Preceding NAPSNet Report

I. United States

1. DPRK on Nuclear Talks

Wall Street Journal (“NORTH KOREA LISTS TERMS NECESSARY FOR ARMS TALKS “, 2004-11-02) reported that in a display of unusual frankness, a DPRK ambassador to the UN outlined the exact terms under which Pyongyang is willing to resume multilateral talks over dismantling its nuclear-weapons program. Han Song Ryol, ambassador in charge of US affairs and a deputy-permanent representative of the DPRK’s mission to the UN, said that among the conditions is the annulment of the new US human-rights law on the DPRK. Pyongyang also wants the US to lift economic sanctions against the DPRK.

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2. PRC on DPRK Nuclear Talks

Xinhua News (“FM SPOKESWOMAN: CHINA PUSHES FOR SIX-PARTY TALKS”, 2004-11-02) reported that the PRC is pushing for the fourth round of six-party talks at the earliest date through diplomatic efforts, said PRC Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue here at a Tuesday press conference. However, the spokeswoman said it was not clear whether the new round would be held at the end of November or December.

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3. IAEA on DPRK Nuclear Issue

Joongang Ilbo (“UN NUCLEAR CHIEF SAYS NORTH NEEDS MONITORS “, 2004-11-02) reported that in an annual report to the UN General Assembly, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has urged the DPRK to allow inspectors to monitor its nuclear activities. “I’m telling the North Koreans again that the international community is ready to look into your security concerns, ready to look into your economic and humanitarian needs,” the Associated Press quoted Mr. ElBaradei as saying. “But a prerequisite is for them to commit themselves to full, verifiable, dismantlement of their weapons program ? as they say they have a weapons program.”

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4. DPRK on Nuclear Issue

The Associated Press (“SUMMARY: N. KOREA, IRAN RESPOND TO IAEA”, 2004-11-02) reported that U.N. nuclear agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, in his annual report to the General Assembly, calls on Iran and the DPRK to prove that their nuclear programs are peaceful. The DPRK’s deputy U.N. ambassador rejects ElBaradei’s call, saying it would only abandon its “nuclear deterrence” if Washington ends its hostile policy toward the DPRK.

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5. US – ROK Military Relations

Korea Herald (“S. KOREA TAKES OVER JSA DUTY”, 2004-11-02) reported that ROK troops yesterday took over patrol duties from the US-led United Nations Command at a guard post at the Joint Security Area in the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone, UNC officials said. The event marked ROK troops taking virtually complete responsibility for patrolling the border with the DPRK for the first time since the Korean War Armistice was signed in 1953.

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6. DPRK on Inter-Korean Maritime Border Violation

Reuters (“NORTH KOREA SAYS SOUTH’S NAVY STAGED PROVOCATION”, 2004-11-02) reported that the DPRK accused the ROK’s navy on Tuesday of a grave provocation that could lead to a maritime clash after ROK patrol boats fired warning shots to repel military vessels from the DPRK. A communiqu? from the DPRK navy, published by the official KCNA news agency, condemned the ROK and said the DPRK’s boats had been on routine patrol in DPRK waters.

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7. DPRK on US Culture

Yonhap (“NORTH KOREA CRITICIZES U.S. LIBERAL CULTURE AS ‘WAR TACTIC’ “, 2004-11-02) reported that the DPRK on Tuesday urged its people to be armed against foreign liberal culture, saying the “bourgeois wave” is a psychological tactic by the US aimed at destroying the Pyongyang regime. The US “is trying to send in obscene publications and discrepant rogue recordings using travellers, and worse, mini-radios and televisions using balloons,” Minju Chosun, the DPRK Cabinet’s journal, said in its latest publication.

