NAPSNet Daily Report Tuesday, October 25, 2005

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NAPSNet Daily Report Tuesday, October 25, 2005

NAPSNet Daily Report Tuesday, October 25, 2005

I. NAPSnet

Preceding NAPSNet Report

I. NAPSnet

1. Six Party Talks

Reuters (“N. KOREA NUCLEAR TALKS MAY START NOV 8 – REPORT”, 2005-10-25) reported that the next round of six party talks may start on November 8, according to a Japanese newspaper on Tuesday. A spokesman for the DPRK’s Foreign Ministry told the Korean Central News Agency on Monday that the DPRK would attend a new round of six party talks but questioned whether Washington was prepared to stick to a deal reached last month. “It is our consistent and invariable stand to realize the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula through dialogue,” the spokesman said. “We will, therefore, go to the 5th six party talks at the date to be agreed upon early in November as the six parties had committed themselves to do so.”

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2. ROK on DPRK Nuclear Program

Yonhap News (“CHUNG DY URGES N.K. TO DISMANTLE NUKE WEAPONS BEFORE GETTING LWRS”, 2005-10-24) reported that ROK Unification Minister Chung Dong-young urged the DPRK on Monday to dismantle its nuclear weapons programs before receiving light water nuclear reactors in reward. “Once they do that, North Korea will be entitled to enjoy their rights to use nuclear energy in a peaceful way and it is very natural for North Korea to have such a right once they have done all these things,” Chung said in an interview with the Financial Times. “Of course, the right to use nuclear energy in a peaceful way will include the construction of light water reactors.”

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3. US on DPRK Nuclear Program

The Associated Press (“RICE WARNS N. KOREA ON NEW NUCLEAR DEMANDS”, 2005-10-24) reported that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned on Monday that the DPRK should not bring any new demands to international disarmament talks and that the DPRK’s claim to a nuclear power reactor “remains an abstraction.” “I assume they are going to come back. If they come back it’s without preconditions, because that’s the only basis on which the talks will be restarted,” Rice told reporters. “The light water reactor issue continues to be an abstraction,” Rice said.

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4. Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation

The Korea Times (“DP LEADER PROPOSES S-N BUSINESS CORPS”, 2005-10-24) reported that Representative Han Hwa-kap of the Democratic Party suggested on Monday that an investment fund and business corps for the DPRK be set-up in the ROK. “Creating the investment fund is necessary to make the investment in the North safer for South Korean companies,” said Han. He also called for a “business corps for unification,” which he said would be able to focus on building infrastructure in the DPRK using the human resources and finance that could be obtained if the ROK and DPRK carried out arms reductions. “If these visions come true, North Korean economy can be improved a great deal without additional financial aid,” Han stressed. “I’m confident that it will not only help ease tension on the Korean Peninsula, but also entice more support and investment from the international community.”

(return to top) The Korea Times (“NORTH KOREA, HYUNDAI TO DISCUSS NORMALIZING BUSINESS RELATIONS”, 2005-10-25) reported that the DPRK has accepted Hyundai Group’s proposal for a bilateral meeting to discuss normalizing their soured business relations, officials at the group and the Unification Ministry said on Tuesday. Hyundai Group officials said the DPRK was replying to their repeated proposal for a bilateral meeting, and that they expect it will help resolve recent frictions in the group’s business in the DPRK. “As Hyundai’s business in North Korea benefits both the group and North Korea, we think it will continue,” said a senior official in charge of inter-Korean exchanges at the ministry. (return to top)

5. Inter-Korean Relations

The Financial Times (“SEOUL SEEKS SHORT CUTS TO UNIFICATION OF PENINSULA”, 2005-10-24) reported that the ROK government’s aim for “peace and prosperity” on the Korean peninsula is partly driven by the emotional pain of separation, but mainly by the economic burden a sudden collapse of the DPRK would place on the ROK. “With projects like the Kaesong industrial complex that provide mutual benefits, we are able to make the two Koreas interdependent on each other. By improving the economic conditions, we will be able to overcome the cold war on the Korean peninsula,” said the ROK’s Unification Minister Chung Dong-young. “If you can help people visit each other more frequently and freely and allow more people and more materials and more communication between the two Koreas, this will be a short cut to national unification,” Chung said.

