will separately call at three Japanese ports later this month to allow crew members to rest and replenish goods, the US Navy headquarters in Japan said Monday. Starting on Friday morning, three of the ships including the 102,000-ton carrier will stop at Sasebo Port in Nagasaki Prefecture, while a missile destroyer will stop at Harumi Pier in Tokyo. An Aegis-equipped cruiser will visit Shimizu Port in Shizuoka Prefecture. The navy headquarters in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, also cited deepening friendship as a reason for the visits.

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17. Japanese – DPRK Relations

Reuters (“N. KOREA TO ALLOW JAPAN MISSION VISIT ON ABDUCTEES”, 2004-08-14) reported that the DPRK will allow Japan to send a fact-finding mission to investigate the fate of 10 citizens abducted decades ago, Kyodo news agency reported Saturday. The report came after Japan and the DPRK failed to make progress toward establishing diplomatic ties at two days of talks in Beijing this week, at which DPRK officials gave no new details about Japanese citizens believed to have been abducted to train Pyongyang’s spies. Song Il-ho, head of the DPRK delegation to the talks, was quoted by Kyodo news agency as telling reporters at Beijing airport prior to returning to Pyongyang that his country would allow the visit of a fact-finding mission. However, he made no mention of when this might take place.

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18. DPRK Defectors

Joongang Ilbo (“FOR NORTH’S DEFECTORS, A VILLAGE”, 2004-08-16) reported that in an attempt to assist DPRK defectors in adapting to life in the ROK, human rights and religious groups say they will build a village for refugees in the capital region. Tentatively named the Tongil, or Unification, Village, the complex will offer shelter to about 100 households. Residents will live and work together to settle down to life in the ROK more comfortably, the organizers said. “We formed a preparatory committee on Aug. 11 in Seoul,” Durihana Mission, a Christian group that has been helping DPRK defectors, said yesterday. “Starting next year, about 20 to 30 households will begin their lives in the village to live together.” The committee includes Hwang Jang-yop, the highest-level DPRK official ever to defect to the ROK.

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19. ROK on DPRK Defectors

Chosun Ilbo (“GOV’T RECONSIDERING POLICIES ON N. KOREAN DEFECTORS”, 2004-08-16) reported that the government is making swift changes in its policy to unlimitedly allow DPRK defectors to come to the ROK. Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said during a meeting with the ministry’s senior officials Monday, “It is very troublesome that non-governmental organizations shift responsibility on the government when they face difficulties in handling the North Korean defector issue.” Ban’s remarks is interpreted in the same context as yesterday’s request of Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, “For South Korean NGOs involved in assisting defectors to go beyond helping defectors and induce or encourage defection from the North does not coincide with the policies of intra-Korean reconciliation and may adversely affect relations between the two Koreas… We ask for restraint.” Accordingly, it is expected that mass entrances of DPRK defectors into ROK involving NGOs would be carried out selectively, or that entry into ROK would grow difficult.

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20. DPRK Defector in Japan

Kyodo News (“N. KOREAN DEFECTOR AGREES TO VISIT JAPAN FOR DIET TESTIMONY”, 2004-08-16) reported that Hwang Jang Yop, the highest-ranking DPRK citizen to defect to the ROK, on Monday accepted an offer from a Japanese Diet committee to deliver Diet testimony on the current situation in the DPRK, a committee member said. Hwang agreed to visit Japan in mid-September at the invitation of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, according to Masaharu Nakagawa, a lawmaker from the opposition Democratic Party of Japan. Nakagawa is visiting Seoul representing the Diet panel.

