NAPSNet Daily Report Thursday, June 08, 2006
- 1. DPRK Invitation to US Nuclear Envoy
2. Inter-Korean Naval Dispute
3. DPRK Position on ROK Power Shift
4. DPRK Abduction Issue
5. DPRK Defectors
6. DPRK Food Supply
7. US-ROK Trade Relations
8. Japan-ROK Territorial Dispute
9. Japan-Russia Energy Cooperation
10. Japan Arms Export
11. PRC, Russia on Space-Based Weapons
12. UK on PRC Arms Ban
13. PRC-US Military Relations
14. PRC Internet Censorship
15. PRC Bird Flu Outbreak
16. PRC Energy Supply
17. PRC Desertification
18. PRC Journalist Trial
I. NAPSNet
1. DPRK Invitation to US Nuclear Envoy
Associated Press (“SOUTH KOREA, U.S. IN TALKS OVER NORTH KOREA’S INVITATION TO CHIEF U.S. NUCLEAR ENVOY”, 2006-06-08) reported that the ROK and the US are discussing the DPRK’s invitation to Washington’s chief nuclear envoy to visit the state as part of efforts to revive stalled nuclear disarmament talks, the ROK’s foreign minister said Wednesday. “South Korea and the United States are holding close consultations over the issue,” ROK Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said at a press briefing, adding that Seoul was holding similar talks with other involved parties.
2. Inter-Korean Naval Dispute
Yonhap (“N. KOREA WARNS S. KOREA NOT TO VIOLATE TERRITORIAL WATERS IN WEST SEA”, 2006-06-08) reported that the DPRK on Thursday accused the ROK of intruding into its territorial waters in the West Sea and warned that the ROK would pay dearly for its “military provocation.” A spokesman for the Navy Command of the (DPR) Korean People’s Army issued a statement saying that, “The South Korean Navy has perpetrated such grave military provocations as frequently infiltrating warships deep into the territorial waters of the North side in the West Sea of Korea lately.” The statement, carried by the KCNA, then warned that all vessels violating the DPRK’s waters would pay dearly without receiving any warning.
3. DPRK Position on ROK Power Shift
Yonhap (“N. KOREA FRETS ABOUT POSSIBLE POWER SHIFT IN S. KOREA “, 2006-06-08) reported that a possible conservative win in the ROK’s presidential election is deepening the woes of the DPRK, as it is struggling to rebuild its shattered economy and resolve prolonged tension over its nuclear program, officials and analysts say. “North Korea must be worried that it will face more difficulties if the GNP comes into power and takes joint steps against it with the United States,” said Koh Yu-hwan, a DPRK affairs professor at Seoul’s Dongguk University. The GNP supports US President George W. Bush’s hard-line stance toward the DPRK and opposes any large-scale outside aid to the DPRK unless the country clearly promises to scrap its nuclear weapons program.
4. DPRK Abduction Issue
Associated Press (“NORTH KOREA: MISSING S. KOREAN MAN ALIVE”, 2006-06-08) reported that the DPRK on Thursday confirmed that a missing RO Korean man allegedly kidnapped decades ago is living in the DPRK, and said that it would allow him to meet with his RO Korean mother this month. Kim Young-nam disappeared from a beach on the ROK’s southwest coast in 1978 when he was 16. “The North side decided to arrange a reunion with his mother in the South side,” KCNA said, adding the DPRK was motivated by “humanitarianism.”
(return to top) Asahi Shimbun (“JAPANESE FAMILIES FEAR REUNION IN NORTH KOREA WILL MAR COOPERATION WITH SOUTH KOREA”, 2006-06-08) reported that a proposed reunion between a RO Korean woman and her abducted son in the DPRK is part of Pyongyang’s plot to camouflage its crimes and sever cooperation over the abduction issue, a Japanese association said Thursday. “North Korea is trying to deal with the (abduction) issue in the form of the reunion of separated family members, without admitting the fact that it abducted Mr. (Kim) Young Nam,” Teruaki Masumoto, secretary-general of the Association of Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea, said. If the reunion takes place, “the cooperation between Japan and South Korea over the abduction issue will become more difficult,” an association member added. (return to top)
5. DPRK Defectors
Chosun Ilbo (“TWELVE NORTH KOREAN DEFECTORS ARRESTED IN THAILAND”, 2006-06-08) reported that twelve DPRK defectors have been arrested in northern Thailand for entering the country illegally, Japan’s Kyodo News Agency reports. Thai police are quoted as saying that the DPRK defectors were caught on a bus heading to the capital Bangkok from Phayao Province in northern Thailand. Some of them are reported to be seeking asylum in a third country.
(return to top) JoongAng Ilbo (“NORTH KOREAN DEFECTORS ARRESTED IN TWO COUNTRIES”, 2006-06-08) reported that several DPRK defectors and two ROK missionaries who were helping them are in police custody in Laos, an activist claimed Thursday, while in Thailand earlier this week, a dozen defectors were arrested. Tim Peters, of Helping Hands Korea, a Seoul-based organization that helps defectors, said Laotian police arrested the defectors and the missionaries on charges of illegal activities. He did not identify them. (return to top)
6. DPRK Food Supply
Associated Press (“NORTH KOREA MOBILIZES FOR SPRING PLANTING, BUT INTERNATIONAL CONCERNS ON FOOD SUPPLY LINGER”, 2006-06-08) reported that the DPRK has mobilized its antiquated farm industry for the annual battle to fend off starvation. As the spring planting begins, the government insists that the famines of the 1990s are long past. But it is also seeking food aid from the PRC, the ROK and the UN’s World Food Program, suggesting to foreign experts that once again the harvest will fall short.
