I. United States

1. DPRK Nuclear Reactor Restarted

China Daily (“REPORT: NORTH KOREA RESTARTED NUCLEAR REACTOR BEFORE JULY TALKS”, 2005-08-22) reported that the DPRK restarted a nuclear reactor before it returned to multinational talks in July on its nuclear programs. According to Asahi Shimbum, a US reconnaissance satellite detected steam coming from a boiler connected to a nuclear reactor building. A US official told the newspaper that the steam could be a sign that the reactor at the DPRK’s main nuclear complex at Yongbyon had been restarted.

(return to top)

2. ROK on Restarted Nuclear Reactor

Forbes (“SKOREA DENIES ALLEGATIONS ON NORTH’S NUCLEAR REACTOR – YONHAP”, 2005-08-21) reported that in a response to the Asahi report on the DPRK’s restarted nuclear reactor, an ROK official said, ‘it looks like an inaccurate news report even though I cannot verify it because it belongs to intelligence’.

(return to top)

3. ROK on DPRK Nuclear Program

Bloomberg (“NORTH KOREA MAY HALT NUCLEAR ARMS PROGRAM, BAN SAYS”, 2005-08-22) reported that according to ROK Foreign Minister Ban Ki Moon, Kim Jong-il may give up the DPRK’s nuclear weapons program in return for security guarantees, energy and economic aid. “Chairman Kim Jong Il seems to have made a decision to abandon nuclear weapons programs,” Ban said on CNN. “We are more or less optimistic that we’ll be able to result in substantive resolution of the nuclear weapons program this time.”

(return to top) Chosun Ilbo (“SEOUL, WASHINGTON ‘ON SAME PAGE’ OVER N.KOREA: BAN”, 2005-08-22) reported that according to ROK Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, there were no big differences between the ROK and the US over how to resolve the DPRK nuclear dispute. Ban acknowledged that Seoul and Washington were in discussions over the issue of allowing the DPRK the use of peaceful nuclear energy, but said, “basically, we are on the same page. We do not have much difference on that point.” (return to top)

4. ROK on US, ROK Differences on DPRK Nuclear Program

Korea Times (“S.KOREA, US SEEK CONSENSUS AHEAD OF NUKE TALKS”, 2005-08-21) reported that according to Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, the disagreement over whether the DPRK should be allowed to keep running a peaceful nuclear energy program is threatening to sidetrack the delicately poised six-nation talks. “The scope of nuclear dismantlement is the most fundamental, most important issue of the six-party talks,” he said. “After we determine exactly what North Korea will give up, then we can talk about peaceful nuclear energy as a corresponding measure.”

(return to top)

5. US on Six Party Talks

Agence France Presse (“US OPTIMISM ON NORTH KOREA TALKS RAISES EYEBROWS”, 2005-08-21) reported that The US tone on the six party talks has taken an emphatically optimistic turn. According to Christopher Hill, a deal could emerge by October. “If we can agree on what the signposts are going to be, … we can put together an agreement — perhaps later in September, October at the very latest — because we really would like to keep the momentum going,” Hill said.

(return to top)

6. ROK on Korean Peace Treaty

Chosun Ilbo (“PEACE TREATY NO MATTER FOR SIX-PARTY TALKS: BAN”, 2005-08-21) reported that ROK Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said a peace treaty on the Korean Peninsula was a matter to be discussed in an appropriate forum after the dispute over the DPRK’s nuclear program has been resolved. Discussing US chief negotiator Christopher Hill’s recent comment that Washington is ready to discuss a full peace treaty to replace the armistice that ended the Korean War, Ban told Yonhap News the matter was not an issue for the six-party talks.

(return to top)

7. Inter-Korean Agricultural Cooperation

Korea Times (“S-N JOINT FARMING TO START NEXT YEAR”, 2005-08-21) reported that the ROK and DPRK will select a few collective farms in the DPRK for cooperation on agricultural management early next year, a Unification Ministry official said. The ROK will provide fertilizer aid, agricultural machinery and technology to the farms as early as February or March when the farming season begins on the Korean Peninsula, Bahk Heung-yuel, coordinator for ROK-DPRK dialogue at the ministry, told The Korea Times.

(return to top)

8. Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation

Yonhap News (“STATE INSURER TO HELP RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT IN N. KOREA”, 2005-08-22) reported that ROK’s state-run export insurance corporation said that it is planning to help local companies develop natural resources in the DPRK. The Korea Export Insurance Corp. (KEIC) said talks were in the final stages with the commerce and industry ministry that would allow companies to push forward various mining contracts with the DPRK. “The North Korean plan is part of a larger plan to offer insurance support and guarantees for small and medium enterprises that are seeking to develop natural resources abroad,” said Choo Byung-yang, senior director at the insurance corporation’s business planning division. He said that the plan should be ready around September after the remaining details have been worked out.