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8. Japan – DPRK Abductions Talks

The Associated Press (“JAPAN, N. KOREA TO DISCUSS ABDUCTIONS”, 2004-11-02) reported that Japan and the DPRK will hold talks in Pyongyang next week to discuss a dispute over Japanese nationals abducted by the DPRK’s spies, government officials said Tuesday. The countries failed to make progress on the issue in two past rounds of talks. For the third round, set for Nov. 9-12, the talks will be held in the DPRK for the first time.

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9. Japan on Abduction Issue

The Associated Press (“KIN WANT NO NORMALIZATION TALKS WITH N. KOREA UNTIL ABDUCTEES RETURN”, 2004-11-02) reported that the families of Japanese abducted to the DPRK called on Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Tuesday not to hold normalization talks with Pyongyang until all the missing are repatriated to Japan. In a petition addressed to the premier, the families also urged the government to impose economic sanctions if the DPRK fails to agree to return all the abductees in the upcoming round of bilateral working-level talks.

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10. DPRK on Abductions

United Press International (“N.KOREA DELIVERS MATERIALS ON TWO JAPANES”, 2004-11-02) reported that ahead of a fresh round of talks with Japan on Nov. 9, the DPRK has provided new information about two abducted Japanese women who remain missing. Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said Tuesday that Japanese officials in Beijing had received a photograph and other evidence that two missing Japanese women were in fact abducted to the DPRK, the Mainichi Shimbun reported.

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11. Japan on DPRK Food Aid

Yonhap (“JAPANESE FOOD MONITORS ARRIVE IN N. KOREA: REPORT “, 2004-11-02) reported that a Japanese delegation arrived in Pyongyang to ensure its food aid to the impoverished communist country goes to the intended beneficiaries, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported Tuesday. The four-member delegation plans to tour DPRK this week along with Pyongyang-based monitors of the U.N. World Food Program.

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12. DPRK – Italy Relations

Korea Times (“NK, ITALY ENGAGE IN BRISK EXCHANGES”, 2004-11-02) reported that the DPRK has been steadily increasing its exchanges of high-ranking officials with Italy in recent months. The visit preceded the participation of six DPRK foreign ministry officials in a forum on DPRK-European Union held in Como, Italy, on Sept. 24. A six-member Italian parliamentary delegation also visited Pyongyang Sept. 28 to Oct. 2 to promote cooperation and exchanges between the two nations.

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13. DPRK at ASEAN Regional Forum

Yonhap (“N. KOREAN DELEGATION LEAVES FOR BEIJING FOR ARF “, 2004-11-02) reported that a DPRK delegation left for Beijing Tuesday to attend a regional security conference, the DPRK’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said. In a short dispatch from Pyongyang, the KCNA said the delegation led by Kim Sang-ik, vice-minister of the People’s Armed Forces, will attend a meeting for security policy of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).

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14. Inter – Korean Relations

Joongang Ilbo (“GNP SETS OUT BILL TO IMPROVE TIES WITH NORTH “, 2004-11-02) reported that in a proposal aimed at improving inter-Korean relations, the opposition Grand National Party prepared yesterday to offer legislation recognizing the DPRK as a separate state and easing travel restrictions to the communist country.

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15. Inter – Korean Economic Exchange

Yonhap (“WOORI BANK TO OPEN BRANCH IN N. KOREA IN LATE NOVEMBER “, 2004-11-02) reported that Woori Bank, the ROK’s second-largest lender, will open a branch as early as this month in a DPRK city where the two Koreas are building a joint industrial complex, officials here said Tuesday. This would be the first time for a ROK commercial bank to operate a branch in the DPRK. It will cover business transactions between ROK companies and DPRK residents in the Kaesong industrial complex, a few kilometers north of the border.

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16. High-Ranking DPRK Defector

Chosun Ilbo (“DID A RELATIVE OF ONE OF KIM JONG-IL’S AIDES DEFECT? “, 2004-11-02) reported that the Japanese weekly magazine Aera reported in a recent edition that there was a rumor among intelligence sources in Seoul that a relative of a very important figure in the DPRK military leadership took political asylum to the US. According to the magazine, the rumor started when US Secretary of State Colin Powell said during his visit to the ROK that the US understood that DPRK leader Kim Jong-il had lost one of his closest aides.

