NAPSNet Daily Report Wednesday, August 30, 2006

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NAPSNet Daily Report Wednesday, August 30, 2006

NAPSNet Daily Report Wednesday, August 30, 2006

I. NAPSNet

Preceding NAPSNet Report

I. NAPSNet

1. DPRK on Six Party Talks

Donga-Ilbo (“NORTH SIGNALS RETURN TO 6-PARTY TALKS”, 2006-08-28) reported that 40 days after denouncing the UN Security Council Resolution, the DPRK Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on August 26 its intentions to “return to the six-party talks as there is more to gain from the talks,” while denouncing the United States, which intensified its financial sanctions against the state, as the reason the Six Party Talks failed. “We would like to proceed with the talks as we would gain more from consensus in this matter,” said a spokesman. Though it is not the first time the DPRK has stated that it does not oppose the Six Party Talks since the first round in August 2003, it has never directly expressed its intention to carry on with the talks by stating, “there is much to gain.”

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2. ROK – US Talks on DPRK

Yonhap News Agency (“S. KOREAN NUCLEAR ENVOY TO VISIT WASHINGTON THIS WEEK”, 2006-08-29) reported that ROK’s chief negotiator for the Six Party Talks, Chun Yung-woo, said Tuesday that he will visit Washington this week for talks with his US counterpart Christopher Hill. Chun played down the significance of his US trip. “It is just part of the frequent discussions between South Korea and the U.S. on the North Korean nuclear issue,” he said. “It would be better than doing nothing.” He said he will meet with Hill in Washington, but refused to talk about the remainder of his schedule there.

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3. Kim Jong Il Visit to PRC

Yonhap News Agency (“SEOUL CAUTIOUS ABOUT REPORTS OF KIM’S POSSIBLE TRIP TO CHINA”, 2006-08-30) reported that the ROK remains cautious about rumors that Kim Jong-il has just begun a secret trip to the PRC. Government officials said they haven’t seen any noteworthy indications regarding media reports of Kim’s probable visit. “We can’t officially confirm the reports. Currently, it is only a possibility,” said Choo Kyu-ho, spokesman for South Korea’s Foreign Ministry. The Chinese government has also kept silent. Kim may be visiting there to either mend ties with the PRC or seek a way out of Washington’s intensifying restrictions on Pyongyang’s alleged illicit financial activities. His visit, if confirmed, will be the second this year following his eight-day tour of the southern industrial cities in January.

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4. ROK Red Cross on Aid for DPRK Flood Victims

Joong Ang Ilbo (“RED CROSS TO SUPERVISE AID DELIVERY”, 2006-08-30) reported that the Korean Red Cross will supervise the delivery this week to supervise the delivery of the first government aid package to help the DPRK recover from recent flooding. The Red Cross officials will depart from the port of Incheon at 11 a.m. Wednesday to the DPRK’s Nampo port aboard the 3,000-ton ship Trade Fortune, which sails regularly between the Koreas, according to the official. The shipment includes 300 tons of rice, 20,000 blankets and 10,000 first aid kits, according to officials.

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5. Inter-Korean Relations

International Herald Tribune (“FOR 2 KOREAS, A QUEST TO UNITE A LANGUAGE”, 2006-08-30) reported that the Koreas are bypassing their political differences to compile a joint dictionary of the Korean language, their first attempt to prevent their languages from drifting further apart. After six decades of living separated across a tightly sealed border, Koreans find themselves divided by what used to be a common language, so much so that a person from one side often gets bewildered, amused and even mistakenly angered by what a person from the other side says. In a 2001 survey, only 24 percent of defectors said that they understood RO Koreans perfectly. Lee Young Hwan, an RO Korean who works with defectors at Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights in Seoul, said new defectors “don’t understand 60 percent of what South Koreans say, not only because of different vocabulary, but also because of the unfamiliarity of the topics.”

(return to top) Seoul Times (“S. KOREA’S NEW TREND? ANYTHING FROM THE NORTH”, 2006-08-30) reported that after more than half a decade of rapprochement, the DPRK is all the rage in the ROK, in a retro-kitschy fashion, and DPR Koreans are seen not as threatening aggressors, but as country bumpkin cousins, needing an introduction to big- city life. Settled Refugee-defectors and RO Koreans alike are opening DPRK-themed restaurants, selling DPR Korean goods and auctioning off artwork on www.NKMall.com. The The Pyongyang Moran Bar, 120-seat bar opened in February, complete with inferior DPR Korean beverages, DPR Korean landscape posters, DPR Korean songs, a photo of Kim above the bar counter with his RO Korean counterpart and, most important, DPR Korean waitresses – or, as a sign outside announced, “Beautiful girls from North Korea!” (return to top)

6. US-ROK Security Alliance

Chosun Ilbo (“MDP LEADER WANTS TO SEE ROH ABOUT WARTIME CONTROL”, 2006-08-30) reported that Millennium Democratic Party’s chairman Hahn Hwa-kap became the second opposition leader to ask for a one-on-one meeting with President Roh Moo-hyun to discuss the plan to take over wartime operational control of ROK troops from the US. The main opposition Grand National Party chairman Kang Jae-sup also asked for a meeting on the issue recently and found himself effectively rebuffed.

