I. NAPSNet

1. US on DPRK Counterfeiting

Korea Times (“NK COUNTERFEITING FEUD DEEPENS “, 2006-03-01) reported that the US signaled Tuesday it will not be offering concessions to North Korea when officials of the two countries meet next week to discuss sanctions imposed by Washington on the communist regime for alleged counterfeiting activities. US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters that Washington sees the long-delayed diplomatic contact as a briefing to explain its reasons for imposing the financial sanctions and will not be discussing other issues. “That would be the scope of the meeting. It’s not a meeting to discuss denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, which is the purview of the six-party process,’’ he said.

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2. ROK on Six Party Talks

Yonhap News (“SEOUL WANTS UNCONDITIONAL RESUMPTION OF SIX-WAY NUKE TALKS”, 2006-03-02) reported that the ROK wants to resume the six-party talks on the DPRK’s nuclear program without any preconditions, but it is hard to know when the discussions will restart, Seoul’s foreign minister said on Thursday. Ban Ki-moon pinned his hopes on the upcoming bilateral contact between the DPRK and the US and a planned trip to Washington by the leader of the PRC. “If you ask me about a date for the resumption of the six-way talks, I have no answer to give,” Ban told reporters.

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3. US on DPRK Nuclear Program

Yonhap News (“U.S. CONTRASTS NORTH KOREA WITH INDIA ON PROLIFERATION HISTORY”, 2006-02-02) reported that the nuclear energy pact the US has signed with India could be an effective lesson for countries like the DPRK in showing that abiding by proliferation rules will bring “rewards,” a senior U.S. official said Thursday. George W. Bush on Thursday signed a landmark deal with India during his visit there that opens the latter’s nuclear reactors to international inspections. The US, in return, would share its technology and fuel with the country. Nicholas Burns, US undersecretary of state, contrasted the DPRK and India using a proliferation benchmark. “What distinguishes India is that India has protected its nuclear technology over the 30 years of the India nuclear program,” Burns told reporters at a briefing in New Delhi. “India has not proliferated, unlike North Korea, which has been a major proliferator,” he said.

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4. DPRK on Nuclear Double Standards

Yonhap News (“N. KOREA CALLS ON NUCLEAR POWERS TO DROP DOUBLE STANDARDS”, 2006-03-02) reported that the DPRK accused world nuclear powers Thursday of having double standards by trying to prevent others from obtaining nuclear weapons while keeping their own, saying it is raising doubts about global nuclear disarmament. The DPRK ambassador to the UN Ri Chol told the 65-nation Conference on Disarmament in Geneva that it is not fair that countries possessing nuclear arsenals try to restrain the nuclear programs of other countries while maintaining or developing their own. Nuclear powers are denying fair and equal relations among nations by making threats to others based on their own arsenals, he said.

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5. Inter-Korean Military Meeting

Yonhap News (“ROUGH SAILING EXPECTED FOR INTER-KOREAN MILITARY TALKS “, 2006-03-02) reported that efforts by the ROK and the DPRK to prevent naval clashes along their disputed sea border faced difficulty Friday after the communist country insisted on drawing a new border in the area, South Korean officials said Friday. The two Koreas opened a two-day general-grade officers’ meeting at the neutral border village of Panmunjom on Thursday to try to find ways to avoid armed conflict and establish a joint fishing area along their western sea border.

(return to top) Chosun Ilbo (“GENERALS FROM BOTH KOREAS MEET “, 2006-03-02) reported that a third round of talks between DPRK and ROK top brass opened after much delay on Thursday to negotiate safe passage for trains and traffic on cross-border rail lines and roads. Col. Moon Sung-mook, a spokesman for the ROK side, said the DPRK agreed to negotiate a deal in the matter, which has to be reached before the lines can be opened to civilian passenger traffic. Seoul also wants to talks about a proposal to prevent accidental conflicts on the West Sea. This includes changes to a shared international radio frequency at sea, daily wireless communication tests, a hotline between the two navies and setting up a joint fishing area. It is also seeking to pave the way for a meeting between the two defense ministers. (return to top)

6. Inter-Korean Relations

Yonhap News (“INTER-KOREAN MINISTERIAL TALKS TO BE HELD AS PLANNED: MINISTER”, 2006-03-02) reported that the ROK Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok, the country’s point man on affairs related to the DPRK, on Thursday said his talks with his DPRK counterpart will be held later this month as scheduled. The talks, the 18th of their kind, will be the first for the ROK minister who officially took the post on Feb. 10.

