In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

I. United States

1. ROK-DPRK Trade Relations

The AP-Dow Jones News Service (“S. KOREA AUTHORIZES FIVE COMPANIES TO INVEST IN N. KOREA,” Seoul, 10/14/97) reported that the ROK government on Tuesday authorized the state-run Korea Land Corporation to build an industrial park in the DPRK’s Rajin-Sonbong free trade zone. The government also approved plans by four private companies to do business or invest in the free trade zone for general trading, building fishing and logistical facilities, and manufacturing bicycles. The action brought to 26 the total number of ROK firms that have been authorized to do business or invest in the DPRK.

2. DPRK-PRC Relations

The AP-Dow Jones News Service (“CHINA SENDS HIGH-LEVEL MILITARY MISSION TO N. KOREA – REPORT,” Beijing, 10/14/97) reported that the PRC’s state-run Xinhua News Agency said that a delegation of the People’s Liberation Army left Tuesday for the DPRK on the first high-level visit by PRC officials since Kim Jong-il’s appointment as Secretary General of the Workers Party.

3. US Position on ROK Presidential Elections

The AP-Dow Jones News Service (“U.S. DECLARES NEUTRALITY IN S. KOREA ELECTIONS,” Seoul, 10/14/97) reported that the US Embassy in Seoul issued a statement at the request of the ROK’s Foreign Ministry which said, “We do not favor any candidate over any other” in the upcoming ROK presidential election. “U.S. government policy on the (South Korean) election has been clear, firm and consistent: it is entirely up to the people of Korea to select their president,” the statement said. [Ed. note: See “Four Party Peace Talks,” in the US Section of the October 13 Daily Report.]

4. ROK President’s Son Convicted

The New York Times (Nicholas D. Kristof , “SEOUL’S MIGHTY, ONCE IMMUNE, NOW FEEL THE ARM OF THE LAW,” Tokyo, 10/14/97) carried an analysis which argued that the conviction of ROK President Kim Young-sam’s son for bribery and tax evasion “at one level … underscored the corruption of Korean politics and the trades of favors and money among politicians and tycoons. But at a broader level, what was most astonishing was not that graft occurred, … but rather that anyone so close to a president should actually be sentenced to prison for it.” The article quoted chief judge Sohn Ji-yeol as saying “Some members of the Korean public view this as a political trial or a trial of public opinion. But we have adhered strictly to the law in carrying out this trial.”

The Los Angeles Times (Sonni Efron, ” S. KOREA SPLIT ON SENTENCING OF PRESIDENT’S SON,” Seoul, 10/14/97) carried an analysis which said that, while to some ROK citizens, the conviction of President Kim Young-sam’s son is proof that the ROK is finally learning the rule of law, to others he is “a scapegoat for a changing Korean political culture that is retroactively applying new standards of accountability.” The report quoted Han Sang Jin, a p

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Russian Federation

I. United States

1. Four-Party Peace Talks

The Washington Post (R. Jeffrey Smith “U.S. AIDES PESSIMISTIC ON KOREA TALKS: NO PROGRESS EXPECTED SOON AS NORTH MAKES DEMANDS, SOUTH AWAITS ELECTIONS,” Washington, 10/13/97, A24) reported that senior US officials have little hope of making progress soon in the four-nation peace talks for the Korean peninsula, due both to what the officials describe as a series of unacceptable and surprisingly inflexible DPRK conditions for conducting the talks and to the ROK’s opposition to making concessions to the DPRK. One unnamed senior US official said that the slumping popularity of the ROK’s ruling party has left its leaders preoccupied with campaigning for the December 18 presidential election and “politically paralyzed” on foreign policy matters. US officials have argued in private that an opposition victory in the ROK would create a new opportunity for direct dialogue and expanded ties between the DPRK and ROK, but they say that even if opposition leader Kim Dae-jung is elected and inaugurated in February, three to six months may pass before he puts forward any new major policies for dealing with the DPRK. An unnamed senior official said that the temporary easing of the DPRK’s food shortage makes the lack of progress less worrisome, because DPRK leaders are less desperate and somewhat less likely to engage in provocative behavior to gain attention and leverage. Some administration officials had hoped for an early agreement on such partial measures as setting up a “hot line” between the DPRK, the ROK, and the US for communicating in a crisis, exchanging visits by military officers and providing advance notice of all military maneuvers. US officials said that for now, military analysts are slightly less worried that the DPRK might heighten tensions to gain leverage in the negotiations. However, due to the continuing military risks, “there is no interest — anywhere in the U.S. government — in pulling back and letting them implode or explode,” a senior official said, speaking on condition he not be named. He added that the US considers a delay in peace talks acceptable partly because the declining DPRK economy is seen as working to the US advantage by forcing DPRK officials to take economic reform more seriously.

