NAPSNet Daily Report Tuesday, October 19, 2004

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NAPSNet Daily Report Tuesday, October 19, 2004

NAPSNet Daily Report Tuesday, October 19, 2004

I. United States

II. ROK

Preceding NAPSNet Report

I. United States

1. DPRK on Nuclear Talks

Associated Press (“N. KOREA SAYS TALKS WAY TO RESOLVE DISPUTE”, 2004-10-19) reported that the DPRK’s No. 2 leader has told the PRC that his country still regards six-nation talks on the dispute over its nuclear program as the best way to reach a solution, a PRC Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Tuesday. “It is a very important theme at the moment,” Zhang said. “The various parties believe that the six-party talks is the best way to solve the nuclear issue.”

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2. US on DPRK Nuclear Talks

Xinhua News (“POWELL TO DISCUSS SIX-PARTY TALKS DURING ASIA TOUR”, 2004-10-19) reported that US Secretary of State Colin Powell will discuss the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula and the six-party talks with leaders of Japan, the PRC and the ROK when he started his visit to the three countries on Oct. 23. “We remain ready to go back to early talks…we have a significant and comprehensive proposal on the table, and North Korea (DPRK) needs not only to come back to talks, but to be ready to deal with proposal,” Boucher said.

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3. DPRK on Relations with the US

Yonhap (“N. KOREA BLASTS U.S. AHEAD OF POWELL’S TRIP TO SEOUL “, 2004-10-19) reported that the DPRK stepped up its long-standing accusations against the US on Tuesday ahead of top US diplomat’s trip to the ROK. Uriminzokkiri, a DPRK Internet site, argued that the visit by US Secretary of State Colin Powell is aimed at strangling the DPRK and ratcheting up tension on the Korean Peninsula.

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4. US on Relations with the DPRK

Reuters (“U.S. SAYS IT POSES NO THREAT TO N.KOREA “, 2004-10-19) reported that the US does not pose a threat to the DPRK and has no intention of invading, a US official said Tuesday, urging Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear ambitions in exchange for possible security assurances. “We have no intention of posing a threat to North Korea. We are not intending to invade North Korea and we are prepared to provide the kind of security assurances that might be welcomed by North Korea,” Alan Larson, undersecretary of state for economic affairs, told Peking University students.

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5. DPRK Visit to the US

Yonhap (“NORTH KOREAN DISARMAMENT OFFICIALS REPORTEDLY RETURN FROM US TALKS”, 2004-10-19) reported that a group of DPRK disarmament experts visited two prestigious US universities last week, sources at the ROK mission in the US said Monday (18 October). The four-member delegation from the Disarmament and Peace Institute, a sub-organization of the DPRK Foreign Ministry, visited Harvard and Stanford universities last week, the sources said.

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6. US on DPRK Security Assurance

Kyodo (“U.S. READY TO PROVIDE SECURITY ASSURANCES TO N. KOREA: OFFICIAL”, 2004-10-19) reported that the US is prepared to provide security assurances to the DPRK, a US official said Tuesday, referring to the DPRK’s biggest concern as efforts continued to bring the country back to multilateral talks on its nuclear programs. “We are not intending to invade North Korea and we are prepared to provide the sort of security assurances that might be welcomed by North Korea,” he said.

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7. DPRK Nuclear Issue

Kyodo News (“N. KOREA POSES GREATER NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION THREAT: IISS”, 2004-10-19) reported that the nuclear proliferation threat posed by the DPRK has worsened over the past year, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said in a report released Tuesday. Both the DPRK and Iran were cited in the British think tank’s “Military Balance 2004-2005” as exploiting the US’ growing troubles in Iraq to gain enough confidence to stall talks on disarmament.

