NAPSNet Daily Report
 
friday, july 7, 2000
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I. United States

II. Republic of Korea
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I. United States


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1. DPRK-Philippines Relations

Dow Jones Newswires ("PHILIPPINES TO ESTABLISH DIPLOMATIC TIES WITH N KOREA," Manila, 7/7/00) reported that Philippines Press Secretary Ricardo Puno reported that Philippine and DPRK officials will meet in Manila next week to proceed with plans to establish diplomatic ties. DPRK ambassador to Thailand, Joi In-chol, is scheduled to arrive in Manila Sunday to finalize an agreement to establish diplomatic and trade ties with the Philippines.


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2. US-ROK Missile Talks

The Associated Press ("US, S KOREA OFFICIALS TO DISCUSS SEOUL'S MISSILE PROGRAM," Seoul, 7/7/00) reported that Robert Einhorn, US assistant secretary of state for nonproliferation, will visit the ROK next week to discuss the ROK's attempt to build longer-range missiles. US Ambassador Steven Bosworth said Friday that both sides were "in the final stages of successful negotiations.".


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3. Allegations of PRC Nuclear Espionage

The Christian Science Monitor (Kevin Platt, "CHINA ANSWERS CRITICS WITH A BOOK OF NUKE WEB SITES," 7/7/00, P. 7) reported that, in response to charges from the US that PRC spies acquired the designs for seven of most advanced nuclear warheads produced by the US, the Beijing-based China Nuclear Information Center has released a cyber-directory to show how much information on thermonuclear weapons is freely available on the Internet. The book is "Foreign Nuclear Web Sites," and costs 30-yuan, about US$3.75. Li Tao, a technology division chief at China Nuclear, said the book was published partly to refute the Cox Report, because much of the information "is not secret - it's all published on the Internet." A Western diplomat said, "This is just incredible. We've seen people make nuclear devices based on publicly available information ... and the Chinese have certainly done a lot of research in this area, but it's still astounding that they would sell this kind of directory on the open market." Li said, "We're not worried about terrorists using this book. You could find even more information by doing a search for nuclear weapons on Yahoo." Li added, "The nuclear directory we published is not exposing any secrets - countries don't put their military and state secrets on the Internet." [Ed. note: This article was included in the US Department of Defense's Early Bird news service for July 7, 2000.]


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4. US-PRC Arms Talks

The Associated Press ("U.S., CHINA OPEN ARMS CONTROL TALKS, BEIJING, 7/7/00) reported that the US and PRC on Friday opened their first arms-control talks in 19 months, discussing the PRC's assistance to Pakistan's missile program and arms proliferation in the DPRK. The US team, led by John Holum, the chief arms-control negotiator, was also expected to raise the topic of US interest in building a missile defense system. The PRC is expected to raise the issue of US arms sales to Taiwan. Holum told reporters before the meeting, "We are here to resume the dialogue on strategic and national security issues. It's very important to us."


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5. PRC Views of Missile Defense

Reuters (Paul Eckert, "ANTI-MISSILE TEST LOOMS OVER CHINA-U.S. ARMS TALKS," Beijing, 7/7/00) reported that PRC Prime Minister Zhu Rongji said that the PRC is categorically opposed to US Theater Missile Defense (TMD) plans. Zhu stated, "The system would aim to put Taiwan in a sphere of protection. This would be blatant interference in Chinese affairs." Zhu's criticism came after the PRC Foreign Ministry said that National Missile Defense (NMD) would upset the global strategic balance and TMD would set off an arms race in Asia.


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6. International Reactions to Missile Defense

The Washington Post (Walter Pincus, "U.S. WEIGHS POSSIBLE FOREIGN REACTION TO MISSILE DEFENSE," 7/7/00, P. A13) reported that US Director of Central Intelligence George J. Tenet will convene a meeting of the heads of US intelligence agencies on Tuesday morning to discuss differing analyses of how foreign governments might react to a US national missile defense (NMD). This assessment, known as a National Intelligence Estimate, is supposed to address whether an NMD system would cause Russia to abandon arms control agreements, sow dissension among NATO allies, or prompt the PRC to enlarge its nuclear arsenal and possibly set off an arms race with India and Pakistan. An annex to the document will update last year's intelligence estimate of the missile threat to the United States by the DPRK, Iran and Iraq. One US official said, "The question is whether NMD will really make China beef up, or whether they planned to ramp up anyway." Another official said the PRC appears to be less concerned with a missile shield covering the US than with the possibility that the US might provide a theater missile defense system to protect Taiwan. [Ed. note: This article was included in the US Department of Defense's Early Bird news service for July 7, 2000.]


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7. G-8 Meeting in Okinawa

Office of International Information Programs, US Department of State ("STATE DEPT. NOON BRIEFING, THURSDAY, JULY 6, 2000," 7/6/00) and the Associated Press ("JAPANESE CITY DECIDES NOT TO NAME AUDITORIUM FOR MADELEINE ALBRIGHT," Tokyo, 7/6/00) reported that Miyazaki City spokesman Osamu Tsuruoka said that Miyazaki City has decided against naming a hall in its new civic center after US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright because she is not attending the Group of 8 (G-8) foreign ministers' meeting. US State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher reported that Albright on Thursday phoned Japanese Foreign Minister Kono to express her regret and has asked Deputy Secretary Talbott to attend the G-8 ministerial in her place. He said that Kono expressed his understanding of the critical timing of the Middle East peace talks. US President Bill Clinton plans to go to the leaders' meeting 10 days from now. Reporters at the briefing expressed concern that Japan is playing a reduced role in US foreign policy decisions.


