NAPSNet Daily Report Monday, November 22, 2004

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NAPSNet Daily Report Monday, November 22, 2004

NAPSNet Daily Report Monday, November 22, 2004

I. United States

Preceding NAPSNet Report

I. United States

1. DPRK-ROK Relations

Washington Post (“SOUTH KOREA WEIGHS ALLOWING ONCE-TABOO SUPPORT FOR THE NORTH”, None) reported that with the pace of national reconciliation quickening between the two Koreas, ROK President Roh Moo Hyun and his ruling Uri Party are pushing ahead with plans to repeal the National Security Law, which since 1948 has prohibited vocal support of DPRK as well as unauthorized communication or visits there by South Koreans. Roh and his supporters say the law, long viewed as the dam preventing the North’s communist ideology from bring over the Demilitarized Zone, has become an outdated affront to democracy and free speech.

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2. DPRK Border Security

Reuters (“NORTH KOREA CRACKING DOWN ON MOBILE PHONES”, None) reported that DPRK is cracking down on the use of mobile phones in border areas in a bid to stop smuggling and “spy activities,” Japan’s Kyodo news agency said on Monday. According to a document obtained by a Japanese non-governmental organization, Kyodo, transmission of confidential information, providing information about the whereabouts of people, or assisting in the delivery of letters to foreigners are defined as spy activities.

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3. DPRK Border Security

Yonhap (“N.K. LAUNCHES CRACKDOWN ON S. KOREAN GOODS, IDEAS: JAPANESE GROUP “, None) reported that DPRK is strengthening security along its border with PRC to crack down on people smuggling ROK goods and capitalist ideas into the country, a Japanese civic organization claimed Monday.According to the Rescue the North Korean People Urgent Action Network, the DPRK government has recently issued an 11-page document calling for increased surveillance along the PRC border and severe punishment for anyone caught smuggling foreign goods.

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4. DPRK on Six-Party Talks

Reuters (“N.KOREA COMMITTED TO NUCLEAR TALKS – UN OFFICIAL”, None) reported that DPRK remains committed to using six-party talks to defuse a crisis over its nuclear weapons programs, but only if certain conditions are met, a U.N. official said on Monday after visiting the reclusive state. Jean Ping, president of the United Nations General Assembly, made the comments in Beijing after holding three days of talks in Pyongyang with DPRK’s second-in-command Kim Yong-nam and Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun.

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5. DPRK Military Leader Treated in Russia

Yonhap (“CONFIDANT TO KIM JONG-IL RECEIVES HEART TREATMENT IN RUSSIA “, None) reported that Yon Hyong-muk, a close confidant of DPRK leader Kim Jong-il, has recently received a heart treatment in Russia, a South Korean official said Monday.Yon, 73, a former prime minister, currently serves as No. 2 in the National Defense Commission which is headed by the DPRK leader. The commission controls the North’s 1.1-million-member military.

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6. DPRK on Post Election US

Yonhap (“N. KOREA INTENSIFIES ANTI-U.S. CRITICISM AFTER BUSH’S RE-ELECTION “, None) reported that DPRK’s state media is ramping up its anti-U.S. rhetoric, vowing “thousandfold” retaliation against a “two-legged wolf,” an apparent reference to re-elected U.S. President George W. Bush, ROK’s monitors said Sunday.The communist country’s media is notorious for its crude anti-U.S. criticism but its intensity and frequency appears to have gone up a step higher since Bush was re-elected earlier this month.

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7. DPRK Defectors in ROK, US

Yonhap (“N KOREAN DEFECTORS IN S. KOREA MAKE ILLEGAL ENTRY INTO U.S. “, None) reported that a number of DPRK defectors in ROK attempt illegal entry to the United States in the false belief that they can receive large amounts of “resettlement money” from the U.S. government, sources said Sunday. Defection bids have been increasing since last month, when U.S. President George W. Bush signed into law a bill designed to improve human rights conditions in DPRK, opening the way for North Korean defectors to seek asylum in the U.S.

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8. ROK on DPRK Nuclear Arms Program

Yonhap (“OFFICIAL: SEOUL READY TO OFFER ‘CREATIVE’ PROPOSAL ON NUKE ISSUE “, None) reported that ROK is ready to present a “creative” proposal if multilateral talks on DPRK’s nuclear arms program reopen, a Seoul government official said Sunday.Six-nation talks on the nuclear dispute have been stalled since July. The issue was a major topic when President Roh Moo-hyun and U.S. President George W. Bush met on the sidelines of a regional meeting in Santiago, Chile on Saturday.