2. Kim Jong-il’s Ascension

The Washington Post carried an editorial (“NORTH KOREA’S DYNASTY,” 10/13/97, A26) which said that, given the DPRK’s “cult of personality, it should not have been surprising that when Kim Jong Il assumed the title this week of general secretary of the Workers Party of Korea, thousands of his subjects were said to have taken to the streets in spasms of spontaneous celebration.” The editorial argued that “Although U.S. and South Korean officials have expressed hope that Kim Jong Il now would lead his nation on a more conciliatory path, nothing in his record to date gives any reason for optimism. Indeed, the thousands of (hungry) Koreans reportedly celebratin

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

III. Japan

I. United States

1. Kim Jong-il’s Ascension

Reuters (“NKOREA’S KIM MAKES 1ST POST-ELECTION APPEARANCE,” Tokyo, 10/10/97) and the Associated Press (“NORTH KOREAN LEADER HONORS FATHER,” Tokyo, 10/10/97) said that the DPRK’s official Korean Central Broadcasting Station reported that Kim Jong-il on Friday visited the tomb of his father, Kim Il-sung, during ceremonies marking the 52nd anniversary of the founding of the WPK. It was his first public appearance since his election on Wednesday as head of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), DPRK analysts said that the country’s official media had made no changes in listing the names of dignitaries attending functions since Kim took control of the party, indicating he had so far made no changes in the country’s power structure. In Moscow, Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency reported that sources close to the DPRK Embassy said that Kim Jong-il will also become president of the country this year, “possibly in one week’s time.” Also, an unnamed DPRK diplomat was quoted as saying, “So far we don’t know when Comrade Kim Jong-il will be named president but of course we want this to happen.”

The New York Times said in an editorial (“DYNASTIC POLITICS IN NORTH KOREA,” 10/10/97) that while the appointment of Kim Jong-il as General Secretary of the Workers’ Party “suggests there has been orderly passage of power to Mr. Kim,” and “may also mean that the country’s dogmatic military leaders will take orders from civilian authorities,” nonetheless, “neither development augurs any great change in North Korea’s self-imposed isolation.” Speculating that Kim will continue to cooperate with the US-DPRK Agreed Framework on nuclear weapons and seek to improve relations with the US and Japan, the editorial argued that “Washington should encourage these diplomatic feelers, while insisting that progress not come at South Korea’s expense. America should also do what it can to prevent a sudden and dangerous collapse of authority in North Korea. And it should be generous in providing food aid, with careful monitoring to make sure the aid goes to civilians in need rather than the military and the party elite. ” The editorial concluded that “Mr. Kim’s two overriding challenges will be to establish a regional role for his country that does not depend on military might, and to begin opening up the economy.”

