Preceding NAPSNet Report

I. United States

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1. DPRK on Nuclear Talks

Korea Times (“NORTH KOREA SETS FOUR CONDITIONS FOR NUKE TALKS”, 2005-03-01) reported that DPRK leader Kim Jong-il has presented four conditions for returning to the six-party talks on the DPRK’s nuclear weapons program, including a demand for a security guarantee from the US. Kim told Wang Jiarui, a high-profile PRC official who visited Pyongyang last month, that he wants the US to give the reason why it labeled his country as an “outpost of tyranny,” the Kyodo News Agency reported, citing unnamed diplomatic sources. In addition to the aforementioned conditions, the report added he made another pair of requests such as the US’s pledge that it would negotiate with the DPRK on an equal basis and a sincere attitude that could be trusted by the DPRK.

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2. ROK on DPRK Nuclear Talks

Korea Herald (“SEOUL SAYS UNAWARE N.K. WILL REJOIN TALKS IN JUNE”, 2005-03-01) reported that the DPRK has told officials in the ROK it is willing to take part in six-party talks on its nuclear arms program in June, according to a Japanese newspaper, but ROK officials yesterday denied the report. The conservative Sankei Shimbun reported that Pyongyang’s message was conveyed to the ROK by unofficial routes and then to Japan by Seoul. Pyongyang also reportedly said it was willing to sign a treaty with the US by October.

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3. ROK, PRC on DPRK Nuclear Issue

Korea Herald (“BAN, CHINA’S LI TALK ON NUKE STANDOFF”, 2005-03-01) reported that Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon and PRC counterpart Li Zhaoxing had a phone conversation yesterday on the DPRK nuclear standoff and agreed on the need for an early resumption of the six-party disarmament talks. Ban also asked the PRC to continue its active role as host to the talks, and to step up efforts to reconvene six-nation talks on persuading the DPRK to abandon its nuclear weapons. Li promised that the PRC will put in its utmost peaceful and diplomatic efforts for the early resumption of the talks and to bring about a nuclear free Korean peninsula.

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4. DPRK on Nuclear Program

Kyodo (“N KOREAN LEADER HAS ADMITTED POSSESSION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS”, 2005-03-01) reported that DPRK leader Kim Jong-il admitted to a PRC envoy last week that the DPRK has produced nuclear weapons, saying its possession of such weapons was “not something new that happened yesterday or today”, a diplomatic source said Tuesday (1 March). Kim made the comments during his talks in Pyongyang with Wang Jiarui, head of the Chinese Communist Party’s International Department, on 21 February, according to the source. According to the source, Kim did not tell Wang about the timing of the manufacturing of the weapons or their amount.

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5. IAEA on DPRK Nuclear Program

Agence France-Presse (“UN NUCLEAR WATCHDOG OUTLINING NUCLEAR WORRIES OVER IRAN, NORTH KOREA”, 2005-03-01) reported that the UN atomic agency was Tuesday preparing to urge the DPRK to return to six-party talks and hear a report on Iran’s ambitions as it discussed concerns over the possible spread of nuclear weapons. The International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) 35-nation board of governors was working on a resolution, presented as a summary by the board chairman, urging the DPRK to return to six-party talks, diplomats said.

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6. Japanese Regulations on DPRK Shipping

Kyodo News (“NORTH KOREAN SHIPS WARNED AS JAPAN STARTS CHECKS ON FOREIGN VESSELS”, 2005-03-01) reported that inspectors from the transport ministry on Tuesday started checking foreign vessels at Yokohama port and Kyoto Prefecture’s Maizuru port to see if they are covered by insurance against oil spills and other liabilities. Japan revised the law in a move seen as intended to put pressure on the DPRK to resolve the dispute over abductions of Japanese nationals, as many DPRK ships are not covered by insurance. The ministry said some 73 per cent of foreign vessels that entered Japanese ports in 2003 were insured and met insurance requirements, but only 2.5 per cent of the 982 DPRK vessels, which made calls at Japanese ports, were covered.

(return to top) Associated Press (“JAPAN MONITORING EFFECT OF SHIPPING BAN”, 2005-03-01) reported that most DPRK ships will be barred from Japanese ports under a law that took effect Tuesday, a move that will slash trade as Tokyo ratchets up pressure on the DPRK over a decades-old kidnapping dispute. The DPRK relies heavily on ships that travel to Japan, which carry seafood and other goods, while bringing back remittances and much needed supplies like cars and electrical appliances from pro-Pyongyang Korean residents here. The law, passed in June, comes amid growing public calls for economic sanctions against the DPRK in the long-running dispute between Tokyo and Pyongyang over the DPRK’s abductions of Japanese citizens. (return to top)

7. DPRK on Relations with the US

Korean Central News Agency (BBC translating) (“NORTH KOREA REPORTS 190 US “AERIAL ESPIONAGE” CASES IN FEBRUARY”, 2005-03-01) reported that the US imperialists committed more than 190 cases of aerial espionage against the DPRK in February, according to a military source. The US imperialist warhawks have thus perpetrated ceaseless aerial espionage to invade the DPRK, talking a lot about a negotiated solution to the nuclear issue. This goes to prove that their ambition to stifle the DPRK by force of arms remains unchanged.

