I. Unites States

1. Final Draft Statement

Korea Times (“6 PARTIES STRUGGLE WITH FINAL DOCUMENT”, 2005-08-02) reported that the PRC presented the latest draft document, highlighting ways to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, leaving the US and the DPRK to decide whether they will accept it or not. The decision is expected to be made at a meeting of top delegates from six nations, which is set to be held at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

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2. Japan on Final Draft Statement

Asahi Shimbun (“JAPAN UNHAPPY WITH 6-PARTY DRAFT BY CHINA”, 2005-08-02) reported that Japan is dissatisfied with a draft created by the PRC at the six-party talks and is pushing for its issues of contention to be included in a final document, sources said Sunday. Japanese officials specifically want the final version to state that Pyongyang should improve its human rights record and halt missile development, sources said.

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3. DPRK on US Nuclear Threat

Bloomberg Press (“N. KOREA WILL QUIT NUCLEAR ARMS IF U.S. ENDS THREAT”, 2005-08-02) reported that the DPRK will give up its nuclear weapons programs if the US removes its own nuclear threat against the country, the chief DPRK delegate said after an eighth day of six-nation talks. “We plan to give up our nuclear weapons and all plans relating to weapons as soon as the US eliminates its nuclear threat towards us and mutual trust is established,” DPRK’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan told reporters.

(return to top) Itar-Tass (“NORTH KOREA CLAIMS US BASES IN JAPAN POSE “NUCLEAR THREAT””, 2005-08-02) reported that the DPRK has put forth a new demand at the six-party talks stating the need to revise the US nuclear policy in the region, Japanese sources said on Tuesday. The DPRK delegation stated at the talks that US military bases in Japan pose “a nuclear threat.” (return to top)

4. US on Progress at Six Party Talks

International Herald Tribune (“RIGID NORTH KOREAN STANCE STALLS NUCLEAR TALKS, US SAYS “, 2005-08-02) reported that according to a US diplomat, that the six-party negotiations in were unable to reach agreement because of the DPRK’s unwillingness to compromise. “Fundamentally,” the US deputy secretary of state, Robert Zoellick, told a news briefing in Beijing, “the sense that I get is that there are five parties that are pretty close to agreement on those principles, and the key question is whether North Korea is willing to make the strategic decision it needs to make to go forward.”

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5. DPRK on Progress at Six Party Talks

Forbes (“NKOREA SAYS NO PROGRESS IN NUCLEAR TALKS”, 2005-08-02) reported that the DPRK said no progress has been made in talks over the dismantlement of its nuclear weapons programs but insisted it is still working to find a solution. “The talks lasted for long hours but produced no progress,” the DPRK’s envoy to the six-party talks, Kim Kye-gwan told reporters.

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6. Mt. Baekdu Tourism Project

Chosun Ilbo (“SEOUL CHIPS IN WITH HYUNDAI’S MT. BAEKDU PROJECT”, 2005-08-02) reported that the ROK government will give the DPRK US$4.9 million worth of material in assistance for a Mt. Baekdu tourism project it is pursuing with Hyundai Asan, including 8,000 tons of asphalt to build roads and runways. A Unification Ministry official said Tuesday it decided to provide the materials to speed up the project and ensure the safety of tourists.

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7. WFP Aid to DPRK

Joongang Ilbo (“WFP AID TO THE NORTH IN DANGER OF COLLAPSE”, 2005-08-02) reported that according to the WFP, without new aid from the international community, the number of DPRK residents receiving food assistance will fall from 4.6 million to 1.9 million in the second half of the year. The WFP noted that by using its Immediate Response Account, it would be able to increase cereal rationing to 4.6 million people in August and September. However, without new contributions 2.7 million will no longer receive rations from October.

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8. ROK on US Climate Control Initiative

Yonhap (“KOREA CONSIDERS US-LED CLIMATE CONTROL INITIATIVE”, 2005-08-02) reported that ROK policymakers are evaluating a US-led multilateral climate control initiative that permits self-regulation over the production of greenhouse gases and purports to not threaten economic development. “South Korea has agreed to join the six-nation partnership because the arrangement is focused on technical assistance and it is because of this that we agreed to take part in the discussions,” Vice Environment Minister Park Sun-sook said Monday.

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9. Japan on PRC Military

Financial Times (“JAPAN VOICES CONCERN ON CHINA’S MILITARY POWER”, 2005-08-02) reported that Japan on Tuesday fleshed out its concerns about the PRC’s growing military power, emphasizing in its annual defense white paper what it said were Beijing’s increasingly bold maritime ambitions. Yoshinoro Ohno, defense minister, said Japan did not see the PRC as a threat. “But there are issues that require attention,” he said. “We [also] urge China to improve its transparency,” he said, reflecting a widespread belief in Tokyo that Beijing is spending more on its military build-up than it publicly admits.

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10. Japanese Remilitarization

The Associated Press (“JAPANESE PARTY PUSHES LARGER MILITARY”, 2005-08-02) reported that Japan needs a full-fledged military for its national defense and to help it play a greater role in international security, the ruling party said Monday in a draft proposal of revisions to the country’s pacifist constitution. The Liberal Democratic Party’s constitution draft committee on Monday presented the document, which cuts the “no war” clause from Article 9 and outlines an expanded role for the military.