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21. US Defector in the DPRK

Kyodo News (“BRITISH FILM CREW SAYS FOUND LAST US DEFECTOR IN N KOREA”, 2004-08-16) reported that a British film crew said Monday 16 August it has located the last US military deserter living in the DPRK, and that it plans to make a documentary about him and three other deserters. The crew will visit Pyongyang in September to film interviews with Joseph Dresnok, a US Army private living in the DPRK after crossing over to the country in 1962, filmmaker Nicholas Bonner said in Beijing, where he is based. The documentary will also depict the lives of Charles Jenkins, a US Army sergeant and husband of repatriated Japanese abductee Hitomi Soga, and two other US soldiers who defected to the DPRK, Bonner said.

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22. Inter – Korean Relations

Reuters (“SOUTH KOREA WARNS OF POSSIBLE NORTH TERRORISM”, 2004-08-16) reported that the DPRK is threatening to use terrorism against the ROK, Seoul’s intelligence agency said in a rare public advisory on Monday, and warned ROK citizens in the PRC and Southeast Asia to be on their guard. The attacks may be in retaliation for the recent airlift of a large group of DPRK refugees, the National Intelligence Service said. The ROK secretly organized the airlift of more than 460 DPRK refugees last month from a country that activists said was Vietnam. “North Korea is threatening our country with terrorism in retaliation,” the spy agency said in its statement. “We are advising heightened vigilance in view of the refugees’ arrival and the North’s reaction to it,” a spokesman at the agency said by telephone.

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23. Inter – Korean Summit

Korea Herald (“MOST [LAWMAKERS] WANT SECOND SUMMIT IN SOUTH”, 2004-08-16) reported that it may be still a daunting task for reclusive DPRK leader Kim Jong-il to make good on his promise to visit the ROK, but an overwhelming majority of lawmakers here believe it is imperative. About 84 percent of 237 members of the National Assembly who responded to a survey by The Korea Herald said a second inter-Korean summit should be held in the ROK and not in a third country, as recently suggested by some media reports. Only 6.8 percent said President Roh Moo-hyun can meet the DPRK’s National Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong-il in another country if Kim is reluctant about coming to Seoul because of security concerns.

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24. Working Level Talks

Reuters (“N.KOREA TALKS MAY BE DELAYED TILL SEPTEMBER-REPORT”, 2004-08-14) reported that the next round of working level talks to pave the way for more six-way negotiations on the DPRK’s nuclear programs may be delayed until September, the ROK’s Yonhap news agency said Saturday. The DPRK was unwilling to hold the round of informal talks in August as previously expected by some participants, the news agency reported, citing Japanese media who quoted senior PRC official Ning Fukui. “North Korea does not agree to holding it in August,” Ning, head of the PRC delegation during the DPRK talks, was quoted as saying by Japanese media. “It can take place in early September at the earliest.”

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25. PRC – DPRK Relations

Reuters (“CHINA RETAILER PLANS TO OPEN NORTH KOREA SHOPPING CENTER”, 2004-08-16) reported that a successful young entrepreneur here is taking a big bet on the DPRK. Asserting that economic reform efforts in the DPRK have given people cash to buy PRC-made consumer goods, Zeng Changbiao plans to open a department store in Pyongyang. Zeng, who is 35, has signed a deal to invest 50 million yuan, or $6 million, in a 10-year lease on a five-story building next to Kim Il Sung Square in the capital. Once renovated, the building is to house a shopping center with a nine-floor office tower attached to it. “This will be the biggest and best shopping center in all of North Korea,” Zeng said in an interview.

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26. Inter Korean Economic Cooperation

Yonhap (“GARMENT, LABOR-INTENSIVE FIRMS MOVE TO KAESONG COMPLEX FIRST “, 2004-08-15) reported that the government said Sunday that garment and labor-intensive companies will be the first to set up operations at Kaesong Industrial Complex in the DPRK. The move is part of an effort to get ROK companies to establish operations at the pilot industrial park so that they can start manufacturing goods. The complex, built jointly by the Korea Land Corp. and Hyundai Asan, is the centerpiece of inter-Korean economic operations and detente.

