NAPSNet Daily Report Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Recommended Citation

"NAPSNet Daily Report Wednesday, December 07, 2005", NAPSNet Daily Report, December 07, 2005, https://nautilus.org/napsnet/napsnet-daily-report/napsnet-daily-report-wednesday-december-07-2005/

NAPSNet Daily Report Wednesday, December 07, 2005

NAPSNet Daily Report Wednesday, December 07, 2005

I. NAPSNet

Preceding NAPSNet Report

I. NAPSNet

1. US on Six Party Talks

Associated Press (“U.S. REBUKES N. KOREA’S BOYCOTT THREATS “, 2005-12-06) reported that the US delivered a stern public rebuke to the DPRK on Wednesday, ruling out any negotiations over financial sanctions imposed on the communist state. Washington “is not going to negotiate over economic sanctions that have been imposed in accordance with U.S. law.,” US Ambassador to the ROK Alexander Vershbow said in a speech. “It’s up to North Korea to end the behavior that led to those sanctions.”

(return to top)

2. Japan on Six Party Talks

China Daily (“JAPAN CALLS NORTH KOREAN BOYCOTT THREAT ‘NOT CONSTRUCTIVE’ “, 2005-12-07) reported that according to a Japanese official, the DPRK’s threat to boycott six party unless US sanctions are lifted is “not constructive.” Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said the DPRK’s complaints about US financial sanctions on the country have nothing to do with the broader nuclear talks and should not be used to obstruct them. “The North Korean position is bringing up a problem that is outside the framework of the six-party talks and is not constructive,” Abe told reporters.

(return to top)

3. Informal Six Party Talks

Reuters (“MEETING ON NUCLEAR TALKS POSSIBLE IN DECEMBER”, 2005-12-07) reported that according to Kyodo News Agency, the US has proposed that informal talks by chief delegates to multilateral discussions on dismantling DPRK’s nuclear arms programs be held on December 19 in Cheju, ROK. Seiji Maehara, head of Japan’s opposition Democratic Party, was quoted by Kyodo as saying that Jim Foster, head of the US State Department’s Office of Korean Affairs, had told him of the proposal during a meeting in Washington. Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Akira Chiba said, however, that no formal proposal had been made.

(return to top)

4. Inter-Korean Summit

Korea.net (“PRESIDENTIAL BODY CALLS FOR REGULAR INTER-KOREAN SUMMITS “, 2005-12-06) reported that The Advisory Council on Democratic and Peaceful Unification called for holding a second inter-Korean summit, saying regular meetings of this kind will help resolve the nuclear standoff and lead to peaceful unification. The presidential council said inter-Korean relations have improved significantly since the first-ever summit was held in 2000. “To further solidify the improved South-North relations based on these achievements, we must work to establish regular summits between the two sides,” the group of some 17,000 advisors at home and abroad said.

(return to top)

5. Inter-Korean Athletic Cooperation

Reuters (“SOUTH, NORTH KOREA FAIL TO AGREE ON TEAM MAKE-UP”, 2005-12-07) reported that sports officials of the ROK and the DPRK meeting on Wednesday in Kaesong, failed to agree on the make-up of a joint team for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and the 2006 Asian Games in Doha. Sports officials in the ROK have said agreeing on whether to seek a fair balance of athletes from the two sides or form the strongest team possible will be a challenge. “The South and the North shared the view on taking part as a single team and discussed a range of issues,” a ROK Olympic Committee official said. “They agreed to continue discussions at a future date,” he said. No date has been set for the follow-up talks.

(return to top)

6. DPRK-US Relations

The Korea Times (“US ENVOY EMBARRASSES S. KOREAN GOVERNMENT”, 2005-12-07) reported that according to a US diplomat, the “criminal regime” engaged in drug trafficking and money counterfeiting. Alexander Vershbow, US ambassador to the ROK, issued the scathing rebuttal during a meeting with senior domestic journalists of the Kwanhun Club in Seoul. “This is a criminal regime and you can’t somehow remove sanctions as a political gesture when this regime is engaging in dangerous activities such as weapons exports to rogue states,” Vershbow said. Meanwhile, Top ROK officials expressed disappointment with the ambassador’s comments, saying the US should avoid provoking the DPRK while talks over its nuclear weapons programs remain delicately poised.

