I. NAPSNet

1. ROK-US Summit on DPRK

JoongAng Ilbo (“ROH TO TELL BUSH KOREA ‘FAITHFUL’ ON SANCTIONS”, 2006-09-13) reported that President Roh Moo-hyun will tell President George W. Bush that Seoul has been and will continue to observe faithfully the UN Security Council resolution condemning the DPRK’s July 5 missile tests, Mr. Roh’s aides told reporters as they arrived in the US capital Tuesday night. A senior ROK official said the two leaders would not discuss any additional sanctions against the DPRK. Those protestations of good faith in adhering to the resolution appear to be an effort to soothe restive US officials who believe Seoul is not doing enough to enforce sanctions or, at worst, is undermining them. The aide said that despite that impression in Washington and in other capitals, the ROK had, for example, suspended food and fertilizer shipments to the DPRK.

(return to top) Associated Press (“RICE DISCUSSES NORTH KOREA NUCLEAR STANDOFF WITH SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT”, 2006-09-13) reported that ROK President Roh Moo-hyun met Wednesday with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, part of his efforts to smooth differences with the US over a protracted nuclear standoff with the DPRK. Roh and President Bush, who will meet Thursday, both want the DPRK to return to stalled negotiations aimed at persuading Pyongyang to scrap its self-proclaimed nuclear bomb production program. But bickering has flared occasionally on just how to achieve that. “The most important thing is that they can get along, and project that to the world,” Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow of foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution, said in looking ahead to Roh’s meeting with Bush. There were no immediate details on Roh’s private meeting with Rice. (return to top)

2. US Sanctions on DPRK

Chosun Ilbo (“U.S. ASKS FOR WORLD’S HELP WITH SANCTIONS ON N.KOREA “, 2006-09-13) reported that the US wrote detailing the need for tighter sanctions on the DPRK under Security Council resolution 1695 not just to member countries in six-nation talks on the DPRK’s nuclear program but to all UN member states, it emerged Wednesday. According to government sources, the US recently sent out official dispatches from its legations around the world informing UN member nations of the steps it will soon take against the DPRK, and asked for their cooperation in adapting similar measures. The US has included stiff measures to stop the purchase and sale of weapons of mass destruction, searches of DPRK vessels, and financial sanctions. Washington apparently made it clear it is determined to crack down on any trade that looks likely to be related to WMDs.

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3. DPRK-US Bilateral Talks

Associated Press (“NORTH KOREA REBUFFS U.S. OFFER TO TALK “, 2006-09-13) reported that the ROK’s vice foreign minister said Wednesday he understood the US had offered one-on-one talks with the DPRK on the nation’s nuclear program, but was rejected. However, a US official said in Washington that no new offer of direct talks had been made to Pyongyang. The ROK’s Yonhap news agency and other media reported Tuesday that the chief US nuclear envoy, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, proposed a meeting with his DPRK counterpart during a recent stop in the PRC. The DPRK did not accept the offer, the reports said.

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4. DPRK-PRC Relations

Kyodo News (“CHINA MAY DISCUSS REVISING TREATY WITH N. KOREA IN OCT. MEETING”, 2006-09-13) reported that the PRC may discuss at an annual Chinese Communist Party meeting in October the possibility of revising a treaty with the DPRK that commits Beijing to come to the aid of Pyongyang should it come under attack from foreign forces, a Hong Kong group said Wednesday. The Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said in a statement that the revision to the mutual friendship and cooperation treaty will be discussed in a bid to prevent the PRC from becoming involved in a possible war on the Korean Peninsula. The statement quoted an unnamed source as saying that the revision to the treaty was first raised at a high-level meeting on foreign policy held in late August, where an expert on the DPRK advocated the need to immediately revise the treaty.