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27. ROK on Inter Korean Relations

Korea Herald (“CHUNG EXPECTED TO BOOST INTER-KOREAN TIES “, 2004-08-16) reported that with Unification Minister Chung Dong-young now captain of the diplomatic and security team, experts expect more government action to advance inter-Korean ties that have made little progress amid tension over the DPRK’s nuclear weapons program. Some political analysts said the National Security Council would have less power as its role of coordinating the Unification, Foreign and Defense Ministries has now been delegated to the heavyweight politician. “I think there will be some changes in government policies in the area,” said Paik Hak-soon, senior researcher at the private Sejong Institute. “The government will try to upgrade South-North exchanges, though it has delayed such an initiative due to the nuclear issue.” Paik said Roh’s appointment of Chung as the chief of the diplomatic team reflects the president’s recognition that he should focus more on improving the ROK-DPRK relationship.

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28. Inter Korean Liberation Day Plans

Yonhap (“N. KOREA STEPS UP RHETORICAL OFFENSIVE AGAINST SEOUL”, 2004-08-16) reported that the DPRK has stepped up its verbal offensive against the ROK over the rupture of joint events to mark the anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule (1910-45), urging the ROK to offer an apology. The Koreas agreed in March to hold the 59th anniversary events in the DPRK around Aug. 15, Liberation Day, but the DPRK suddenly requested the participation of some activists from pro-Pyongyang organizations, a demand Seoul rejected.

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29. Japan Anniversary of WWII Surrender

Los Angeles Times (“JAPAN MARKS WWII SURRENDER WITH MIXED SENTIMENTS”, 2004-08-16) reported that Japan marked the 59th anniversary of its World War II surrender on Sunday, caught between regret for the suffering it inflicted and resurgent nationalism that is pushing the country to become a global military power. “I renew our deep remorse and offer sincere condolences to the victims,” Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said at a government ceremony at a cemetery for war dead in Tokyo. As Emperor Akihito looked on, Koizumi said the era of invasion and colonization that ended with defeat in 1945 had “caused huge damage and pain to people in many countries, particularly in Asian nations.” But Koizumi also asserted his government’s determination to make Japan a prominent international player. Encouraged by the Bush administration, which is seeking a more active East Asian partner, Koizumi’s government wants to revise Japan’s war-renouncing constitution in order to deploy troops in overseas conflicts more easily.

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30. Japan Visit to Shrine

Reuters (“JAPAN MINISTERS PAY HOMAGE AT SHRINE FOR WAR DEAD”, 2004-08-15) reported that three Japanese ministers paid homage at a controversial shrine for war dead Sunday, the 59th anniversary of Japan’s World War II surrender, a move that drew anger from Asian neighbors. The annual visit to Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, seen by critics as a symbol of the militarist regime that led Japan into war, was more charged than usual given the participation of Japanese troops in a humanitarian mission to Iraq, their riskiest overseas mission since the war. Yasukuni is dedicated to the 2.5 million Japanese who have died in wars since 1853, including several convicted war criminals. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who has outraged Japan’s Asian neighbors with his annual visits to the shrine, marked the end of the war at separate secular ceremonies.

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31. Japan on Nuclear Disarmament

Yomiuri Shimbun (“GOVT TO SUBMIT N-DISARMAMENT BID TO UNGA”, 2004-08-16) reported that the government has decided to submit a nuclear disarmament resolution to the U.N. General Assembly this autumn, the 11th such resolution since 1994. The decision to submit the resolution, titled “A path to the total elimination of nuclear weapons,” was made Saturday. As in previous cases, the government anticipates the resolution will be adopted with the support of most member countries. However, the US is expected to oppose the resolution, as it has done each year since 2001. All 10 past Japanese nuclear disarmament resolutions have been adopted by the assembly.