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9. DPRK on ROK Nuclear Program

Yonhap (“N. KOREA ACCUSES S. KOREA OF POSING THREAT TO PEACE “, None) reported that DPRK said Saturday that ROK poses a grave threat to the peace on the Korean Peninsula and regional stability, claiming Seoul has pursued a nuclear development program for over two decades.The continued disclosure of nuclear-related secret experiments in ROK since September has aroused great apprehension among the international community, according to the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), monitored here.”It now has basic elements and an integral system for nuclear weaponization such as the extraction of nuclear substances, manufacturing of nuclear warheads, possession of nuclear warhead delivery means and pursuance of preparations for a nuclear war,” the KCNA said in a commentary.

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10. US on DRRK Nuclear Program

Reuters (“BUSH SEEKS ‘COMMON VOICE’ ON NORTH KOREA”, None) reported that President Bush urged Asian allies at a Pacific Rim summit on Saturday to provide a “common voice” and exert pressure on DPRK a to return to stalled talks on its nuclear weapons program. DPRK refused to attend talks in September, and Bush’s goal at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum this weekend was to rally PRC, Japan, ROK and Russia to persuade Pyongyang to agree to a new round of six-party talks by the end of the year or early next year.

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11. US and ROK on DPRK Nuclear Issue

The Chosun Ilbo (“ROH, BUSH RECONFIRM INTENTIONS TO RESOLVE NK ISSUE PEACEFULLY”, None) reported that President Roh Moo-hyun and U.S. President George W. Bush reconfirmed the principle to resolve the DPRK nuclear issue through peaceful and diplomatic means within the framework of the six-party talks in their summit meeting during the APEC talks in Santiago, Chile. Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said that during the summit, the two leaders “agreed to concentrate their strength with other participants in the six-party talks and closely consult with one another to bring about substantive progress in the six-party talks.” In particular, Ban said, “Korea will actively make suggestions and harmonize (as the six-party talks progress),” suggesting that during the course of resolving the DPRK nuclear issue, ROK’s ideas will be more greatly reflected.

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12. US on DPRK Nuclear Weapons Program

The Associated Press (“BUSH SEEKS UNITY ON NORTH KOREA, IRAN”, None) reported that President Bush stood united with leaders of Asia and Russia in demanding DPRK’s return to stalled disarmament talks. Reporting on his discussions, Bush said that “the will is strong, that the effort is united and the message is clear to Mr. Kim Jong Il: Get rid of your nuclear weapons programs.”

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13. US on DPRK Nuclear Crisis

The Korea Times (“BALL IN NORTH KOREAN COURT'”, None) reported that U.S. experts on the Korean peninsula expect “North Korea has got to do something’’ for a peaceful resolution to the North’s nuclear crisis, members of a bipartisan delegation to the U.S. said Monday. In a news conference held in the National Assembly on their recent trip to Washington D.C., where they met senior officials of the Bush administration and members of the U.S. Congress as well as foreign policy think-tank experts, Reps. Chung Eui-yong of the ruling Uri Party and Park Jin of the opposition Grand National Party (GNP) said the ball is now in the North’s court. The U.S. leaders reconfirmed there was “no change in Washington’s foreign policy toward the peninsula in the Bush’s second term.’’

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14. Russia on DPRK Talks

Interfax (“RUSSIA HOPES FOR FURTHER TALKS ON N. KOREA”, None) reported that Russia hopes that six-nation talks aimed at settling the dispute over DPRK’s nuclear program will be resumed in the near future, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko told a news conference in Moscow on Monday. “We hope that these six-nation negotiations will be resumed in the near future and their third round will take place,” Yakovenko said, declining to disclose any dates.

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15. Japan on DPRK Regime Change

New York Times (“JAPANESE OFFICIAL WARNS OF FISSURES IN NORTH KOREA”, None) reported that after weeks of reports from DPRK of defecting generals, antigovernment posters and the disappearance of portraits of the country’s ruler, the leader of Japan’s governing party warned Sunday of the prospects of “regime change” in DPRK. “As long as Chairman Kim Jong Il controls the government, we have to negotiate with him, but it is becoming more doubtful whether we will be able to achieve anything with this government,” said Shinzo Abe, acting secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, on Fuji TV, referring to talks on DPRK’s abductions of Japanese in the 1970’s. “I think we should consider the possibility that a regime change will occur, and we need to start simulations of what we should do at that time.”

