NAPSNet Daily Report Wednesday, September 07, 2005

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NAPSNet Daily Report Wednesday, September 07, 2005

NAPSNet Daily Report Wednesday, September 07, 2005

I. United States

Preceding NAPSNet Report

I. United States

1. ROK on Six Party Talks

Agence France-Presse (“SOUTH KOREA SAYS NO TIME LIMIT ON NEXT NUCLEAR TALKS”, 2005-09-07) reported that ROK Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon says six party talks will be open-ended. “With no ending date fixed in advance, the talks will continue as long as there are chances for making any progress,” Ban told a weekly briefing.

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2. DPRK on Six Party Talks

The International Tribune (“N. KOREA CLARIFIES ITS NUCLEAR POSITION”, 2005-09-07) reported that DPRK offered a significant clarification on Tuesday of its position in the deadlocked nuclear disarmament talks, insisting that it would not dismantle its nuclear reactor unless the US and its allies built a nuclear power plant to replace it. US officials were not available for immediate comment. They have said, however, that building a nuclear power plant for the DPRK is a “practical impossibility” not only because no one wants to foot the bill but also because the state has a history of using a nuclear reactor to make fuel for atomic weapons.

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3. Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation

Yonhap News (“CAR FUEL PUMP MAKER OPENS FACTORY IN NK THE KOREA TIMES”, 2005-09-06) reported that a ROK car fuel pump manufacturer on Tuesday became the 10th company to open a factory in the inter-Korean industrial complex in the DPRK’s border town of Kaesong. Officials at Daewha Fuel Pump held a ceremony here to mark the completion of the facility’s construction, with Inchon Mayor Ahn Sang-soo and Hyundai Asan president Yoon Man-jun on hand. More than 10 ROK staff and 150 DPRK workers will work together to produce vehicle-related parts at the four-story factory, the Inchon-based firm said.

(return to top) Chosun Ilbo (“MT. BAEKDU TOURISM PROJECT STALLED”, 2005-09-07) reported that Hyundai Asan could see its Mt.Baekdu tourism project in DPRK fizzle after Pyongyang cut the company’s tourist quota for a similar project in the Kumgang Mountains already underway. The Mt.Baekdu project was scheduled to start trial runs this month. Hyundai Asan wanted to start the pilot program at the end of the month and start full-scale tours to Mt. Baekdu within the year, but that looks now unlikely. (return to top)

4. DPRK-US Relations

The New York Times (“NORTH KOREA HINTS AT RETURNING USS PUEBLO”, 2005-09-07) reported that the DPRK are giving hints they might be ready to end a lingering problem with the US by returning the captured spy ship USS Pueblo. They are setting an unlikely condition, though, considering hostile US-DPRK relations: a visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice or another top-level US official. A department official said there are no plans for a high-level visit to DPRK.

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5. US on DPRK Human Rights Issue

Agence France-Presse (“RICE WANTS NORTH KOREA’S HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES HIGHLIGHTED”, 2005-09-07) reported that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice insisted human rights abuses in DPRK should be highlighted, ignoring the risk of angering the DPRK. Rice said a newly named US human rights envoy for DPRK would raise the profile of the human rights situation in the reclusive state and help look into ways of cooperating with other countries to deal with the problem.

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6. DRPK on Hurricane Katrina

RIA Novosti (“NORTH KOREA CALLS NEW ORLEANS AMERICA’S POMPEII”, 2005-09-06) reported that a DRPK radio station called New Orleans the American Pompeii Tuesday and blamed the Bush administration for the considerable loss of life in the disaster. “The US government has been neglecting the poor residents of New Orleans for a long time,” the DPRK Central Radio station said, adding that the policies of the Bush administration “had become outdated” and, therefore, attract criticism.

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7. US on Future of Korean Peninsula

The Washington Post (“ZOELLICK DETAILS DISCUSSIONS WITH CHINA ON FUTURE OF THE KOREAN PENINSULA”, 2005-09-07) reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her deputy, Robert B. Zoellick, have begun to explore with the PRC leaders the economic and political future of the Korean Peninsula “because the status quo was not going to hold,” Zoellick said in an interview with a small group of reporters yesterday.

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8. APEC Rehabilitation Program for DPRK

The Korea Times (“N. KOREA NEEDS REHABILITATION PROGRAM: HAN”, 2005-09-07) reported that Finance ministers of APEC member economies need to make efforts to create a multinational rehabilitation program for DPRK if the ongoing six party talks are resolved successfully, the nation’s top economic policymaker said. Han said that the Korean government is now in contact with related countries to discuss the establishment of the so-called Northeast Asian Development Bank under the condition the six party talks are successful. “The rehabilitation program is necessary for sharing the burden of North Korea. The Northeast Asian Development Bank is a good solution to this,’’ he said, adding that not only can it offer financial aids, but also help a certain country get its economy back on track by conducting a monitoring of the nation and its policies.

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9. Written works by DPRK Defector

The Korea Times (“TEENAGE N. KOREAN DEFECTOR’S ESSAYS MOVE PEOPLE’S HEARTS THE KOREA TIMES”, 2005-09-06) reported that a series of essays written by a teenage DPRK defector looking back on five years of hardship before arriving in the ROK has moved many people’s hearts. In his 18 stories, which have been posted on the Web site of the Haja Center (www.haja.or.kr) in February, Byun Jong-hyuok speaks of the obstacles he had to overcome.