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32. Fischer Case

The Associated Press (“RECLUSIVE FISCHER TO WED JAPANESE CHESS OFFICIAL”, 2004-08-16) reported that former world chess champion Bobby Fischer appealed to Secretary of State Colin Powell on Monday to help him renounce US citizenship as he announced plans to marry a leading Japanese chess official, his lawyer said. Fischer, wanted in the US for violating international sanctions by playing a match in the former Yugoslavia in 1992, was detained in Japan last month when trying to travel on a revoked American passport. He has been fighting an attempt to deport him to the US. A separate statement from Suzuki also said Fischer and Japan Chess Association President Miyoko Watai had signed marriage papers that would be submitted later on Monday. It was unclear whether Japanese officials would accept the marriage application.

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33. Cross Strait Relations

Reuters (“TAIWAN FLAUNTS ITS AIR SUPERIORITY OVER CHINA”, 2004-08-14) reported that Taiwan flaunted its fighter jets in the biggest-ever air show on the island on Saturday, a show of strength as tensions simmer with arch-foe the PRC. U.S.-made F-16s, French Mirage fighters and Taiwan-made Indigenous Defense Fighters (IDFs) streaked across the sky above the Taoyuan airbase in northern Taiwan, spinning 360 degrees in sharp formations in front of a cheering crowd. Military analysts say there is now a rough balance of power across the Taiwan Strait: the PRC’s 2.5-million-strong People’s Liberation Army far outnumber Taiwan’s 400,000 troops, but the island maintains a qualitative advantage. The PLA has about 3,400 aircraft, but Taiwan possesses three times as many fourth-generation fighters, according to a Pentagon report issued in May. Taiwan says it has about 340 F-16s, Mirage fighters and IDFs.

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34. Taiwan on Cross Strait Relations

Reuters (“TAIWAN PM SAYS CHINA PRACTICES ‘DECAPITATION’ STRATEGY”, 2004-08-15) reported that the PRC has been practicing an attack on Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, aimed at killing or capturing the island’s leaders in a “decapitation” action, Taiwan Premier Yu Shyi-kun said Sunday. Yu said Beijing began to simulate an attack targeting Taiwan leaders after the capture of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. “After the Iraq war, China has targeted Taiwan leaders, Taiwan’s capital, and the presidential office in its so-called decapitation action,” Yu said aboard a plane to Central America after a stopover in Los Angeles, where he met some US congressmen. “Their internal discussions and recent drills indicated they have been preparing for such a move,” Yu said in comments broadcast on Taiwan cable news network TVBS.

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35. US on Cross Strait Relations

Reuters (“REPORT: U.S. TO APPROVE SALE OF AEGIS SHIPS TO TAIWAN”, 2004-08-15) reported that the US will announce the sale of four Aegis missile-defense warships to Taiwan next year with delivery likely to begin in 2011, a newspaper said on Monday. Taiwan has long sought the destroyers, which would be an important defense against about 500 ballistic missiles pointed at the island by arch-foe the PRC, but Washington has so far only offered less advanced Kidd-class destroyers to Taipei. The mass-circulation China Times quoted unidentified sources as saying the US has agreed to sell four Aegis-equipped destroyers to Taiwan in a $3.5 billion deal. Taiwan’s defense ministry said it had not received any word from Washington about the vessels. “With regards to the Aegis matter, the Ministry of National Defense has not received any notification from the United States up to now,” said spokesman Huang Suey-sheng.

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36. PRC Domestic Corruption

The Washington Post (“A PLEA FOR HONESTY TRANSFIXES CHINA LOWLY PARTY CADRE DECRIES OFFICIAL CORRUPTION IN OPEN LETTER”, ) reported that an obscure Communist Party cadre in southern PRC burst into the national limelight Friday with an open letter in which he complained bitterly that his efforts to fight corruption had been stymied by more senior government and party officials. In a lengthy account of what he depicted as his crusade to jail dishonest local officials and their co-conspirators in business, Huang decried the “underlying rules” by which corrupt PRC officials protect one another’s backs. First published on the Web site of the official People’s Daily, the letter was not unusual for what it alleged. Officials and ordinary people across the PRC have long bemoaned the graft that has accompanied economic reforms over the last 25 years. What was significant was Huang’s decision to vent his frustrations openly and the willingness of the PRC’s censored press to give him a national forum.