(return to top) Donga Ilbo (“NORTH KOREAN PRESS ATTACKS GNP”, 2005-10-21) reported that DPRK weekly Tongil Sinbo criticized the ROK’s Grand National Party’s reaction to ROK professor Kang Jeong-koo, who said the Korean War should be regarded as a “war for unification.” In a strongly-worded article published on October 15, the weekly said, “It is indeed an outmoded and imprudent act that the GNP is making fuss about an academic statement by a scholar and demanding conviction by the Security Law. The GNP is the enemy of Korean people that is blocking the integration and unification of them.” In response, GNP spokeswoman Chun Yu-ok said, “North Korea should give up its aspiration to communize the Korean Peninsula.” (return to top) Joongang Ilbo (“NORTH’S TACTICS SEEM TO SOFTEN”, 2005-10-25) reported that after an ideological debate emerged in the ROK over a pro-DPRK scholar’s description of the Korean War as the “North Korean leadership’s war for reunification,” Seoul officials and DPRK experts immediately turned their eyes and ears to observing Pyongyang’s reaction. Most believed the DPRK would use the controversy in its anti-ROK propaganda, but the DPRK has been showing a markedly different approach to the controversial ideological debate in the ROK. The DPRK is also issuing less propaganda claiming the regime’s superiority over the ROK these days. A Seoul official yesterday said, “North Korea is rapidly changing its attitude. It is no longer paying attention to issues that would not bring about practical gains to it.” (return to top) Chosun Ilbo (“SEOUL CONDOLES PYONGYANG ON SENIOR OFFICIAL’S DEATH”, 2005-10-24) reported that ROK Unification Minister Chung Dong-young sent a message of condolence to the DPRK on Monday regarding the death of the country’s former premier Yon Hyong-muk. The ministry said it was the first official message of condolence from Seoul on the death of a DPRK official. The ministry was originally going to limit itself to a statement from a spokesman on Sunday. “We decided to send a telegram because we need to reflect a new paradigm in inter-Korean relations, which changed so much when a North Korean delegation visited the National Cemetery during the Independence Day celebrations,” ministry spokesman Yang Chang-seok said. (return to top)

6. DPRK-US Relations

The New York Times (“U.S. WIDENS CAMPAIGN ON NORTH KOREA”, 2005-10-24) reported that the Bush administration is expanding what it calls “defensive measures” against the DPRK, urging nations from the PRC to the former Soviet states to deny overflight rights to DPRK aircraft that the US says are carrying weapons technology, according to two senior administration officials. The administration is also seeking to monitor the DPRK by placing radiation detectors at land crossings and at airports throughout Central Asia. The new effort underscored the efforts the administration is undertaking to curb the DPRK’s exports of missile parts, drugs and counterfeit currency that are widely believed to be its main source of revenue and the way it finances its nuclear program.

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7. DPRK-PRC Bilateral Talks

BBC News (“CHINA PRESIDENT TO VISIT N KOREA”, 2005-10-21) reported that PRC President Hu Jintao will travel to the DPRK next week–his first trip there since becoming president. The announced visit comes just weeks before a fifth round of six party talks is set to begin in November. It also comes ahead of a scheduled visit to the PRC by US President Bush.

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8. DPRK-Japanese Bilateral Talks

Agence France Presse (“JAPAN, NKOREA EYEING NOV 2 TO RESUME BILATERAL TALKS IN BEIJING”, 2005-10-24) reported that Japan and the DPRK are considering resuming official bilateral talks on November 2 as the two nations attempt to normalize relations, a news report said. Tokyo and Pyongyang are arranging to hold the talks in Beijing, though more discussions are needed before the two countries confirm the schedule, Jiji Press said, citing Japanese and DPRK diplomatic sources. A Japanese diplomat with the foreign ministry division in charge of Korean affairs said the schedule for the talks had yet to be confirmed and declined to comment further on the reports.

