NAPSNet Daily Report Thursday, November 02, 2006

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NAPSNet Daily Report Thursday, November 02, 2006

NAPSNet Daily Report Thursday, November 02, 2006

NAPSNet

CanKor

Preceding NAPSNet Report

NAPSNet

1. DPRK Nuclear Program

Yonhap News (“IAEA, ELECTRICITY OFFER BECOME KEYS TO ‘EFFECTIVE’ SIX-PARTY TALKS “, 2006-11-02) reported that with the DPRK’s agreement to return to the six-party talks, the question has turned to how one can test and verify the DPRK’s intentions and behavior. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and ROK’s offer of electricity to the DPRK have become part of the answer. In an interview with the New York Times on Tuesday, Condoleezza Rice reiterated the US will work with its six-party talks partners to ensure the DPRK takes concrete steps to end its nuclear program. Other administration officials talking to the NYT were more specific, saying DPRK’s dismantlement should begin with the 5-megawatt reactor. Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general-designate, also said the DPRK must accept IAEA inspections. In response to Pyongyang’s claim that it needs reactors to generate energy, Seoul last year offered 2 million kilowatts of electric power. “We need to address that,” Hill said in Beijing after announcing the restart of the six-party talks. “(North Korea) needs electricity and needs electricity quickly,” he said. “We would hope that there will be further development of what the ROK has in mind.”

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2. ROK on DPRK Nuclear Program

Reuters (“NORTH’S NUCLEAR TEST DID NOT TIP KOREA BALANCE: ROH”, 2006-11-02) reported that according to ROK President Roh, the ROK continues to hold superiority over the North but it will never test its might by threatening its neighbour. “Will the military balance be broken to a degree North Korea will unilaterally wage aggression? I don’t think it has been broken yet,” Roh said. “We will always maintain superiority.” “The North Korean nuclear problem is an element of threat against our security,” Roh said. “I think the element of security threat has grown especially with the nuclear test. “But I think the most important thing is there should not be exaggeration,” Roh said, adding questions about the motives for the test, including whether the DPRK would ever use a nuclear weapon against the ROK, must be carefully considered.

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3. UN Sanctions on DPRK

Yonhap News (“SECURITY COUNCIL FINALIZES LIST OF BANNED ITEMS UNDER N.K. SANCTIONS RESOLUTION “, 2006-11-02) reported that the UN sanctions committee finalized a list of items denied to the DPRK, the first action by the committee that oversees implementation of the resolution against the country. But the members could not agree on operational guidelines, especially how the sanctions should be adjusted according to improvements in the situation; the committee chairman said discussions will continue next week. Resolution 1718 condemns and sanctions Pyongyang for its Oct. 9 nuclear test and calls on U.N. members not to transfer materials related to weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to North Korea. It also freezes assets and bans travel of individuals linked to the country’s WMD. The situation took a turn Tuesday when the DPRK agreed to return to six-nation nuclear talks, one of the terms demanded in Resolution 1718. PRC wants the operational guidelines to leave room for adjustments, depending on how the talks progress.

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4. Six Party Talks

Agence France Presse (“BREAKTHROUGH AS NKOREA AGREES TO RESUME NUCLEAR TALKS”, 2006-11-01) reported that US President George W. Bush said he was “very pleased” at the announcement that the DPRK will return to the six party talks. “We’ll be sending teams to the region to work with our partners to make sure that the current United Nations Security Council resolution is enforced but also to make sure the talks are effective, that we achieve the result we want,” Bush said, referring to Washington’s desire for the DPRK to abandon all of its nuclear weapons programs. According to Christopher Hill DPRK made it clear that they wanted to the topic of financial sanctions addressed at the six party talks. “And I said we would be prepared to create a mechanism, or working group and to address these financial issues,” said Hill.

(return to top) Yonhap News (“INFORMAL SIX-WAY TALKS BEFORE APEC SUMMIT CONSIDERED: SOURCES “, 2006-11-02) reported that according to sources the PRC is considering holding an informal meeting of the top delegates from all the participating nations prior to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the middle of November. But the feasibility of the envisioned gathering remains uncertain, they added. (return to top) Reuters (“EARLIER THE BETTER FOR N.KOREA TALKS, SAYS CHINA”, 2006-11-02) reported that according to PRC Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao no date had been set for the next session of the six party talks, but he made it clear Beijing was keen for a quick restart. “If we’re prepared and each side agrees, then sooner the better,” he told a regular news briefing. (return to top)

5. Japan on Six Party Talks

Bloomberg News (“JAPAN’S ASO SAYS WON’T TALK DIRECTLY WITH N. KOREA “, 2006-11-02) reported that Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso said direct talks between Japan and the DPRK would be premature, given that the country has agreed to return to six-nation talks over its nuclear weapons program. “We are not considering direct talks with North Korea under the current conditions,” Aso said. Japan introduced its own sanctions in response to the test, including a ban on all imports from the DPRK and prohibiting the country’s vessels from docking at Japanese ports. “We’re not going to lighten or modify our sanctions immediately just because North Korea has agreed to rejoin the talks,” Aso said.

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6. ROK on Inter-Korean Relations

Voice of America (“S. KOREA WALKS LINE BETWEEN PRESSURE AND ‘FRIENDSHIP’ WITH NORTH”, 2006-11-02) reported that ROK President Roh Moo-hyun told international executives in Seoul Thursday that regardless of era or regime, ROK must pursue a “peace strategy” toward the DPRK. Mr. Roh says because his country places top priority on peace for the Korean peninsula, it will have to maintain what he described as “friendly relations” with the DPRK.