7. US-ROK Trade Relations
Chosun Ilbo (“KOREA, U.S. AT ODDS ON TWO-THIRDS OF FREE-TRADE AGENDA”, 2006-06-08) reported that Seoul and Washington have failed to narrow their differences on some 60 percent of items on the agenda at their first round of free-trade talks in Washington. The two sides failed to agree on agriculture, sanitary and phytosanitary issues, goods produced in the inter-Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex, as well as textiles, cars and pharmaceuticals.
8. Japan-ROK Territorial Dispute
Donga Ilbo (“JAPAN COAST GUARD COULD PATROL DOKDO”, 2006-06-08) reported that the Japanese Coast Guard decided to dispatch patrol ships if a maritime research expedition around the ROK’s Dokdo islets by Seoul in July infringes on their announced Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Japan has claimed the ROK’s easternmost islets and says that the maritime boundary for their EEZ lays between the Dokdo and Ulleungdo of the ROK.
9. Japan-Russia Energy Cooperation
Kyodo (“JAPAN, RUSSIA IN TALKS TO JOINTLY DEVELOP SIBERIAN OILFIELD “, 2006-06-08) reported that talks between Japan and Russia are progressing over a proposal to have Japanese firms join Russian development of a Siberian oilfield in connection with a project to lay a Pacific coast-bound pipeline, sources familiar with the matter said.
10. Japan Arms Export
Kyodo (“JAPAN TO GIVE PATROL BOATS TO INDONESIA, RELAXING ARMS EXPORT BAN”, 2006-06-08) reported that the Japanese government decided Thursday to donate three patrol boats to Indonesia to help fight terrorism and piracy, government officials said. The decision, made during a meeting of the Security Council chaired by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, marks a relaxation of Japan’s ban on arms exports.
11. PRC, Russia on Space-Based Weapons
Reuters (“CHINA, RUSSIA WARN AGAINST DEPLOYING SPACE WEAPONS”, 2006-06-08) reported that the PRC and Russia on Thursday warned that space-based weapons would pose a threat as great as weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and called for global negotiations to prevent their deployment. Diplomats said the appeals from the two powers were mainly targeted at the US, expected by some to leave open the option of putting weaponry in orbit when it issues a new national space policy.
12. UK on PRC Arms Ban
Reuters (“LITTLE PROSPECT OF EU LIFTING CHINA ARMS BAN: UK”, 2006-06-08) reported that Britain said on Wednesday it saw little prospect of the European Union lifting its arms embargo on the PRC in the near future. “There is no consensus within the EU so it seems to me it is not an issue likely to be decided in the near future,” Beckett told a British parliamentary committee.
13. PRC-US Military Relations
Agence France-Presse (“CHINA, US LOOK TO IMPROVE MILITARY TIES FOLLOWING SPAT”, 2006-06-08) reported that the PRC and the US held high-level talks aimed at improving military ties, as Beijing announced it would send observers to US-led war games in the Pacific Ocean. Foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao announced that the PRC’s military would send observers to US-led military exercises near the island of Guam entitled “Valiant Shield 2006” to be held in the middle of this month.
14. PRC Internet Censorship
The Associated Press (“CHINA: INTERNET COS. MUST OBEY ITS LAWS “, 2006-06-08) reported that the PRC welcomes foreign Internet companies working in the PRC, but they must respect and abide by the country’s laws, including those on expression, the PRC Foreign Ministry said. The comments by ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao followed remarks by Google Inc. co-founder Sergey Brin acknowledging the Internet company has compromised its principles by accommodating PRC censorship demands.
15. PRC Bird Flu Outbreak
Agence France-Presse (“CHINA REPORTS FIRST BIRD FLU OUTBREAK AMONG POULTRY SINCE FEBRUARY “, 2006-06-08) reported that the PRC reported its first bird flu outbreak among poultry since February. The Ministry of Agriculture said the new H5N1 outbreak was on a farm in the PRC’s northwestern Xinjiang region, with an unspecified number of domestic poultry killed by the virus.
16. PRC Energy Supply
Agence France-Presse (“CHINA WARNS TOO MANY POWER PLANTS ARE BEING BUILT”, 2006-06-08) reported that the PRC has said it is battling a proliferation of new power plants being built without permission and threaten to upset plans for a more environmentally friendly energy mix. Local authorities have been moving ahead with new power plant construction to meet a serious electricity shortage in recent years.
17. PRC Desertification
The New York Times (“A SEA OF SAND IS THREATENING CHINA’S HEART”, 2006-06-08) reported that an ever-rising tide of sand has claimed grasslands, ponds, lakes and forests, swallowed whole villages and forced tens of thousands of people to flee as it surges south and threatens to leave this ancient Silk Road greenbelt uninhabitable. But while local officials have tried grandiose projects to rescue the outpost, environmentalists say it will probably have to be at least partly abandoned and returned to nature if the regional ecology is to be restored.
18. PRC Journalist Trial
The Los Angeles Times (“NEWSPAPER RESEARCHER’S PROCEEDINGS POSTPONED”, 2006-06-08) reported that the trial of a PRC researcher for the New York Times accused of leaking state secrets was postponed, with no new date announced, his lawyer said. Lawyer Mo Shaoping said the court told him the delay was in response to his request to summon a new witness. He did not reveal the name of the witness.