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8. Japan on DPRK Sanctions

Kyodo (“LDP TEAM TO COMPILE PLAN FOR IMPOSING SANCTIONS ON N. KOREA”, 2004-10-19) reported that a Liberal Democratic Party simulation team decided Tuesday to come up with an implementation plan for Japan to impose economic sanctions on the DPRK and a projection of the plan’s effects, panel members said. The group is hoping that showing the effectiveness of Japan’s new and revised legislation aimed at unilaterally imposing sanctions against the DPRK could put pressure on the DPRK and lead to progress in bilateral talks on the DPRK’s abductions of Japanese citizens.

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9. Sino – DPRK Relations

UPI (“CHINA VAGUE ON AID TO NORTH KOREA”, 2004-10-19) reported that the PRC’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue gave cryptic answers Tuesday as to the forms of aid her country is offering to the regime ruling the DPRK. “We are offering assistance within our capabilities; as for the types of assistance we provide, they serve the objective of solving the practical difficulties in the DPRK,” she said.

(return to top) Donga Ilbo (“CHINA PROMISES 30 BILLION WON WORTH OF AID TO NORTH KOREA “, 2004-10-19) reported that the aid package that the PRC has promised the DPRK was similar to what DPRK leader Kim Jong Il asked for on October 4 during the DPRK leader’s visit to Beijing. The package will include petroleum, food, construction materials, and various other supplies worth approximately 200 million yuan (approximately 30 billion won). (return to top)

10. US DPRK Human Rights Act

Chosun Ilbo (“U.S. PRESIDENT SIGNS N. KOREAN HUMAN RIGHTS ACT “, 2004-10-19) reported that US President George W. Bush signed the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 (NKHRA) on Monday, and said he would appoint a special envoy for North Korean human rights in accordance with the act. Both houses of the US Congress passed the NKHRA unanimously.

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11. ROK on US DPRK Human Rights Act

Korea Times (“MINISTER DOUBTS PRESSURE TACTICS ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN NORTH KOREA “, 2004-10-19) reported that unification Minister Chung Dong-young reaffirmed the government’s “silent diplomacy” toward human rights issues in the DPRK on Tuesday. His remark, made to rebuff a report by a state-funded research institute, drew attention as it came following US President George W. Bush’s signing of the DPRK human rights bill.

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12. Japan on US DPRK Human Rights Act

Kyodo (“JAPAN HAILS MENTION OF NORTH KOREA ABDUCTIONS ISSUE IN US RIGHTS BILL”, 2004-10-19) reported that Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura on Tuesday (19 October) praised a new US law aimed at improving human rights in the DPRK as the legislation urges the country to settle its abductions of Japanese and ROK citizens. “We highly rate the legislation as it mentions the abductions,” Machimura told a press conference.

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13. ROK on DPRK Human Rights

Chosun Ilbo (“GNP TO SUBMIT RESOLUTION ON N. KOREAN HUMAN RIGHTS “, 2004-10-19) reported that the Grand National Party (GNP) decided to push submitting a resolution into the National Assembly that would call for a change in the government’s attitude toward the DPRK human rights issue. GNP spokeswoman Chun Yu-ok said Tuesday, “The resolution calls for the government to change its attitude toward North Korean human rights, move beyond its tepid and quiet diplomacy and actively support defectors, and establish a monitoring system for humanitarian assistance like food and medicine given to North Korea.”

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14. ROK on National Security Law

Donga Ilbo (“PROSECUTOR GENERAL: “THE ABOLITION OF NSL WILL CAUSE CONFUSION” “, 2004-10-19) reported that Prosecutor General Song Kwang-soo expressed his concern yesterday over a bill introduced by the ruling Uri Party that seeks the abolition of the National Security Law (NSL) and, as a supplementary measure, suggested adding articles regarding rebellions into criminal law. He said if we do so, we would face serious confusion when punishing pro-DPRK activities.

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15. DPRK on National Security Law

Asia Pulse (“N.KOREA CRITICIZES COMPROMISE PROPOSAL ON ANTI-COMMUNIST LAW”, 2004-10-19) reported that the DPRK has denounced a proposal by the ROK’s ruling party not to repeal the country’s half-century-old anti-communist law but seek alternative legal measures. “Seeking legal measures to replace the National Security Law is nothing more than succumbing to conservatives,” said the commentary.