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5. USFK Base Construction

Chosun Ilbo (“DEMOLITION AT U.S. BASE SITE COMMENCES WITHOUT FEARED CLASHES”, 2006-09-13) reported that a blitz demolition of empty houses at the future site of a US military base got rolling early Wednesday morning but owing to an all-out blockade set up by the police, the feared large-scale confrontation with residents never materialized. Mobilizing 400 workers along with tractors and other heavy equipment, the Defense Ministry and police launched the removal project that spans some 90 empty houses stretching from Doduri to Daechuri village.

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6. ROK-US Free Trade Talks

Reuters (“SOUTH KOREA TELLS U.S. BEEF IMPORT TARIFFS NEGOTIABLE”, 2006-09-13) reported that the ROK will not allow rice to be part of a free trade deal with the US but it is willing to discuss lowering tariffs on beef imports, the agriculture minister said on Wednesday. “There will be no negotiation in rice between the two countries. We will not respond to any request on rice,” Agriculture Minister Park Hong-soo told a local radio program, reiterating Seoul’s strong stance on the sensitive issue. But when asked whether lowering or scrapping tariffs on US beef imports could be part of future talks, Park responded: “Yes” on the KBS radio show.

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7. Japan Export Laws

Associated Press (“JAPAN MULLING OVERHAUL OF EXPORT LAWS”, 2006-09-13) reported that Japan may strengthen its export control laws to try to curb illicit trade in weapons-related technology, but is set to remove Libya from its export blacklist, officials said Wednesday. The proposed overhaul comes in the wake of several high-profile crackdowns involving Japanese companies suspected of illegally supplying machinery that could be used to manufacture weapons of mass destruction to the DPRK and Iran. Under current foreign trade laws, Japanese exporters must obtain government permission to export sensitive technology to the DPRK, Iran, Iraq and Libya, but shipments valued under $425 are exempted. The government is now considering requiring exporters to clear with the government sensitive exports of any value to those countries, getting rid of the exemption, according to Naoyuki Hasegawa, director of the Trade Ministry’s security export control division.

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8. Japan Troop Deployment

Kyodo News (“JAPAN MULLS SENDING GROUND TROOPS TO LEBANON AS U.N. PEACEKEEPERS”, 2006-09-13) reported that the Japanese government is studying sending its Ground Self-Defense Force troops to Lebanon to provide logistical support for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon involved in a peacekeeping mission to monitor a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah militants, government sources said Wednesday. It remains uncertain, though, whether Japan will give the go-ahead for the deployment given strong concerns within the government that fighting may erupt again in southern Lebanon. The final say is expected to be left to the new Japanese government that will be launched later this month after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi steps down, the sources said.

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9. Japan Economy

Agence France-Presse (“JAPAN’S CURRENT ACCOUNT SURPLUS BEATS FORECAST”, 2006-09-13) reported that Japan’s current account surplus in July rose 7.1 percent year-on-year, just beating forecasts as a growing return on overseas investment helped offset the impact of rising oil import costs, official figures show. The July current account surplus stood at 1.81 trillion yen (15.4 billion dollars), the finance ministry said, beating market estimates for 1.78 trillion yen. The income account posted a surplus of 1.22 trillion yen for the month, the fifth largest on record and up 23.5 percent from July 2005, as Japan reaped the benefits of its growing overseas assets.

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10. Japan Imperial Succession

Associated Press (“JAPAN IMPERIAL FAMILY STILL FACES CRISIS”, 2006-09-13) reported that the birth of the first male heir to the Chrysanthemum Throne in four decades does not resolve the imperial family’s looming succession crisis, Japan’s palace chief said through a spokesman Wednesday. The birth of Hisahito was hailed by royalists as forestalling the crisis in one of the world’s oldest imperial systems, which allows only male rulers and had desperately needed a new successor. Imperial Household Agency Grand Steward Shingo Haketa said that even though the new royal is a boy, there is no guarantee of future male offspring, leaving the long-term line of succession in doubt.