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17. UN on DPRK Defectors

Yonhap (“U.N. EXAMINER ON N.K. RIGHTS CALLS FOR PROTECTION OF DEFECTORS “, 2004-11-02) reported that in an indirect criticism of the PRC, a UN investigator of human rights in the DPRK called for neighboring countries to protect DPRK defectors and refrain from their forced repatriation, the ROK mission said Monday. Vitit Muntarbhorn, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the DPRK, submitted his first report on the issue to the U.N. general assembly on Thursday. ROK diplomats who attended the assembly said the report suggests DPRK defectors be treated as refugees and provided asylum.

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18. US on DPRK Defector

Joongang Ilbo (“U.S. REPORTEDLY REJECTS NORTH DEFECTOR IN RUSSIA “, 2004-11-02) reported that a senior Russian government official said yesterday that the US has rejected a request for political asylum from a DPRK man who sought refuge at the US consulate in Vladivostok. “The US side asked South Korea if it intends to accept the defector, but South Korea also rejected the request,” the Russian source said.

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19. IAEA in the ROK

The Associated Press (“U.N. NUCLEAR INSPECTORS ARRIVE IN S. KOREA”, 2004-11-02) reported that UN nuclear inspectors arrived in the ROK Tuesday to conduct a final investigation before drawing up a report this month on the country’s nuclear experiments in 1982 and 2000. The board of governors will decide whether to report the case to the U.N. Security Council, which can impose punitive measures.

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20. Jenkins Case

The Associated Press (“COURT-MARTIAL TO OPEN FOR ACCUSED US ARMY DESERTER JENKINS”, 2004-11-02) reported that Sgt. Charles Robert Jenkins allegedly deserted his Army unit and fled to the DPRK, where he became a propaganda tool for the DPRK. Now a frail old man, Jenkins Wednesday faces a court-martial that could, theoretically, put him behind bars for the rest of his life. The much-anticipated proceedings at Camp Zama, a normally quiet US outpost just south of Tokyo, will be the Army’s most serious desertion trial since the closing months of World War II, when Pvt. Eddie Slovak became the last American soldier to be executed for the crime.

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21. Fischer Case

Reuters (“EX-CHESS CHAMP FISCHER STRESSED BY LONG DETENTION”, 2004-11-02) reported that former world chess champion Bobby Fischer is stressed and angry about being detained in Japan, but his fiancee said on Tuesday she has no regrets about their relationship and hopes he will soon be free. Miyoko Watai, a Japanese chess great who announced her plans to wed Fischer this year, said the brilliant but eccentric former champion was finding it increasingly hard to cope with life in the immigration center where he is held.

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22. Japanese Hostage Death

The New York Times (“KOIZUMI VOWS NO JAPANESE WITHDRAWAL AFTER TOURIST’S BEHEADING”, 2004-11-02) reported that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Sunday repeated his vow to keep about 550 troops in Iraq after the government confirmed that the decapitated body found on a street in Baghdad was Shosei Koda, a 24-year-old Japanese tourist who was kidnapped by the militant group of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. “We cannot lose to terrorism; we must not yield to brute force,” said Mr. Koizumi.

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23. Sakhalin Project

Kyodo News (“EXXON IN TALKS WITH CHINA OVER SAKHALIN NATURAL GAS PROJECT”, 2004-11-02) reported that Exxon Mobil Corp. has begun negotiating with the PRC over the supply of natural gas from the offshore Sakhalin-1 site in Russia’s Far East, Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Shoichi Nakagawa revealed Tuesday. Exxon Mobil has been also negotiating with Japanese companies to build a pipeline from Sakhalin to Japan and sell all the natural gas pumped from the gas field.

