NAPSNet Daily Report Wednesday, October 12, 2005

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NAPSNet Daily Report Wednesday, October 12, 2005

NAPSNet Daily Report Wednesday, October 12, 2005

I. NAPSnet

Preceding NAPSNet Report

I. NAPSnet

1. US on DPRK Nuclear Program

The Associated Press (“ENVOY: NORTH KOREA COULD FACE ISOLATION “, 2005-10-11) reported that according to Christopher Hill, the DPRK will find itself in a “wilderness of isolation” if it walks away from a landmark agreement to give up its nuclear program, but will see a host of economic and diplomatic opportunities if the deal sticks. A solid agreement could lead to stronger economic cooperation with the ROK and possibilities once considered remote such as bilateral relations with the US and the possibility of the DPRK’s removal from a list of state sponsors of terrorism.

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2. ROK on Six Party Talks

Yonhap News (“SEOUL SET FOR FULL-SCALE CONSULTATIONS FOR NEW NUCLEAR TALKS: FM”, 2005-10-12) reported that the ROK’s Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday that his country would have “in-depth” discussions with the US next week on ways of ensuring progress at the upcoming six party talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear program. He said Seoul’s top nuclear negotiator Song Min-soon will be dispatched to Washington early next week.

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3. DRPK-PRC Bilateral Talks Ahead of Six Party Talks

Kyodo News (“CHINA REACHES BROAD CONSENSUS WITH N. KOREA AFTER 4-DAY VISIT “, 2005-10-11) reported that the PRC Vice Premier Wu Yi returned from Pyongyang on Tuesday afternoon after a f leader Kim Jong-il, and reaffirmed bonds between the two allies. The two sides particularly agreed the next round of six party talks on the DPRK’s nuclear programs would achieve a “positive outcome” and move forward from previous rounds.

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4. Inter-Korean Reunification

Joongang Ilbo (“KOREANS SOBER ABOUT UNIFICATION”, 2005-10-13) reported that the Joongang Ilbo and the East Asia Institute recently completed a survey of ROK attitudes as the nation marked the 60th anniversary of its liberation from Japanese colonial rule. The survey interviewed 1,038 ROK adults and said that views on the DPRK have changed significantly and considered reunification the nation’s major task. The poll’s analysts said the changed attitudes here about unification appear to have been stimulated by the fact that it now seems more possible than it has in the past, and RO Koreans are beginning to appreciate the realities of the DPRK regime. They also have considered the costs of reunifying the nation and 30% said that they were not willing to accept any additional taxation to support reunification. About 40% said they were willing to pay less than 100,000 won ($96) per year to prop up and develop the DPRK until unification.

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5. Inter-Korean Demographic Statistics

The Korea Times (“BIRTHRATES SAG IN SOUTH, NORTH KOREA”, 2005-10-12) reported that in the State of World Population 2005, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said Wednesday that the DPRK’s birthrate is estimated at 1.97, higher than in the ROK. However, the DPRK’s figure is still lower than the average of developing countries’ 2.82, indicating that a low birthrate prevails over the entire Korean Peninsula. ROK’s total population is 47.8 million in 2005 while the DPRK stands at 22.5 million, according to the report. “Korea has created various social basis for socio-economic development by strongly implementing the population growth control program until the late 1980s, is now faced with the serious issues of low fertility and an aging society,’’ said Lee Sang-seok, an official at the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The government will make every effort to cope with the problems by realizing the lowering of infant mortality and the protection of maternal health,’’ he added.

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6. DPRK-US Relations

The Chosun Ilbo (“HILL VISIT TO N.KOREA UNLIKELY: OFFICIAL”, 2005-10-12) reported that it looks increasingly unlikely that the US chief negotiator in six party talks, Christopher Hill, will visit Pyongyang before the next round of talks starts in November. A high-ranking ROK official said Wednesday, “It’s true, North Korea is hoping Hill would make a visit to the country, but if the current situation persists, it seems that will be difficult.”

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7. US on DPRK Counterfeiting

The Washington Post (“U.S. ACCUSES NORTH KOREA OF $100 BILL COUNTERFEITING”, 2005-10-12) reported that the Bush administration formally has accused the DPRK of manufacturing high-quality counterfeit $100 “supernotes” after a 16 year probe. “Individuals, including North Korean nationals acting as ostensible government officials, engaged in the worldwide transportation, delivery, and sale of quantities of supernotes.” It was the first time the federal government provided details of the DPRK’s suspected counterfeiting of US currency. US officials said identification of the DPRK as the source of the counterfeit notes was delayed in order not to upset the six party talks.