(return to top)

9. New US Envoy on DPRK Human Rights Issue

Chosun Ilbo (“US APPOINTS SPECIAL ENVOY ON N.KOREAN HUMAN RIGHTS”, 2005-08-21) reported that Jay Lefkowitz, a former senior diplomatic policy aide to President George W. Bush, has been put in charge of improving the human rights situation in the DPRK. This post was created under the North Korean Human Rights Act enacted last year. The White House says Lefkowitz’ main job will be to encourage the DPRK to accept and abide by international human rights standards and norms.

(return to top)

10. UN Conference on Disarmament

Japan Times (“NPT FATE TIED TO RESPONSE ON IRAN, NORTH KOREA CRISES”, 2005-08-18) reported that the atomic ambitions of the DPRK and Iran offer direct challenges to the credibility of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, while the international community’s response to these challenges will greatly influence global opinion as to whether the treaty itself is still viable. These were some of the messages delivered Thursday by 55 delegates to a UN conference on disarmament issues. The delegates to the convention, which began Wednesday and ends Friday, include ambassadors, academic experts on disarmament and officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency.

(return to top)

11. Expert on DPRK Refugees in PRC

Yonhap News (“N. KOREAN REFUGEES IN CHINA NUMBER 30,000-50,000: MONK”, 2005-08-22) reported that according to the head of an ROK aid organization, the number of DPRK refugees in the PRC may be less than commonly reported. Buddhist monk Beobyun, head of Good Friends, an organization dedicated to assisting DPRK refugees, said that although his estimates were not exact due to limited access, various factors were at play in the reduction in the number of refugees fleeing to the PRC. The highly respected human rights figure, who is visiting the US capital to discuss human rights and food conditions in the DPRK with US politicians and ministry officials, said that conditions for DPRK refugees are becoming more precarious as PRC law enforcement have adopted a tougher stance against illegal immigrants from the DPRK.

(return to top)

12. ROK Poll on DPRK

Joong Ang Ilbo (“NORTH’S IMAGE IMPROVED, POLL FINDS”, 2005-08-20) reported that a poll conducted by Joong Ang Ilbo found that ROK politicians and the public have a more favorable perception of the DPRK following this week’s joint inter-Korean Liberation Day celebrations. The paper conducted a nationwide telephone survey of 811 men and women over 20 years of age. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.4 percentage points with a confidence level of 95 percent.

(return to top)

13. US-ROK Joint Military Exercise

International Herald Tribune (“NORTH PROTESTS AS U.S. AND S. KOREA START WAR GAME”, 2005-08-22) reported that the US and ROK troops began a two-week joint military exercise on Monday, despite protests from the DPRK, which called the war game a saber-rattling effort intended to force the DPRK to give up its nuclear weapons development. The exercise, Ulchi Focus Lens, will overlap with the six-nation nuclear disarmament talks, which are scheduled to resume in Beijing next week in an effort to find a way to dismantle the DPRK’s nuclear weapons programs.

(return to top)

14. Japan on UNSC Expansion

Agence France-Presse (“JAPAN TO GIVE UP BID FOR PERMANENT SECURITY COUNCIL SEAT FOR NOW”, 2005-08-22) reported that Japan will give up its bid to secure a permanent seat on the UNSC for the time being after it failed to win enough international support, a daily said. A two-thirds majority or 128 votes is needed in the 191-member General Assembly for adoption. But the Sankei Shimbun daily said only 90 nations, including Britain and France, supported the G4 blueprint.

(return to top)

15. Japan Birdflu Outbreak

Agence France-Presse (“JAPAN HIT BY NEW BIRD FLU CASE”, 2005-08-22) reported that Japan discovered a new case of bird flu at a chicken farm near Tokyo, prompting health officials to order the culling of some 100,000 chickens. The farm is located in Ishioka, 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Tokyo, and keeps 1,110,000 chickens in 12 houses, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said Monday.

(return to top)

16. Sino-Venezuelan Relations

Bloomberg (“VENEZUELA EXPECTS OIL EXPORTS TO CHINA TO SOAR”, 2005-08-22) reported that Petroleos de Venezuela SA, South America’s largest oil company, expects its exports to the PRC to rise fivefold by 2012 as it seeks to lessen its dependence on the US market. Sales of crude oil and petroleum products to the PRC may top 300,000 barrels within years, the state oil company said in a press statement.

