Nautilus Institute: Nautilus Offerings — NAPSNet Daily Report
NAPSNet Daily Report 18 October, 2007
Contents in this Issue:
- I. NAPSNet
- US on DPRK Nuclear Program
- PRC on DPRK Nuclear Program
- DPRK Energy Working Group
- Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation
- ROK on DPRK Missile Program
- ROK on Iraq Mission
- Japan SDF Indian Ocean Mission
- US-PRC Relations
- PRC Party Congress
- PRC Economy
- PRC Environment
- PRC Internet Control
- II. ROK Report
I. NAPSNet
1. US on DPRK Nuclear Program
Joongang Ilbo (Brian Lee, “NO PEACE WITH PLUTONIUM, HILL SAYS”, 2007/10/17) reported that the DPRK must abandon all of the plutonium it has produced before the peace process can begin, Christopher Hill said, indicating further negotiations are needed on the issue. “We need to get North Korea to abandon the 50 kilos [of produced plutonium] and that will be the toughest sell. If we do get to this point of 50 kilos, one thing we have agreed to start with is the peace process on the Korean Peninsula,” Hill, Washington’s chief representative to the six-party talks, said.
2. PRC on DPRK Nuclear Program
Reuters (Jack Kim, “NO END TO KOREA WAR UNTIL NORTH SCRAPS ARMS: CHINA “, Seoul, 2007/10/17) reported that a peace treaty formally ending the 1950-1953 Korean War cannot be signed as long as the DPRK possesses nuclear arms, the PRC’s envoy to Seoul said. “Establish a peace regime on the Korean peninsula when there are still nuclear weapons here? That just does not stand up,” the PRC ambassador, Ning Fukui, told a security forum in Seoul. “To improve relations between North and South Korea and to replace the armistice with a peace treaty, the matter of denuclearizing (the North) must be resolved in full,” Ning said.
3. DPRK Energy Working Group
Yonhap (Byun Duk-kun, “NUCLEAR ENVOYS OF DIVIDED KOREAS TO HOLD TALKS NEXT WEEK ON ENERGY AID “, Seoul, 2007/10/17) reported that nuclear envoys from the ROK and DPRK will meet at the DPRK’s scenic Mount Geumgang resort next week to discuss the provision of energy assistance promised to the DPRK in exchange for shutting down and disabling its key nuclear facilities, the Foreign Ministry said. The two-day talks, which begin Monday, are part of several working group meetings agreed upon in the latest round of six-party talks on the DPRK’s denuclearization.
4. Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation
Joongang Ilbo (Limb Jae-un, “THINK TANK ASSIGNS 116 TRILLION-WON TAB FOR SOUTH-NORTH DEALS”, 2007/10/17) reported that economic cooperation between the two Koreas would cost an estimated 116 trillion won ($126 billion) over 10 years, an opposition lawmaker said, citing a confidential report by a state think tank, which was produced at the request of the Finance Ministry. The Blue House questioned the interpretation but confirmed the report’s existence. Grand National Party Assemblyman Eom Ho-sung said during the National Assembly’s annual audit of the government that according to a classified report from the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, economic cooperation between ROK and DPRK would cost 63 trillion won for microeconomic projects and 53 trillion won for macroeconomic projects.
5. ROK on DPRK Missile Program
Korea Times (Jung Sung-ki, “‘S. KOREA VULNERABLE TO NK CHEMICAL WARHEADS'”, 2007/10/17) reported that the ROK’s military has reported that the DPRK’s solid-fuel KN-02 short-range missile has a 500-kilogram payload capable of carrying a chemical or high explosive warhead, a lawmaker said. During a National Assembly inspection of the Ministry of National Defense, Rep. Kim Hak-song of the main opposition Grand National Party said the Joint Chiefs of Staff had made this analysis. Kim, a member of the Assembly’s National Defense Committee, was worried that the ROK military does not have enough intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities to counter the DPRK’s fast-development of missiles, particularly ones using solid fuel.
6. ROK on Iraq Mission
Agence France-Presse (“SKOREA SET TO DECIDE ON TROOPS IN IRAQ”, Seoul, 2007/10/17) reported that the ROK’s defence minister said the government would decide this week whether to extend the stay of its troops in Iraq. Kim Jang-Soo said that a timetable on the mission of 1,200 South Korean troops stationed in Iraq would be submitted to the National Assembly by Friday. “Consultations among related government offices are almost done. So we will decide it by the day after tomorrow,” Kim told a parliamentary committee, according to Yonhap news agency.
7. Japan SDF Indian Ocean Mission
Kyodo (“GOV’T SUBMITS BILL ON NEW LAW FOR REFUELING MISSION TO DIET “, Tokyo, 2007/10/17) reported that the government endorsed at a Cabinet meeting and immediately submitted to the Diet a contentious bill for a new law to continue providing refueling support for U.S.-led antiterrorism operations in and near Afghanistan. The proposed legislation limits the scope of Japan’s activities only to supplying fuel and water to forces from the US and other countries engaged in operations to clamp down on ships allegedly linked to terrorism in the Indian Ocean. Many Japanese lawmakers say it is hard to predict when the bill will clear the Diet due to strong opposition led by the Democratic Party of Japan. The opposition bloc holds a majority in the less powerful House of Councillors.
