I. NAPSnet

1. Japan and Six Party Talks

The Korea Times (“JAPAN’S CABINET RESHUFFLE COULD AFFECT NUKE TALKS”, 2005-11-01) reported that a high-ranking diplomat in Seoul warned on Tuesday that Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s Cabinet appointment of die-hard conservatives could affect the six party talks on the DPRK’s nuclear programs “It could affect the denuclearization talks,’’ Song Min-soon, vice foreign minister and South Korea’s top delegate to the talks, said in a CBS radio interview. In the large-scale reshuffle on Monday, Koizumi, named Shinzo Abe as his top government spokesman and Internal Affairs Minister Taro Aso as foreign minister. Both are known as steadfast supporters of Koizumi’s visits to a controversial war shrine in Tokyo. They also have backed conservative moves to impose sanctions against the DPRK over the abductee issue. RO Korean politicians, including those in the opposition parties, criticized Koizumi’s reshuffle for “ignoring the sentiment of neighboring Asian countries.’’

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2. Russia on DPRK Nuclear Program

MosNews (“RUSSIA CALLS ON NORTH KOREA TO SCRAP NUCLEAR WEAPONS “, 2005-11-01) reported that Russia has proposed that the provision of light-water reactors to the DPRK and the DPRK’s dismantling of nuclear weapons should take place simultaneously. “Here you see an issue of mutual mistrust. The only solution, therefore, is to synchronize all the steps,” Russian Ambassador to Seoul, Glev Ivashentsov said in an interview with Yonhap news agency. Ivashentsov stressed the need for the participants in the six party talks to “be a team to produce positive conditions,” saying “There should not be a bloc of five parties against one.”

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3. Pro-North Group Emerges in ROK

The Donga Ilbo (“PRO-NORTH UNIFICATION GROUP EMERGES “, 2005-11-01) reported that the headquarters of the “Movement to Make Our Nation One,” better known as the Gyeore Hana movement, is rapidly emerging as the ROK’s window to the inter-Korean exchanges recently being led by the DPRK. This group is closely associated with the “Unification Coalition for the Implementation of the June 15 Joint South-North Declaration and Peace in the Korean Peninsula”, a unification group that emphasizes nationalism and wages anti-American activities. The Unification Coalition created controversy by criticizing the recent EU draft resolution on the DPRK’s human rights, saying, “It is a vicious political slander that lacks even basic facts.”

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4. Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation

The New York Times (“COMMERCE SENDS SOUTH KOREA ACROSS DMZ”, 2005-10-31) reported that by next summer, officials at a DPRK immigration building are to be stamping passports for ROK tourists at the rate of 1,500 day. These tourist battalions are to roll north across the demilitarized zone on a new road and a new railroad, both built by the ROK.

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5. Inter-Korean Economic Aid

The Chosun Ilbo (“ANOTHER W5 TRILLION TO BE PoURED INTO N. KOREA “, 2005-11-01) reported that the ROK government wants to give the DPRK another W5.25 trillion (about US$5.25 billion) in aid over the next five years. Under a Unification Ministry proposal acquired by Grand National Party Rep. Chung Moon-hun, the government plans were drawn up based on a July meeting of the inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Committee. The government has additionally set aside W3.32 trillion to supply electricity to the DPRK over the next five years if it abandons its nuclear program. Money is to be spent on boosting the DPRK’s light industry, agriculture, fisheries, mining, and science and technology sectors. W560 billion will go to agricultural projects like the development of joint farming complexes, forestation and exchanges of agricultural experts. W100 billion will be spent on marine cooperation, W150 billion on joint mining projects and W120 billion on science and technology cooperation over the next five years.

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6. Inter-Korean Athletic Cooperation

The Korea Times (“2 KOREAS TO FIELD UNIFIED TEAMS FOR 2006 ASIAN GAMES, 2008 OLYMPICS”, 2005-11-01) reported that the ROK and the DPRK reaffirmed Tuesday they will field a united team for the 2006 Asian Games and the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the ROK delegation said in a joint press release. They also agreed to meet in the DPR Korean border town of Kaesong on Dec. 7 to work out further details, the release said. The two sides will nominate the vice presidents of their respective Olympic Committees to head the delegation during the second talks, but they did not limit the number of delegation members for each side’s convenience.