2. DPRK Food Aid

Reuters (“USAID SEES NEW WFP FOOD APPEAL FOR N. KOREA IN NOV,” Washington, 10/9/97) reported that an anonymous official from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) said Thursday that the UN’s World Food Program (WFP) will likely issue a new food aid appeal for the DPRK in mid to late November, after it completes its assessment of the DPRK harvest. Based on a preliminary estimate, North Korea faces a shortfall of about 2.0 million to 2.5 million tons of food in 1997-98. Current expectations are that the WFP will ask donors for enough food assistance to cover the upcoming year, the o

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

I. United States

1. Kim Jong-il’s Ascension

Reuters (“A MERRY DAY IN NORTH KOREA,” Moscow, 10/9/97) said that Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency correspondent Alexander Valiyev reported that “North Korean people continue merrymaking” to celebrate the appointment of Kim Jong-il as head of the Wokers’ Party. “Dancing people are seen everywhere in Pyongyang,” he said. Valiyev said the main DPRK daily newspaper, Rodong Shinbun, filled most of its front page with a color photograph of Kim, and that television and radio stations were dominated by repeated broadcasts of the news. Tass also reported that the PRC’s ambassador to Pyongyang had presented “an appropriate official” with a basket of flowers and told a diplomatic gathering that Kim’s election had been a great inspiration to the PRC. Meanwhile Itar-Tass quoted a Russian Foreign Ministry official as saying, “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia respects the choice of the North Korean people and considers the election of Kim Jong-il a purely internal matter for that country.”

The New York Times (Nicholas D. Kristof, “NORTH KOREAN RULER NAMED LEADER OF COMMUNIST PARTY,” Tokyo, 10/9/97) quoted Kim Myong Chol, who formerly edited a North Korea-affiliated newspaper in Japan and has ties with members of the leadership in the North Korean capital, “North Korea is now headed for a free- market economy,” adding, “In Kim Jong Il’s mind, not everything about capitalism is bad.” It also quoted a senior ROK government official as saying on Wednesday, “We’ve always been aware that North Korea was under the control of Mr. Kim Jong Il before this official announcement. But now that he will have the actual post of head of the party, the North Korean government may be more stable, more responsible and more predictable.” The Times also said that the DPRK’s New Korea News Agency press has reported “mysterious natural phenomena,” which indicate that “comrade Kim Jong Il is indeed the greatest of great men produced by Heaven and that flowers come into bloom to mark the great event.” The Times also noted that, in a major essay published in August, Kim wrote that “Improving the relations between the North and the South is an urgent requirement.” He called for putting into effect long-frozen accords between the two Koreas and expressed willingness to negotiate with the ROK and also improve relations with Japan and the United States. “We have no intention to regard the United States as our eternal sworn enemy,” Kim wrote. “We hope to normalize the Korea-U.S. relationship.”

The Washington Post (Kevin Sullivan and Mary Jordan, “NORTH KOREA’S KIM IS FORMALLY NAMED TO LEADERSHIP POST,” Tokyo, 10/9/97) quoted officials of the Chosen Soren, the largest DPRK residents’ association in Japan, as saying in a statement: “We have been waiting for a long time for this historic event. . . . We are full of enthusiasm and joy.” Meanwhile in Washington, an u

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

I. United States

1. Kim Jong-il’s Ascension

Reuters (“NORTH KOREA NAMES KIM JONG-IL AS PARTY CHIEF,” Tokyo, 10/8/97) and the Associated Press (Reid G. Miller, “KIM JONG IL NEW N. KOREA LEADER,” Seoul, 10/8/97) reported that the DPRK’s Korean Central News Agency issued a special communique announcing that Kim Jong-il has been elected general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea. Kim Jong-il “has strengthened and developed our party to be an invincible, veteran revolutionary party which enjoys full support and trust from all the people, has trained our people as an independent people with indomitable faith and will and has opened a new era of the Kim Il-sung nation’s prosperity, with tireless revolutionary activities over the past 30 odd years,” the communique said, adding that “the whole country raised cheers,” at the news. ROK President Kim Young-sam said he expected no immediate major changes in the DPRK, and his government called on Pyongyang to “open up … and build peace with the South.” Ryoo Kihl-jae, a political science professor at Kyung-nam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul, said, “The economy is [Kim Jong-il’s] primary concern,” adding that “North Korea will open more … roughly following the trail of China.” Ryoo said, “But I doubt North Korea will go as far as China has.” Park June-young, a political scientist at Ewha Woman’s University in Seoul, predicted, “Kim will try more aggressively to establish diplomatic ties with the United States and persuade Washington to remove the economic embargo against his country.” Park added, “In short, North Korea under Kim Jong Il will be more confident in leading its society to openness in a tightly controlled manner.” [Ed. note: See related item in ROK section below.]