(return to top)

7. DPRK-Russian Relations

RIA Novosti (“ST. PETERSBURG GOVERNOR IN PYONGYANG TO DISCUSS COOPERATION “, 2005-12-05) reported that St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko has arrived in Pyongyangfor a two-day visit, a local agency reported Monday. An informed source said that a group of St. Petersburg business managers had arrived together with Matviyenko. The delegation met with their DPRK colleagues and held a seminar on the development of relations between St. Petersburg and the DPRK.

(return to top)

8. Journalism Conference in DPRK

International Journalist’s Network (“NORTH KOREA TO HOST INTERNATIONAL JOURNALISM CONFERENCE “, 2005-12-06) reported that according to the Korea Times, there are plans for the DPRK to host a historic, international gathering of journalists in late 2006 or early 2007. The theme of the special conference would be “Peace and Reconciliation of the Korean Peninsula.” The executive committee of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), meeting in Australia on December 2 and 3, agreed to organize the conference at the Mt. Kumgang resort area. Two IFJ affiliates, the Asian Journalists Association (AJA) and the Journalists Association of Korea (JAK), would help organize and sponsor the event. IFJ and JAK plan to discuss further details with DPRK officials in Pyongyang. They will also discuss the participation of DPRK journalists at the fourth Asia Journalists Forum, planned for October 2006 in Seoul.

(return to top)

9. DPRK Human Rights Summit

The Korea Times (“NK RIGHTS ISSUE NO LONGER TABOO IN SOUTH “, 2005-12-07) reported that the international community’s repeated call for the DPRK to improve human rights has intensified the struggle between conservatives and progressives in the ROK to find common ground on which to address the humanitarian situation across the border. The forum, called the “Seoul Summit: Promoting Human Rights in North Korea,” will hold its meetings from Thursday to Saturday at the Shilla Hotel in downtown Seoul, with 40 nongovernmental organizations from here and abroad participating. The forum is expected to produce a joint statement on the last day of discussions on Saturday, demanding stronger commitments from Pyongyang to improve the country’s humanitarian situation. “By opening discussions on the human rights situation in Korea and sharing ideas with the international community, Seoul could find a way to ensure that its humanitarian assistance to North Korea produces a better human rights situation there, such as the transparent distribution of food aid,” said lawyer Lee Seog-yeon, who heads the civic group Lawyers for Citizens and is one of the architects of the Seoul Summit.

(return to top)

10. Images of DPR Koreans in Video Games

The New York Times (“SOUTH KOREANS REACT TO VIDEO GAMES’ DEPICTIONS OF NORTH KOREANS”, 2005-12-07) reported that while American game designers see DPR Koreans as diabolical enemies, RO Korean game censors say they see DPR Koreans as wayward cousins. Unhappy that DPR Koreans are replacing Nazis and cold war Soviets as all-purpose bad guys in electronic battle games, the Korea Media Rating Board, appointed by the president of the ROK, is putting out the word to foreign game makers: check with us before you pay for a translation. So far, South Korea’s official game censors have blocked the sale of three games involving fiendish DPR Koreans: Ghost Recon 2, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (both Ubisoft) and Mercenaries: Playgrounds of Destruction (LucasArts).

(return to top)

11. PRC Unrest

BBC News (“CHINESE POLICE ‘SHOOT PROTESTERS'”, 2005-12-07) reported that PRC armed police are reported to have opened fire on protesters in the southern province of Guangdong, shooting dead at least two people. Witnesses told US broadcaster Radio Free Asia the incident happened after hundreds of police tried to disperse up to 1,000 demonstrators near Shanwei. Protesters were angry because they had not been compensated for land taken by the government to build a power plant.

(return to top)

12. Hong Kong Democracy

Agence France Presse (“BEIJING LIKELY TO HINT AT FULL DEMOCRACY BY 2017: REPORT “, 2005-12-07) reported that Beijing could hint at the possibility of granting full democracy to Hong Kong by 2017, a newspaper report said Wednesday, after tens of thousands of people demanded universal suffrage at a weekend rally. Citing an unnamed source close to Beijing, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post said the hint would be delivered by a state leader in a statement, but that no exact date would be given.