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8. DPRK-Russian Relations

RIA Novosti (“RUSSIAN PRESIDENTIAL ENVOY MEETS WITH N. KOREA PM IN PYONGYANG”, 2005-10-11) reported that Russian presidential envoy to the Far East Federal District Konstantin Pulikovsky met in Pyongyang with the DPRK Prime Minister Pak Pong Ju at the National Palace of Congresses. “Our political relations are on the highest level,” Pulikovsky said. “Now we have to consolidate economic, technical and cultural ties.”

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9. EU on DPRK Human Rights

The Korea Times (“EU TO TACKLE NK HUMAN RIGHTS AT GENERAL ASSEMBLY “, 2005-10-12) reported that the EU will soon present a draft resolution to the UN General Assembly denouncing the DPRK’s human rights abuse, a European diplomat has confirmed. It would be the first time for a General Assembly resolution focused on human rights to single out the DPRK. Experts believed presenting the resolution to the General Assembly will likely draw an angry response from the DPRK, and could destabilize delicately poised multilateral negotiations over dismantling its nuclear weapons programs. The US and Japan are expected to co-sponsor the resolution, the diplomat said.

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10. DPRK Defections

The Chosun Ilbo (“U.S. DRAFT BILL TO PUNISH CHINA FOR DEPORTING N.KOREANS”, 2005-10-12) reported that some US lawmakers and activists are drawing up a bill to impose trade sanctions on the PRC unless it stops the practice of deportating DPRK defectors back to their homeland. Washington has warned Beijing of punitive measures if it continues to deport DPRK defectors but has so far taken no legislative action. Under the draft bill, called the Scoop Jackson National Security and Freedom Act 2005, the US would freeze imports from the PRC at the 2003 level and reduce them if Beijing continues to violate international treaties on refugees, impede access by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and fails to stop trafficking of DPRK women.

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11. Charles Jenkins on DPRK Abductees

Agence France Presse (“US DESERTER CLAIMS NORTH KOREA KIDNAPPED ROMANIAN, THAI WOMEN “, 2005-10-12) reported that Charles Jenkins, who spent 40 years in the DPRK as a US army deserter, claimed on Wednesday that the DPRK had kidnapped citizens from Romania, Thailand and other countries. Speaking at a press conference to promote his book, Jenkins said he knew a Thai woman who had been abducted from Macau as well as Japanese kidnap victims. The book, titled, ‘To Tell the Truth’, details his ordeal in the DPRK and other memories of his time.

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12. DPRK Film Industry

Agence France Presse (“NORTH KOREA SEEKS FOREIGN HELP TO MAKE MOVIES “, 2005-10-11) reported that the DPRK leader Kim Jong-il is opening up Pyongyang’s film industry to foreign participation. According to PRC filmmaker Piao Zun Xi, the policy is aimed at reviving the fortunes of the state’s once thriving movie business and will also enable DPRK films to reach overseas. Piao, an ethnic Korean, has just finished making “The Secret of Rikidozan” about one of the DPRK’s most worshipped national heroes, champion professional wrestler Rikidozan. “This is the first film co-operation between the China and North Korea,” said Piao. Kim Hyung-Joon, president of the Korean Motion Picture Producers Association, said he was excited about the possibilities raised for joint Korean productions.

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13. US-ROK Military Alliance

Agence France Presse (“SEOUL WANTS TALKS WITH U.S. ON TROOP CONTROL”, 2005-10-12) reported that the ROK has called for talks with the US to regain control over its troops in wartime, a sensitive topic that could erode security ties between the allies, officials said Oct. 12. Under a mutual defense pact, the commander of US troops stationed here exercises operational control over the ROK troops in case of an armed conflict.

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14. US-ROK Alliance

Korea Times (“HYDE CONCERNED OVER ANTI-AMERICANISM IN KOREA”, 2005-10-12) reported that Rep. Henry Hyde, chairman of the House Committee on International Relations, raised concerns with the State Department last week over what he sees as alarming anti-Americanism in the ROK, according to his aide. In a letter to Karen Hughes, recently appointed undersecretary of state for public affairs, Hyde noted that while the US was downsizing its public diplomacy efforts in the ROK, the DPRK was succeeding in its effective propaganda campaign.

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15. US-Japan Military Alliance

The Asahi Shimbun (“JAPAN FINDS NO OTHER CHOICE BUT TO BACK PLAN FOR OFFSHORE U.S. HELIPORT IN OKINAWA”, 2005-10-12) reported that Japan has effectively abandoned its preferred plan and is now willing to discuss a US-backed proposal to relocate a Marine Corps base to a reef off the coast of Nago in Okinawa Prefecture, sources said. But concerns remain that Tokyo’s move will anger Okinawan residents who fear the new facility will cause irreparable environmental damage in the area.

