I. NAPSNet

1. DPRK Missile Test

Associated Press (“NORTH KOREA COMPLETES FUELING FOR MISSILE”, 2006-06-19) reported that the DPRK has apparently finished loading fuel into a long-range ballistic missile, Bush administration officials said Monday as signs continued that the reclusive state will soon test a weapon that could reach the US. That reportedly gives the DPRK a launch window of about a month. Unlike other preparatory steps the US has tracked, the fueling process is very difficult to reverse, and most likely means the test will go ahead, another senior administration official said.

(return to top) Reuters (“RICE SAYS NORTH KOREA MISSILE THREAT “PROVOCATIVE ACT””, 2006-06-19) reported that the US and Japan warned the DPRK on Monday against a missile launch as some officials said Pyongyang appeared to have finished fueling for a test flight that could reach as far as Alaska. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said a missile launch by DPRK would be viewed as a very serious matter and “provocative act” that would further isolate Pyongyang. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Tokyo, Washington and Seoul were all urging Pyongyang to act rationally and with restraint. (return to top) Agence France-Presse (“NORTH KOREA STIRS JITTERS WITH MISSILE LAUNCH BOAST”, 2006-06-19) reported that the DPRK rang alarm bells by boasting about its missile programme, saying a launch in 1998 “powerfully” demonstrated the might of its socialist regime. Amid fears that the state is preparing to fire an even bigger missile, Pyongyang said the 1998 launch was proof of the “wise guidance” of leader Kim Jong-Il. (return to top) Chosun Ilbo (“NORTH KOREA SAYS ‘DON’T WORRY ABOUT MISSILE LAUNCH'”, 2006-06-16) reported that DPRK representatives participating in ongoing commemorative events for the sixth anniversary of the 2000 inter-Korean summit say the ROK should not worry about speculation surrounding an imminent missile test-launch by the DPRK. But the DPRK delegation did not give specific reasons why. (return to top)

2. Nobel Peace Laureates on DPRK

Chosun Ilbo (“NOBEL LAUREATES CALL FOR KOREA’S PEACEFUL REUNIFICATION”, 2006-06-16) reported that Nobel Peace laureates on Friday delivered messages for peace on the Korean Peninsula and in the world at the Gwangju Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates. Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, a co-chair of the summit, said in his keynote address the division of the peninsula was the product of confrontation of two former superpowers and the Cold War, but Korea should not be held hostage to the interest of superpowers. “It will take some time to resolve issues on the peninsula, and they need to be settled by South and North Korea in national terms,” he added. UN Secretary-General Kofi Anann in a video message said permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula was one of the top priorities for the global community and must be achieved by diplomacy.

(return to top) JoongAng Ilbo (“PEACE LAUREATES CALL FOR RESUMPTION OF 6-WAY TALKS”, 2006-06-19) reported that Nobel peace prize laureates concluding a three-day gathering here called Saturday for a peaceful resolution of the DPRK nuclear dispute. The five individual winners of the prize and representatives of five honored organizations appealed in their statement for the DPRK to end its boycott of talks about its nuclear ambitions. The signers asked the DPRK to abandon its nuclear weapons programs and submit to international verification that it had done so. They also asked the US to lift its economic sanctions on the DPRK and guarantee its security. (return to top)

3. US on DPRK Policy

Chosun Ilbo (“N.KOREAN REGIME MAY TOPPLE ON ITS OWN: ENVOY”, 2006-06-19) reported that the US ambassador to Korea said Friday his country has no interest in toppling the DPRK regime, which may nonetheless collapse from internal pressures as problems resulting from the system multiply. Alexander Vershbow was speaking during a seminar at Seoul National University’s Graduate School of Public Administration. The envoy stressed the US wants only peaceful and gradual change in the DPRK.