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9. DPRK Leadership

Reuters (“DEATH OF N. KOREAN AIDE NOT SEEN AS HERALDING CHANGE”, 2005-10-24) reported that the death of the DPRK’s No. 3 defense official and a close confidant of leader Kim Jong-il, Yon Hyong-muk is unlikely to change the nature of the state, analysts said on Monday. Analysts said Yon’s role in recent years had been largely ceremonial and his death did not mean change was imminent. “By the very nature of the North Korean regime, change is next to impossible,” said Kim Young-ho, a professor at Sungshin Women’s University in Seoul. “The most probable change, if you can call it that, would be a collapse of the regime,” he told Reuters. The ROK’s Unification Minister Chung Dong-young credited Yon as a key player in the effort to ease tension between the two Koreas.

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10. DPRK Food Aid

Reuters (“UN FOOD BODY HOPES TO AGREE N. KOREA ROLE NEXT YEAR”, 2005-10-25) reported that the World Food Program (WFP) hopes to reach an agreement with the DPRK and donor countries next year on a continued role in the country, the WFP’s director said on Tuesday. “My sense is that North Korea wants the World Food Program to stay,” said James Morris, executive director of the UN program. “They would like for us to be helpful in terms of development activities.” A DPRK official will travel to Rome on Wednesday for discussions on the future role of the WFP, and Morris plans to visit Pyongyang in December for further talks, he said. Morris also added that two of the biggest donors to the WFP program in the DPRK had not recently pledged food for this purpose. “We are at a point now where we do not have a commitment from Japan and we do not have a commitment from South Korea,” Morris said.

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11. DPRK Human Rights

Chosun Ilbo (“U.S. HUMAN RIGHTS ENVOY WANTS TALKS WITH PYONGYANG”, 2005-10-25) reported that the US special envoy for human rights in the DPRK, Jay Lefkowitz, said on Monday he would like to talk with the DPRK directly to discuss human rights. Lefkowitz also hopes to visit the ROK “in the near future” for talks on Pyongyang’s dismal rights record. The envoy confessed himself “troubled” by the ROK’s repeated abstentions on a UN Human Rights Commission resolution condemning the DPRK’s human rights record. “There is no question, I think, that it is appropriate and would be very timely for the Korean government to join with the rest of the community of nations in condemning … certain human rights abuses,” he said.

(return to top) Chosun Ilbo (“SEOUL MEET TO HIGHLIGHT N. KOREAN RIGHTS ABUSES”, 2005-10-24) reported that prominent local and foreign academics and human rights activists plan to assemble in Seoul to do what they say should be the government’s job of highlighting human rights abuses in the DPRK. “Defending human rights should be a starting point on the path toward resolving the North Korean nuclear dispute and peaceful reunification,” said Hwang Jang-yop, a DPRK defector and committee co-director. The conference is slated for December 5-11. (return to top) Yonhap News (“EU TO CLOSELY MONITOR N. KOREA’S HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION: ENVOY”, 2005-10-24) reported that the European Union (EU) is still committed to engaging the DPRK despite the protracted nuclear weapons dispute, but it will keep a close eye on human rights in the country, the EU’s top envoy to the ROK said on Monday. Dorian Prince, the European Commission’s ambassador to Seoul, also advised Pyongyang to withdraw its demand for a United Nations food agency to discontinue humanitarian aid for millions of starving people in the DPRK. (return to top)

12. DPRK Defectors

The Korea Herald (“DEUTSCHE BANK TO HELP N. KOREAN DEFECTORS LIVING IN SOUTH KOREA”, 2005-10-25) reported that Germany’s largest bank, Deutsche Bank, will give financial aid to DPRK defectors living in the ROK, as it signed an agreement with Seoul’s Social Solidarity Bank yesterday. The Solidarity Bank will receive 50,000 euros (about $60,000) from Deutsche Bank upon the agreement, which will go to DPRK defectors who want to start their own businesses in the ROK. The solidarity bank plans to provide DPRK defectors with training sessions on “how to start a business in South Korea”, after which it will select two people from the group to provide as much as 20 million won ($19,000) to start a business right away.