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16. ROK on Nuclear Experiment

Yonhap (“S KOREAN OFFICIAL IN US TO LOBBY ON NUCLEAR ISSUE AHEAD OF IAEA MTG”, 2004-10-19) reported that the ROK’s vice foreign minister has been visiting the US to convince US officials of his country’s nuclear transparency ahead of a meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog on Seoul’s past nuclear material experiments, ministry officials said Tuesday. Choi Young-jin, who arrived in the US on Monday, planned to reassure US officials that the ROK has no nuclear weapons ambitions and remains firmly committed to its nuclear nonproliferation obligations.

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17. US on ROK Nuclear Experiment

Korea Times (“US PROBE OF NUCLEAR EXPERIMENT UNLIKELY”, 2004-10-19) reported that Seoul officials on Tuesday rejected a report that the US is considering sending a team of nuclear experts to conduct its own investigation into recently revealed plutonium and uranium experiments carried out by ROK scientists during the past two decades. “There was a discussion, but the US official did not mention that the US would send a team to conduct an independent investigation of the experiments,” he told The Korea Times on condition of anonymity.

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18. Inter – Korean Economic Cooperation

Yonhap (“SOUTH KOREAN MPS TO ATTEND INDUSTRIAL PARK OFFICE INAUGURATION IN NORTH”, 2004-10-19) reported that a group of 62 ROK legislators will travel by bus across the heavily fortified border with the DPRK this week to visit an industrial park being built by the ROK in the DPRK, officials said Tuesday 19 October. The one-day visit, scheduled for Wednesday, underpins the DPRK’s keen interest in expanding economic ties with Seoul.

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19. Inter – Korean Naval Communications

Korea Times (“SEOUL SEEKS S-N SUBMARINE HOTLINE”, 2004-10-19) reported that the ROK is seeking to establish a naval hotline between its submarines and their DPRK counterparts to avoid accidental armed clashes, sources in the Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

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20. DPRK Defectors

The Associated Press (“REPORTS: TWO NORTH KOREANS DEFECT TO SOUTH KOREA ABOARD BOAT”, 2004-10-19) reported that two DPRK defectors believed to be a married couple sailed across a tense western sea border Tuesday seeking political asylum in the ROK, news reports said. The ROK navy, which found the DPRK defectors’ small boat, handed them over to maritime police for questioning, the ROK’s Yonhap news agency said.

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21. DPRK Defector on DPRK Succession

Yonhap (“TOP DEFECTOR PREDICTS FALL OF N.K. REGIME WITHOUT KIM JONG-IL”, 2004-10-19) reported that any successor to the DPRK’s leader Kim Jong-il will face a military coup within a couple of years at most without Kim at the helm, the highest-ranking DPRK defector to the ROK said Tuesday. “No matter who succeeds Kim Jong-il, the regime will not be able to last more than two years. The military, believed to hold out until the end, will rise up first,” Hwang Jang-yop.

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22. DPRK – Brazilian Relations

Yonhap (“NORTH KOREA SEEKS EMBASSY IN BRAZIL “, 2004-10-19) reported that the Brazilian Foreign Ministry confirmed Monday that the DPRK is planning to open an embassy here, the second diplomatic mission of the DPRK to South America. DPRK officials visited Brasilia in the first half of this year and met at least twice with foreign ministry officials, the ministry’s public relations office said.