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24. US on Sino – US Relations

The Associated Press (“U.S. TO QUESTION CHINA ABOUT BUSH COMMENT”, 2004-11-02) reported that the State Department will ask the PRC government about a former senior PRC official who was quoted as accusing President Bush of trying to “rule over the whole world.” State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said Monday the purported comments were not consistent with the views outlined by PRC officials during a visit to Beijing last week by Secretary of State Colin Powell.

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25. PRC on Sino – US Relations

Reuters (“CHINA PLAYS DOWN ELECTION EVE BARB AGAINST BUSH”, 2004-11-02) reported that the PRC sought to play down election eve criticism of President Bush by a leading architect of its foreign policy on Tuesday, saying Beijing had clarified the issue with the US. Zhang and the PRC Embassy in Washington said Qian had not been interviewed and had not written essays for the China Daily or other media. They stopped short of denying Qian had made the comments.

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26. Cross Strait Relations

The Associated Press (“TAIWAN LEGISLATURE’S FAILS TO SCHEDULE VOTE ON MASSIVE U.S. ARMS DEAL”, 2004-11-02) reported that Taiwanese lawmakers failed to set a date Tuesday for a vote about whether to spend billions of dollars on US weapons, effectively killing any chance of approving the deal before next month’s legislative election. Washington has been pressuring Taiwan to seal the deal, but Taiwanese opposition parties, which have a slim majority in the legislature, have been balking at approving a special budget for the weapons.

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27. PRC Unrest

Reuters (“RURAL CHINA REELS FROM VIOLENT PROTESTS”, 2004-11-02) reported that police patrolled a central PRC town on Tuesday after days of deadly ethnic fighting and a southwestern county reeled after protests by tens of thousands marked the latest unrest in the tightly controlled country. At least seven people were killed and 42 injured in central Henan province after a car accident involving an ethnic Han Chinese and a member of the Hui Muslim minority sparked rioting over the weekend.

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28. PRC Investment/Economy

Reuters (“CHINA’S ALLURE OVERCOMES PATENT THEFT FEARS”, 2004-11-02) reported that the lure of the vast PRC market will keep high-tech investments flowing there despite lingering concern over an economic slowdown and the threat of chip design theft, US electronics makers said on Monday. “So far they (China) have proven extremely adept at handling their economic transition,” said Sean Maloney, executive vice president of Intel Corp. “So far, all the people who warned (the PRC) couldn’t engineer a soft landing from over-investment were wrong,” he told the Reuters Semiconductor Summit in San Francisco.

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29. PRC Space Program

Agence France-Presse (“CHINA’S SHENZHOU VI TO CARRY TWO ASTRONAUTS ON FIVE-DAY MISSION NEXT YEAR”, 2004-11-02) reported that the PRC’s second manned space flight will orbit the Earth for five days with two astronauts onboard in a mission scheduled for next year. “For the first time, astronauts will enter and live in the orbital module of the spacecraft to do scientific experiments,” the China Aerospace Science and Technology (CAST) group said in the first official statement regarding the mission, the China Daily reported.

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30. PRC SARS Issue

Los Angeles Times (“CIVET CATS OFF MENU, HEALTH MINISTRY SAYS”, 2004-11-02) reported that the PRC’s Health Ministry has banned the cooking and selling of civet cat to prevent a return of severe acute respiratory syndrome, state media reported. PRC health experts concluded last month that civet, considered a delicacy in the south of the country, was the primary source of last year’s SARS epidemic, which killed about 300 people in the PRC and 500 in other countries.

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31. Hong Kong Air Quality

Agence France-Presse (“HONG KONG LOOKS TO HEART OF SMOG PROBLEM FOR CLEAN ANSWERS”, 2004-11-02) reported that as pollution levels in Hong Kong rise to alarming levels, energy chiefs have gone to the source of the smog problem to seek ways to help clear the air — the industrial heartland of the PRC. The heavily industrialized Pearl River Delta region across the border — and particularly its aging, smoke-belching power stations — is believed to be the source of some 90 percent of the toxic soup that engulfs Hong Kong most days. But energy experts say that within this soot-blackened region is an oasis of environmentally friendly wind-power turbines that could point the way to a cleaner future for the former British colony.