(return to top)

17. Sino-Russian Joint Military Exercises

The Associated Press (“CHINA, RUSSIA BEGIN MORE MILITARY DRILLS “, 2005-08-22) reported that Russian and PRC paratroopers landed along the PRC’s northeastern coast Saturday as some 9,000 soldiers from the two countries began the second stage of their historic first joint military exercises, news reports said. The war games are the result of warming ties between former Cold War enemies Moscow and Beijing, motivated by growing concern about US dominance of world affairs.

(return to top)

18. PRC Energy Supply

The Associated Press (“CHINA OIL CO. TO ACQUIRE PETROKAZAKHSTAN”, 2005-08-22) reported that the PRC’s biggest state-owned oil firm announced Monday that a major oil producer in neighboring Kazakhstan has accepted a $4.2 billion takeover — a victory in Beijing’s campaign to secure foreign energy supplies for its booming economy. The deal, which still requires the approval of PetroKazakhstan’s shareholders, would be the biggest acquisition yet in a string of PRC corporate takeovers overseas.

(return to top)

19. Sino-US Relations

The New York Times (“RICE WARNS CHINA TO MAKE MAJOR ECONOMIC CHANGES”, 2005-08-22) reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned this week that the PRC must make significant structural changes in its economic policies, lest it remain “a problem for the international economy.” In an interview on Wednesday, Ms. Rice also laid out the administration’s concerns about the PRC’s military buildup, its human rights record and its restrictions on religious freedom.

(return to top)

20. PRC Foreign Investment and Graft

The Washington Post (“COMMON IN CHINA, KICKBACKS CREATE TROUBLE FOR U.S. COMPANIES AT HOME”, 2005-08-22) reported that for multinational companies grappling with stagnant sales, the PRC has become a magnet for investment and a huge potential market beckoning with growth. Yet the lure of PRC profits combined with pervasive local corruption is tempting foreign companies and managers and bringing them into conflict with US anti-bribery laws.

(return to top)

21. PRC Espionage Allegations

The New York Times (“CHINA HAS ARRESTED AMERICAN ON SUSPICION OF SPYING FOR TAIWAN”, 2005-08-22) reported that the PRC has arrested a Chinese-born American businessman on accusations of spying in what appears to be a deepening investigation into the possibility of Taiwanese espionage on the mainland. The businessman, Xie Chunren, who lives in Somerset County, N.J., was arrested on May 31 in Sichuan Province in western PRC, a spokeswoman for the US Embassy in Beijing said. “He is currently under residential surveillance under suspicion of espionage for Taiwan,” she said.

(return to top)

22. PRC Property Rights

The Washington Post (“CHINESE POLICE ARREST PROPERTY RIGHTS ACTIVIST”, 2005-08-22) reported that police in the PRC’s northern Shaanxi province have arrested one of the nation’s leading advocates of private property rights, after officials posed as journalists and forged an e-mail from a prominent Hong Kong reporter to lure him out of hiding, friends and relatives said. The arrest is a major setback for the plaintiffs in a landmark lawsuit against the government that analysts say has emerged as an important test of President Hu Jintao’s willingness to promote the rule of law and private property rights.

(return to top)

23. PRC Income Disparity and Civil Unrest

Agence France-Presse (“CHINA’S WIDENING INCOME GAP THREATENING SOCIAL STABILITY: GOVERNMENT”, 2005-08-22) reported that the PRC’s rapidly widening income gap has reached dangerous levels, risking social instability by 2010 if the present trend continues, a government report warns. “China’s growing income gap is likely to trigger social instability after 2010 if the government finds no effective solutions to end the disparity,” the Ministry of Labour and Social Security warned in the China Daily.

(return to top)

24. PRC Civil Unrest

The Associated Press (“DOZENS HURT AFTER CHINA FACTORY PROTEST”, 2005-08-22) reported that protesters demanding the closure of an eastern PRC battery factory they say is spewing lead into the environment clashed with police, and dozens of people were injured, witnesses and hospital officials said Sunday. After the initial melee with police, thousands of demonstrators torched police cars and broke into government offices, witnesses reported.

(return to top)

25. PRC Streptococcus Suis Outbreak

The Associated Press (“CHINA REPORTS 4 CASES OF PIG-BORNE DISEASE”, 2005-08-22) reported that four people have been infected by a pig-borne disease in the PRC’s south and one has died, the government said Monday, one day after an epidemic in another part of the country was declared under control. The infections were reported in four different areas in Guangdong province, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing information released by the provincial government.

(return to top)