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37. Taiwan on SARS

The Associated Press (“TAIWAN SAID PREPARED TO DEAL WITH SARS”, 2004-08-16) reported that Taiwan is better equipped now to deal with outbreaks of SARS because of advances made in the screening and treatment of patients, a top virologist said in a report Monday. “We know better how to battle the SARS virus than a year ago, and we have better weapons to fight it,” researcher Michael Lai said. “Taiwan has developed very good methods to screen a SARS patient,” Lai said. “It has found a number of new and old drugs to treat the patients and has also made big strides in developing vaccines.” Although scientists have determined that the SARS virus probably jumped to humans from civet cats sold in exotic food markets and restaurants in neighboring PRC, it was possible the disease came from another animal, Lai said. “If that’s the case, it will be more worrying because that indicates there are other animals carrying the SARS virus. This would make disease prevention more difficult,” he said.

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38. PRC Espionage Allegations

Reuters (“CHINA SAYS TAIWAN SPY ALSO OPERATED IN U.S. – MEDIA”, 2004-08-15) reported that Beijing on Monday accused a Chinese-American arrested for spying for Taiwan of building an espionage network in the US, and said he could go on trial very soon. David Dong, 52, also known as Dong Wei, is the latest in a string of US citizens and permanent residents arrested in the PRC on charges of spying for the self-ruled, democratic island. The China Daily quoted an unidentified source as saying Dong had “elicited a huge network of Taiwanese spying in the eastern United States.” “Witnesses have revealed that a couple of people on Taiwan’s intelligence agency’s payroll, including Dong, passed a large amount of intelligence to Taiwan,” the source was quoted as saying. The revelations of such suspicions by the PRC could be a move by Beijing to try to drive a wedge between Taiwan and the US.

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39. PRC Military Development

The Washington Post (“SOME QUESTION REPORT ON CHINESE SPACE ARMS”, 2004-08-14) reported that it is only a passing reference in the Pentagon’s annual spring report on PRC military power, but it is one of the most provocative items. Describing the PRC’s interest in space warfare, particularly in systems for attacking US satellites, the Pentagon raises the possibility that the PRC might be trying to develop “parasitic microsatellites” — small satellites that attach themselves to larger ones to disrupt or destroy them on command. The Xing Dao Daily story has been cited two years in a row by the Pentagon — in 2003 and 2004 — both times with caveats saying the claim either “cannot be confirmed” or, more recently, “is being evaluated.” But the Defense Intelligence Agency, which wrote the reports, never tracked the origin of the newspaper story, according to Pentagon officials. Two US specialists in space weaponry did — and found it was lifted from a PRC Web site of dubious repute. “An examination of the January 2001 newspaper story casts strong doubts on the credibility of the story and its claims,” Gregory Kulacki and David Wright write in a paper to be released Monday by the Union of Concerned Scientists.

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40. Sino – US Relations

The Associated Press (“CHINA DENIES IT MISTREATED U.S. PROFESSOR”, 2004-08-15) reported that the PRC has denied allegations that it mistreated a Chinese-born American college professor accused of spying before deporting him earlier this month, state media said Sunday. Fei-Ling Wang, a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, was detained in the PRC for two weeks on espionage charges and released Aug. 8, when he returned to the US. The US has protested his treatment while in detention, calling it “harsh and inappropriate.” The PRC’s Foreign Ministry denied the accusations. “The relevant departments of China handled this case according to law and are blameless,” ministry spokesman Kong Quan said in statement carried by government media. He said PRC authorities informed U.S. officials twice of Wang’s detention “in line with the Chinese-U.S. consular agreement.”