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10. ROK on UNSC Bid

Chosun Ilbo (“KOREA TO START CAMPAIGN FOR UN SECURITY COUNCIL SEAT”, 2005-09-07) reported that the ROK is about to start campaigning for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council in 2007. It would be the first time in 11 years that the country has sat on the council since a two-year stint from 1996 to 1997. “During the 60th UN General Assembly in New York from Sept. 14, we will ask for support from member states,” a government official said.

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11. Japan Elections

The New York Times (“WHY JAPAN SEEMS CONTENT TO BE RUN BY ONE PARTY”, 2005-09-07) reported that the Liberal Democratic Party, which has governed Japan nearly continuously for half a century, appears headed for another victory in the general election on Sunday – a big one, if polls are correct. And this will delay, again, the start of a new political era in which power is transferred regularly from one party to another, as it is in other democracies.

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12. UN Development Goals in Asia

Agence France-Presse (“MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS UNLIKELY FOR ASIA-PACIFIC: UN”, 2005-09-07) reported that no developing country in the Asia-Pacific region is on track to meet all the United Nations Millennium Development Goals by the target date of 2015, according to a UN report. Tajikistan is one of the worst countries where an estimated 61 percent of the population goes hungry everyday followed by the DPRK with 31 percent, the report said. In 2003, the largest number of child deaths was in India with 2.3 million, followed by the PRC with 650,000 and Pakistan with 481,000.

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13. US on PRC-Iran Energy Deal

Reuters (“U.S. WARNS CHINA ON ENERGY TIES TO IRAN “, 2005-09-07) reported that the PRC will be increasingly in conflict with the US if it continues to pursue energy deals with countries like Iran and is unlikely to gain the energy security it seeks, a senior US official said. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick said he was not sure how much of Beijing’s energy drive was propelled by new PRC oil companies or by a government “strategic plan.” But he told a group of reporters it was unlikely that Beijing could guarantee its own energy security through contracts with countries which Washington and other states consider troublesome.

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14. US on PRC Military Build-Up

Voice of America (“TOP US COMMANDER PACIFIC SUGGESTS CHINA MIGHT BE SPENDING TOO MUCH ON MILITARY BUILDUP”, 2005-09-07) reporte that the commander of US forces in the Pacific, Admiral William Fallon – on a visit to the PRC – suggests that Beijing’s ongoing military buildup might be too extensive for a country not facing any outside threats. “I’m not about to sit here and determine what percentage of GDP or how many yuan or whatever ought to be devoted, but my sense is that I don’t see a particular threat to China, so military capabilities expansion, [it] seems to me, ought to be commensurate with the growth and development of a country,” said Admiral Fallon.

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15. Sino-US Relations

Agence France-Presse (“RUMSFELD TO VISIT CHINA AS TOP COMMANDER DENIES CONTAINMENT CLAIMS “, 2005-09-07) reported that US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld will visit Beijing in October, a leading US military commander said, describing accusations that his country is trying to contain the PRC as “nonsense.” Admiral William Fallon, head of the US Pacific Command, said the US was seeking to expand military-to-military ties with Beijing and could soon invite PRC military experts to observe joint US-ROK drills.

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16. Sino-Russian Space Nuclear Energy Cooperation

RIA Novosti (“RUSSIA, CHINA TO DEVELOP SPACE NUCLEAR ENERGY COOPERATION”, 2005-09-07) reported that Russia and the PRC have signed protocol to develop their cooperation in space nuclear energy, the Federal Atomic Energy Agency Rosatom said Wednesday. This came on the heels of the 9th session of the Russian-PRC sub-commission for nuclear issues, held within the framework of the bilateral commission for regular meetings of the heads of governments from both countries.

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17. PRC Activist Arrest

Washington Post (“RURAL ACTIVIST SEIZED IN BEIJING”, 2005-09-07) reported that local authorities on Tuesday seized a rural activist who has been leading a high-profile legal campaign against the use of forced sterilization and abortion in the PRC, in an apparent effort to block him from meeting with senior government officials who had expressed support for his cause. The detention of Chen Guangcheng, 34, a blind peasant who has been preparing a class-action lawsuit to challenge population-control abuses in the eastern city of Linyi, occurred a few days after he arrived in Beijing for meetings with lawyers and journalists.

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18. PRC Journalist Arrest

BBC News (“YAHOO ‘HELPED JAIL CHINA WRITER’ “, 2005-09-07) reported that internet giant Yahoo has been accused of supplying information to the PRC which led to the jailing of a journalist for “divulging state secrets”. Reporters Without Borders said Yahoo’s Hong Kong arm helped the PRC link Shi Tao’s e-mail account and computer to a message containing the information. The media watchdog accused Yahoo of becoming a “police informant” in order to further its business ambitions.

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19. Hong Kong Environment

Agence France-Presse (“GREEN GROUP WARNS WORST YEAR FOR HONG KONG AIR POLLUTION “, 2005-09-07) reported that Hong Kong’s air pollution is expected to hit new highs in the coming months, a leading environmental group has predicted, as smog levels in the city hit their highest level for the year so far. A noxious haze descended over the southern PRC territory in the morning as typically settled weather took hold sending the pollution gauge above the “very high” rating of 100 on the pollution index.

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