Reuters (“CHINA CONGRATULATES N.KOREA’S KIM JONG-IL, Beijing, 10/8/97) said that PRC state radio reported that on Wednesday PRC Communist Party chief Jiang Zemin, in a message of congratulations to Kim Jong-il on his formal election to Secretary-General of the Workers Party of Korea, lauded the “historical and traditional friendship” between the PRC and the DPRK. The PRC’s official news agency quoted Jiang’s message as saying that Kim’s formal accession would help carry on the ideas of his father Kim Il-sung. “The North Korean people, tightly uniting around the North Korean Workers’ Party headed by you… will use firm will and determination to overcome all kinds of difficulties,” Jiang said. He added, “Strengthening friendly cooperative relations [between the PRC and DPRK] has great significance for realizing peace, stability and development on the Korean Peninsula.”

2. ROK-DPRK Aviation Pact

The AP-Dow Jones News Service (“KOREAS SIGN OPEN-SKIES PACT, SHORTENING AIRLINES’ ROUTES,” Seoul, 10/8/97) reported that ROK officials said that on Wednesday the ROK and DPRK signed a treaty in Bangkok, Thailand, to open their skies to each other’s commercial flights for the first time in half

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Russian Federation

I. United States

1. ROK Aid to DPRK

The AP-Dow Jones News Service (“S. KOREA PROVIDES ANOTHER $5.25 MLN IN AID FOR N. KOREA,” Seoul, 10/7/97) reported that the ROK government said Tuesday that it has provided US$4 million for the World Food Program (WFP) to buy nutritional supplements for starving children in the DPRK as part of a US$10 million package of food and other assistance that the ROK pledged in August. Separately, the ROK government said it also provided US$1.25 million for the WFP to finance its monitoring activities in the DPRK to ensure that aid reaches the needy. An ROK government report said that imports and international aid have reduced the DPRK’s food shortage from an estimated 1.3 million tons to 295,000 tons. The PRC will continue shipments and the WFP has pledged 130,000 tons of additional food, which will help the DPRK make it to this fall’s harvest, the report said.

2. ROK-DPRK Aviation Talks

The Associated Press (“TWO KOREAS NEAR DEAL TO OPEN SKIES,” Seoul, 10/7/97) reported that ROK Foreign Ministry officials said that the ROK and DPRK resumed aviation talks Tuesday in Bangkok aimed at opening their skies to each others’ flights. The DPRK accepted the ROK’s demand that the two sides’ air traffic control towers communicate through surface telephone lines crossing the border, the officials said, retracting its earlier insistence on using satellite connections.

3. Search for Remains of US MIAs

United Press International (“U.S. TEAM IN N. KOREA TO SEEK MIAS,” Washington, 10/7/97) and the Associated Press (“US SEARCHES N KOREA FOR MIA REMAINS, Washington, 10/6/97) reported that the US Defense Department said Monday that a Defense Department team has returned to the DPRK for its fourth attempt this year to find the remains of US servicemen missing from the Korean War. The search is focused in an area where US ground troops were routed by PRC forces in the fall of 1950. The US team plans to interview military officials and local residents to track down possible sites where US soldiers were buried. The DPRK has invited a small group of family and veteran’s organization officials to visit the joint operation site. The officials will leave the US Friday and are expected to stay in the DPRK for about four days. A repatriation ceremony for any remains excavated during the operation has been scheduled for Oct. 24 in Panmunjom.