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23. WMD Export Controls

Jiji Press (“JAPAN, U.S., CHINA, OTHERS TO ENHANCE WMD CONTROLS”, 2004-10-19) reported that Japan, the US, the PRC, the ROK and four other Pacific-rim economies agreed to tighten trade controls on weapons of mass destruction at a meeting of senior trade officials here on Monday. Based on the agreement, the eight economies, also including Australia, Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong, are set to establish trade management systems for nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

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24. ROK Energy Security

Yonhap (“GOV’T TO PRESENT BILL ON STABLE ENERGY PROVISION: ROH “, 2004-10-19) reported that President Roh Moo-hyun said Tuesday his government will soon legislate to help the government establish a long-term strategy for securing energy resources. “We will establish a legal framework for implementation of a national strategy for energy by enacting the basic law on energy,” Roh said in a contribution to local weekly Sisa Journal. “We are building a long-term and concrete national strategy, such as joint development of oil wells and import of natural gas,” he said.

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25. ROK on US Troop Realignment

Joongang Ilbo (“SEOUL SEEKING TO REDUCE COSTS OF KEEPING U.S. “, 2004-10-19) reported that the ROK government is seeking to freeze, if not reduce, the country’s payments for maintaining US forces on the peninsula, a government official said yesterday. “Considering that US forces are being reduced by 12,500 and the Yongsan Garrison is being moved, there will be a reduction in the stationing cost. Accordingly, we think that our burden has to be reduced,” the official said.

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26. Japan on US Troop Realignment

Kyodo (“KOIZUMI SEEKS GLOBAL CONTEXT TO REALIGN U.S. FORCES IN JAPAN”, 2004-10-19) reported that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Tuesday the global context of the Japan-US alliance, as well as the bilateral security treaty, should be taken into account when Tokyo negotiates with the US over a reduction of US forces in Japan. The comments, which came amid contradictory indications by his Cabinet ministers on whether Japan should seek security cooperation with the US beyond the Far East, appear to be aimed at trying to redefine Japan’s security policy.

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27. Japanese – US Trade Relations

The Associated Press (“JAPAN, U.S. TO TALK ON BAN ON BEEF IMPORTS”, 2004-10-19) reported that Japanese and US officials will meet in Tokyo this week for two days of talks aimed at lifting Japan’s 10-month ban on American beef imports, officials said Tuesday. The talks, which start Thursday, come days after Japan’s top food safety commission began reviewing a proposal to loosen the government’s testing requirements for the fatal bovine illness.

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28. Yasukuni Shrine Issue

Agence France-Presse (“JAPANESE LAWMAKERS MAKE GROUP VISIT TO CONTROVERSIAL WAR SHRINE”, 2004-10-19) reported that seventy-nine Japanese lawmakers including opposition members made a pilgrimage to a controversial war shrine, where past visits by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi have infuriated the PRC and the ROK.

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29. Sino – Japanese Gas Field Dispute

Kyodo News (“JAPAN, CHINA PLAN TALKS TO DEFUSE DISPUTE OVER GAS FIELDS IN EAST CHINA SEA”, 2004-10-19) reported that Japan and the PRC are planning talks aimed at defusing a territorial dispute in the East China Sea that has deepened in recent months because of competing claims over natural gas deposits, officials from both countries said Tuesday. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said the two sides were considering a meeting soon to talk over the dispute. “We are making arrangements so we can hold talks as early as within the next week,” Hosoda told reporters.

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30. Sino – Japanese Intellectual Property Law

Kyodo (“JAPAN ASKS CHINA TO STEP UP ENFORCEMENT AGAINST TRADEMARK BREACHES”, 2004-10-19) reported that Japanese officials in Beijing for an intellectual property conference on Tuesday urged their hosts to crack down harder on obscure but costly product piracy, such as PRC off-brand motorcycles shaped like Japanese name-brand bikes and non-cosmetic products marked “Shiseido.”

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31. Cross Strait Relations

Agence France-Presse (“TAIWAN MUST ACQUIRE SUBMARINES TO HEAD OFF CHINA BLOCKADE: MINISTER”, 2004-10-19) reported that Taiwan must acquire a fleet of submarines to prevent the PRC from mounting a naval blockade of the island in the event of a war, Defense Minister Lee Jye was quoted by a newspaper as saying. Lee told parliament the PRC “would require only 13 submarines to fully blockade Taiwan,” one of the military options tipped to be used by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) against the island, the China Times said.