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7. DPRK-PRC Economic Cooperation

Interfax China (“CHINA’S TONGHUA STEEL TO DEVELOP NORTH KOREA’S LARGEST IRON ORE DEPOSIT”, 2005-11-01) reported that Tonghua Iron and Steel Group, a mid-sized steel maker in northeastern PRC, has been granted rights to develop the largest iron ore deposit in the DPRK, according to local government officials. Tonghua Steel, a state-owned steel maker based Tonghua City in Jilin Province, will be granted 50-year exploration rights at the Musan iron ore deposit in the DPRK, according the Jilin-based East Asia Economic News. The provincial government has negotiated deals with the DPR Korean government to swap power for mineral ore.

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8. DPRK-PRC Relations

The Korea Times (“N. KOREAN LEADER INCREASES TOURS OF INDUSTRIAL FACILITIES”, 2005-11-01) reported that the DPRK’s leader Kim Jong-il has increased his inspections of industrial plants, while the PRC has pledged to maintain economic support for the DPRK, the North’s state media reported Tuesday. “China will continue to encourage and support Chinese enterprises to invest and cooperate with their counterparts in the DPRK,” said Wang Jiarui, chief of the PRC Communist Party’s International Department.

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9. DPRK-Japanese Relations

Reuters (“JAPAN, NORTH KOREA SET FOR TALKS ON IMPROVING TIES”, 2005-10-31) reported that Japan and the DPRK kick off their first full-fledged talks seeking to resolve long-standing disputes that have blocked the Asian neighbours from establishing diplomatic ties. A failure to improve ties could hamper the six party talks because Tokyo is reluctant to give large-scale aid to Pyongyang in return for abandoning its nuclear ambitions. Tokyo has offered full-scale financial aid to the DPRK, but only after diplomatic ties are forged.

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10. DPRK Defectors

The Korea Times (“DEFECTOR PLANS MUSICAL ABOUT NK PRISON CAMPS”, 2005-11-01) reported that DPRK defectors are preparing to stage a musical in Seoul showing human rights abuses in concentration camps for political offenders in the DPRK. Jung Sung-san, who was once imprisoned at a camp in Sariwon, North Hwanghae Province, wrote the script for the coming musical, “Yodok Story,” a story about the 15th detention center in Yodok, South Hamkyong Province. “I am making the musical at the risk of my life,” Jung, who will also direct the show, told The Korea Times over the phone.

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11. DPRK Transportation Industry

Reuters (“ON YOUR BIKE — NORTH KOREA MAKES VIRTUE OF NECESSITY “, 2005-11-01) reported that the DPR Korean leader Kim Jong-il is urging workers to produce more bicycles to cope with the lack of transport, improve people’s health and prevent pollution just days after the country’s first bike factory opened. Visitors to the DPRK’s capital, Pyongyang, say traffic pollution is not a major environmental concern simply because there is hardly any traffic.

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12. US-PRC Nuclear Technology Transfer

China Daily (“US TO TRANSFER NUCLEAR REACTOR TECH TO CHINA”, 2005-10-27) reported that a senior US official yesterday expressed repeated commitment to transferring nuclear reactor technologies to the PRC. Administrator of the US National Nuclear Security Administration, Linton Brooks, told China Daily: “There is no reason why the (reactor) technology should not be transferred to a country like China.” Industry insiders said the commitment from Brooks, who is also undersecretary of the US Department of Energy, is expected to boost US nuclear power company Westinghouse’s attempts to win a US$8-billion contract to build four nuclear reactors at Sanmen in Zhejiang Province and Guangdong Province’s Yangjiang.

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13. PRC-Russia Relations

RIA NOVOSTI (“CHINA READY TO DEVELOP STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH RUSSIA”, 2005-11-01) reported that PRC is ready to develop strategic partnership with Russia, the PRC defense minister said Tuesday. Cao Gangchuan held talks Tuesday with State Duma Deputy and former Russian Security Council Secretary Andrei Kokoshin, who participated in the International and Regional Situations and PRC-Russian Strategic Interaction forum, hosted by the PRC’s capital October 31 – November 1. The forum focused on security and stability in Asia and the Pacific.