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7. Inter-Korean Immigration Services

Yonhap News (“NEW IMMIGRATION OFFICES FOR N. KOREAN TRAVELERS TO OPEN THIS MONTH “, 2006-03-02) reported that new offices for the ROK’s immigration and quarantine officials to check DPRK and ROK visitors between the two Koreas are to officially open later in the month, Seoul’s Unification Ministry said Thursday. The new Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) offices are to be opened on March 15 in a ceremony to be attended by the country’s Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok and other officials, ministry officials said.

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8. Inter-Korean Athletic Cooperation

Yonhap News (“N. KOREAN ICE HOCKEY TEAMS VISIT SOUTH FOR FRIENDLIES”, 2006-03-02) reported that DPRK ice hockey teams arrived in the ROK Thursday to take part in their first-ever friendly matches with ROK teams, organizers for the event said. The 37 athletes making up eight teams and their officials arrived at an airport in Seoul before moving by bus to this city in Gangwon Province, 60 kilometers northeast of the ROK capital.

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9. DPRK-PRC Economic Talks

United Press International (“CHINA SHARES ECONOMY PLAN WITH NORTH KOREA”, 2006-03-01) reported that the DPRK may be leaving the nuclear talks table to join the PRC in economic reforms that could allow Kim Jong Il to stay in power. The Christian Science Monitor reports Kim has been meeting with leaders in Beijing and other PRC cities, surveying the market growth of industries such as low-wage textile work, and is starting to warm to the idea. Alexandre Mansourov of the the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu said the Chinese strategy has shifted from anti-nuclear to economic jump starts.

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10. Japan Environment

BBC News (“JAPAN RACES TO HIT KYOTO TARGETS “, 2006-03-02) reported that despite good intentions, Japan’s carbon emissions have increased by nearly 8%. At this rate it has little chance of meeting the obligations of the Kyoto Protocol it signed up to, sending a dispiriting signal to other Asian countries which are likely to become some of the biggest greenhouse gas producers over the next decade.

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11. Japanese-Iran Relations

Crisscross News (“IRAN ASKS JAPAN TO PARTICIPATE IN NUCLEAR POWER PLANT PROJECTS”, 2006-03-02) reported that Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki asked Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for Japanese participation in Iran’s nuclear power plants to generate electricity, while Koizumi said he hopes Iran will gain the trust of the international community.

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12. Japan Security Dialogue

Crisscross News (“RICE TO VISIT SYDNEY IN MID-MARCH”, 2006-03-02) reported that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit Sydney in mid-March for the first ministerial trilateral security dialogue with Australia and Japan.

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13. Japan-Southeast Asia Trade

The Asahi Shimbun (“VIETNAM STRIKES HIT JAPAN FIRMS”, 2006-03-02) reported that thousands of workers at some Japanese manufacturers in southern Vietnam have gone on strike to demand higher wages. They are the first strikes at large Japanese companies in the Southeast Asian nation.

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14. Japan Immigration

The Yomiuri Shimbun (“PRINTS, PHOTOS ON ENTRY EYED”, 2006-03-02) reported that the government hopes to pass a bill to revise the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law during this current Diet session that mandates foreign visitors aged 16 or older to have their fingerprints and photos taken when they enter the country.

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15. PRC -Japan East China Sea

(“CHINA MAY START CHUNXIAO GAS FIELD OPERATION THIS MONTH: REPORT”, 2006-03-02) reported that the PRC may start exploration at the contentious Chunxiao gas field in the East China Sea as early as this month.

(return to top) Xinhua (“CHINA, JAPAN TO DISCUSS EAST CHINA SEA ISSUE NEXT MONDAY: FM”, 2006-03-02) reported that the PRC and Japan will hold the fourth round of consultations on the East China Sea issue on March 6 and 7 in Beijing. (return to top)

16. PRC-Japanese Military Relations

(“JAPAN ALLUDES TO CONCERNS OVER CHINA’S MILITARY EXPANSION IN DRAFT”, 2006-03-02) reported that Japan expresses concerns for the first time in its annual disarmament report over neighboring countries which pose a direct challenge to Japan’s security. The report alluded to but did not specifcally mention PRC military expansion.