4. ROK Presidential Candidate Accused of Slush Fund

Reuters (“S.KOREA’S OPPOSITION LEADER ACCUSED OF SLUSH FUND,” Seoul, 10/7/97) reported that Kang Sam-jae of the ROK’s ruling New Korea Party on Tuesday accused Kim Dae-jung, presidential candidate of the main opposition National Congress for New Politics, of amassing more than 67 billion won (US$73 million) in a “slush fund.” Kang told a news conference his party uncovered the funds deposited in 365 false and proxy name accounts. “Another shocking factor we foun

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

III. Japan

I. United States

1. Kim Jong-il Meets Russian Official

The Associated Press (“KIM JONG IL MAY INVITE FOREIGNERS,” Moscow, 10/4/97) said that the ITAR-Tass news agency reported Friday that Kim Jong-il met with Oleg Shenin, chairman of Russia’s Council of the Union of Communist Parties, on Sept. 2 in Pyongyang. [Ed. note: See related item in the ROK section, below] It was the first time for Kim to meet with a foreigner since 1983, when he visited the PRC. Shenin reportedly said that Kim was ready to invite foreign guests to celebrate his formal ascension to power. “I saw that Pyongyang is ready for contacts with the world and during the celebrations Kim Jong-il will, naturally, meet many foreigners,” Shenin said. He said that Kim was expected to become supreme leader of the DPRK’s ruling Workers Party around Oct. 10, the anniversary of the party’s founding. Shenin also said that Kim was expected to become state president, the other top post, when the DPRK celebrates the 50th anniversary of its establishment in September next year.

The New York Times reported (Reuters, “KIM SPEAKS TO FOREIGNER OF NORTH KOREAN FAMINE,” Moscow, 10/4/97) that Kim Jong-il told visiting Russian Communist Party official Oleg Shenin that the DPRK’s economic conditions are “complicated, especially the food situation, after two years of floods and this summer’s drought.” Kim reportedly said that this year’s rice harvest was good but the corn crop was poor.

2. DPRK Famine

Reuters (Andrew Browne, U.N. SAYS N.KOREA HAS ESCAPED FOOD CATASTROPHE, Beijing, 10/5/97) reported that Namanga Ngongi, the deputy executive director of the UN’s World Food Program (WFP), said that the food situation in the DPRK was getting visibly better as a result of international food aid. “People looked better, the children in particular looked better,” Ngongi said after a tour of western and southern parts of the DPRK by an international team, including officials from the US and Japan. The WFP has distributed 400,000 tons of food, and another 300,000-400,000 tons in foreign government aid has been pledged this year to help cover a shortfall of about 1.3 million tons, Ngongi said. A WFP appeal for US$136 million for the DPRK raised about 80 percent of the dollar total, but because the money was used to buy cheaper food more than 90 percent of the projected volume of aid had been delivered, he said. Ngongi estimated that North Korea would face a shortfall of 2.0-2.5 million tons of food in the year starting from the end of the latest harvest, which is now underway. However, depending on the volume of aid pledged for next year, DPRK citizens will experience “some pain” but will be able to struggle through the coming winter. He said there was no evidence that food aid had been diverted from those in need, and recipients all knew exactly the amount of aid to which they were entitled. Ngongi made clear he did not believe there had been mass starvation, but he added “It

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

I. United States

1. DPRK Nuclear Program

The Associated Press-Dow Jones News Service (“IRAQ, N KOREA COME UNDER FIRE FROM U.N.’S ATOMIC AGENCY” Vienna, 10/3/97) reported that the ROK delegate to the 41st annual conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Sook Il-Kwun, called on the conference to take a firm stance against the DPRK for withholding information on its nuclear program. Delegates were reportedly particularly concerned that the DPRK might be destroying documents about its program, without which an initial report on the country’s nuclear materials cannot be verified.

2. DPRK Missile Sales to Iran

The New York Times carried an opinion article (Thomas L. Friedman, “MISSILE MYOPIA,” 10/2/97) regarding Iran’s attempt to acquire long-range missiles. The article said that in 1993 the DPRK provided Iran with blueprints, and possibly a single copy, of the No-dong class of Scud missile. However DPRK aid to Iran has since tailed off.