(return to top)

13. PRC Chemical Spill

Associated Press (“CHINA PROBES DEATH OF OFFICIAL AFTER SPILL “, 2005-12-07) reported that authorities on Wednesday were investigating the death of a PRC deputy mayor who had told reporters there was no pollution from a chemical plant blast that poisoned a river, while the government tried to mollify anger at the disaster by vowing to severely punish anyone responsible. Vice Mayor Wang Wei of Jilin, where the explosion occurred, was found dead at home Tuesday, the Hong Kong newspaper Ta Kung Pao and Hong Kong Cable TV reported. They said the 43-year-old Wang’s cause of death was unknown.

(return to top)

14. PRC Mine Accident

The Los Angeles Times (“DEATH TOLL REACHES 171 IN MINE DISASTER”, 2005-12-07) reported that rescuers recovered the body of the last miner missing after a coal mine explosion in northern PRC, bringing the final death toll to 171, the New China News Agency reported. The Nov. 27 blast at the Dongfeng mine in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang was sparked when airborne coal dust ignited, state media said.

(return to top)

15. PRC Military Cooperation

Xinhua (“CHINA, DRC TO ENHANCE MILITARY TIES “, 2005-12-07) reported that the PRC is ready to work with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to further promote cooperation between the armed forces of the two nations, said Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan here Wednesday.

(return to top) Xinhua (“CHINA, UZBEKISTAN VOW TO ENHANCE MILITARY COOPERATION”, 2005-12-07) reported that PRC Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan held talks with visiting Defense Minister of Uzbekistan Russian Mirzayev here Wednesday. The two sides had an in-depth exchange of views on current international and regional issues, bilateral relations and bilateral military cooperation. (return to top)

16. Sino-French Energy Cooperation

The Associated Press (“CHINA SEEKS NUKE COOPERATION WITH FRANCE”, 2005-12-07) reported that the PRC’s prime minister called for broad nuclear power cooperation with France on Tuesday but urged improvements to French bids to supply a new generation of PRC reactors and services. On the third day of an official visit to France, Wen Jiabao said the PRC is seeking “all-around cooperation” with France in nuclear fuel, power, safety and waste disposal.

(return to top)

17. Sino-Indian Energy Cooperation

Business Week (“INDIA AND CHINA: AN ENERGY TEAM?”, 2005-12-07) reported that India’s globe-trotting Oil Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar is paving the way for what could become the cornerstone of his unique brand of oil diplomacy during a trip to Beijing in January, 2006. Aiyar plans to sign a broad memorandum of understanding with Ma Kai, chairman of the PRC’s state energy policy planner, the National Development Reform Commission that would have the competing Asian giants join hands in their quest for energy resources.

(return to top)

18. Russia-Japan Oil Cooperation

RIA Novosti (“RUSSIA, JAPAN DISCUSS OIL COOPERATION”, 2005-12-07) reported that Russian Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister Andrei Sharonov and Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka discussed Tuesday Japan’s participation in the development of Russia’s oil deposits and the construction of the East Siberia-Pacific pipeline. Sharonov said Russia was ready to consider Japanese cooperation projects in these spheres.

(return to top)

19. Japan on Yasukuni Issue

Kyodo (“KOIZUMI SAYS PROPOSED BUDGET FOR NEW WAR MEMORIAL STILL UP IN AIR “, 2005-12-07) reported that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Wednesday the government has yet to decide on whether to allocate funds for a proposed new war memorial under the fiscal 2006 budget. Opposing Koizumi’s repeated visits to the war-related Yasukuni Shrine which honors Japanese Class-A war criminals as well as the war dead, Seoul has proposed that Tokyo set up a new war memorial to help resolve the dispute.

(return to top)

20. ROK on Yasukuni Issue

Kyodo (“S. KOREAN ENVOY WARY OF YASUKUNI BECOMING JAPAN’S NATIONALISM SYMBOL”, 2005-12-07) reported that ROK Ambassador to Japan Ra Jong Yil expressed concern Wednesday that the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo will become a symbol of Japanese nationalism and that some Japanese leaders are “rubbing salt on the wounds” of the wartime past that Japan inflicted on Koreans and others.

(return to top)