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8. US on DPRK Human Rights

Washington File (“HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT CITES CONTINUED ABUSES IN NORTH KOREA”, 2005-03-01) reported that one of the congressionally mandated “2004 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices,” released by the Department of State on February 28, paints a grim picture of conditions in the DPRK. The DPRK’s centralized and tightly controlled economy, buckling under the weight of a huge military and internal-security apparatus, has “broken down under the stress of chronic shortages of food and fuel,” the report says. Against this background, the report says, “The [DPRK’s] human rights record remained extremely poor, and it continued to commit numerous serious abuses.”

(return to top) The Associated Press (“U.S. REPORT RATES RIGHTS SITUATION IN NORTH KOREA “EXTREMELY POOR””, 2005-03-01) reported that the DPRK’s human rights record remained “extremely poor” in 2004, the State Department said Monday, citing reports of extrajudicial killings, disappearances and arbitrary detention. “Prison conditions were harsh and life-threatening, and torture reportedly was common,” the report said. It said that pregnant prisoners reportedly were forced to undergo abortions. In other cases babies reportedly were killed at birth in prisons. At “re-education through labor” camps, inmates were forced to work under harsh conditions, the study said. The study estimated the political prisoner population at 150,000 to 200,000. (return to top)

9. ROK Accidential Weapons Discharge

Yonhap (“SOUTH KOREA SAYS BULLET FIRED ACCIDENTALLY AT NORTH BORDER POST”, 2005-03-01) reported that the ROK forces opened fire on a DPRK border post on Monday, threatening the lives of guards manning the post, the DPRK’s official media. “South Korean soldiers shot two rounds of machine gun bullets at our post along the eastern inter-Korean border Monday evening,” the Korean Central News Agency said, citing military sources. The ROK’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tuesday that a rifle bullet had accidentally been fired at a DPRK military post from a Southern guard post in Yanggu, about 175 km northeast of Seoul. “The bullet was fired during a safety check of rifles,” it said. “The South instantly broadcast that it was an accidental firing, but there was no response from the North.”

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10. Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation

Korea Times (“ELECTRICITY AVAILABLE IN KAESONG NEXT WEEK”, 2005-03-01) reported that electricity is expected to be supplied to the ROK companies operating at the inter-Korean industrial complex in Kaesong, DPRK, by next week, the Unification Ministry said Tuesday. “The construction work for the supply of electricity will likely be completed by Saturday,” a ministry spokesman told reporters. “Finishing touches, such as safety checks, will require around two days. So I think electricity will be available by Monday at the earliest.”

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11. Russo-DPRK Maritime Industry Cooperation

Itar-Tass (“RUSSIAN FAR EAST TO BUILD SHIPS WITH NORTH KOREA”, 2005-03-01) reported that shipbuilders in Maritime Territory and the DPRK are to repair and build new ships together. A protocol on cooperation in this area was signed today in Vladivostok by regional governor Sergey Darkin and DPRK Minister of Shipbuilding Kim Song-bu. According to the document, Maritime Territory and the DPRK have agreed to build ferries together, repair DPRK ships at Maritime Territory shipyards, bring DPRK experts to Maritime Territory plants, and for Maritime Territory to buy DPRK engineering equipment.

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12. DPRK – Iranian Relations

Yonhap (“IRANIAN NEWS AGENCY CHIEF VISIT NK”, 2005-03-01) reported that the DPRK said Monday that a high-level official met with the head of Iran’s official news agency to discuss relations between the two countries. Yang Hyong-sop, vice chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, met with Abdollah Nasseri Taheri, managing director of the Tehran-based Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), in Pyongyang, the DPRK’s Korean Central News Agency said. The IRNA and the KCNA play an important role in further developing the long-standing friendly relations between the two countries, Taheri was quoted as saying.