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16. US on DPRK-ROK Kaesong Industrial Complex

The Chosun Ilbo (“KAESONG PROJECT COULD BECOME ‘HOSTAGE’ TO N. KOREA-U.S. TIES”, None) reported that claims have been raised that the Kaesong Industrial Complex Project, which is currently in its initial stage, could serve as a “hostage” that could be sensitively affected by future DPRK-U.S. relations. This is because there is concern that the project can be adversely affected if U.S. President George W. Bush pushes for hawkish policies toward DPRK in the future. The project by ROK’s Hyundai Asan to build an industrial complex extending 26 square kilometers, if carried out smoothly, would generate employment for 700,000 North Koreans and 100,000 South Koreans and bring many benefits because the complex is close to Seoul and Incheon International Airport.

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17. US on Japan Sanctions Against DPRK

Yonhap (“SENIOR U.S. OFFICIAL BACKS JAPANESE SANCTIONS AGAINST N.K.: REPORT “, None) reported that a senior U.S. official has signaled support for a possible move by Japan to impose economic sanctions against DPRK aimed at dissuading the communist country from possessing nuclear weapons, Japanese media reported Saturday. The official was quoted as saying, “Every country’s leader has means to pressure North Korea to give up nuclear weapons. For example, Japan, an aid donor for North Korea, has also passed a bill to impose economic sanctions against North Korea.”

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18. ROK on US Currency

Agence France-Presse (“KOREA OFFICIAL’S REMARKS SUGGEST SHIFT IN WON POLICY”, None) reported that ROK’s finance minister has asked the central bank governor to take a stronger stance to support the dollar, reflecting increasing concern in official circles at the strong won’s effect on the country’s export-dependent economy. Finance minister Lee Hun-jae on Monday met Park Seung, governor at the Bank of Korea (BoK), and said the central bank should “take a more aggressive role” in the foreign exchange market, a ministry spokesperson said.

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19. Taiwan-ROK Flights

Associated Press (“TAIWAN RESUMES FLIGHTS TO S. KOREA”, None) reported that Taiwanese airlines will restore regular flights to ROK in January, 12 years after Seoul broke off official diplomatic ties with the island. The two neighbors agreed in September to resume air links, but a timeframe for the flights wasn’t made public.The Civil Aeronautics Administration said on Friday that beginning in January, Taiwan’s two largest carriers, China Airlines Ltd. and EVA Airways Corp. (2618.TW), will each offer nine weekly flights from Taipei to Seoul

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20. ROK Overseas Peacekeeping Force

United Press International (“S. KOREA CONSIDERS PEACEKEEPER FORCE “, None) reported that ROK’s National Defense Ministry said Sunday it may create a special military unit for overseas peacekeeping operations.The unit would be in line with the United Nations Standby Arrangements System, the Korea Times reported.”The decision was made to operate our army more efficiently in the international arena,” a research fellow at the Korea Institute for Defense Analysis told the Korea Times. “If there was such a standby unit, we wouldn’t have needed to take away some compartments of our regular army to form the Zaytun unit.”

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21. ROK Nuclear Experiments

Agence France-Presse (“SOUTH KOREA SENDS TEAM TO IAEA MEETING OVER PAST NUCLEAR BREACHES”, None) reported that ROK Monday sent a team of officials to a meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog in Vienna in an attempt to stop the body referring past breaches of nuclear safeguards to the UN Security Council. The 12-member team led by Vice Foreign Minister Choi Young-Jin left for Vienna where the board of governors at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is to meet on November 25 to discuss the issue. “(The delegation) will actively convince the board members that the inspections of South Korea’s nuclear experiments should not be subject to a report to the UN Security Council,” Choi said before departure.

