I. United States

1. ROK on Six-Party Talks

Yonhap News (“N. KOREA’S RETURN TO NUCLEAR TALKS WORTH ANTICIPATING, FM SAYS”, 2005-06-29) reported that the ROK’s foreign minister Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday that he anticipates the return of the DPRK to the stalled nuclear talks, now that a recent series of developments have created “positive atmospheres” for dialogue that the DPRK has sought. Ban Ki-moon’s comment reflected rising optimism that the DPRK may soon be ending its year-long boycott of the talks.

(return to top) Korea Times (“SEOUL STRIVES FOR PROGRESS IN NUKE TALKS”, 2005-06-29) reported that, according to Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Ban Ki-moon, Seoul will try its best to arrange a new round of six-party talks next month. “We will continue our diplomatic efforts with relevant countries to resume the talks, while keeping in mind the fact that Kim [Jong-il] has expressed his determination to return to the negotiation table,” Ban said. He added Seoul will try hard to play a leading role with an important proposal not only to have the denuclearization process restarted but also to make substantial progress once the talks are resumed. (return to top)

2. PRC on Six-Party Talks

Yonhap News (“CHINA’S COMMITMENT TO NUKE-FREE KOREA FIRM, IMMOVABLE: CHINESE AMBASSADOR”, 2005-06-29) reported that, according to the PRC’s ambassador to Seoul Li Bin, the PRC continues to exercise its influence on Pyongyang in line with its aim to peacefully resolve the standoff over the DPRK’s nuclear weapons program and will not give up its efforts until the issue is settled. “China’s determination to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue is permanent and immovable,” the PRC diplomat said in a discussion meeting of the National Assembly Security Forum. “Its resolution is that non-nuclearization of the Korean peninsula must be realized.”

(return to top) Yonhap News (“CHINA CONTINUES TO PERSUADE N. KOREA, BUT HAS RESTRAINTS: CHINESE AMBASSADOR”, 2005-06-29) reported that the PRC will continue to persuade, but cannot force, Pyongyang to return to the stalled six-party talks, the PRC’s Ambassador to Seoul Li Bin said Wednesday. “Because North Korea is a sovereign state and because China’s foreign policy is to not meddle with other countries’ domestic affairs, we cannot tell North Korea what to do just because we have influence on them,” the PRC diplomat said in a discussion meeting of the National Assembly Security Forum. (return to top)

3. Experts on DPRK Return to Six Party Talks

Korea Times (“‘NK USING S-N ENGAGEMENT TO BUY TIME ON NUKES'”, 2005-06-29) reported that international relations specialists in Seoul have warned the DPRK’s recent willingness to revive inter-Korean dialogue and reconciliation projects may be a tactic aimed at buying time in the nuclear standoff. The ROK should carefully scrutinize the motives behind the DPRK’s newfound willingness to restore inter-Korean relations after an eight-month boycott of all dialogue, they also added. “North Korea probably realized that international opinion was turning against it, even for allies like China,” said Lee Jung-hoon, professor at Yonsei University’s Graduate School of International Studies.

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4. ROK-US Relations on Six-Party Talks

Korea Herald (“UNIFICATION MINISTER SETS OFF TO BRIDGE GAP WITH US”, 2005-06-29) reported that ROK Unification Minister Chung Dong-young left for Washington yesterday as part of last-ditch efforts to bridge the gap between Washington and Pyongyang and seek cooperation in luring the DPRK back to the six-party talks. “The Washington visit by Minister Chung is extremely important for eroding the United States’ doubts over whether [the DPRK] will do what it asks,” Hong Seok-hyun, the ROK’s ambassador to Washington, said in a radio interview. “Minister Chung’s trip was arranged as we need to relay vividly and in detail to US officials the meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and the outcome of the Cabinet-level talks,” Hong Seok-hyun also said.

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5. US on DPRK Nuclear Power

Reuters (“US MILITARY SAYS CAN DEFEAT NUCLEAR-ARMED NORTH KOREA”, 2005-06-29) reported that, according to senior US military officer General Leon LaPorte, the US and ROK forces can deter and defeat the DPRK even if the nation has several nuclear weapons. “Whether North Korea has one or several nuclear weapons does not change the balance on the peninsula,” LaPorte told the ROK’s PBC radio in an interview taped on Tuesday. “The US and the ROK retain our ability to deter the DPRK aggression and, if required, to decisively defeat the North Korean threat if they were to threaten South Korea,” he said.

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6. US Rehearse Plan for DPRK Crisis

Reuters (“U.S. MILITARY UNIVERSITY PLANS N. KOREA WAR GAME “, 2005-06-28) reported that US officials dealing with the DPRK’s growing nuclear threat will hold an exercise next month on how to react and anticipate consequences if a crisis develops. The National Defense University, a leading US military education institution under the direction of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has scheduled a “crisis simulation” exercise for July 18. At the July 18 event “participants will examine the gravity, complexity and difficulty inherent in responding to a series of escalating crises on the Korean peninsula,” the notice said.