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13. US-ROK Relations on DPRK Human Rights

Chosun Ilbo (“U.S. MUST CORRECT ‘MISPERCEPTIONS’ OF N.K. ACT: THINK TANK”, 2005-03-01) reported that the conservative US think tank Heritage Foundation recently issued a report urging the US to correct what it says are misunderstandings of the US North Korean Human Rights Act (NKHRA) by the ROK government and ruling party. In a Feb. 10 report entitled, “Spotlight on the North Korean Human Rights Act: Correcting Misperceptions,” Heritage Foundation policy analyst Balbina Y. Hwang said it was within the ROK that the most vocal criticism of the law is found. “The act is intended to make it easier for the United States to assist North Korean refugees, and it links any future aid to Pyongyang to progress in addressing human rights concerns,” Hwang wrote, insisting the act “contains no hidden agenda for overt regime change or overthrow of the Kim Jong Il government.”

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14. Experts on Proliferation

Reuters (“EXPERTS URGE TOUGH STRATEGY AGAINST ARMS SPREAD”, 2005-03-01) reported that US experts called for a tougher international policy to deter the spread of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction that would put new demands on the five nuclear powers as well as undeclared nuclear states like Israel, India and Pakistan. The experts, from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, aimed for a policy of universal compliance that would require all states, as well as nonstate actors like corporations, to actively comply with international norms and rules. It is being published in final form just months before the international community undertakes one of its periodic reviews of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and as the world grapples with nuclear disputes with Iran and the DPRK.

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15. ROK on ROK-Japanese Relations

Joongang Ilbo (“ROH DEMANDS APOLOGY FROM JAPAN; SAYS FUTURE DEPENDS ON TELLING TRUTH”, 2005-03-01) reported that marking the 86th anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement, President Roh Moo-hyun demanded yesterday that the Japanese government offer apologies and further compensation to its Korean victims. No ROK president has made such a demand since Japan paid compensation when the two countries restored diplomatic relations in 1965. “Korea and Japan have a common destiny to open the future of Northeast Asia,” Mr. Roh said at the Yu Gwan-sun Memorial Hall in Seoul. “What is needed are the sincere efforts of the Japanese government and people. They will have to find out the truth of the past and make apologies and compensation, if necessary.”

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16. DPRK on DPRK-Japanese Relations

Chosun Ilbo (“N. KOREA MARKS MARCH 1 WITH ANTI-JAPANESE SALVO”, 2005-03-01) reported that a DPRK government mouthpiece marked the 86th anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement with a vicious attack on Japan, which it said remained the country’s “bitter enemy”. “Both yesterday and today, Japan is the Korean people’s bitter enemy,” the state-controlled Rodong Sinmun newspaper wrote in an editorial. “Japan must settle its account for 100 years of crime, and we must squash Japan’s ambition to re-invade with the strong will to unleash the resentment of our people.”

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17. Japan on Japan-ROK/DPRK Relations

Korea Times (“JAPAN TO RETURN STOLEN KOREAN MONUMENT TO NATION”, 2005-03-01) reported that a Korean monument that was stolen by Japanese troops 100 years ago will be returned to the nation within the first half of this year. The stone “Pukgwandaechobbi” was stolen during the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 and is currently situated at Yasukuni Shrine. However, shrine officials say they wish to return the monument to its rightful owners. “We don’t feel that it belongs to us, and we will return it to Korea as soon as the Japanese government approves it at the request of the Korean government,” said Toshiyaki Nanbu, an official at the shrine, during yesterday’s meeting with Korean and Japanese Buddhist monks who have demanded that the monument be returned. As the original location of the monument is now part of the DPRK, Buddhist groups from both Koreas are working together for the monument’s return.

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18. Japanese Space Program

The New York Times (“AFTER FAILURES, SPACE EFFORT IN JAPAN GETS A LIFT”, 2005-03-01) reported that a 16-story-high rocket blasted into the tropical night on Saturday, firmly placing Japan back in Asia’s space race. The successful launch and deployment of a weather satellite over the Pacific from this remote island 650 miles southwest of Tokyo restored morale to a rocketry program battered by its rival in the PRC. Japan’s rocket program is seen increasingly to have military applications. Japan launched its first military spy satellite from here in March 2003. The November 2003 launch that failed was an effort to orbit two more. These spy satellites are intended to give Japan “shutter control,” the independent ability to photograph its neighbors, notably the PRC and DPRK, at will and in secret.

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19. Sino-Russian Energy Cooperation

Itar-Tass (“RUSSIA, CHINA TO HOLD TALKS ON ENERGY SUPPLY”, 2005-03-01) reported that Moscow and Beijing are embarking on talks on the strategic project of supplies of Russian electric power to the PRC. Deputy chairman of the board of RAO UES of Russia Leonid Drachevsky is flying to the PRC with the purpose on Tuesday. Drachevsky will hold talks with the leadership of the PRC State Development and Reform Committee and the PRC Electric Power Company (EPC).