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7. US Probe on DPRK Money Laundering

Korea Times (“US EXPECTED TO END PROBE ON NK’S MONEY LAUNDERING “, 2006-11-02) reported that Washington is expected to conclude its investigation into the DPRK’s money-laundering charges soon, Yu Myung-hwan, vice minister of foreign affairs and trade said. Answering a lawmaker’s question on whether Washington would lift its financial sanctions on DPRK when the talks are resumed, Yu said he expects the US investigation into the DPRK’s alleged illicit activities such as money laundering at Macau’s Banco Delta Asia will come to an end sooner or later.

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8. Japanese Abductee Issue

Manichi Times (“JAPAN TO REQUEST IMMEDIATE HANDOVER OF N. KOREAN KIDNAPPER”, 2006-11-02) reported that Japan will request the DPRK to immediately hand over a DPR Korean woman suspected of having kidnapped Japanese citizen Hitomi Soga and her mother, Miyoshi, in 1978, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said Thursday. The woman, called Kim Myong Suk, is believed to be in the DPRK and Japan will request her handover through its embassy in Beijing, Shiozaki told a news conference.

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9. Japan-Mozambique Relations

News 24, South Africa (“JAPAN CANCELS $60M MOZ DEBT”, 2006-11-02) reported that the Japanese government has cancelled $60m in commercial debt owed to it by Mozambique, say officials. The decision followed a meeting between Mozambican foreign minister Alcinda Abreu and her Japanese counterpart, Taro Aso, in Tokyo on Tuesday. A statement from the Japanese embassy in Maputo said the cancellation was in line with decisions by creditor countries to wipe out commercial debt of nations within the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries debt-relief scheme. Chang also said that co-operation between Japan and Mozambique had experienced “tremendous growth in the last few years”.

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10. Japanese Reprocessed Fuel

Reuters (“JAPAN MAKES FIRST COMMERCIAL REPROCESSED NUCLEAR FUEL”, 2006-11-02) reported that Japan has started operations to produce reprocessed nuclear fuel for commercial sale for the first time, Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. said on Thursday. It will make uranium-plutonium mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel as a finished product by mid-November at its reprocessing plant in the village of Rokkasho in northern Japan’s Aomori prefecture, it said in a statement. “Our company is considering selling the finished MOX fuel and it will be the first time in Japan to make MOX fuel for commercial use,” a spokesman for Japan Nuclear Fuel said. He said the company had not decided when it would ship the product or to whom it would be sold.

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11. US on PRC-Africa Relations

Voice of America (“EXPERTS WARN CHINA FORGING TIES WITH AFRICA’S PARIAH STATES”, 2006-11-02) reported that PRC proudly displays its growing ties with Africa in holding a high-profile summit for African leaders in Beijing. But critics in the US warn of the negative aspects of Beijing’s pragmatic foreign policy. “The story, I’m afraid, is not a good one. In Africa, as elsewhere in the world, the Chinese government has shown that it is eager to embrace dangerous and or unsavory regimes in order, among other goals, to secure access to oil,” said Carolyn Bartholomew, a member of the US China Economic and Security Review Commission, a body that advises Congress.

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12. PRC Bird Flu

The Associated Press (“WHO BLASTS CHINESE GOVERNMENT FOR NOT SHARING SAMPLES OF NEW BIRD FLU STRAIN”, 2006-11-02) reported that the World Health Organization criticized PRC’s Agriculture Ministry on Wednesday for not sharing samples of a newly discovered strain of bird flu, complicating the health watchdog’s efforts to track the virus’ spread. “There’s a stark contrast between what we’re hearing from the researchers and what the Ministry of Agriculture says,” Hall said in a telephone interview. “Unless the ministry tell us what’s going on and shares viruses on a regular basis, we will be doing diagnostics on strains that are old.”

(return to top) Reuters (“CHINA SAYS NO EVIDENCE OF NEW BIRD FLU STRAIN”, 2006-11-02) reported that PRC has found no evidence of a new strain of H5N1 bird flu in its southern provinces and said on Thursday there was no need to share virus samples with the World Health Organisation (WHO). Scientists in Hong Kong and the United States said in a report released this week they had detected a new strain of bird flu, first isolated in the southern Chinese province of Fujian last year, that may have started outbreaks in Southeast Asia. But China rejected the report, published in the U.S.-based Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, saying there was no evidence of major changes to the virus since 2004. (return to top)

CanKor

13. Report #265

CanKor (“CANADIAN OPINION”, 2006-10-27) Keeping abreast of the prodigious flood of commentaries from the world’s top Korea watchers and experts presents a challenge to a weekly digest like CanKor. Readers will hopefully forgive a Canadian publication for its preference of Canadian analyses. Contributions from other countries will follow in coming issues. Our section on CANADIAN OPINION features a comprehensive briefing paper by Ernie Regehr, co-founder of Canada’s Project Ploughshares, on the proliferation issues raised by the DPRK’s recent nuclear test. Regehr says that the UN Security Council is trying to preach temperance from a bar stool. Its five permanent members remain determined nuclear retentionists who continue to modernize their arsenals, elaborate nuclear use doctrines, and pursue selective non-proliferation. He also notes that Kim Jong Il and North American advocates of ballistic missile defence have found common cause, and calls on Canada to remember the humanity of DPR Korean citizens, even if their own government does not. As a respite from the nuclear issue that has been dominating public discussion in the last three weeks, we include a RESOURCES section with reviews of two films and five new books on the DPRK. “Crossing the Line” follows the last American defector to the DPRK, 64-year-old James Dresnok. Another documentary, “Dear Pyongyang” recounts the story of one Korean family with North Korean citizenship, living divided between the DPRK and Japan. Books reviewed are “Art Under Control in North Korea”, “Everlasting Flower”, “Nuclear Showdown”, “North Korea: The Paranoid Peninsula”, and “North Korea in the 21st Century.”

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