I. NAPSNet

1. DPRK on Six Party Talks

Chosun Ilbo (“N. KOREA RENEWS TALKS BOYCOTT THREAT “, 2006-01-03) reported that the DPRK repeated it will boycott six party talks until the US lifts sanctions on North Korean firms. “The sanctions the U.S. imposed on our nation are clearly a fundamental factor discontinuing the six-party talks,” the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted the Rodong Shinmun daily as saying. “It makes no sense for us to attend the talks and sit face to face with people who pressure us with the aim of isolating us, and to discuss abandoning the nuclear deterrent we decided to build up for the preservation of our country.”

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2. ROK on DPRK Nuclear Program

The Korea Times (“PRIORITY PLACED ON SOLVING NK NUKES: FM “, 2006-01-03) reported that Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Ban Ki-moon said that his top priority for the New Year is to find a solution to the DPRK’s nuclear standoff in a peaceful and swift manner. He estimated that the year 2005 was a milestone in the nuclear conflicts as it saw the signing of the Sept. 19 joint principle statement on the nuclear-free Korean Peninsula. But the minister said the New Year is “more important than ever.’’

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3. Expert on DPRK Nuclear Program

The Korea Times (“‘NK HAS PLUTONIUM TO MAKE 8 BOMBS’”, 2006-01-03) reported that the DPRK has already produced enough plutonium to make eight nuclear bombs, a British journal reported Sunday, quoting a US expert. Siegfried Hecker, the former director of the US Los Alamos National Laboratory, believes that the DPRK has been making plutonium since last summer, apart from participating in the six-party talks aimed at resolving the dispute over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program, the Sunday Times said.

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4. Think Tank on Inter-Korean Relations

Chosun Ilbo (“THINK TANK SEES N.KOREAN DESIGNS ON BALLOTS IN SOUTH “, 2006-01-03) reported that a government-funded think tank says the two Koreas could agree on a fresh inter-Korean summit later this year because Pyongyang will want to swing the vote in the ROK’s next presidential election. The Korea Institute for National Unification issued its 2006 report on Tuesday. “As North Korea prepares to celebrate the 95th birthday of Kim Il-sung on April 15, 2007, an agreement on a North-South summit could be achieved in the second half of this year because of a desire by the North to influence the South Korean presidential election,” it predicts. The report says North Korea is also likely to exert influence in various ways to make sure that the progressive camp wins regional elections on May 31 this year, including pushing for a “coalition of national unity” that sidelines conservatives.

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5. ROK Unification Minister

Reuters (“ROH SHUFFLES CABINET BEFORE ELECTION”, 2006-01-02) reported that President Roh Moo Hyun appointed a top security aide Monday as the new minister in charge of ROK’s relations with the DPRK, in a government reorganization before nationwide local elections later this year. Lee Jong Seok, a top official at the National Security Council, which oversees foreign and security policies, was appointed unification minister, the president’s office announced.

(return to top) The Korea Times (“LEE JONG-SEOK SET TO MASTERMIND NK POLICY “, 2006-01-02) repoted that Lee Jong-seok, the new unification minister nominee, is not a new broom in the administration. The 48-year-old has been a close aide to President Roh Moo-hyun. Lee has been advising Roh on foreign affairs and security-related issues as well as policy toward the DPRK since Roh’s victory in the presidential election in December 2002. (return to top)

6. ROK Coal Aid to DPRK

The Korea Times (“SEOUL GIVES 60,000 TONS OF COAL AID TO NK “, 2006-01-03) reported that the ROK will finish the transportation of a total of 60,000 tons of coal aid to the DPRK by the end of this month, a Unification Ministry official said Tuesday. The South has already transported some 10,000 tons of imported hard coal, which is processed and distributed in the DPRK border town of Kaesong to be used in the households, the official said. The coal aid started in early December to help residents there spend winter and maintain the productivity of North Korean workers who work at South Korean factories in Kaesong, the official said.

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7. DPRK on USFK

China Daily (“IN NEW YEAR’S MESSAGE, NORTH KOREA DEMANDS US TROOPS PULLOUT “, 2005-12-31) reported that the DPRK issued a New Year’s message demanding the withdrawal of US troops from the ROK, and accusing Washington of seeking to launch a new war in the peninsula. “All the Koreans … must never tolerate treacherous acts of anti-reunification forces who are conspiring with foreign forces. We should launch a dynamic campaign against war and for peace,” said a joint editorial carried by North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun and two other major state-run newspapers.

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8. DPRK-Japanese Relations

The Japan Times (“NORTH KOREA RIPS ABE FOR LINKING ABDUCTION ISSUE “, 2006-01-03) reported that the DPRK slammed Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe for saying resolution of the DPRK’s past abductions of Japanese nationals is necessary before diplomatic relations can be normalized. “What is most essential for settling the issues related to the DPRK-Japan relations is not the ‘abduction issue’ but the issue of Japan’s liquidation of its past crimes,” the official Minju Joson newspaper said in a commentary carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

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9. DPRK 2006 Editorial

Korea Herald (“NORTH KOREA STRESSES IMPORTANCE OF MILITARY, AGRICULTURE IN 2006 “, 2006-01-03) reported that the DPRK vowed to continue to strengthen its military-first policy in 2006 while trying to rebuild its economy with emphasis on its agriculture. In a joint editorial by its official press, the DPRK also said it will expand cooperative ties with the ROK in its fight against US attempts to topple its socialist system.