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4. US on DPRK Refugees

Yonhap (“U.S. PREPARED TO ACCEPT MORE N.K. REFUGEES: OFFICIAL”, 2006-06-19) reported that the US is prepared to accept more DPRK refugees, but the actual number will depend on how much access it has to such asylum seekers, an official said Monday. In a news conference marking World Refugee Day, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kelly Ryan said where these refugees are, and what their situation is would determine their appropriate resettlement country.

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5. ROK on DPRK Human Rights

Chosun Ilbo (“BAN URGES N.KOREA TO TALK ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS”, 2006-06-19) reported that Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon on Monday urged the DPRK to enter into dialogue with the international community on its human rights record. Ban was speaking at the inaugural meeting of the Human Rights Council in Geneva. “South Korea fully shares the concerns of the international community” over the DPRK’s human rights issues, Ban said in a keynote address. He said Seoul expressed these concerns to the DPRK in inter-Korean ministerial meetings.

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6. Inter-Korean Industrial Talks

Yonhap (“KOREAS TO HOLD WORKING-LEVEL TALKS ON KAESONG INDUSTRIAL PARK THIS WEEK”, 2006-06-19) reported that the ROK and the DPRK will hold talks this week to discuss ways of simplifying customs procedures for their joint industrial park despite the mounting tension over signs of an imminent missile launch by the DPRK, the ROK’s Unification Ministry said Monday. The working-level talks, the second of their kind, will be held for two days from Tuesday as scheduled in Kaesong. “Concern over the North’s possible missile launch will have no impact on the opening of the working-level meeting,” a Unification Ministry official said, asking to remain anonymous.

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7. Inter-Korean Relations

Korea Times (“KIM’S NK VISIT TO BOOST S-N TIES”, 2006-06-16) reported that President Roh Moo-hyun said Friday he believes former President Kim Dae-jung’s planned visit to the DPRK later this month would provide momentum for improving inter-Korean relations. In a speech at the opening ceremony of the annual World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Kwangju, Roh said inter-Korean relations have undergone some turbulence, but the ongoing trend of reconciliation and cooperation can never be reversed.

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8. DPRK Economic Reforms

JoongAng Ilbo (“ON NORTH’S FARMS, CASH SPURS FOOD PRODUCTION”, 2006-06-19) reported that after the DPRK began a capitalist experiment by adopting economic reform measures in 2002, incentive payments have become common at communal farms, following the lead of factories in urban areas. After the DPR Koreans quickly grasped the essence of capitalism ? the more they work, the more they earn ? productivity at DPRK farms has increased, and some workers have become the rich in a famine-stricken country.

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9. Japan-ROK Trade Relations

Agence France-Presse (“WTO CALLED IN TO SETTLE SKOREAN TUSSLE WITH JAPAN OVER HYNIX DUTIES”, 2006-06-19) reported that the World Trade Organisation has set up a panel to settle a dispute between Seoul and Tokyo over the latter’s punitive tariffs on ROK semiconductor exports. The ROK asked for WTO arbitration after failing to reach a compromise in months of direct negotiations with Japan over duties on computer memory chips made by Hynix Semiconductor.

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10. Japan Iraq Role

The Associated Press (“PM: JAPAN UNDECIDED OVER TROOP WITHDRAWAL “, 2006-06-19) reported that Japan has not yet decided when to withdraw its troops from southern Iraq, but will do so in consultation with its allies, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Monday. “We will make an appropriate decision about when is best (to withdraw) at an appropriate time, in coordination with each ally and with the understanding of the Iraqi government,” he said.

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11. US-Japan Joint Exercises

Kyodo (“JAPAN TO DISPATCH DEFENSE TROOPS UNIT TO U.S. FOR JOINT EXERCISES”, 2006-06-19) reported that Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force plans to dispatch a unit from Kagoshima Prefecture and surrounding areas to the US next January for joint exercises involving island defense with US Marine Corps members, GSDF sources said. The move, which would be the first time for Japan to send a regional troop unit abroad, is aimed at preparing for large-scale contingencies in line with a stipulation for island defense in the new basic defense program adopted in 2004.