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14. Cross-Strait Relations

Science Daily (“CHINA MOUTHPIECE SLAMS HONG KONG DEMOCRACTS”, 2005-11-01) reported that a commentary in the official PRC Daily Tuesday said it was illegal for democrats in Hong Kong to call for a timetable for the territory to achieve democracy. The Hong Kong edition of the newspaper, seen as a mouthpiece for the Beijing government, said the democrats’ demand was unlawful and impractical.

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15. Sino-Japanese Relations

Xinhua (“CHINA URGES “POLITICAL WILL” FROM JAPAN FOR IMPROVING TIES”, 2005-11-01) reported that the PRC urged Japan to show its “political will” for improving and developing Sino-Japanese ties, according to a foreign ministry spokesman here Tuesday. The key to the return of Sino-Japanese ties back to normal track should not lie in “lip words” but on “actual deeds,” the spokesman Kong Quan told a regular conference.

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16. Japanese-US Security Issues

The Asahi Shimbun (“OKINAWA GOVERNOR SNUBS U.S. BASE PLAN”, 2005-11-01) reported that Okinawa Governor Keiichi Inamine on Monday minced no words on what he thinks of last week’s agreement to relocate a US Marine Corps heliport to a facility off Nago, Okinawa Prefecture. “I cannot accept the plan,” Inamine told Defense Facilities Administration Agency Director-General Iwao Kitahara in a meeting.

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17. Japan on Yasukuni Shrine Visits

Kyodo News (“ABE MAKES CONCILIATORY COMMENTS OVER YASUKUNI ROW”, 2005-11-01) reported that new Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe made a conciliatory comment toward the PRC and ROK on Tuesday as he defended Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s visits to the war-related Yasukuni Shrine against criticism from the two countries. ”I can fully understand the feelings of PRC and ROK people toward the matter,” Abe, who was appointed as top government spokesman in Koizumi’s Cabinet reshuffle Monday, said in a press conference.

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18. Japanese Media

BBC News (“JAPAN MEDIA WARY AT NEW CABINET”, 2005-11-01) reported that newspapers in Japan have expressed concern that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s cabinet reshuffle has brought in two new ministers with reputations as hardliners in foreign affairs, particularly in relation to Asian neighbours like the PRC.

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19. Bird Flu

Guardian Unlimited (“CHINA PLEDGES TRANSPARENCY OVER BIRD FLU”, 2005-11-01) reported that a senior PRC official today insisted that the country has learned the lessons of the SARS outbreak and promised complete openness in its fight against bird flu. PRC was heavily criticized during the 2003 outbreak of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, for initially covering up the illness. Now Beijing says it is committed to quickly investigating and reporting possible bird flu cases to the public and world health groups.

(return to top) Associated Press (“ASIA-PACIFIC NATIONS COPING WITH OUTBREAK OF BIRD FLU TO STAGE MOCK DISEASE OUTBREAK NEXT YEAR”, 2005-11-01) reported that countries across the Asia-Pacific region coping with an outbreak of bird flu plan to stage a mock disease outbreak next year to gauge how well they would respond to a pandemic or other major health threat, an Australian official said Tuesday. (return to top)

20. PRC Economy

Financial Times (“CHINA’S RAILWAYS WELCOME FOREIGN INVESTORS ON BOARD”, 2005-11-01) reported that for railway history buffs, the news is bad: over the next year or so PRC is expected finally to phase out the steam engines that still run so picturesquely on the country’s more remote regional lines. But while PRC’s railway modernization will not please trainspotters, it may be more welcome among modern-minded investors hoping for a role in one of the world’s most dramatic rail network expansions.

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21. PRC On Peaceful Development

BBC News (“HU SAYS CHINA’S RISE ‘PEACEFUL’ “, 2005-11-01) reported that PRC President Hu Jintao has told Vietnam’s parliament that his country’s rapid economic rise presents no threat to other nations in the region. Mr Hu said China’s development would be peaceful and cooperative. Mr Hu is only the third foreign leader to have addressed Vietnam’s parliament, following Swedish and Laotian visitors.

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