8. US-PRC Relations
Washington Post (Debbi Wilgoren, Jacqueline L. Salmon and Edward Cody, “BUSH DISMISSES CHINESE CONCERNS OVER LAMA VISIT”, Washington, 2007/10/17) reported that President Bush said this morning that he does not expect his open embrace of the Dalai Lama to imperil relations between the US and PRC, despite strong protests from PRC leaders against the honors being bestowed upon the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader. Bush said he has told PRC President Hu Jintao he planned to attend the medal ceremony “because I want to honor this man. . . . If they were to sit down with the Dalai Lama, they would find him to be a man of peace and reconciliation.” But the PRC has warned that the five-day visit could chill U.S.-PRC relations.
9. PRC Party Congress
The Associated Press (Christopher Bodeen, “CHINESE COMMUNISTS ADOPT LEADERSHIP LIST “, Beijing, 2007/10/17) reported that the PRC’s senior leadership agreed on a list of candidates for top posts in the ruling Communist Party, then forwarded it to a national congress that will have a modicum of choice in determining the future lineup for running the country. In a break with past practice, state media announced that a list of members recommended to join the party’s Central Committee had been approved by a panel of senior leaders handling arrangements for the congress — but the list itself was not released. The report was in keeping with President Hu Jintao’s baby steps in bringing some transparency to the party’s decision-making.
10. PRC Economy
Agence France-Presse (“CHINA TO RAISE COMMUNIST PROFILE IN FOREIGN ENTERPRISES “, Beijing, 2007/10/17) reported that the PRC will strengthen the role of the Communist Party in foreign-invested enterprises as the number of cadres in overseas companies here grows, a leading official said. “The management of party members working in foreign-invested ventures will be further strengthened,” Ouyang Song, deputy head of the party’s organisation department told journalists. This will ensure that the party maintains its leading role in PRC society, Ouyang said. Analysts have said the party is eager to recruit more members in the private sector to maintain political control over the PRC’s growing business community, including foreign firms.
The Associated Press (Elaine Kurtenbach, “RUNAWAY ECONOMY IS REAL STAR IN CHINA “, Shanghai, 2007/10/17) reported that President Hu Jintao gave the longest public speech of his political life this week, dwelling at length on the Communist Party’s social goals but spending little time on the economy. Hours later, the Shanghai stock market’s key index hit a new high. The political show is all in Beijing at a pivotal party meeting. But as PRC leaders wheel and deal over policies and appointments, the real star — and potential wild card — is the economy.
11. PRC Environment
The Financial Times (Jamil Anderlini, “REGION EYES FUNDS FOR DAM CLEAN-UP”, Chongqing, 2007/10/17) reported that the local government in charge of the PRC’s Three Gorges dam region is lobbying Beijing for additional funds to clean up the environment in the reservoir area, according to a senior official, a move critics describe as a ploy to channel money from state coffers to the provinces. Tan Qiwei, vice-mayor of Chongqing city, told the Financial Times that his government had already spent nearly Rmb10bn ($1.3bn, £655m, €940m) on clean-up operations related to the world’s largest hydroelectric project. Mr Tan did not suggest how much would be needed to deal with the region’s environmental problems, but he said a single project to transfer fertile soil to areas where migrants were being resettled would cost at least Rmb780m.
12. PRC Internet Control
BBC News (Michael Bristow , “WEB DISSENT ON THE RISE IN CHINA”, 2007/10/17) reported that Zeng Jinyan does not look like a dissident. She is just one of tens of thousands of ordinary Chinese people who are now using the internet to express themselves in ways that were previously impossible. The campaigner is not the only PRC person using the internet to express themselves. Internet chatrooms are important gathering places, where people can express themselves more openly, even if it is just to share jokes. And political humour directed at those in power – almost impossible to find in the state-run PRC media – exists on the internet.
II. ROK Report
13. DPRK Reform
Chosun Ilbo (Lee Jong-chan, “WHAT IS THE INTENTION OF PRESIDENT ROH’S REMARK?”, Seoul, 2007/10/18) in a commentary by a former director of the National Intelligence Service, said that President Roh asked people not to use the words “reformation and openness” to the DPRK as soon as he came back to the ROK after finishing the second summit. The next day, the Ministry of National Unification began to edit all documents including the words in a hurry. Why do we want DPRK to change? It is not for its collapse, but for its development. Therefore, President Roh should have told the DPRK’s leader, Kim Jong-il, that the DPRK must reform and open its system for its survival, adding that ROK and the US will have no intent to absorb its regime if the DPRK changes toward a better direction.
14. ROK-US FTA
Hankyoreh Shinmun (“ALL THINGS GIVING BUT NOTHING TO BE GIVEN?”, Seoul, 2007/10/18) said in an editorial that the demand of Wendy Cutler, the chief delegate to the ROK-US FTA (Free Trade Agreement), on opening beef markets to receive the approval of the US Congress was too strong. This is because she knows that ROK feels keenly the necessity of it. If the ROK government allows its beef markets to be wholly opened, the US will call for another thing. The ROK government has to change its stubborn position into a more flexible one, which is for the national interest.