In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

III. Japan

I. United States

1. DPRK Nuclear Plant Construction Talks

The Dow Jones News Services (“S. KOREA, JAPAN, U.S. TO MEET FOR N. KOREA NUCLEAR TALKS,” Seoul, 2/10/97) reported that the ROK Foreign Ministry said Monday that officials from Seoul, Tokyo and Washington will meet later this week for talks on providing new nuclear reactors to the DPRK. The two-day working meeting will be held in Tokyo on Wednesday and Thursday, and will include discussion on various issues, including membership of the European Union in the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO), the international consortium set up to build two light-water reactors in the DPRK. The meeting also will discuss the dispatching of a survey team expected later this month, ministry officials said. Stephen Bosworth, KEDO Director, has said construction on the reactors would begin in April.

2. Four-Party Talks Briefing and DPRK Food Aid

The AP-Dow Jones News Service (Steve Glain, “N. KOREA BOYCOTT PLOY FOR MORE AID – S. KOREA OFFICIAL,” Seoul, 2/10/97) reported that ROK National Security Adviser Ban Ki Moon said in an interview that the DPRK’s decision to boycott the US/ROK joint briefing on the four-party peace talks proposal is a ploy to win new concessions in the form of food aid. DPRK officials last week that they would not participate in the briefing, a preliminary step toward formal talks, until negotiations with a US company for a large shipment of grain were concluded

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

III. Russian Federation

I. United States

1. US-DPRK Relations: Food Aid, Briefing

DPRK Ambassador to United Nations Kim Hyong-u, in an interview with CNN world affairs correspondent Ralph Begleiter (WorldView, “NORTH KOREAN TALKS ABOUT HIS COUNTRY’S FOOD CRISIS,” 2/4/97), replied to a question concerning the DPRK’s postponement of attendance of the scheduled US/ROK briefing on the four-party peace talks proposal. Kim said: “On our side, the delegation to participate in the briefing has been composed. But what we have agreed upon is that we shall be participating in the briefing on the understanding that, on condition that both sides undertake simultaneous actions. However, the United States has not moved in the direction of providing us with food which it has promised in previous meetings with the United States and my country have had. Therefore, the problem, the matter of when the participation from our sides in the briefing will take place depends solely on whether the United States has implementing its promise that it has made to us or not. I think that reason behind the non-implementation of the promise on the part of the United States is because that the United States has been affected by the ill-minded forces that do not want the improvement of the relations between my country and the United States.” Kim also said that claims that the DPRK is diverting resources from its people to support a massive military “are totally incorrect,” and added that no DPRK military personnel are assigned to the delegation chosen to attend the briefing. Kim also discussed recent reports concerning the depth of the food aid the DPRK n

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

III. People’s Republic of China.

I. United States

1. Four-Party Peace Talks Briefing Postponement

US State Department Spokesman Nicholas Burns (“STATE DEPARTMENT NOON BRIEFING, FEB. 4,” USIA Transcript, 2/5/97) replied to a question referring to a February 4 Washington Post article that quoted an unnamed US official as saying that the DPRK is insisting that, before it will attend peace talks, the US must underwrite its grain purchase from Cargill Inc. (which is currently being negotiated). Burns said: “Well, I think the North Koreans are looking for a more active role by the United States Government in these negotiations. Frankly, we’re not going to get involved. We don’t get involved in commercial transactions.” [Ed. note: For a summary of the Washington Post article, please see “Four-Party Peace Talks Briefing Postponement” in the US section of the February 4 Daily Report.]

Earlier in the briefing, Burns also commented on the postponement of the joint US/ROK briefing of the DPRK on the four-party peace talks proposal. Burns said: “We’d like to see the North Koreans. We had two meetings scheduled. Now both of those meetings have been postponed. The North Koreans have very important grain negotiations underway, and they prefer to consummate those negotiations before they get on to the meetings with us and the South Koreans in New York. So we’re not going to give out any dates for future meetings until we know that the North Koreans actually intend to attend the meetings. We’ll continue talking to them

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

I. United States

1. Four-Party Peace Talks Briefing Postponement

US State Department Spokesman Nicholas Burns (“STATE DEPARTMENT NOON BRIEFING, FEB. 3,” USIA Transcript, 2/4/97) confirmed that the joint US/ROK briefing on the four-party peace talks proposal will not take place as scheduled on February 5 in New York, because the DPRK wants first to complete a grain purchase deal with a private US company. Burns said: “The North Koreans have told us once again that they need to give, as they say, first priority to their business discussions with Cargill and others for the procurement of grain. So therefore it is uncertain when this joint briefing will be rescheduled. I think having postponed it once and set a date, I don’t think we’re in a position where we want to set a date again. The North Koreans believe they need to go through their grain discussions. We hope that when those grain discussions are concluded or perhaps even before that they might decide to have this briefing.” Burns said he did not know if the DPRK asked the US to underwrite the grain deal, but added that the US “believes that these are private grain discussions” in which the only US involvement is to issue the export license. Burns also said that if the UN World Food Program issues an emergency appeal for food aid to the DPRK, the US “will treat that as a very serious issue. As you know, the United States has responded to these appeals in the past.”