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41. PRC on Dalai Lama Exile

Reuters (“CHINA HOLDS HARD LINE ON TALKS WITH DALAI LAMA”, 2004-08-14) reported that the Dalai Lama may only return to his homeland if he renounces aspirations for Tibetan independence, and any talks can be held only with his personal representative, a PRC official said Saturday. The tough words from Xiao Bai, deputy mayor of the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, signaled that recent tentative behind-the-scenes contacts between envoys from the Dalai Lama and the PRC might have broken down. The dialogue was suspended in 1993 but had quietly revived in the last 18 months, and there were signs the PRC might have decided to allow a subtle, if significant, shift in policy toward the Dalai Lama. Deputy Mayor Xiao, an ethnic Han Chinese, was adamant, though. “The Chinese government’s attitude to the Dalai Lama is consistent and clear,” he said at a news conference.

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42. Sino – Tibetan Relations

The Associated Press (“TIBETAN BUDDHISM CLASHES WITH GOVT. LIMITS”, 2004-08-16) reported that about 200 monks sit cross-legged in a shady courtyard at the 585-year-old Sera Monastery and loudly debate Buddhist scriptures on a sunny afternoon. Outwardly, Sera is one of Tibet’s most important and best-preserved Buddhist centers. But within, much has changed under communist rule, the result of strict controls on religion that activists say endanger the future of Tibet’s unique Buddhist culture. Under 1994 guidelines from the PRC’s Communist Party, the government limits numbers of monks, restricts religious teaching and requires monks to attend political classes and denounce the Dalai Lama, the leader of their faith, according to a report last month by a foreign monitoring group.

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43. PRC Typhoon

The Associated Press (“CHINA TYPHOON DEATH TOLL RISES; 40 MISSING”, 2004-08-16) reported that the PRC raised its official death toll from Typhoon Rananim to at least 147 on Monday, as villagers with farm tools dug through massive landslides searching for 40 people still missing. The PRC’s most powerful storm in seven years battered the southeastern coast on Thursday and Friday, the official Xinhua News Agency said, estimating economic losses at $2 billion. Earlier news reports put the death toll at 115 after state television said 24 people were killed when torrential rain unleashed landslides on the mountainous outskirts of Yueqing city. Xinhua didn’t say how or where the other 32 fatalities occurred.

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44. Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Movement

The Washington Post (“DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT IS STALLED IN HONG KONG AS LEGISLATIVE ELECTION NEARS, ACTIVISTS UNABLE TO TRANSFORM BROAD SUPPORT TO POLITICAL CLOUT”, 2004-08-13) reported that one month before a crucial vote, the hard realities of Hong Kong’s complicated electoral system have forced democracy activists to scale back their hopes of translating broad public support into political power strong enough to defy the PRC government. Although conditions could change before the Sept. 12 legislative election, political analysts said, the likely outcome of the vote will be a continuation of the inconclusive and sometimes bitter standoff that has marked the former British colony’s relations with mainland PRC for more than a year. Public opinion polls have consistently found that a clear majority of the territory’s 6.7 million residents endorse the demands for faster movement toward full-fledged democracy, including direct election of the chief executive and expansion of direct elections for the Legislative Council from the current 30 seats to all 60. But that endorsement has not led to the tidal wave among voters that activists hoped would produce a decisive pro-democracy majority in the council.

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45. Goguryo Historical Revisionism

Donga Ilbo (“JAPAN ENJOYING CONTROVERSY OVER GOGURYO HISTORY”, 2004-08-16) reported that with the Korean and PRC contention over Goguryo deepening, some Japanese nationalists are becoming delighted. The majority of current Japanese historians considers Goguryo as an ancient state of the Korean Han people and is negative toward the PRC’s attempt to distort history. Nevertheless, Japanese ultra-nationalists hold a different view. These ultra-nationalists published history-distorting textbooks a few years ago, describing Japan’s invasion of Asia as Japan’s advance, but received strong criticism from Korea, the PRC and some Japanese non-governmental groups and currently are relatively quiet. The situation has now changed with Korea and the PRC confronting over Goguryo, with the Japanese ultra-nationalists justifying their distorted textbooks saying, “It is only natural to record history in the perspective of the country accounting for it.”