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22. ROK Nuclear Experiments

United Press International (“S. KOREA STRUGGLES TO PROVE INNOCENCE “, None) reported that ROK has launched a bid to avoid referral to the U.N. Security Council over its undeclared nuclear experiments, the Korea Times reported Sunday. The International Atomic Energy Agency was scheduled Sunday to hold a board of governors meeting Thursday in Vienna to give a verdict on ROK’s failure to report unauthorized plutonium and uranium experiments conducted over the past twenty years. ROK’s National Security Council has met to discuss how to convince the 35 IAEA member nations of its innocence. Top foreign affairs and security officials have pledged to give top priority to the issue. Seoul diplomats have said they believe the nuclear watchdog could go either way, but they say the lab tests do not warrant U.N. Security Council involvement

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23. ROK – Japanese Athletics

Agence France-Presse (“JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA SEPARATED IN WORLD CUP ASIAN ROUND”, None) reported that Asian champions Japan and arch rivals ROK will be safely separated into two different groups in the final regional qualifying round for the 2006 World Cup finals, Japanese football officials said. Eight teams, which have survived the first round of qualifiers, will be grouped into four seeded pairs with Japan and ROK, the co-hosts of the 2002 World Cup finals, in the same pair, the Japanese Football Association said.

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24. US-ROK Defense Talks

Yonhap (“SECOND ROUND OF S. KOREA-U.S. DEFENSE COST TALKS DUE NEXT MONTH “, None) reported that ROK and the United States will hold a second round of talks next month on how to share next year’s expenses for stationing American troops here, an official said Monday.”Although specific dates have not been set yet, we plan to hold a second round of negotiations in Seoul for two days in early December,” a Foreign Ministry official said on condition of anonymity.

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25. US-ROK Defense Talks

Yonhap (“S. KOREA, U.S. DELAY TOP MILITARY TALKS UNTIL EARLY NEXT YEAR “, 2004-11-22) reported that South Korea and the United States have decided to delay until early next year talks aimed at redefining their half-century military alliance, a Seoul government official said Monday.The allies were initially scheduled to convene the first round of high-profile military talks, dubbed the Security Policy Initiative (SPI), this month in Seoul.

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26. US and PRC Currency

The Associated Press (“BUSH, HU DISCUSS CHINESE CURRENCY PLANS”, None) reported that PRC President Hu Jintao told President Bush that PRC remains committed to a plan to allow its currency to float freely against the dollar, a senior U.S. administration official said. The talks apparently satisfied Bush, who summarized the economic discussions as an effort “to make sure the relationship is fair and equitable on both sides.” The U.S. administration has been lobbying PRC to change its currency practices but PRC officials say they cannot allow the value of the yuan to be set in currency markets until they have made reforms in the country’s banking and financial systems.

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27. US on Hong Kong Government

The Associated Press (“U.S. ENVOY IN HONG KONG PLUGS DEMOCRACY”, None) reported that the United States’ top envoy in Hong Kong called on local authorities to respect “people’s aspirations” in this partially democratic territory, according to a newspaper interview published Monday. “We hope that the Hong Kong people’s aspirations will be given priority. They are the ones who ought to determine the priorities for their government,” U.S. Consul General James Keith said in remarks published in The Standard newspaper. Hong Kong’s government did not immediately respond to Keith’s comments.

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28. PRC Plane Crash

The Associated Press (“NO EVIDENCE OF TERROR IN CHINA PLANE CRASH”, None) Investigators have found no evidence of terrorism or other “man-made destruction” in the crash of a PRC airliner that exploded after takeoff and plunged into an ice-covered lake, killing 54 people, according to official reports Monday. The plane went down Sunday after taking off from the northern city of Baotou on a flight to Shanghai. Among the dead was the president of one of China’s biggest software companies, news reports said.

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29. Sino Japanese Relations

Agence France-Presse (“HU TELLS JAPANESE LEADER HIS SHRINE VISITS ARE “CRUX” OF PROBLEM IN TIES”, None) reported that PRC President Hu Jintao has said Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s controversial visits to a shrine that honours Japan’s war dead, including war criminals, are the “crux” of the problem in Sino-Japanese ties. Relations between the Asian powers have been soured by Koizumi’s visits to Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine. The trips have prevented state visits by either leader to the other’s country for the past three years.

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30. Cross Straits Relations

Agence France-Presse (“TAIWAN PRESIDENT THREATENS REFERENDUM ON ISLAND’S FUTURE”, None) reported that in a move likely to anger PRC, Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian has vowed to push through a new constitution describing the island as an independent state and threatened to hold a referendum on Taiwan’s future. In campaigning for candidates from his pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ahead of December 11 parliamentary elections, President Chen Shui-bian appeared to turn away from recent conciliatory gestures towards Beijing. Chen said Taiwan eeded a new constitution to reflect changes on the island which has been ruled as a de facto independent state for over half a century.