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12. US, PRC Relations with Vietnam

Agence France-Presse (“U.S. COMPETES WITH CHINA FOR VIETNAM’S ALLEGIANCE”, 2006-06-19) reported that with the fastest growth in East Asia after the PRC and a capitalist game plan that is attracting global investment, Communist Vietnam is emerging as a regional economic power as it moves steadily from rice fields to factories. Vietnam’s leaders have made plain they want the US on their side for equilibrium against the PRC, a longtime occupier. Vietnam, though an ideological ally of Beijing, fears an expanding PRC sphere of influence and being reduced to an economic appendage by the PRC.

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13. PRC-India Trade Relations

Agence France-Presse (“CHINA, INDIA AGREE TO RESUME “SILK ROUTE” BORDER TRADE “, 2006-06-19) reported that the PRC and India have agreed to resume frontier trade next month through a Himalayan pass that was closed 44 years ago after a border war. Officials from both sides signed an agreement Sunday in Lhasa, the capiyal of the PRC region of Tibet, to reopen the Nathu La Pass on July 6, the official Xinhua news agency said.

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14. PRC-Afghanistan Trade Relations

Agnce France-Presse (“AFGHANISTAN-CHINA PLEDGE TO DEEPEN TIES AS LEADERS MEET “, 2006-06-19) reported that Afghanistan and the PRC pledged to deepen economic and military ties, as President Hamid Karzai met his PRC counterpart Hu Jintao on the first full day of a state visit. The two nations signed eleven trade and economic agreements following the meeting, according to the PRC’s foreign ministry on Monday. No details were released.

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15. PRC African Diplomacy

Agence France-Presse (“CHINESE PREMIER BEGINS AFRICA TOUR IN EGYPT “, 2006-06-19) reported that PRC Premier Wen Jiabao began an African tour in Egypt with the signing of a memorandum of understanding and 10 agreements with the Arab world’s most populous nation. The accords covered cooperation in the energy sector as well as other economic and technological fields, Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif’s spokesman Magdi Radi said.

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16. PRC on Iran Missile Program

Agence France-Presse (“CHINA SATELLITE LAUNCHER REJECTS US PROLIFERATION ACCUSATIONS “, 2006-06-19) reported that the PRC’s top satellite launcher has angrily denied US accusations that it was assisting Iran’s missile programs and demanded that its assets in the US be freed up, state press has said. The China Great Wall Industry Corp “has never rendered assistance to any country for any weapon of mass destruction program,” the company said in a statement.

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17. PRC Space Program

Reuters (“CHINA TO PUT A MAN ON THE MOON BY 2024 – EXPERT”, 2006-06-19) reported that a top official in the PRC’s space program has set 2024 for the country’s first moonwalk, a Hong Kong newspaper reported on Monday, cementing its position as a new space power. The mission would kick off in earnest next year, the Beijing-backed Wen Wei Po paper said, when the PRC launches an unmanned lunar satellite in March or April to orbit and survey the lunar surface.

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18. PRC Journalist Trial

The New York Times (“CHINA TRIAL OF TIMES RESEARCHER ENDS WITHOUT VERDICT”, 2006-06-19) reported that the closed trial of a researcher for The New York Times accused of disclosing state secrets and fraud ended here on Friday without the court’s reaching a verdict. One of Mr. Zhao’s lawyers, Guan Anping, said the law allowed the court to deliberate for up to a month before releasing a verdict.

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19. PRC Toxic Spill

The Associated Press (“CLEANUP EFFORTS SLOW TOXIC SPILL IN CHINA “, 2006-06-19) reported that the PRC authorities said a toxic coal tar spill flowing down a northern river had slowed as they rushed Sunday to stop it from reaching a reservoir that serves a city of 10 million and is a standby source for the 2008 Olympics. Cleanup work was stepped up as government leaders urged local residents and officials to deal aggressively with the latest mishap to damage the country’s heavily polluted waterways.

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