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13. POWS, Abductees in DPRK

Reuters (“N. KOREA TELLS SOUTH 21 POWS, ABDUCTEES STILL ALIVE”, 2005-10-25) reported that 10 ROK prisoners of war and 11 civilian abductees are still alive in the DPRK, the ROK Unification Ministry said on Tuesday. DPRK authorities gave the number in response to Seoul’s request for information about 50 prisoners of war who went missing during the 1950-53 Korean War and another 50 people the ROK believes the DPRK abducted since then. While the DPRK’s response is unprecedented, the figures are far below the more than 540 prisoners of war many in the ROK — including the Red Cross — believe are still alive in the DPRK. Nearly 500 civilian abductees are also believed to be alive, many of them fishermen captured at sea.

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14. DPRK Bird Flu Prevention

Reuters (“NORTH KOREA ON GUARD AGAINST BIRD FLU”, 2005-10-24) reported that the DPRK is stepping up a campaign to prevent an outbreak of bird flu, using its experience in dealing with a previous outbreak, the state’s official media said on Monday. “The government, based on the experience gained in the anti-bird flu epidemic work, has established a system of quickly and correctly reporting an outbreak of the case to the central guidance office while making all material and technical preparations so as to remove any slight symptoms in time,” the Korean Central News Agency said. No cases of human infection have been reported in either the ROK or DPRK.

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15. DPRK Tourism

The Financial Times (“NORTH KOREA – THE ‘PEOPLE’S PARADISE’ FOR INTREPID TOURISTS”, 2005-10-22) reported that DPRK has allowed hundreds of western tourists to visit over the past three months as it celebrates a string of anniversaries and tries to convey a sense of normalcy to the outside world. “Certainly, the order was given from the very top of the North Korean leadership to let almost everyone come and see that socialism is intact,” said Leonid Petrov, a DPRK expert who also acts as a tourism consultant. Critics claim tourism dollars merely help prop up the country’s regime, but travel agents say the contribution is minimal. Julia Dalard, a Russian who runs tours through KoreaKonsult in Stockholm, said the trickle-down impact was more important. “I believe by doing business with or simply visiting North Korea we help the Korean people to overcome their economic difficulties. This fact may motivate some people to consider a tourist trip as a prelude to some business co-operation with this country.”

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16. ROK Espionage

The Korea Herald (“FORMER SOUTH KOREAN COMMANDO TELLS ABOUT HIS ESPIONAGE LIFE”, 2005-10-24) reported that in a memoir released on Sunday, a former ROK commando Kim Dong-sok tells of ROK’s spies who operated against the DPRK from the 1950s to the early 1960s. Through his journal, “This Man, War Hero Kim Dong-sok,”, Kim discloses for the first time that he successfully operated a secret mission in the DPRK to kidnap Li Yong-hi, a DPRK general, soon after the end of 1950-53 Korean War. Kim explains in the book how his agents infiltrated into DPRK territory two or three times a month during the war, and that the raids continued even after the armistice agreement was signed in 1953.

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17. US Probe of DPRK Firms

Agence France Presse (“US BLACKLISTS EIGHT NORTH KOREA ENTITIES OVER WMD PROLIFERATION”, 2005-10-21) reported that the US blacklisted eight DPRK entities as proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and froze whatever assets they have under US jurisdiction. The action also prohibits all transactions between US citizens and the entities, according to a statement from the Treasury Department. “Today’s action turns a spotlight on eight firms involved in WMD proliferation out of North Korea. We will continue to expose and designate these dangerous actors,” said Stuart Levey, the Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. Among those blacklisted were Hesong Trading Corporation and Tosong Technology Trading Corporation, whose parent comany is Korea Mining Development Corporation. The remaining six Pyongyang-based companies belong to parent company Korea Ryonbong General Corporation.

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18. USFJ Realignment

Reuters (“JAPAN SAYS GAP NARROWS IN US MILITARY BASE TALKS”, 2005-10-25) reported that Japan and the US are narrowing differences over where to relocate a US military base in Japan, and Tokyo hopes to resolve the matter in a day or two, Japanese defense minister Yoshinori Ohno said on Tuesday. Moving the Marines’ Futenma air base on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa is a key sticking point in talks on the realignment of US forces in Japan, part of Washington’s plan to transform its military globally into a more flexible force.