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31. Cross-Straits Relations

Agence France-Presse (“TAIWAN OPPOSITION DEMANDS EVIDENCE ON CHEN’S “SOFT COUP” ALLEGATIONS”, None) reported that Taiwan opposition leaders have demanded President Chen Shui-bian provide evidence for his repeated allegations that military generals had plotted a “soft coup” in collaboration with rival PRC to cripple his government. Lien Chan, head of the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT), accused Chen of triggering “anxiety” ahead of December 11 parliamentary elections by spreading the unproved charge through the media.

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32. US and Cross-Strait Relations

Agence France-Presse (“CHINA ASKS US TO HELP CHECK TAIWAN SEPARATISTS”, None) reported that PRC President Hu Jintao urged US leader George W. Bush to work closer with PRC to check Taiwan independence forces and reduce growing tensions across the Taiwan Strait. The two leaders discussed Taiwan on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Santiago, senior PRC foreign ministry official He Yafei told reporters.

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33. Russian-Japanese Relations

Agence France-Presse (“RUSSIA, JAPAN FAIL TO MAKE PROGRESS IN PEACE TALKS”, None) reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi failed to make progress in a testy territorial dispute, only confirming their duty to solve the decades-long row. The two leaders held a meeting at a Santiago hotel shortly after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum ended a two-day summit here. “We spoke frankly about the positive advances in our relations as much as about unresolved questions, notably the peace accord,” Putin said following the meeting with Koizumi. “Unfortunately, we did not get any closer to an agreement on that question,” he said.

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34. Japan on US Currency

Reuters (“KOIZUMI TO BUSH: STRONG DOLLAR IMPORTANT”, None) reported that Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told President Bush at a bilateral meeting in Chile on Saturday that a strong U.S. dollar is important for the global economy. “Prime Minister Koizumi said a strong dollar is important not only for the U.S. and Japanese economies but for the world economy as well,” a Japanese government official told reporters after the two leaders met on the sidelines of a weekend summit of 21 Asia-Pacific leaders.

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35. US Currency and North East Asia Relations

The Associated Press (“ASIA PACIFIC DIVIDE WIDENING AS LEADERS FAIL TO GRAPPLE WITH KEY ISSUES”, None) reported that the Asia-Pacific divide is widening as the United States sinks under the weight of a ballooning current account deficit and a plummeting dollar, analysts said after a regional summit here. The gulf separating the Asia and the Americas could become even wider as they beef up their regional trading blocs as an insurance against ominous global trade negotiation prospects, they warned. Divisions between the two giants centering around the excessively weak US dollar and trade were evident as leaders of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum wound up their annual summit in Santiago.

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36. APEC Forum

Reuters (“APEC LEADERS WANT TO REVIVE WORLD TRADE TALKS “, None) reported that Asia-Pacific leaders promised on Sunday to try to revive world trade talks and fight terrorism after a summit marred at the end by disputes over the security of President Bush. The leaders of 21 Pacific Rim states from China to Canada, gathered in Chile, said they would try to push forward with ambitious free trade talks that began in Doha in 2001 but broke down two years later in a dispute over farm subsidies.

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37. APEC Forum

Agence France-Presse (“ASIA-PACIFIC LEADERS TALK TOUGH ON TERROR BUT DUCK TRADE”, None) reported that leaders of the Asia-Pacific axis took up the cudgel against terrorism and DPRK’s nuclear weapons program at a summit in Chile, but they ducked a radical new plan for region-wide free trade. US President George Bush ‘s “war on terror” engulfed the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum’s weekend talks in Santiago. But the leaders’ rhetoric soared beyond achievements listed in a final declaration Sunday, particularly on the economy, the founding agenda for the 15-year-old grouping, whose members account for nearly half of all world trade.

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38. APEC Forum

Yonhap (“APEC LEADERS OK ANTI-TERROR RESOLUTION “, None) reported that leaders of 21 Asian and Pacific Rim countries approved a 10-point agreement on anti-terror measures as they opened an annual two-day summit here on Saturday.The resolution, adopted by a lower ministerial meeting, calls for embargo on shoulder-fired missiles, limits on exports of strategic materials and admission to an additional protocol by the International Atomic Energy Agency, sources said

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