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11. PRC on Sino-Japanese Relations

Xinhua (“FM: JAPAN’S OFFICIAL PAPER GROUNDLESS IN “CHINA THREAT””, 2005-08-02) reported that it is groundless and irresponsible for Japan to exaggerate the so-called “China threat” in its official document, said PRC Foreign Ministry Spokesman Kong Quan here on Tuesday. When asked to make comments on this white paper, Kong said such practice of Japan would bring harm to both sides’ efforts to establish mutual trust on security.

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12. Japanese Historical Revisionism

Agence France-Presse (“JAPAN LAWMAKERS TONE DOWN LANGUAGE OF REGRET FOR WWII”, 2005-08-02) reported that Japan’s lower house of parliament has adopted a resolution on the 60th anniversary of World War II that states Tokyo regrets the “suffering” it caused in Asia but avoids the word “aggression”, which was used in a similar statement in 1995. It dropped references to Japan’s “colonial rule” and “acts of aggression” included in a similar resolution that marked the 50th anniversary of the end of the war.

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13. Yasukuni Shrine Issue

Reuters (“JAPAN LAWMAKERS URGE PM TO VISIT YASUKUNI”, 2005-08-02) reported that more than 300 Japanese lawmakers urged Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to visit a shrine for war dead on the 60th anniversary of Japan’s defeat in World War II, saying he should not bow to pressure from the PRC to stay away. “We protest the interference in domestic matters by China and South Korea, who have repeatedly criticized the prime minister’s visits to Yasukuni shrine,” said a resolution announced on Tuesday by five groups whose members include 355 lawmakers, mostly from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

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14. Sino-Russian Joint Military Exercises

The Associated Press (“CHINA, RUSSIA TO HOLD MILITARY EXERCISE”, 2005-08-02) reported that the PRC and Russia will hold their first joint military exercise Aug. 18-25 with nearly 10,000 troops in two sites on the PRC’s and Russia’s eastern coasts, the PRC Defense Ministry announced Tuesday. The announcement highlights warming ties between Beijing and Moscow after decades of Cold War hostility. Their reconciliation has been driven in part by mutual unease at US power and a fear of Islamic extremism in Central Asia.

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15. PRC-Zimbabwe Relations

BBC News (“CHINA DEAL ‘TOO SMALL’ FOR MUGABE”, 2005-08-02) reported that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe did not obtain the financial relief he had hoped for during his recent visit to the PRC, South African newspapers report. Mr Mugabe went to the PRC last week hoping for help repaying a $300m debt to the IMF, but Beijing granted him only $6m for grain imports, they say.

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16. PRC-ROK Trade Relations

Chosun Ilbo (“CHINA PRESSES KOREA ON FREE TRADE PACT”, 2005-08-02) reported that the PRC has urged the ROK to start negotiations for a free trade agreement as soon as possible, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said Tuesday. The ministry said PRC Prime Minister Wen Jiabao told his ROK counterpart Lee Hae-chan at a June meeting in Beijing the two governments needed to initiate FTA talks as soon as there is progress in private-sector talks.

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17. PRC Unrest

Washington Post (“A CHINESE CITY’S RAGE AT THE RICH AND POWERFUL”, 2005-08-02) reported that Liu Liang’s bicycle and Wu Junxing’s shiny four-door sedan collided, sending Liu crashing to the ground. Almost immediately, witnesses said, Liu, 22, and Wu, 34, began arguing over who was at fault. In the heat of the dispute, they said, Liu damaged one of Wu’s side-view mirrors, prompting Wu’s muscular bodyguards to burst from the car and beat the skinny young man senseless. After they saw what happened to Liu, Chizhou’s self-described “common people” rose up against what they perceived as their local government’s willingness to side with rich outside investors against Chizhou’s own. By the end of the evening, 10,000 Chizhou residents had filled the streets, some of whom torched police cars, pelted overwhelmed anti-riot troops with stones and looted a nearby supermarket bare.

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18. PRC Unocal Bid

Agence France-Presse (“CNOOC WITHDRAWS 18.5 BILLION DOLLAR OFFER FOR UNOCAL”, 2005-08-02) reported that state-owned PRC oil group CNOOC said it was withdrawing its bid to acquire US oil company Unocal for 18.5 billion dollars in cash, citing “unprecedented political opposition.” “CNOOC has given active consideration to further improving the terms of its offer, and would have done so but for the political environment in the US,” the company said in a statement.

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19. PRC Streptococcus Suis Outbreak

Agence France-Presse (“BEIJING BANS PORK FROM PIG DISEASE PROVINCE AS DEATH TOLL RISES TO 37”, 2005-08-02) reported that Beijing has taken measures to prevent a deadly pig disease from entering the Chinese capital, including halting the sale of pork from Sichuan province, as the death toll climbed to 37. As of noon Tuesday, one more person had died from the epidemic from the previous day while the number of cases increased from 198 to 205, the Sichuan provincial health department said on its website.

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20. PRC Property Rights Law

China Daily (“LEGISLATORS USE INTERNET TO TEST THE WATER”, 2005-08-02) reported that law-making officials and experts hoped the Internet would play an increasingly important role in boosting the democratic element of the country’s legislation. The Internet has provided unprecedented scope for expressing different points of view on laws that concern personal rights. The top legislature decided to release a complete version of the draft law to encourage suggestions for revisions last month. Yang Minglun, an official at the commission said the majority of submissions were made over the Internet, with just 384 in physical written form.

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