(return to top) Donga Ilbo (“NORTH KOREA CALLS FOR ANTI-U.S. UNITY “, 2006-01-02) reported that the DPRK called for “unified anti-Americanism” and “forming a grand anti-conservative coalition in South Korea” in a joint New Year’s editorial under the name of three government organs—Rodong Shinmun, the Korean People’s Army and the Youth Vanguard—announced by the official Korean Central News Agency on January 1. In the joint editorial, the DPRK stressed, “The North, South and all Koreans overseas should unite as one and resolutely oppose the intervention and dominance of the United States, and not tolerate anti-reunification forces working in collusion with foreign powers.” (return to top) Agence France Presse (“NORTH KOREA URGES TROOPS TO BECOME “HUMAN BULLETS” IN 2006 “, 2005-12-31) reported that the DPRK, in a New Year message, urged its soldiers to become “human bullets and bombs” against possible US attacks and vowed to boost farming to feed its people amid international fears of famine. “Whatever the situation is, the principled stand of our party and state to give top priority to the military remains unchanged,” read the message, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. It urged North Korea’s 1.1 million troops to become “human bullets and bombs” defending the state led by Kim Jong-Il from possible US attacks. (return to top)

10. Japanese Foreign Relations

Agence France Presse (“JAPAN FOREIGN MINISTER STARTS TRIP TO INDIA AND PAKISTAN “, 2006-01-03) reported that Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso left for a four-day visit to India and Pakistan as part of an attempt to strengthen relations with South Asia. Politics, national security, the economy and reform of the UN Security Council will be on the agenda for the talks with Ahamed.

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11. Sino-Indian Relations

Agence France Presse (“INDIAN PM CALLS FOR CLOSER TIES WITH CHINA “, 2006-01-03) reported that India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he wanted to forge closer ties with the PRC and urged Beijing to inject “substance” into the growing bilateral relationship. In a New Year’s Day message to PRC Premier Wen Jiabao, Singh said the two populous Asian neighbours must make 2006 the year of India-PRC friendship, in line with a pledge made last year.

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12. Sino-Pakistani Nuclear Cooperation

BBC News (“PAKISTAN DENIES NEW REACTOR PLAN”, 2006-01-03) reported that Pakistan has denied a report it is in talks to buy between six and eight nuclear reactors from the PRC in a deal worth up to $10bn (£5.8bn). Britain’s Financial Times newspaper quoted an official saying construction could begin in 2015 and take 10 years. But a spokeswoman said that while Pakistan was considering more nuclear energy, the FT report was “baseless”.

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13. Sino-Japanese Relations

Reuters (“CHINA COMMENTATOR URGES TOUGHER LINE AGAINST JAPAN “, 2006-01-03) reported that the PRC should prepare for enduring conflict with Japan and embrace nationalism as a source of social unity, a senior commentator with the ruling Communist Party daily wrote against a backdrop of steadily worsening bilateral ties. The unusually forceful comments in a new magazine came at a time of renewed sparring between Beijing and Tokyo — this time over the suicide of a Japanese diplomat in Shanghai in May 2004. Japan says the diplomat killed himself after he was blackmailed by PRC security agents over a liaison with a prostitute. On Friday, a spokesman for the PRC’s Foreign Ministry, Qin Gang, said Japan was “deliberately vilifying China’s image.”

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14. Sino-US Relations

Reuters (“CHINA EYES INCREASED ENERGY COOPERATION WITH US”, 2006-01-03) reported that the PRC and the US should increase co-operation on energy issues ranging from crude oil production overseas to civilian nuclear programs, the PRC’s top economic planning body said in a statement on its Web site. Co-operation should be deeper and more efficient, with priority placed on promoting stability in producing nations and secure oil shipping lanes, the National Development and Reform Commission said.

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15. Cross Strait Relations

The New York Times (“TAIWAN CHIEF SEEKS MORE ARMS, NOT BETTER TIES TO CHINA”, 2006-01-03) reported that President Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan called Sunday for increased arms purchases and warned against greater economic ties to the PRC, in a televised speech that silenced months of speculation that he might soon seek to improve relations across the Taiwan Strait.

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16. PRC Reform

The Associated Press (“CHINESE PRESIDENT VOWS A MORE OPEN POLICY “, 2006-01-03) reported that the PRC’s president vowed Saturday that his country would continue to open up and reform in 2006, pursuing a goal of peaceful development as it plays a bigger role on the world stage. In his annual year-end speech, President Hu Jintao also touted the PRC’s strong economic progress and said his people’s living standards have improved. Hu said the coming year will mark the beginning of a five-year economic plan, which calls for developing the poverty-stricken countryside in an effort to narrow the growing and politically sensitive gap between rich and poor.

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17. ROK Cultural Diplomacy

The New York Times (“CHINA’S YOUTH LOOK TO SEOUL FOR INSPIRATION”, 2006-01-03) reported that from clothes to hairstyle, music to television dramas, the ROK has been defining the tastes of many Chinese and other Asians for the past half decade. The ROK acts as a filter for Western values, experts say, making them more palatable to Chinese and other Asians. For a country that has been influenced by other cultures, especially the PRC but also Japan and America, the ROK finds itself at a turning point in its new role as exporter.

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18. PRC Media Control

Reuters (“CHINESE REPORTERS WALK OUT OVER EDITOR’S REMOVAL “, 2006-01-03) reported that about 100 Beijing News reporters walked out in protest at this week’s dismissal of the top editor, the latest victim of the PRC’s strict press controls, industry sources said on Friday. Friday’s acts of defiance by journalists were the latest in a long struggle between the Communist Party, which tries to control information, and the PRC’s newspapers and magazines, which want to attract readers and revenue with bold reporting.

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