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20. PRC on Renewable Energy

BBC News (“CHINA LOOKS TO RENEWABLE POWER”, 2005-03-01) reported that the PRC’s government has passed a renewable energy law which is intended to increase production of energy from sustainable sources. The law, which will come into force early next year, seeks to increase the usage of solar and wind power to 10% of the PRC’s total consumption. However, while the new law has been welcomed, it has been suggested that the targets are over ambitious.

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21. PRC Anti-Secession Law

BBC News (“TAIWANESE PROTEST AT CHINA BILL”, 2005-03-01) reported that Taiwanese pro-independence groups have launched a campaign to highlight public opposition to plans by the PRC to introduce an anti-secession law. Critics say the bill is aimed at blocking Taiwanese independence. Beijing plans to introduce the bill during the next session of parliament, which opens on Saturday.

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22. Cross Strait Relations

Agence France-Presse (“TAIWAN PRESIDENT’S ADVISERS TO QUIT OVER PEACE OVERTURE TO CHINA”, 2005-03-01) reported that a senior pro-independence advisor to Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian has vowed to resign after Chen pledged not to seek formal independence for the island during reconciliation talks with an opposition leader. “I will leave the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and tender my resignation to Chen…,” Koo Kuan-min told reporters. “I can’t stand the fact that Chen met People First Party Chairman James Soong and signed a joint statement with him,” Koo said.

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23. PRC on US Human Rights Report

The Associated Press (“CHINA LASHES OUT AT HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT”, 2005-03-01) reported that the PRC on Tuesday condemned a State Department report criticizing Beijing’s human rights record, saying the review was a blow to relations between the two countries. “We are very dissatisfied with this report and we protest this report,” PRC Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said. “The United States should stop using double standards on human rights and stop interfering in the internal politics of China under the pretext of human rights.” The State Council, the PRC’s cabinet, will release its own assessment of the US’ human rights record on Thursday. It will show “the bad records of the US concerning the invasions into other countries and the mistreatment of foreign inmates, as well as the bad records in the aspects of life, freedom and personal security of US citizens.”

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24. Sino – Latin American Energy Trade

The New York Times (“CHINA’S OIL DIPLOMACY IN LATIN AMERICA”, 2005-03-01) reported that Latin America is becoming a rich destination for the PRC in its global quest for energy, with the PRC quickly signing accords with Venezuela, investing in largely untapped markets like Peru and exploring possibilities in Bolivia and Colombia. The PRC’s sights are focused mostly on Venezuela, which ships more than 60 percent of its crude oil to the US. With the largest oil reserves outside the Middle East, and a president who says that his country needs to diversify its energy business beyond the US, Venezuela has emerged as an obvious contender for Beijing’s attention.

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25. PRC Historical Revisionism

The New York Times (“WAS THE WAR POINTLESS? CHINA SHOWS HOW TO BURY IT”, 2005-03-01) reported that sixteen years after the PRC’s war with Vietnam, which began with intense combat in mid-February of 1979, the PRC has produced no “Rambo,” much less a “Deer Hunter” or “Platoon.” There have been a few movies, novels and memoirs about the suffering of the soldiers and their families. But no searing explorations of the horror or moral ambiguity of war. There are no grander monuments than cemeteries like these, found mostly in this remote border region. The PRC, in short, has experienced no national hand-wringing, and has no Vietnam syndrome to overcome. Forgetting on such a great scale is no passive act. Instead, it is a product of the government’s steely and unrelenting efforts to control information, and history in particular.

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26. KINU Call for Papers

Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU) (“INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF KOREAN UNIFICATION STUDIES GUIDELINE FOR MANUSCRIPT CONTRIBUTION”, 2005-03-01) Authors may submit manuscripts to (E-mail) kimmik@kinu.or.kr. The deadline for the submission of manuscripts is April 30, 2005. The length required for articles should be around 20 pages in 12-font size (less than 7,000 words). An abstract of less than 200 words should accompany the manuscript. We accept material using Microsoft Word only. The main theme for the forthcoming issue is “The Second-term Bush Administration and Northeast Asia.” We are actively soliciting manuscripts in the following topics: – The North Korean Nuclear Issue and U.S.-NK Relations – U.S. Northeast Asia Policy and the Korean Peninsula Question – North Korean Nuclear Ambitions and International Order in Northeast Asia – Issues in ROK-U.S. Alliance and Its Future Direction – U.S.-China Relations and North Korea – U.S.-Japan/U.S.-Russia Relations, etc. – In addition, articles dealing with issues concerning Korean unification, North Korea, Northeast Asian security and international order are welcome.

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