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7. US on ROK-US Relations

Korea Herald (“‘US-KOREAN ALLIANCE STRONG’ “, 2005-06-29) reported that Col. MaryAnn Cummings, chief spokesperson for the US military in the ROK, says despite differing opinions on bilateral relations between the ROK and the US, the alliance based on mutual trust is rock solid. “It is a very unique alliance. You don’t see any long-lasting alliance like us. Because you have challenges, that does not mean we don’t have trust. We always come to agreements to troop reduction and labor issue and many things,” she said. “In democracy, there should be some diversity of opinions. But economically, strategically, and politically, Korea is one of the strongest democracies.”

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8. ROK Food Aid to DPRK

Reuters (“PASTOR AIMS TO SEND RABBITS TO FEED NORTH KOREANS “, 2005-06-28) reported that an ROK pastor is aiming to cut into the DPRK’s severe food shortage by sending the reclusive state 1.2 million rabbits to eat. Cho Soon-tae from the Evangelical Movement for National Unification said rabbits are tasty, resilient and reproduce well, which would make them an ideal food source for the DPRK. “They will be delivered to the North in August by train from China,” Cho said by telephone. Cho said he thought about how he could help alleviate food shortages in the DPRK after a visit to a kindergarten there that was sparsely attended because of malnutrition among the students.

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9. DPRK Defectors to ROK

Korea Herald (“SEVEN NORTH KOREANS LAND IN SOUTH, SEEKING ASYLUM “, 2005-06-29) reported that, according to ROK officials in Hanoi and Seoul yesterday, the seven asylum-seeking DPRK citizens who barged into the Thai embassy in Vietnam early this month were brought into the ROK soon after the incident. “It was taken care of right away [after their defection]. They left for South Korea a long time ago,” an ROK diplomat in Vietnam said when asked in a telephone interview with The Korea Herald about the fate of the defectors.

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10. Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation

Yonhap News (“S. KOREAN CIVIC GROUP TO BUILD GOLF COURSE IN N. KOREA”, 2005-06-29) reported that the Korean Civic Exchange Council reached an agreement with the DPRK authorities to build a golf course near the tense inter-Korean border in return for its assistance in producing onions, officials at the civic group said Wednesday. The accord, inked between the Council and DPRK’s Asia Pacific Peace Committee on Saturday, would give the right to the ROK group to build and operate the golf course in Kaesong. The ROK group agreed to give onion seeds and agricultural equipment and cooperate with DPRK in producing, processing and selling the onions.

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11. Inter-Korean Cultural Exchange

Yonhap News (“N. KOREAN FILM TO BE SCREENED OUTDOORS IN DOWNTOWN SEOUL”, 2005-06-29) reported that a DPRK movie will be screened at a square in front of Seoul City Hall on Friday to open this year’s Daejong Film Festival, organizers said Wednesday. It is the first time for a movie from the DPRK to be officially shown here on an open-air screen, they added.

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12. DPRK Shows Respect for US Anthem

Yonhap News (“N.K. SPECTATORS STAND IN RESPECT AS STAR-SPANGLED BANNER PLAYS “, 2005-06-29) reported that the DPRK spectators attending a female boxing championship match in Pyongyang on Tuesday night stood as the US national anthem was played in a remarkable demonstration of respect for the opponent player’s nationality, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper in Japan reported on Wednesday. “Against the backdrop of the nuclear crisis which has been stalled for over a year, the North Korean spectators seemed to have their suppressed their feeling,” the paper said of the ringside mood.

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13. Maritime Cooperation

Asia Pulse (“FOUR NATIONS TO CONDUCT MARITIME PATROL DRILLS OFF SHANGHAI”, 2005-06-29) reported that the ROK, PRC, Japan and Russia will conduct joint maritime exercises next month aimed at strengthening cooperation in Northeast Asian coastal patrol, a ROK diplomat said Wednesday. The seven-day exercises from next Monday, organized by the PRC Transportation Ministry, will begin in the sea off Yangsan port in Shanghai, with 30 vessels from the four nations converging at the port on July 7.

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14. Sino-ROK Economic Relations

Chosun Ilbo (“CHINA NO PROMISED LAND FOR KOREAN TEXTILE FIRMS”, 2005-06-29) reported that ROK textile industries flocked to the PRC in droves in the 1990s following wig makers, tanners and shoemakers because the labor-intensive industries could no longer withstand the increases in ROK labor costs. But 10 years on they are tasting the bitter fruits of failure. Due to the PRC’s improving technology, price offensives and knockoff brands, the ROK textile companies there are in crisis. That means they must move once again, either into the PRC’s technologically backwards hinterland or to Southeast Asia.

