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07/31 Envoys clash as Korea nuclear talks seek consensus (Sun2Surf) -- Negotiators at six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programmes clashed on Sunday as they tried to draw up a joint statement of principles that has eluded them for nearly three years. No one believed the document would contain ground-breaking commitments, but even outlining the basics was proving elusive.
07/31 It's early, but Rice's foreign-policy tactics gain support (SeattleTimes) -- Three weeks after taking office, Condoleezza Rice hosted Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and their Japanese counterparts at the State Department. When Rumsfeld began to speak, Rice gently cut him off. The message was clear: I'll take the lead, Don. The Japanese and U.S. officials noted the decisive nudge.
07/30 Is U.S. Recognizing North Korea as a Partner in Bilateral Talks (Donga) -- During a regular briefing at the White House on July 28, the White House spokesman engaged in “verbal warfare” with White House reporters. “The George W. Bush administration is recognizing North Korea as an official negotiation partner. Isn’t that a fundamental change from its firm position?”, reporters tenaciously asked.
07/28 Japan in bind over aid accord for North Korea (Asahi) -- Japanese cool on nuclear accord. Delegations to the six-party talks here indicated they are moving toward an accord that would promise economic assistance and security assurances to Pyongyang if it abandons its nuclear ambitions. But such a deal would effectively trump Japan's economic sanctions card in getting North Korea to resolve the abduction issue.
07/28 Six-Party Talks Must Stay Focused on Essentials (Chosun) -- US throws a monkey wrench to derail the talk. A senior government official said Thursday it was not North Korea but the United States that was creating obstacles in the initial stages of six-party talks on the nuclear dispute. "The U.S. has proposed including North Korean human rights in a written agreement” that departs from a rough draft already prepared by South Korea, the U.S. and Japan.
07/28 Six-Party Talks Hit First Snag (Chosun) -- Six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program hit a snag Thursday afternoon, when an afternoon round-table session was put off after the morning’s bilateral session between the U.S. and the Stalinist country made no progress.
07/28 North Korea Willing to Dismantle All Nuclear Programs Only after U.S. Threat Is Removed (Donga) --
The delegations at the fourth round of the six-party talks made keynote speeches at the general meeting on the second day of the talks in Beijing on Wednesday, stating the stance of their respective nations on the North Korean nuclear issue, and afterwards launched into negotiations. North Korea and the U.S. showed a big difference in opinion as they have in the past, signaling that the negotiations would not set sail smoothly.
07/26 Japan Unwelcome in 6-Way Talks (KoreaTimes) -- Is Japan an uninvited guest throwing a spanner in the works of the six-party nuclear talks? Japan is drawing criticism from the South Korean public and officials by speaking out on what the other countries in the denuclearization talks do not want to hear, including the ``abductees issue,’’ which Seoul says is not an official agenda item for the multilateral negotiations.
07/25 Korea to Bear 'Important Proposal' Burden (OhmyNews) -- The South Korean "important proposal" attracted a lot of interest, and eventually was revealed to include sending, from the South, some 2 million kilowatts of energy to the North should it decide to give up its nuclear program, and to do so instead of completing the North's light water reactor (LWR). The American reaction has been positive. Visiting Korea on July 12 and 13, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called the proposal a "very creative idea" and a positive plan that could help in resolving the nuclear issue.
07/24 North Korean Nuclear Weapons Capable of Being Loaded on Missiles (NKToday) -- The remarks on North Korean nuclear capability during the interrogation of one of the key members of the North Korean Supreme People’s Assembly, Mr. P. (age 72), who recently defected to South Korea, have been causing a number of disputes.
07/24 S. Korea, U.S., Japan Want Written Commitment from North (Chosun) -- South Korea, the U.S. and Japan will ask North Korea during the fourth round of the six-party talks for a written commitment to dismantling its nuclear program. The three countries will not be content with vague reference to “denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” or a preliminary freeze, otherwise Washington and Tokyo will stop the talks and impose sanctions.
07/24 Korea's Last Royal Line Laid to Rest (KoreaTimes) -- The funeral of Yi Ku, the son of the last crown prince of the Choson Kingdom, was held at Changdok Palace in central Seoul on Sunday before he was laid to rest at a royal cemetery. Since Yi's remains arrived in Seoul from Japan on Wednesday, his coffin was placed at Naksonjae residence in Changdok Palace where mourners could pay their respects. Naksonjae is where King Yongchin, Yi's father, passed away in 1963.
07/24 Influential Americans Plan Visits to North Korea (Donga) -- Influential figures such as Ted Turner, founder and former chairman of CNN, and Jim Leach, chairman of the U.S. House Committee on International Relations, are expected to visit North Korea in August. Diplomatic sources in Washington said that Turner, accompanied by a huge CNN media corps, was planning a visit to North Korea in mid August to discuss North Korea’s ecosystem conservation measures in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) with the Turner Foundation, an international environmental conservation organization which he runs.