The Washington Post (Kevin Sullivan, “PLEA FOLLOWS E

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

III. Announcements

I. United States

1. DPRK Food Crisis

Reuters (“N.KOREA SAYS GRAIN STOCKS FALL SHORT,” Tokyo, 2/3/97) and the Associated Press (“NORTH KOREA APPEALS FOR AID,” Seoul, 2/3/97) reported that the DPRK’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Monday it had only half the grain needed to feed its people, and appealed for international food donations. “As is known to all, North Korea has in recent years been repeatedly hit by unprecedented natural disasters, which greatly damaged agriculture and other sectors of the national economy and caused temporary food problems,” KCNA said. “The nation’s annual demand for grain is about 7.84 million tons, of which 4.82 million tons is needed as food,” it said, adding that last year’s flood-damaged grain output was only 2.5 million tons, “the amount being far less than expected.” The shortfall of 2.3 million tons is the same amount estimated by the UN World Food Program, which is preparing to issue another appeal — the third since last year — for large-scale food aid to the DPRK. The KCNA plea followed a statement last week by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies that food rations in the DPRK had dropped to a level four times lower than normally considered essential for a healthy population. The KCNA report thanked the international community, including the US, for past food assistance. “We are really grateful for this,” KCNA said. However, the announcement, an unusually frank and detailed description of

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

III. Japan

I. United States

1. US-DPRK Liaison Office

US State Department Spokesman Nicholas Burns (“STATE DEPARTMENT NOON BRIEFING, JAN. 29,” USIA Transcript, 1/30/97) denied press media reports that the US and the DPRK have reached a tentative agreement on the opening of a Liaison Office. “We have as a longer-term objective, and we set this with the authorities in Pyongyang, the opening of Liaison Offices in our respective capitals, but there’s been no agreement to do that. There are some remaining technical details that need to be worked out before we can agree to the establishment of Liaison Offices,” Burns said. In response to a question, Burns also said that he had no information concerning reports that DPRK assets were frozen in US banks.

2. Four-Party Peace Talks Briefing

The Associated Press (Robert H. Reid, “U.S.-KOREA TALKS IN DOUBT,” United Nations, 1/31/97) and United Press International (“N.KOREA BALKING AT PEACE BRIEFING,” Washington, 1/31/97) reported that Han Song-ryol of the DPRK mission to the United Nations said Friday that the DPRK will not attend the four-party peace talks briefing with the US and the ROK next week until negotiations with a private US firm on a proposed grain sale are “concluded satisfactorily.” The meeting, already delayed once, had been set for February 5 in New York. Han said the DPRK is now linking attendance of the briefing to the successful completion of talks with Cargill Inc., a commodity firm, on the s

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

III. People’s Republic of China

I. United States

1. DPRK Famine Prospects

The Associated Press (Robert H. Reid, “U.N.: NORTH KOREA HAS FOOD CRISIS,” United Nations, 1/29/97) reported that UN World Food Program spokesman Michael Ross said Wednesday that the DPRK’s food shortage is so acute that many city dwellers are receiving only 15 percent of the daily ration given to refugees in UN-managed camps in Africa. Dwindling supplies have forced the DPRK government to reduce the amount of food provided by the state-run ration system from about 14 ounces per person a few months ago to 3 1/2 ounces. Refugees in UN-supported camps receive about 23 ounces of rations a day. The UN agency estimates that the DPRK has only enough food in warehouses to last until late spring or early summer. One World Food Program official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a sign of the crisis is the near total absence of animals — dogs, cats, chickens and cattle — throughout the DPRK. “This means they’ve been slaughtered for food,” the official said. The US State Department announced Monday that the DPRK had postponed by one week its meeting with US and ROK officials for a briefing on the four-party peace talks proposal, in order to conclude negotiations with Western firms on grain imports. Last week, InterAction, a coalition of 150 American humanitarian groups, said that the DPRK’s 23 million people are “in the throes of a life-threatening food shortage that could take on famine proportions in the months to come.” [Ed. note: For more information please see “DPRK Food Situation” in the US section of the January 23 Daily Report.]

In today’s Report:

I. United States

II. Republic of Korea

I. United States

1. Briefing on Four Party Talks

US State Department Spokesman Nicholas Burns (“STATE DEPARTMENT NOON BRIEFING, JAN. 27,” USIA Transcript, 1/28/97) discussed the DPRK’s request to postpone the US-ROK joint briefing on proposed four-party peace talks. Burns said the US and ROK had both accepted the request to postpone the meeting, set to take place in New York City, from January 29 to February 5. Burns said the DPRK said it wanted to place first priority on concluding discussions for grain imports currently taking place with “some private Western companies,” which Burns termed “a satisfactory explanation.”

2. DPRK-Taiwan Nuclear Waste Deal

US State Department Spokesman Nicholas Burns (“STATE DEPARTMENT NOON BRIEFING, JAN. 27,” USIA Transcript, 1/28/97), in response to questions concerning the US position on the DPRK-Taiwan nuclear waste deal, said: “I’m not sure that the State Department has taken a position on that. We’ve heard about the deal, but I’m not sure we know enough about it to talk about it. Let me just say this; some positive things have happened concerning North Korea in recent weeks. We’ve seen the North state its deep regret for the submarine incident. There is every reason to think that implementation of the Agreed Framework continues to proceed normally. In fact, there’s no indication to the contrary, including the spent nuclear fuel canning operation at Yongbyon, North Korea, and the delivery of heavy