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15. PRC Graft

Agence France-Presse (“CHINA ANNUAL “AUDIT STORM” UNCOVERS BILLIONS LOST TO GRAFT”, 2005-06-29) reported that the PRC’s 2004 state audit report has uncovered 9.06 billion yuan (1.1 billion dollars) of misappropriated funds by government departments and 14.5 billion yuan by state companies. The annual report, open to public scrutiny only since 2003, has formed the basis for investigations into graft, with the state press following up the report findings in what has come to be known as the PRC’s “audit storm.”

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16. PRC AIDS Issue

Reuters (“CHINA AT TURNING POINT IN AIDS FIGHT – WHO”, 2005-06-29) reported that the PRC is at a turning point in its AIDS fight, capable of building on current prevention measures or flagging and putting millions of lives at risk, a senior World Health Organisation (WHO) official said on Wednesday. The darker side of the economic boom in the world’s most populous country is that greater mobility and wealth disparities have increased opportunities for the spread of HIV/AIDS, said Jack Chow, WHO assistant director for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

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17. PRC Internet Use

BBC News (“100 MILLION GO ONLINE IN CHINA “, 2005-06-29) reported that the number of internet users in the PRC has risen above 100 million for the first time, according to reports in the country’s state media. Only the US now has more web surfers as young and old Chinese take to the internet in record numbers. The figure is expected to grow rapidly in the next few years. But the PRC authorities are less in love with the net. The government regularly tries to block access to material it considers pornographic or politically subversive.

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18. Sino-Russian Military Cooperation

RIA Novosti (“RUSSIA, CHINA TO SIGN AGREEMENT ON STATUS OF FORCES IN JULY”, 2005-06-29) reported that Russia and the PRC will sign an unprecedented agreement on the status of forces involved in a joint military exercise, Cooperation-2005, in late July, the Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday. A PRC delegation is currently visiting Moscow to coordinate the amendments to the agreement. “The agreement is almost coordinated and only a few issues remain to be settled,” the source said. “When it is ready it will be send to China, and then it will be signed.”

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19. PRC-Kazakhstan Relations

Asia Pulse (“KAZAKHSTAN, CHINA TO SIGN DECLARATION ON STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP”, 2005-06-29) reported that President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev has received Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the PRC to Kazakhstan Zhou Xiao Pei,according to the Presidents press service. In the course of the conversation the President of Kazakhstan underlined that prospective visit of the PRC’s leader Hu Jintao to Kazakhstan on the eve of SCO session is a great event that witnesses especial friendly mutual benefit partnership between the states.

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20. Cross Strait Relations

Kyodo (“TAIWAN OPPOSITION PARTY DELEGATION TO VISIT CHINA IN JULY”, 2005-06-29) reported that a delegation from Taiwan’s small opposition New Party will visit the PRC early next month to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of the Sino-Japanese war, a PRC government spokesman said Wednesday. During the July 6-13 visit, the delegation will pray at the Huanghuagang martyrs tomb in Guangzhou and the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall, said Li Weiyi, spokesman for the State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office. The 30 New Party members do not know whether they will meet PRC President Hu Jintao or other PRC leaders, a party spokesman said.

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21. Japan on UNSC Expansion

Kyodo (“JAPAN PESSIMISTIC ABOUT SUBMITTING U.N. REFORM PLAN IN JULY”, 2005-06-29) reported that Japan, Brazil, Germany and India may put off submitting a draft resolution next month to the UN General Assembly on the Security Council expansion because of uncertainties over its outcome, Japanese Foreign Ministry sources indicated Wednesday. Behind Japan’s downbeat stance is the fact that fewer-than-expected countries have supported the so-called Group of Four’s plan and also that the US is clearly opposed to it, the sources said. A senior official at the ministry indicated the G-4 may submit the draft resolution later, possibly in September.

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22. Japan on Iraq Role

Kyodo (“KOIZUMI WILLING TO KEEP JAPANESE TROOPS IN IRAQ”, 2005-06-29) reported that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi expressed willingness Wednesday to consider keeping Japanese troops in Iraq beyond the mission’s current deadline of December as US President George W. Bush refused to set a deadline for US troops to withdraw from the country. “Iraqis themselves are demanding that the Japanese don’t go home,” Koizumi told reporters at his office. “As long as the areas the Self-Defense Forces operate in are noncombat zones, Japan would like to offer support as much as it can.”

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23. Japan Bird Flu Outbreak

The Assocaited Press (“JAPAN AGRICULTURE MINISTRY TO CULL 94,000 MORE CHICKENS NEAR FARM WITH BIRD FLU OUTBREAK”, 2005-06-29) reported that the Agriculture Ministry said Wednesday it would cull about 94,000 more chickens in northeastern Japan after detecting traces of the bird flu virus near a farm where a recent outbreak occurred, officials said. Authorities have already culled 25,000 birds at the infected farm in Ibaraki prefecture (state) northeast of Tokyo after officials discovered the H5N2 strain of bird flu, considered a less dangerous strain than the H5N1 version that has ravaged Asia.

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