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17. Japanese-US Missile Defense Cooperation

(“GOV’T TO ASK AOMORI PREF. TO HOST U.S. RADAR FOR MISSILE DEFENSE”, 2006-03-02) reported that the Defense Facilities Administration Agency will ask the Aomori prefectural and Tsugaru municipal governments Friday to host a U.S. military radar for missile defense at Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force base in Tsugaru, Aomori Prefecture.

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18. PRC-Australia Relations

Australian News (“DOWNER WARNS TAIWAN ON STABILITY”, 2006-03-02) reported that Australia has warned Taiwan it is risking the stability of north-east Asia by closing down its National Unification Council.

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19. PRC Energy

Xinhua (“EXPERIMENTAL NUCLEAR FUSION DEVICE ON DISCHARGE TEST IN JULY”, 2006-03-02) reported that the PRC’s new generation experimental Tokamak fusion device will conduct its first discharge test in July or August this year. If the experiments prove successful, it would be the world’s first experimental nuclear fusion device to come into operation.

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20. PRC Finance

Xinhua (“NO TIMETABLE FOR RMB CONVERTIBILITY UNDER CAPITAL ACCOUNTS: OFFICIAL”, 2006-03-02) reported that a senior official of the People’s Bank of China said that there is no timetable to further relax regulations that govern converting the Renminbi under capital accounts.

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21. PRC-Hong Kong Relations

Xinhua (“BEIJING TRIP TO FOCUS ON PRACTICAL ISSUES: HK CHIEF EXECUTIVE”, 2006-03-02) reported that The Chief Executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Donald Tsang left to attend the opening ceremony of the fourth session of the 10th National People’s Congress in Beijing.

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22. Cross Strait Relations

The China Post (“WEAPONS PURCHASE FROZEN UNTIL SUMMER”, 2006-03-02) reported that opposition lawmakers decided to freeze an arms purchase from the United States yesterday to punish President Chen Shui-bian for scrapping the National Unification Council. No deliberation on the US$9 billion deal is possible for the rest of the current session of the Legislative Yuan.

(return to top) Xinhua (“VICE PRESIDENT PRAISES RUSSIA’S CONDEMNATION OF CHEN SHUI-BIAN”, 2006-03-02) reported that the PRC appreciates Russia’s condemnation of Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian’s moves to cease the function of the “National Unification Council (NUC)” and the application of the “National Unification Guidelines.” (return to top) Xinhua (“CHINESE ENVOY MEETS UN LEADERS OVER CHEN’S SECESSIONIST MOVE”, 2006-03-01) reported that the PRC Ambassador to the United Nations, Wang Guangya, met separately with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and General Assembly President Jan Eliasson to convey the grave concerns of the PRC over Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian’s latest secessionist move. (return to top) The China Post (“EX-MAC CHIEF SAYS SCRAPPING NUC ONLY TIP OF ICEBERG, PRELUDE TO NEW “, 2006-03-02) reported that opposition lawmaker Su Chi yesterday warned that Chen’s move was only the “tip of the iceberg” and accused the U.S. of being too soft on Chen. “The NUC skirmish is only a prelude…the real issue is in my view the new constitution,” Su told the members of the American Chamber of Commerce and European Chamber of Commerce. (return to top) The China Post (“GOV’T REASSURES TAIWAN’S CHINA-BASED FIRMS”, 2006-03-02) reported that the ROC government yesterday in an open letter sought to reassure Taiwan’s some one million PRC-based business executives that it did not want to close down all business ties and contact with the PRC. (return to top) The China Post (“DPP TO CELEBRATE CHEN’S VICTORY AS NUC TERMINATOR”, 2006-03-02) reported that at least 100,000 supporters will take to the streets in Taipei on March 18 to celebrate President Chen Shui-bian’s termination of the National Unification Council. (return to top)

23. CNPK International On-Line Forum

CIVIL NETWORK FOR PEACE IN KOREA (“CNPK LAUNCHES INTERNATIONAL ON-LINE FORUM”, 2006-03-02) reported that CNPK has been preparing an ‘International On-Line-Forum’ on the issue of peace in Northeast Asia, in a joint sponsorship with Ohmynews, from February 27 through March 15. This forum will consist of a total of 4 online bulletin boards, each in a different language: Korean, English, Japanese, and Chinese. The discussions will be partly based on papers written by Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and U.S. experts, in addition to U.S., Japanese, and Chinese ambassadors as well as various politicians. English Board of International Online Forum : http://www.peacekorea.org/main/board/zboard.php?id=forum_eng

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