(return to top) Chosun Ilbo (“U.S. ‘IGNORES BIG CHUNK OF KOREA’S USFK CONTRIBUTION’ “, 2006-08-30) reported that the US is refusing to acknowledge some US$300-400 million the ROK government gives to the US Forces Korea every year, Democratic Labor Party lawmaker Roh Hoe-chan said. The minor opposition party lawmaker concluded that Seoul in 2002 gave the US Forces Korea US$1.19 billion which the US recorded as $843 million. Roh also said the amount Seoul pays for USFK upkeep should decrease if the wartime military control is returned to the ROK since the USFK’s role will diminish as well. (return to top)

7. ROK Iraq Contribution

Chosun Ilbo (“KOREAN FORCES COULD FACE EXTENDED IRAQ MISSION”, 2006-08-30) reported that the ROK military’s Zaytun Unit stationed in the Northern Iraqi town of Irbil has decreased by 890 troops since its original deployment, the Joint Chiefs of Staff announced. Troops of the US-led coalition will most likely remain in Iraq next year, and the Ministry of Defense is investigating how to keep the remaining Zaytun troops there until late 2007.

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8. Russia-Japan Territorial Dispute

Reuters (“RUSSIA RETURNS TWO SEIZED FISHERMEN TO JAPAN”, 2006-08-30) reported that Russia returned to Japan two sailors whose detention off its far eastern coast had strained relations between the two countries. After two weeks of diplomatic talks Russia handed over the two crew members, but not the captain, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

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9. PRC-Japan Territorial Dispute

Agence France-Presse (“CHINA SAYS JAPAN ‘GENERATING NEW CONFLICTS’ OVER GAS FIELD DISPUTE “, 2006-08-30) reported that the PRC has accused Japan of “generating new conflicts” in a drawn-out battle over oil and gas exploration near disputed waters in the East China Sea. The statement was referring to Japan’s protest this week that state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp had begun the first stage of gas production in the Chunxiao field.

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10. US on PRC Role in IMF

The New York Times (“U.S. SEEKS BIGGER CHINA ROLE IN I.M.F.”, 2006-08-30) reported that in an effort to gain PRC cooperation on international economic issues, the Bush administration is pushing for PRC and other developing nations to get more power in the global institution that has played a central role in easing myriad financial crises since the end of World War II. But the US-led effort to increase influence at the International Monetary Fund for the PRC is being resisted by several countries in Europe, which would lose power to those who would be gaining it.

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11. PRC-South Africa Military Relations

Xinhua (“CHINA, SOUTH AFRICA PLEDGE TO STRENGTHEN MILITARY TIES”, 2006-08-30) reported that the PRC armed forces will make joint efforts with the South African armed forces to further push forward bilateral friendly cooperation, said a senior PRC military officer. Liang Guanglie, member of the Central Military Commission and Chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, made the remarks when meeting with visiting Chief of the New South African National Defense Force G. N. Ngwenya.

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12. PRC Anti-Corruption Measures

Agence France-Presse (“CHINA’S COMMUNIST PARTY RENEWS CORRUPTION BATTLE “, 2006-08-30) reported that the PRC’s Communist Party has launched a new campaign to fight corruption, requiring officials to report personal matters, state media said, but analysts questioned whether it would work. At a meeting held after a series of high-profile graft cases, the party elite issued guidelines ordering officials to report home purchases and overseas travel.

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13. PRC Environment

Agence France-Presse (“DROUGHT RETURNS TO TORMENT MAJOR CHINESE CITY “, 2006-08-30) reported that drought has returned to Chongqing, a major city in southwest PRC, threatening the water supply of millions of people and forcing officials to resume emergency measures. A total of 7.9 million people are without adequate drinking water in the municipality of Chongqing, and no alleviation is in sight as meteorologists expect no rain for a week, the China Daily reported.

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14. PRC Bird Flu Vaccine

Agence France-Presse (“CHINA PLANS MASS PRODUCTION OF BIRD FLU VACCINE”, 2006-08-30) reported that the PRC plans to mass produce a vaccine to protect humans against the deadly bird flu virus after initial tests indicated it was safe, state media have said. The vaccine’s manufacturer, Sinovac Biotech Limited, announced it plans to produce 20 million vaccines annually within the next few years, the Beijing News and Xinhua news agency said.

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