3. Kim Jong-il’s Accession

The Associated Press (Robert H. Reid, “N. KOREA: KIM JONG [sic] WILL HEAD PARTY,” United Nations, 10/3/97) reported that DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Choe Su-hon told the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday that “the nomination process is going on in my country to elect the great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il as general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea.” Choe said that Kim’s elevation would demonstrate “the firm will and conviction of our people” to carry on the policies of his late father, Kim Il-sung. The vice foreign minister said the DPRK people were able to overcome their grief over the founder’s death “because they hold in high esteem another great leader, General Kim Jong Il, an iron-willed brilliant commander.”

4. DPRK Warns of Possible War

Reuters (“NORTH KOREA SAYS WAR POSSIBLE ‘AT ANY MOMENT’,” United Nations, 10/2/97) reported that DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Choe Su-hon told the UN General Assembly Thursday the situation on the Korean peninsula was tense, and “a war could break out at any moment due to the attempts of the U.S., Japan and South Korean authorities against our socialist republic.” He said that “In recent years alone, the United States introduced over $3 billion worth of war equipment into South Korea,” The US has also been conducting joint military exercises more frequently than ever before and “even directing the gunpoints of the U.S. forces in Japan and the Pacific Fleet” towards the DPRK, he added. To ease the tension and avert the danger of war, the US should “abandon its hostile policy against our republic and sign a peace agreement” with the DPRK, he said.

5. Land Mines on Korean Peninsula

The Washington Times (Willis Witter, “KOREA PREFERS LAND MINES TO INVASION BY NORTH,” Yonchon, ROK, 10/3/97) carried an article which said tha

In today’s Report:

I. United States

I. United States

1. ROK President Calls for Strong Defense

United Press International (“S.KOREA’S KIM CALLS FOR VIGILANT DEFENSE,” Seoul, 10/1/97) reported that ROK President Kim Young-sam, at a ceremony marking the ROK’s 49th Armed Forces Day, discussed issues relating to the ROK’s reunification policy and defense posture. “What we pursue is a peaceful reunification of the country and not a war,” Kim said. He called for a modern armed force capable of defending the nation against any attack from the DPRK, noting that the DPRK is “still bolstering their military force, even though we are giving them food aid and light-water nuclear reactors with brotherly love.”

2. Alleged DPRK Labor Camps

Nando (“SOUTH KOREA SAYS NORTH KOREA HOLDING 200,000 IN LABOR CAMPS,” Seoul, 10/2/97 reported that, according to a white paper on human rights in the DPRK published annually by the Korea Institute for National Unification, a think-tank of the ROK National Unification Ministry, the DPRK had more than 200,000 political prisoners in camps where many freeze or starve to death, and public executions and death through torture occurred in about 10 of the camps. The report to the National Assembly, based mostly on testimony from defectors up to 1989, said most of the detention centers were in remote mountain or mining areas. Philo Kim, a researcher at the think-tank, said conditions in the camps could be much worse than the report says because of famine that has ravaged the DPRK in the past two years. The report said political prisoners included those who opposed the political line of the DPRK’s ruling Workers Party, the late Kim Il-sung and his son Kim Jong-il. An official at the unification ministry said the government had difficulty confirming details and the exact number of prisoners. [Ed. note: This article is available at http://www.nando.net]

3. DPRK Famine

Reuters (“NEWSPAPER: STARVING NORTH KOREANS TURNING TO CANNIBALISM,” Hong Kong, 9/30/97) reported that the South China Morning Post quoted an unnamed former DPRK military officer who fled across the border to the PRC with his family as saying that he witnessed people being executed in his village for cannibalism. “People are going insane with hunger. They even kill and eat their own infants. This kind of thing is happening in many places,” the unnamed officer was quoted as telling the newspaper. A 25-year-old student, whose parents are senior figures in the DPRK’s Workers’ Party, was quoted as saying that at least a million people have starved to death in the country. “This is the figure I’ve seen reported in Communist Party documents,” he said.

4. Plight of DPRK Defectors

The Wall Street Journal (Michael Schuman, “CAPITALISM MIGHT NOT CURE ALL IF NORTH KOREA’S DEMISE PERSISTS,” Seoul, 10/2/97) carried an article which discussed the problems that many DPRK defectors have had in adjusting to life in the ROK, s