07/21 The Military Power of the People's Republic of China (Pentagon) --The rapid rise of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as a regional political and economic power with global aspirations is one of the principal elements in the emergence of East Asia, a region that has changed greatly over the past quarter of a century. China’s emergence has significant implications for the region and the world. The United States welcomes the rise of a peaceful and prosperous China, one that becomes integrated as a constructive member of the international community. But, we see a China facing a strategic crossroads. Questions remain about the basic choices China’s leaders will make as China’s power and influence grow, particularly its military power.
07/21 Old
Problems Trump New Thinking: China's Security Relations with Taiwan, North
Korea, and Japan. China
Leadership Monitor (Hoover Institution) -- The
past four months have hardly been proud ones for the security policy of the
People’s Republic of China (PRC). On diplomatic policies toward Taiwan, Japan,
and North Korea, respectively, Beijing has appeared bullying, emotional, and
ineffective. These outcomes do not match the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP)
self-styled image as a peaceful, responsible, and constructive rising power. The
CCP may have scored a victory in late April and early May with the historic
trips to the mainland by Taiwan opposition party leaders Lien Chan and James
Soong, but is too soon to tell whether that effort will bear fruit in
cross-Strait relations over the longer term.
07/21 North
Korea's Strategic Intentions (U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute)
-- North Korea poses a key challenge to the global
community of states. Sometimes viewed as primarily a nuclear or proliferation
challenge, Pyongyang actually presents the United States and other countries
with multiple problems. As the 2005 National
Defense Strategy of the United States notes,
these challenges include “traditional,
irregular,
and catastrophic.”
While each dimension of these threat capabilities are fairly clear and, with the
exception of the third, readily documented, North Korea’s intentions are a
much more controversial subject upon which specialists reach widely disparate
conclusions.
07/21 North Korean Strategic Delivery Systems (Center for Defense Information) -- List North Korean missiles and nuclear warheads (estimated)
07/21 Special Report on the Shutdown of North Korea's 5MW(e) Nuclear Reactor (Center for Nonproliferation Studies) - On April 18, 2005, press reports indicated that North Korea’s nuclear reactor in Yŏngbyŏn-kun, about 90 km north of Pyongyang, had been shut down. U.S. and South Korean officials, as well as non-governmental organizations, later confirmed that the reactor had been shut down for at least one week and possibly as early as April 7. According to Han Sŏng Ryŏl, North Korean deputy ambassador to the United Nations, North Korea plans to discharge the spent fuel and extract plutonium for bombs in order to increase the country’s “nuclear deterrent.”
07/21 Dealing
with the North Korean Nuclear Threat. (Foreign Policy Research Institute) --
.North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and its related ballistic missile
program were the focus of the concerns that gave rise to that country’s
inclusion in the “axis of evil” unveiled by President Bush in his 2002 State
of the Union address. They represent the most immediate and most dangerous
weapons proliferation problem facing the world in what Professor Paul Bracken of
Yale has called the “second nuclear age.”[1] The first nuclear age was that
of the Cold War, dominated by the massive and sophisticated nuclear arsenals of
the United States and the Soviet Union. The second nuclear age is in some
respects more risky, involving the spread of atomic weapons to countries that
are less than stable or which exist in areas of deep hostility, suggesting a
greater possibility that their weapons might be used. These include India,
Pakistan, Israel, potentially Iran, until recently Libya and now especially
North Korea.
07/20 China
Blasts Pentagon Report Saying It Is Military Threat (WP) -- The Chinese
government on Wednesday rejected a new Pentagon report that describes its
military modernization program as a potential threat to U.S. forces and other
regional powers, saying the assessment "ignores the facts" and
"rudely interferes in China's internal affairs."
07/20 China's
stealth war on the US (LATimes) -- The Pentagon on Tuesday released a study
of Chinese military capabilities. In a preview, Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld told a Singapore audience last month that China's arms buildup was an
"area of concern." It should be. But we shouldn't get overly fixated
on such traditional indices of military power as ships and bombs — not even
atomic bombs. Chinese strategists, in the best tradition of Sun Tzu, are working
on craftier schemes to topple the American hegemon.
07/20 US' White House says China not a threat, despite Pentagon's Report (Forbes) -- The United States does not consider China a threat, the White House said today after China protested about a Defense Department report which expressed concern about its military buildup. 'We're committed to peace and stability in the region, but that should not be viewed as us viewing China as a threat,' White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters.