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II. Japan

32. PSI Drill

The Asahi Shimbun (“JAPAN HOSTS MULTINATIONAL WMD DRILL”, 2004-10-27) reported that Asia?s first naval exercise to stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) got under way in waters off Tokyo Bay on Oct. 26. The first joint drill hosted by Japan, it is the 11th under the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) and the first in Asia. The Japanese government had asked the PRC, the ROK and other Asian countries to take part in the drill, but only three, including Cambodia, agreed to participate as observers.

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33. Japan Iraq Troops Dispatch

The Asahi Shimbun (“ROCKET ATTACK ON SDF IN IRAQ SEEN AS WARNING”, 2004-10-25) reported that a rocket fired into the Ground Self-Defense Force camp in Samawah, southern Iraq, was being considered a warning shot by government officials. Since the rocket was found without a fuse, meaning it was a dud, defense experts concluded it was meant as a warning in light of the fact that the legally sanctioned period for the SDF presence in Iraq ends Dec. 14. Tokyo has not yet decided whether to extend the term. Had it exploded, the SDF likely would have suffered their first casualties in Iraq, experts said.

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34. SDF Dispatch to the Arabian Sea

The Japan Times (“MSDF TO REMAIN IN ARABIAN SEA”, 2004-10-26) reported that the Japanese government decided to extend the deployment of Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) vessels in the Arabian Sea as part of the US-led anti-terror mission by another six months to May 1. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said the fleet will be given the new duties of refueling carrier-borne helicopters and replenishing foreign naval ships with fresh water, in addition to its current job of refueling vessels, Hosoda told a news conference.

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35. US Bases in Japan

Kyodo News (“CONTROVERSIAL CHOPPERS TRANSFERRED”, 2004-10-29) reported that the US Marine Corps in Okinawa Prefecture on Thursday transferred to its Yamaguchi Prefecture base three helicopters of the same type as the one that crashed in Okinawa in August. The three CH-53D transport helicopters were moved to the Marine Corps Air Station in Iwakuni on Honshu from Ginowan, Okinawa. Two other helicopters of the same type are expected to leave for Iwakuni in mid-November, Japanese government sources said. At the time of the accident, 12 CH-53D helicopters, including the crashed one, were located at Futenma. Six of them were dispatched to Iraq after the crash.

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36. Japan Opinion Poll

The Asahi Shimbun (“BACK UNDER 40%: POLL SHOWS CABINET SUPPORT TAKES DIVE”, 2004-10-26) reported that support for the Japan?s Cabinet was at 38 percent in a nationwide poll taken on Oct. 23 and 24, a plunge from 45 percent in a Sept. 27-28 poll, taken just after the Cabinet reshuffle. About 43 percent in the latest poll did not support the Cabinet, up 8 percentage points from the previous survey. As for the dispatch of Self-Defense Forces to Iraq for reconstruction work, 63 percent of respondents opposed continuing the deployment after the current commitment expires on Dec. 14. As for supporting the US-led war in Iraq, 67 percent disagreed with Koizumi, who has insisted in the Diet that he made the right decision.

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37. Japan Nuclear Energy Policy

The Japan Times (“NUCLEAR PANEL HEARS FROM FUKUI RESIDENTS”, 2004-10-30) reported that residents living near nuclear power plants in Fukui Prefecture expressed concern Friday over plans to recycle nuclear fuel, while supporters of the MONJU fast-breeder reactor urged the central government not to abandon the project during a public hearing here. The Atomic Energy Commission was listening to public comments as part of discussions on the next five-year nuclear power plan, which will be finalized next year.

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