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32. US on Cross Strait Relations

Agence France-Presse (“POWELL TO PROD CHINA TOWARD TALKS WITH TAIWAN”, 2004-10-19) reported that US Secretary of State Colin Powell will prod PRC leaders during a visit to Beijing to consider holding talks with Taiwan and allay concerns over US arms sales to Taipei, the State Department said.

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33. Sino – US Relations

The New York Times (“SECRET PAPERS ABOUT CHINA ARE RELEASED BY THE C.I.A. “, 2004-10-19) reported that the Central Intelligence Agency made public on Monday a rich trove of previously classified documents on the PRC, including the supposedly authoritative National Intelligence Estimates issued over the 30-year period of Mao Zedong’s rule. For scholars of what Mao called the PRC’s “continuous revolution,” of its tumultuous and intertwined relationships with the US, the USSR and Taiwan, and of the US intelligence efforts aimed at understanding the unfolding events, the documents disclose a mixed record of insights and miscues.

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34. US on PRC Energy Security

Voice of America (“US ENCOURAGES CHINA TO BUILD A STRATEGIC OIL RESERVE”, 2004-10-19) reported that the US is encouraging the PRC to build its strategic oil reserves because of concerns that the country’s rapidly increasing energy demands may threaten the stability of world oil markets. The PRC’s ravenous hunger for oil has triggered concerns in the US and Europe over what will happen if a crisis disrupts the world oil supply.

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35. US Nuclear Exports to the PRC

Agence France Presse (“US LIKELY TO APPROVE EXPORTS OF NUCLEAR REACTORS TO CHINA: OFFICIAL”, 2004-10-19) reported that the US’ nuclear regulator said Tuesday it is likely to approve the export of US-designed reactors to the PRC soon, granting US companies access to a previously blocked multi-billion-dollar market. Nils Diaz, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), said he was unaware of any significant objections to exporting the technology to the PRC.

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36. US on PRC Judicial System

Agence France-Presse (“US CRITICIZES CHINA’S JUSTICE SYSTEM”, 2004-10-19) reported that the US criticized the PRC’s justice system, saying it was “less than perfect.” The PRC’s supreme court president Xiao Yang himself admitted during talks with Secretary of State Colin Powell on Friday that his courts were not as independent as the US Supreme Court, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters. Asked to describe the US perception of the state of PRC justice, Boucher said: “Less than perfect.

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37. Sino – US Trade Relations

The Associated Press (“U.S. PRODS CHINA TO RESUME BEEF TRADE”, 2004-10-19) reported that the US is pushing the PRC to lift import bans on beef and poultry imposed because of mad cow disease and bird flu outbreaks, a senior state department official said Tuesday. Undersecretary of State for Economics and Business Affairs Alan Larson said the US has “taken all the steps necessary to show we are free of avian influenza.” “We would like to see that trade resume,” Larson told reporters at a news briefing.

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38. PRC Media Freedom

Beijing (“CHINESE COURT BACKS MEDIA, RAISES HOPES”, 2004-10-19) reported that in a case that could bolster free speech in the PRC, a court in the southern city of Guangzhou ruled Monday that a magazine did not commit libel when it wrote that a well-connected real estate developer was in financial straits. As the PRC’s media have become more aggressive in recent years, powerful business interests have used the courts and political connections to try to silence them.

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II. ROK

39. EU Leaders on DPRK Nuclear issue

Chosun Ilbo (“KOREA SEEKS SUPPORT ON N.K. NUKE ISSUE AT SUMMIT”, 2004-10-19) reported that ROK’s Prime Minister Lee Hai-Chan won international support to resolve DPRK’s nuclear standoff at a summit on progressive governance in Hungary. The sixth annual summit which wrapped up on Friday brought together 11 leaders including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson. The leaders agreed DPRK nuclear issue should be resolved within the multilateral framework, namely the six-way talks involving ROK & DPRK, the US, PRC, Japan and Russia.

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