07/18 The Korea-America Ginseng 'War' (OhmyNews) -- The ginseng "trade war" that began in the 1730s was the first recorded contact between Korea and the people of North America -- the United States of America came into being much later in 1776. Ginseng roots from Canada and the American colonies began to flood the Chinese markets and stopped the centuries-old Korean monopoly of ginseng in China. It is estimated that Korean ginseng used to earn as much as "three tons of silver" a year from China before the Canadian and American ginseng began to arrive in China.
07/18 Japan to seek N. Korea nuclear energy ban - report (Reuters) -- Japan will urge parties to six-way talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program to push Pyongyang to abandon nuclear development for peaceful as well as military purposes, a Japanese newspaper said on Tuesday. North Korean use of nuclear energy would pose a threat because the techniques involved might also be used militarily, the Yomiuri Shimbun quoted government sources as saying.
07/17 Missile defense in place, but will it work? (SeattleTimes) -- In a bulldozed clearing of moose-inhabited river delta, one of the most ambitious military projects ever attempted is buried in the Alaska till. It began with a decades-old dream: to render enemy missiles, presumably North Korean missiles, harmless by destroying their warheads in space, before their payloads fall to Earth.
07/16 Japan's move in East China Sea makes conflict "invevitable"- report (NewChina) -- Japan is stamping on China's maritime rights by granting Japanese firm Teikoku Oil Co the right to test drill for gas and oil in a part of the East China Sea disputed by the two countries and muddying the waters of the East China Sea, the China Daily said in an editorial Saturday. Japan's move could lead to confrontation with China, it warned, citing that the Chinese government's calls to solve the dispute through negotiation have fallen on deaf ears in Japan..
07/16 Clashes Feared Over MacArthur Statue in Incheon (Chosun) - Fears of a violent clash mounted Friday after progressive civic groups wanting a statue of U.S. General Douglas MacArthur in Inchon pulled down and conservative groups determined to protect it to the very end announced simultaneous Sunday demonstrations in the city’s Freedom Park.
07/16 North Korea's Rising Urgency (WP) -- It's been a year since the United States and its negotiating partners sat down with North Korea to discuss the elimination of North Korea's nuclear weapons program. In the meantime Porter Goss, the director of central intelligence, has reported to the Senate Armed Services Committee (on March 17) that the number of nuclear weapons North Korea possesses has increased and that there is now "a range" of estimates above the one or two weapons that may have been produced in the early 1990s.
07/16 Tokyo-Seoul rift threatens U.S. interest (JapanTimes) -- Despite efforts during last month's summit between South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun and President George W. Bush in Washington to speak with "one voice" about the health of the alliance and to improve policy coordination toward North Korea, the summit saw the emergence of a potentially serious new area of divergence between American and South Korean allies: the role and future of Japan.
07/16 Editorial- Priorities in the six-party talks (JapanTimes) -- The next round of six-party talks, the multilateral negotiations over North Korea's nuclear-weapons programs, are scheduled to resume the week of July 25 in Beijing. While it is unclear what motivated North Korea to return to the talks, success will depend on whether the other five parties -- Japan, the United States, South Korea, China and Russia -- can convince Pyongyang that nuclear weapons do not enhance its security but rather detract from it. To do so, the five governments must work out a strategy that enables them to speak with one voice.
07/16 Nuclear Issue Needs to Be Discussed Outside the Context of Iran-US Tensions (aljazeera) -- Following Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory in the Iranian presidential elections, the focus is on the impact it would have on the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program. Surely the debate over the nuclear issue is one that contains grave consequences not only for the Gulf region, but also for the international community. It is certainly not an issue that can simply and solely be treated within the context of the current hostile US-Iranian relationship. Hence, the outcome of the current negotiations should not hinge only on this factor; it is indeed an issue for Gulf security as a whole.
07/15 Chinese General Threatens Use of A-Bombs if U.S. Intrudes (NYT) -- China should use nuclear weapons against the United States if the American military intervenes in any conflict over Taiwan, a senior Chinese military official said Thursday. "If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition on to the target zone on China's territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons," the official, Maj. Gen. Zhu Chenghu, said at an official briefing.
07/15 Behind Enemy Lines (NYT) -- President Bush and his top officials are studiously pretending not to notice, but here in the most bizarre country in the world, the Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il, is throwing down a nuclear gauntlet at Mr. Bush's feet. Senior North Korean officials here say the country has just resumed the construction of two major nuclear reactors that it stopped work on back in 1994. Before construction resumed, the C.I.A. estimated that it would take "several years" to complete the two reactors, but that they would then produce enough plutonium to make about 50 nuclear weapons each year.