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19. Sino-Japanese Relations

Agence France Presse (“CHINA SAYS ‘DIFFICULT’ TO HOLD SINO-JAPAN SUMMIT “, 2005-10-25) reported that the PRC Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei said it would be “very difficult” to hold Sino-Japanese summits on the sidelines of upcoming international meetings given current diplomatic friction. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s visits to a Tokyo war shrine also made it impossible for Beijing to support Japan’s bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, Wu said in an interview with Japan’s Kyodo News.

(return to top) Agence France Presse (“SINO-JAPANESE BUSINESS TIES CAN WEATHER DIPLOMATIC STORM: EXPERTS”, 2005-10-25) reported that experts are assured that economic relations between Japan and the PRC can weather the diplomatic storm between the two nations although the business climate has worsened in the short term. The PRC still presents Japanese companies with lucrative opportunities, despite renewed bilateral friction over Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s repeated visits to a Tokyo war shrine, it was said. (return to top)

20. PRC on Cross Strait Relations

The Associated Press (“CHINA MARKS END OF JAPAN RULE OVER TAIWAN”, 2005-10-25) reported that the PRC on Tuesday marked the 60th anniversary of the end of Japanese colonial rule over Taiwan in festivities meant to affirm the mainland’s claim to the self-ruled island. PRC leaders held an official ceremony in Beijing, while the state press called for Taiwan to unite with the mainland.

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21. PRC on US Proliferation Controls

Xinhua (“CHINA CALLS ON US TO STOP PUNISHING COMPANIES ACCUSED ON PROLIFERATION”, 2005-10-25) reported that just weeks before an expected visit by US President George W Bush, PRC has urged the US to stop punishing PRC companies it suspects of proliferating sensitive weapons technology. “The United States does not follow international practices in punishing the enterprises. We request that they should stop,” foreign ministry spokesman Kong Quan said, according to Agence France Presse.

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22. US on PRC Nuclear Security

The Associated Press (“US HELPS CHINA WITH NUCLEAR SECURITY “, 2005-10-25) reported that the US government is trying to help the PRC’s booming nuclear power industry tighten security by conducting demonstrations this week of measures meant to prevent the theft of radioactive material, an American official said Tuesday. The event is the first of its kind conducted by the US government anywhere in the world, said Linton Brooks, head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, which maintains Washington’s nuclear arsenal.

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23. PRC Nuclear Energy

Itar-Tass (“CHINA TO SPUR ON DEVELOPMENT OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS”, 2005-10-25) reported that the PRC should spur on the development of nuclear power plants, the Renmin Ribao newspaper quoted Director of the Energy Research Institute under the National Development and Reform Committee Zhou Dadi. The total capacity of nuclear power plant units will reach 40 million kilowatt by the year 2020 or 4% of the total output of all national power plants.

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24. US-PRC Relations

Chosun Ilbo (“RUMSFELD: CHINA HAS MUCH TO LOSE IF IT BECOMES A THREAT”, 2005-10-25) reported that US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says the PRC has much to lose if its leaders decide to use the country’s fast-growing military power in threatening ways. The secretary made the comment while assessing his just-concluded visit to Asia during a flight to Europe for meetings on other issues.

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25. PRC Bird Flu Outbreak

The Associated Press (“BIRD FLU IN CHINA SICKENS 2,100 GEESE”, 2005-10-25) reported that a bird flu outbreak sickened 2,100 geese in eastern PRC and killed about a quarter of them — the country’s second outbreak reported in a week, a UN official said Tuesday. The Agriculture Ministry confirmed Monday that the birds died of the H5N1 virus near Tianchang, a city in Anhui province, said Noureddin Mona, the PRC representative for the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization.

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26. PRC Environment

Agence France Presse (“400,000 PEOPLE IN CHINA DIE PREMATURELY FROM AIR POLLUTION ANNUALLY: EXPERT”, 2005-10-25) reported that more than 400,000 people in PRC die prematurely annually from air pollution, according to an unpublished study by the research arm of the government’s environmental protection agency, AFP learned. The study, conducted by the PRC Academy on Environmental Planning in 2003, found that 300,000 people died from outdoor pollution, while 111,000 people died from indoor pollution each year, said Wang Jin’nan.

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