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8. US Troops in Okinawa

The Office of International Information Programs, US Department of State ("PENTAGON SPOKESMAN'S REGULAR BRIEFING, JULY 6," 7/6/00) and the New York Times (Calvin Sims, "MARINES APOLOGIZE TO OKINAWA OVER SEX CASE," Tokyo, 7/7/00) reported that US Defense Department Deputy Spokesman Rear Admiral Craig Quigley reported that the US force commanders on Okinawa are contemplating additional actions to take, which may include reinstatement of a curfew, in the wake of the alleged molestation of a 14-year old girl by a US Marine. Lieutenant General Earl B. Hailston, regional coordinator for US military forces in Okinawa, visited Okinawa Governor Keiichi Inamine to make a formal apology, which included a bow of Japanese contrition. He said, "I want to express to the family involved, as well as to the people of Okinawa. My sincerest apology and most profound regret for the incident and for the anxiety it has created." [Ed. note: the New York Times article was included in the US Department of Defense's Early Bird news service for July 7, 2000.]


II. Republic of Korea


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1. Inter-Korean Talks

The Korea Herald (Shin Yong-bae, "SEOUL TO PUSH FOR INTER-KOREAN FOREIGN MINISTERS' MEETING AT ARF," Seoul, 07/07/00) reported that ROK officials here said on Thursday that the ROK and the DPRK will likely hold a meeting of foreign ministers in Bangkok later this month. "The government is pushing for a bilateral meeting of foreign ministers on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF)," said a Foreign Ministry official Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity. The ARF ministerial conference is scheduled to open July 25 in the capital of Thailand to deal with the DPRK's bid to join the forum. DPRK Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun will most likely attend the ARF meeting as Thailand, the chair country of the talks, has officially invited him to the conference. Government sources said that the DPRK is expected to agree on the foreign ministers' meeting given the current atmosphere of rapprochement that has arisen since the historic inter-Korean summit last month. If ROK Foreign Minister Lee Joung- binn and Paek meet in the ARF conference, it would be the highest-level contact between the ROK and the DPRK since the June summit.


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2. ROK Inter-Korean Policy

Chosun Ilbo (Kim Min-bai, "SECURITY COUNCIL TO TAKE CHARGE OF NORTH- SOUTH MEETINGS," Seoul, 07/06/00) reported that an ROK National Security Council (NSC) Standing Committee Meeting was held Thursday led by Minister of Unification, Park Jae-kyu. Participants decided that the NSC would be in charge of the overall planning for the DPRK and ROK Authorities Meeting, but that two separate committees will be established to conduct each section's talks. The two will be the DPRK and ROK Economic Cooperation Committee chaired by minister-level officials for economic issues, and the Society, Culture, Exchanges and Cooperation Committee for dealing with non- economic fields.


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3. APEC Tourism Forum

The Korea Herald (Chon Shi-yong, "PRESIDENT KIM URGES APEC TO DEVELOP TOURISM LINKS WITH NORTH KOREA," Seoul, 07/07/00) and Joongang Ilbo (Kim Jin- kook, "PRES. KIM URGES APEC TO WIDEN NORTH KOREA EXCHANGES," Seoul, 07/06/00) reported that ROK President Kim Dae-jung called on Asia-Pacific nations on Thursday to develop tourism ties with the DPRK to contribute to peace and co-prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and in the region. In a speech at a meeting of tourism ministers, Kim also proposed the establishment of a tourism information network and the launch of a youth exchange program among the members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. Kim said that the recent thaw in inter-Korean relations is partly ascribed to the promotion of joint tourism projects between the two Koreas, including the ROK-organized tours of Mt. Kumgang in the DPRK. "We learn from history that tourism has contributed to the resolution of regional conflicts and to world peace," Kim said. He said that the Mt. Kumgang tour began to foster an atmosphere of reconciliation on the peninsula and provided an important turning point in the quest for peace. Kim said that the success of his historic summit talks with DPRK leader Kim Jong-il was made possible by tourism.


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Produced by the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainable Development in partnership with:
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Center for American Studies,
Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China
Monash Asia Institute,
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Timothy L. Savage: napsnet@nautilus.org
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Berkeley, California, United States

Robert Brown: napsnet@nautilus.org
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Seoul, Republic of Korea

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Tokyo, Japan

Peter Razvin: icipu@glas.apc.org
Moscow, Russian Federation

Chunsi Wu: cswu@fudan.ac.cn
Shanghai, People's Republic of China

Dingli Shen: dlshen@fudan.ac.cn
Shanghai, People's Republic of China

John McKay: John.McKay@adm.monash.edu.au
Clayton, Australia

Leanne Payton: lbpat1@smtp.monash.edu.au
Clayton, Australia

 
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