07/12 Rice again warns North (JapanTimes) - When North Korea is about to open up, Rice throws in a monkey wrench.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday that upcoming six-party talks to end North Korea's nuclear threat will fail unless Pyongyang indicates it is willing to abandon its nuclear weapons. In a meeting earlier with Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura, Rice was reluctant to endorse a quick decision on expanding the U.N. Security Council, despite heavy campaigning by Japan and three other countries seeking permanent seats on the powerful body.07/12 U.S. pressure on North Korea stalls nuclear settlement - expert (Novosti) -- Excessive pressure from the United States on North Korea "does not add to stability" in the settlement of the Pyongyang nuclear program, a Russian expert said Tuesday. Commenting on North Korea's decision to resume six-party negotiations on its nuclear program, Colonel-General (retired) Leonid Ivashov, the vice president of the Academy of Geopolitical Studies, said, "such great powers as Russia, China and the USA should only act as the guarantors of non-interference."
07/12 Bush's POW-MIA Chief Accused of Abuse (Guardian) -- The man leading the Defense Department's search for missing American service members is being investigated by the Pentagon for allegations of abusive management, The Associated Press has learned. The accusations include reprisals against subordinates and sexual harassment of a female employee, according to Pentagon officials familiar with the inquiry.
07/12 Seoul's Mystery Proposal Includes Massive Energy Aid (Chosun) - A mystery proposal to North Korea the government says will bring substantive progress in resolving the nuclear dispute would seek multilateral guarantees for the security of the North Korean regime and the provision of massive amounts of free energy - 2 million kw a year -- by South Korea.
07/12 Nogunri Incident Resurfaces (OhmyNews) - On September 29, 1999, Charles Hanley and his coworkers at the Associated Press stunned the world with their Pulitzer-winning investigative story of U.S. GIs shooting several hundred women and children in their care by a bridge near the Korean village of Nogunri (also spelled Rogun-ri or No Gun Ri) on July 26, 1950. The massacre of innocent civilians by American troops was, of course, well-known among the victims and their relatives, but the Seoul government had for years labeled anyone mentioning the massacre "communists," and brutally prosecuted them. Ironically, it took a fair-minded American journalist to disclose the massacre.
07/10 War on terror (SeattleTimes) - A cartoon
07/10 US, NK Compromise Yields Fresh Talks (KoreaTimes) -- After a year-long boycott of the six-party nuclear talks, it is unclear why Pyongyang has suddenly decided to return to the bargaining table later this month. The United States has not withdrawn its reference to North Korea as an ``outpost of tyranny,'' something Pyongyang persistently requested as a precondition for resuming the talks.
07/10 Boeing and China (SeattleTimes) -- In the CEO's office at Xiamen Airlines, one of Boeing's most loyal customers sits beside a portrait of Mao and a photo of a 737 cockpit and describes the humiliation he felt trying to enter the U.S. last year.
07/04 A Country of Liars by Kim Dae-joong (Chosun) -- In every country there are crimes that uniquely reflect its society. National Intelligence Service director-designate Kim Seung-kyu, in a lecture he gave late in May when he was justice minister, said: "The three representative crimes of our country are perjury, libel and fraud." In simple comparison, not taking into account population ratio, South Korea saw 16 times as many perjury cases in 2003 than Japan, 39 times as many libel cases and 26 times as many instances of fraud. That is extraordinarily high given Japan's population is three times our own.
07/04 Japanese Policeman Saved 300 Koreans from Massacre (Chosun) -- The head a Japanese police station saved the lives of hundreds of Koreans in Japan after the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, newly published documents confirm. The Mainichi daily said Sunday records of talks between Tsunekichi Okawa, the superintendent at Tsurumi Police Station in Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, and the local council show Okawa protecting hundreds of Koreans from a lynch mob. - See also, The 1923 Kanto Massacre of 6,000 Koreans in Japan
07/04 “Extreme Distrust between North Korea and the U.S.,” Says Unification Minister Chung (donga) -- Minister of Unification Chung Dong-young is said to have failed to draw an agreement on a new message to North Korea from U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and other high level officials of the U.S. administration. Chung had visited the U.S. to discuss resuming the six-party talks aimed at resolving the North Korean nuclear issue.
07/04 North Korea, How to Treat The Soldiers Who Joined 6.25 War..(Daily NK) -- North Korea calls those who joined 6.25 as ‘revolution II’. The reason North Korea decided to call them as ‘revolution II’ was that the class consciousness was arisen through the Korean War and those were suffered from the enemy. There were many casualties and many soldiers returned alive at the same time in the war.
07/04 China, Russia issue joint statement on new world order (People's Daily) - A new "axis of evil" for Bush & Co.? China and Russia here Friday issued a joint statement on a new world order in the 21st century, setting forth their common stand on major international issues, such as UN reforms, globalization, North-South cooperation, and world economy and trade.
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