Daily Report Archives
Established in December 1993, the Nautilus Institute’s *N*ortheast *A*sia *P*eace and *S*ecurity *N*etwork (NAPSNet) Daily Report served thousands of readers in more than forty countries, including policy makers, diplomats, aid organizations, scholars, donors, activists, students, and journalists.
The NAPSNet Daily Report aimed to serve a community of practitioners engaged in solving the complex security and sustainability issues in the region, especially those posed by the DPRK’s nuclear weapons program and the threat of nuclear war in the region. It was distributed by email rom 1993-1997, and went on-line in December 1997, which is when the archive on this site begins. The format at that time can be seen here.
However, for multiple reasons—the rise of instantaneous news services, the evolution of the North Korea and nuclear issues, the increasing demand for specialized and synthetic analysis of these and related issues, and the decline in donor support for NAPSNet—the Institute stopped producing the Daily Report news summary service as of December 17, 2010.
In today’s Report:
I. United States
II. Republic of Korea
1. Food Aid Found on DPRK Submarine
The Associated Press (“US DONATED FOOD FOUND ON NKOREA SUB,” Seoul, 10/17/97) reported that the ROK Defense Ministry said Friday that a label from a can of US-donated beef was found in a DPRK submarine that ran aground off the ROK in September last year. The label was found by US Navy officers taking part in a US-ROK military exercise in August. Legible portions of the label said the beef was “Food for relief, in the name of Christ,” donated by “Mennonite Churches of Va.,” ministry officials said. A ministry spokesman said the discovery prompted the ROK to ask the US and international aid groups to seek closer monitoring of food aid to the DPRK out of concern that some might be diverted to its military.
2. DPRK Famine
The AP-Dow Jones News Service (“N.KOREA FAMINE RAMPANT DESPITE AID, HARVEST – U.S. LAWMAKER,” Tokyo 10/17/97) and Reuters (Brian Williams, “U.S. CONGRESSMAN: N.KOREA ON BRINK OF DISASTER,” Tokyo 10/17/97) reported that US Representative Tony Hall, following his third visit to the DPRK, said, “International food aid is getting through and the harvest will buy a little more time, but people in the countryside continue to teeter on the brink of massive disaster.” Hall also said that many hospitals are functioning without electricity, heat, medicine or food. He said that the situation “calls for a strategy that begins with emergency assistance and carries through with reforms that can rescue ordinary Koreans from the whims of both politics and nature.” The UN’s World Food Program plans to send in an assessment team on October 25 that will remain in the DPRK for 10 days and report on the food needs there. Hall also met top DPRK officials in Pyongyang, including Foreign Minister Kim Yong-nam and Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye-gwan, and said he was optimistic that the DPRK would rejoin peace talks, possibly before the end of the year. He said that the ministers were most concerned that food aid not be used as a political weapon during the talks. Hall added that he was convinced that US and other aid was getting through without diversion to the DPRK’s military.
PRNewswire (“AMERICARES TO LAUNCH SECOND MEDICAL AIRLIFT TO NORTH KOREA,” New Canaan, Connecticut, 10/17/97) carried a company press release from AmeriCares, an international humanitarian relief organization, announcing that it has reached agreement with the DPRK government for a second airlift of medicines and medical supplies to aid in famine-related suffering. The airlift, scheduled for October 30, will carry nearly 100,000 pounds of antibiotics, other medicines, and medical and nutritional supplies. The flight will also carry a special AmeriCares team of physicians and medical personnel. Robert C. Macauley, chairman and founder of AmeriCares, stated, “Throughout AmeriCares’ first emergency airlift the government of the DPRK went out of its way to be helpful and cooperative with our team in the distribut
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In today’s Report: I. United States 1. DPRK Famine 2. ROK Presidential Elections 3. Human Rights in ROK 4. US-PRC Relations 5. Global Land Mine Ban 6. Japanese Nuclear Development II. Republic of Korea 1. DPRK Military Buildup 2. Alleged DPRK Interference in ROK Elections 3. DPRK-Russian Relations 4. ROK-Japan Fishing Pact I. United […]
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In today’s Report:
I. United States
II. Republic of Korea
III. Extended Excerpts
1. Food Aid for DPRK
The Associated Press (“U.S. OFFERS FRESH HELP TO N KOREANS,” Washington, 10/14/97) and United Press International (“N.KOREA TO GET $5 MILLION IN U.S. AID,” Washington, 10/14/97) reported that US State Department spokesman James P. Rubin said Tuesday that the US will give the United Nations Children’s Fund with US$5 million to provide medicines and other supplies to help needy people in the DPRK. “We expect the food crisis to deepen. This grant is designed to help clinics deal with vulnerable groups,” Rubin said. He predicted that the current harvest in North Korea may alleviate the famine conditions there, but only temporarily. He said the US expects the UN World Food Program to issue a new appeal for food relief from donor countries in November.
The Washington Times (Willis Witter, “FOOD AID STAVES OFF NORTH KOREAN FAMINE,” Tokyo, 10/15/97) reported that Trevor Rowe, a spokesman for the UN World Food Program, said on Tuesday that the DPRK’s food needs are currently being met. The “bad news,” Rowe said, “is that the harvest is going to produce enough food for only four months, and then it will be winter.” Young Namkoong, a professor at Korea University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, speculated that the availability of food may have had a role in Kim Jong-il’s decision last week to assume the formal leadership of the country as general secretary of the Workers’ Party. “At the moment he became general secretary [Kim] could release some food from the harvest,” Young said.
State Department spokesman James P. Rubin (“STATE DEPARTMENT NOON BRIEFING,” USIA Transcript, 10/14/97) stated that “there has been no change in our policy regarding food aid to North Korea — all of which is provided on a humanitarian basis.” Rubin added, “we are sending a needs assessment team to work with the World Food Program and the DPRK to enhance its effectiveness.” However, he said, the US has “confidence that there is no significant diversion [of food aid], using the monitoring system we have in place.”
2. US-ROK Relations
State Department spokesman James P. Rubin (“STATE DEPARTMENT NOON BRIEFING,” USIA Transcript, 10/14/97) stated that “the US policy on the South Korean election is clear, firm and consistent. It is up to the people of South Korea to select their president. We don’t favor any candidate over any other.” Rubin added, “The premise that we have a problem with the South Koreans in pursuing the four-party talks is incorrect.” Rubin said that while there are no new developments regarding the four-party talks, “that doesn’t mean we’re pessimistic. … We believe there will be progress, because that is in the interest of all the parties concerned.” He added that “questions about the present hiatus in the talks should be directed at Pyongyang, not Seoul. The timing of the election of Kim Jung-Il as General Secretary may have been a factor.” [Ed. note: See “Four-Party Peace Talks,” in the US Section of
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