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16. Japan on Nuclear Non-Proliferation

Kyodo (“JAPAN STRESSES GLOBAL NUKE TREATY IN DISARMAMENT RESOLUTION “, 2005-10-12) reported that Japan submitted a revised nuclear disarmament draft resolution to the United Nations, underscoring the importance of an effective framework for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The new draft resolution, which was submitted to the First Committee of the General Assembly, declares a renewed determination to call on all nuclear powers to reduce their nuclear arms in an irreversible, verifiable and transparent manner and eventually lead to a complete elimination of such weapons.

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17. US on PRC Beating

Agence France Presse (“US EXPRESSES CONCERN TO CHINA OVER VILLAGE INCIDENT “, 2005-10-12) reported that the US expressed concern over violence at village in southern PRC marked by the beating of a pro-democracy activist and efforts to intimidate international journalists. Deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said the US embassy in Beijing asked the foreign ministry to investigate the incident in Taishi village in the southern province of Guangdong.

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18. US on PRC Human Rights

Agence France Presse (“US CONGRESS STUDY SEES “NO IMPROVEMENT” IN CHINA’S HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD “, 2005-10-12) reported that there has been “no improvement” in human rights in the PRC over the past year as the government tightened controls on religion, speech, media and assembly, a US commission said in a report. Although the PRC government pursued certain judicial and criminal justice reforms, “these positive steps” were clouded by new detentions and state policies designed to protect President Hu Jintao’s Communist Party of China and assert more control over society, the high-level panel said.

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19. US-Cross Strait Relations

Agence France Presse (“LEE TO HAVE ‘NO MEETINGS’ WITH BUSH ADMINISTRATION: OFFICIAL “, 2005-10-12) reported that Taiwan’s former president Lee Teng-hui will have “no meetings” with US President George W. Bush or his senior aides during a trip to the US, an administration official said. Asked whether this left open the possibility that Bush or other top US officials might have informal contacts with Lee, the official replied: “No meetings.”

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20. PRC Space Program

The New York Times (“CHINESE ASTRONAUTS BEGIN 5 DAYS IN LOW ORBIT”, 2005-10-12) reported that the PRC’s second piloted spacecraft, the Shenzhou VI, blasted off Wednesday morning from the space center in the country’s northwest at 9 a.m., beginning a five-day mission orbiting the earth. The current spacecraft carries two astronauts and will spend five days in low-earth orbit. The PRC’s ultimate goal for the Shenzhou program is to launch three-man missions that can remain aloft for several days.

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21. US on PRC Space Program

Agence France Presse (“CHINA’S SPACE AMBITIONS POTENTIAL THREAT TO US: ANALYSTS “, 2005-10-12) reported that with the PRC on the eve of launching its second manned spaceflight, Washington sees Beijing’s space ambitions as an emerging security concern. “US concern about China’s space capabilities are first that China might eventually develop the ability to attack US satellites, because the US military is heavily dependent on them,” said Phillip Saunders of the Pentagon-linked Institute for National Strategic Studies.

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22. PRC Five Year Plan

The Los Angeles Times (“HU FIRMLY TAKES WHEEL IN CHINA”, 2005-10-12) reported that the PRC’s top leader emerged from four days of secret Communist Party meetings Tuesday with renewed calls for a more harmonious society. But uplifting slogans aside, the real agenda for President Hu Jintao was power – consolidating it, strengthening it and ensuring its effective use in finessing the enormous rifts bedeviling PRC society.

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23. Hong Kong State of the Territory Address

Agence France Presse (“POLITICAL CHANGE IN HONG KONG BUT DEMOCRACY SIDESTEPPED “, 2005-10-12) reported that Hong Kong’s Beijing-appointed leader promised a modest range of measures to boost the economy in his maiden state-of-the territory speech but sidestepped the thorny issue of democratic reform.

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24. PRC Population

Agence France Presse (“CHINA’S POPULATION GROWTH STABILISING, BUT WITH GENDER IMBALANCE: FRENCH REPORT “, 2005-10-12) reported that the PRC’s population will stabilize or even shrink after peaking in the next three decades, and will become older with more men than women, a French report said. The study by the National Institute of Demographic Studies said that, according to UN projections, the China “will never reach 1.5 billion inhabitants and will level off at 1.45 billion in 2030 before beginning to decline.

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25. Russia Electricity Exports

Vladivostok News (“RUSSIA’S ELECTRICITY GIANT SHARES REFORM PLANS “, 2005-10-12) reported that Rao Ues’ main task in the Far East is to smoothly carry out the energy reform in the region and increase investment attractiveness of the industry revealing possibilities of energy export to the PRC, Japan and ROK, Oleg Dubnov, head of UES business unit No.1, reported during a video conference which took place in Vladivostok’s office of Dalenergo on October 6.

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