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46. Cartographic Confusion

Chosun Ilbo (“U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT WEBSITE INCORRECTLY USES ‘SEA OF JAPAN’ AND ‘YELLOW SEA”, 2004-08-15) reported that it was confirmed Sunday that the website of the U.S. State Department (www.state.gov) improperly introduces the East Sea as the “Sea of Japan” and the West Sea as the “Yellow Sea.” Moreover, on the UN Cartographic Section’s January 2004 map of the Korean Peninsula, the seas are still bodies of water are still marked the “Sea of Japan” and “Yellow Sea.” On the map found with the introduction to ROK on the website of the U.S. State Department, the East Sea is marked as the “Sea of Japan,” and the West Sea is marked in PRC fashion as the “Yellow Sea.” In addition, the spelling of the president’s name is “Roh Moo-hyun” in the State Depatment Background Notes on ROK, inconsistent with the spelling of his name on the CIA introduction to ROK, in which the president’s name is spelt “NO Mu-hyon.” As it is revealed that international organizations like the United Nations, U.S. State Department and even CIA introduce ROK incorrectly, active efforts on the part of the government to correct the errors are demanded.

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47. Inter – Korean Border Dispute

Chosun Ilbo (“N. KOREAN PATROL BOAT CROSSES NLL, FAILS TO RESPOND TO MESSAGES”, 2004-08-16) reported that a DPRK patrol ship crossed 0.5 miles over the Northern Limit Line (NLL) into Southern waters around Yeonpyeong Island in the early morning Saturday. It retreated to DPRK 10 minutes after ROK vessels set out. During this occurrence, ROK Navy sent warning messages twice — before and after DPRK patrol ship crossed the NLL — but there was no response from DPRK. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Sunday that DPRK’s patrol boat crossed 0.5 miles over the NLL 8 miles northeast of Yeonpyeong Island and stayed in Southern waters from 12:48 am to 12:58 on Saturday. It added that the patrol boat crossed the NLL while chasing out PRC fishing boats engaged in illegal fishing. At the time, around 20 PRC fishing boats were operating around the NLL. ROK Navy sent warning messages through hotlines twice, first at around 12:46 a.m., two minutes before DPRK’s patrol boat crossed the NLL, and again at around 12:49 a.m., one minute after it had crossed the NLL. DPR! K failed to respond to either message, however.

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48. US on DPRK Nuclear Issue

Chosun Ilbo (“POWELL: U.S. WOULD HELP UNDERWRITE N. KOREAN DISARMAMENT”, 2004-08-14) reported that Secretary of State Colin Powell says U.S. would help pay for the removal and destruction of DPRK’s nuclear facilities as part of a deal for an “irreversible” end to Pyongyang’s weapons program. Mr. Powell says there has been progress in six-party talks on the issue. The costs associated with an end to DPRK nuclear program would be considerable. And Mr. Powell is making it clear that, in the context of a disarmament deal, U.S. and other parties to PRC-sponsored, six-party talks would be prepared to help underwrite the task.

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49. Inter Korean Archeology Find

Yonhap (“HISTORIC RELICS DISCOVERED AT NORTH KOREAN INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX SITE “, 2004-08-16) reported that ROK and DPRK archeologists discovered thousands of relics and historic remains from the site for an industrial park in Kaesong, DPRK, a state-run ROK developer said Monday. The Korea Land Corp. said 20 ROK and 40 DPRK archeologists conducted a joint survey of 330,000 square meters of land inside the industrial complex in Kaesong, a city a few kilometers north of the truce village of Panmunjom, for two months starting in June.