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11. US Resolution on Japan War Acts

Yonhap (“HOUSE COMMITTEE PASSES COMFORT WOMEN RESOLUTION FOR FIRST TIME”, 2006-09-13) reported that a US House committee passed Thursday the first resolution ever holding Japan accountable for sexual enslavement of women during its colonial occupation of Asia in the past century. The International Relations Committee endorsed H.Res. 759 in a consensus vote to say Japan should unambiguously acknowledge and accept responsibility for enslaving young women, known as “comfort women.” Two previous resolutions on comfort women, submitted in 2001 and last year, had been shelved mainly due to Japanese lobbying.

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12. US on PRC Economic Reform

Financial Times (“PAULSON CALLS FOR REASSESSMENT OF US-CHINA POLICY”, 2006-09-13) reported that Hank Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary, on Wednesday called for a far-reaching reassessment of US-PRC policy, urging both nations to rise above short term disputes to take a “generational” view of their relationship. In a landmark speech ahead of his first trip to the PRC as Treasury Secretary, the former Goldman Sachs chairman and PRC expert said he would tell his counterparts in Beijing “we want you to succeed.” Mr Paulson declared “the United States has a huge stake in a prosperous stable China – a China able and willing to play its part as a global economic leader.” “The biggest risk we face is not that China will overtake the US but that China will not move ahead with the reforms necessary to sustain its growth,” he said. The speech implicitly downgrades the importance of the Chinese exchange rate as a stand-alone issue, setting it instead as part of a necessary shift towards more market-based economic management.

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13. PRC Media Restrictions

Agence France-Presse (“WHITE HOUSE WARNS CHINA AGAINST MEDIA RESTRICTIONS”, 2006-09-13) reported that The White House warned the PRC over new restrictions on news outlets, calling any efforts to curb the free flow of information “incompatible” with building a modern economy. “We would view any attempt to restrict the free flow of information with great concern and as incompatible with China’s aspirations to build a modern, information-based economy,” said national security spokesman Frederick Jones. “We are concerned about the announcement by China’s official news agency about new regulations concerning the distribution of information in China by foreign media organizations,” said Jones.

(return to top) Reuters (“CHINA STANDS FIRM ON MEDIA POLICY”, 2006-09-13) reported that the PRC’s open policy to foreign media and financial information agencies remains unchanged and the government will protect their freedom and rights, the PRC’s Premier Wen Jiabao said on Wednesday. “I would like to reiterate that the open policy adopted by the Chinese government regarding the foreign news media and the financial information agencies operating in China remains unchanged,” Wen told a news conference. “The Chinese government will ensure the freedom and rights of the foreign news media and foreign financial information agencies operating in China,” he said, speaking through an interpreter. “Information in commerce, finance and economic development will flow freely without any obstructions,” Wen said. (return to top)

14. PRC Mine Accidents

Agence France-Presse (“ONE DEAD, 38 TRAPPED IN CHINA MINE ACCIDENTS: REPORTS”, 2006-09-13) reported that one person has been killed and at least 38 others are trapped after two coal mine accidents in the PRC, state media said. The first accident occurred at 5:00 am local time (2200 GMT Tuesday) in Tonghua city in northeastern Jilin province, the authorities said, according to the official Xinhua news agency. The second accident happened at noon at the privately-owned Danangou mine in Datong city in northern Shanxi province.

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15. Cross Strait Relations

Xinhua (“TAIWAN’S ATTEMPT TO GET INTO UN A “DANGEROUS” STEP”, 2006-09-13) reported that the PRC said here Wednesday that an attempt by Taiwan authorities to gain accession to the United Nations is a “dangerous” step. Li Weiyi, spokesman of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, told a news briefing that such an attempt is a “new” and “dangerous” step made by the Taiwan leader who continues to push secession and exposes his intention to speed up secessionist activities. The General Committee of the 61st Session of the UN General Assembly decided on Tuesday against inclusion into the agenda of the current session the so-called “question of the representation of Taiwan in the UN”. Li said the UN’s rejection demonstrated the majority of UN members believed there was only one PRC, and Taiwan, as part of the PRC, was not qualified to join the UN in any name or through any means.

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