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I. United States1. US-Japan DPRK Talks The Associated Press (Scott Lindlaw, "BUSH WARNS NORTH KOREA ON NUKE WEAPONS," Crawford, Texas 05/23/03) and Agence France-Presse ("US, JAPAN "WILL NOT TOLERATE" NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN NORTH KOREA," Crawford, Texas, 05/23/03) reported that US President George W. Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi vowed that they "will not tolerate" nuclear weapons in the DPRK, advancing US efforts to forge a united front in the region. "The prime minister and I see the problem exactly the same way," Bush said after meeting with Koizumi at his Texas ranch. "We will not tolerate nuclear weapons in North Korea. We will not give in to blackmail. We will not settle for anything less than the complete, verifiable and irreversible elimination of North Korea's nuclear weapons program." Neither side laid out any specific new steps, but agreed that Japan and the ROK should eventually join the talks begun last month in Beijing gathering the PRC, the US and the DPRK. Koizumi said that "coordination among Japan, the US and the Republic of Korea is crucial" to resolving the crisis peacefully. "Continuation of the multilateral talks is important, and participation by Japan and the Republic of Korea is essential," he said. The two leader's remarks echoed almost verbatim the statement made last week after ROK President Roh Moo-Hyun met Bush in Washington, calling for more diplomacy but warning of tougher measures if the DPRK crisis escalates. Koizumi also vowed to "crack down more rigorously on illegal activities," apparently referring to claims made earlier this week that a passenger ferry from Japan was used to smuggle missile components to the DPRK. An alleged DPRK defector, who said he was a former missile scientist, told the a US congressional panel that a group of ethnic Koreans in Japan had regularly smuggled missile components to the DPRK using a passenger-cargo ship plying a standard route between the two countries. Koizumi was set to leave the US later Friday for visits to Egypt and Saudi Arabia. 2. ROK-DPRK Relations The Associated Press (Jae-Suk Yoo, "S. KOREA GIVES NORTH 400,000 TONS OF RICE," Seoul, 05/23/03) reported that the ROK agreed Friday to give the DPRK 400,000 tons of rice after the two sides settled a dispute over a perceived threat from the DORJ following recent US-ROK talks. The ROK and DPRK also agreed to connect their railways in mid-June inside the Demilitarized Zone that has divided the Korean Peninsula for the past half century, according to a joint statement from the ROK government. The rival neighbors opened talks on economic cooperation Tuesday in Pyongyang, but the meeting immediately stalled after the DPRK delegates criticized last week's summit between President Bush and ROK President Roh Moo-hyun and warned of an "unspeakable disaster" for the South. Setting aside economic issues, the Koreas haggled over the DPRK remark. The talks were initially scheduled to end on Thursday. The ROK saw the remark as a threat and demanded an explanation. The DPRK resisted and instead demanded that the ROK explain the "further steps" Bush and Roh had agreed to consider if the DPRK increases tensions over its nuclear programs. The dispute ended Friday when chief North Korean delegate Pak Chang Ryon sought to ease the ROK's ire. By "unspeakable disaster," Pak said he meant that "the North and South should not bring disasters onto each other by intensifying confrontation," according to ROK pool reports from Pyongyang. 3. US Response to US Tactical Nuclear Weapons Development Agence France-Presse ("DEMOCRATS TROUBLED BY WHITE HOUSE EFFORT TO DEVELOP TACTICAL NUCLEAR WEAPONS," Washington, 05/22/03) reported that leading Democrats in Congress expressed grave reservations about Bush administration attempts to create a new class of nuclear weapons that could be used on the battlefield. The move by the White House to explore developing low-yield nuclear weapons sparked a revolt among senior Democrats in the US Senate, who pointed out that, while valued for their deterrent effect, nuclear weapons have long been considered off-limits for tactical military use. "For the past nine or ten years, we've had a prohibition in law against the research and development," Senator Carl Levin said Wednesday at a press conference. But the US Senate voted late Tuesday to lift that ban, acceding to White House wishes. Michigan Democrat Levin called the development "reckless and dangerous." "The message from this administration (is) while we're telling everybody else don't go down that road, we are going to go down that road ourselves," he said. Senator Dianne Feinstein said countries around the world were also likely to become alarmed by the development. "It really says to the world that this nation with the mightiest military, is now going to begin to expand its nuclear weapons." The controversy over the possible US development of low-yield nuclear weapons came as part of a larger senate debate on the 2004 Defense Authorization Bill that would give the Pentagon 400 billion dollars to fund military operations and modernize its arsenal. The senate rejected an amendment by Feinstein that would have kept the decade-old ban on low-yield nuclear weapons in place -- a development that unleashed both heated defense and furious denunciations of the administration's defense and security policies from the senate floor. Opponents warned Wednesday that introducing such weapons could trigger a dangerous new nuclear arms race. "Do you know what the message is to India, to Pakistan, to the DPRK -- to every other nation that wants nuclear weapons and has nuclear weapons?" said Senator Byron Dorgan. "The message is, this country doesn't think that we ought to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, or that we ought to prevent the use of nuclear weapons. "That is exactly the wrong message this country ought to be sending anybody in the rest of the world," the North Dakota Democrat said. 4. PRC Response to US Economic Sanctions The Associated Press (Joe McDonald, "CHINA REJECTS US ACCUSATION ABOUT CO.," Beijing, 05/23/03) reported that the PRC on Friday rejected US accusations that a major PRC conglomerate helped Iran's missile program, insisting it opposes the spread of weapons of mass destruction. The US announced sanctions Thursday on Northern Industries Corp., which it said sent Iran unspecified technologies or materials that could help develop long-range missiles capable of carrying such weapons. Officials said the company's goods are barred from US markets for two years. "The Chinese side's company has not offered help to the relevant projects of Iran," said a Foreign Ministry statement faxed to reporters. "The US is imposing its own national policy on others for no good reason." The company, known as Norinco, was created in 1980 as a weapons maker and expanded into an array of businesses including manufacturing, construction and hotels. A US State Department spokeswoman, announcing the sanctions on Thursday, also said Washington would take action against the PRC government's proliferation activities - the first such warning to accompany penalties against a Chinese company. The PRC hasn't signed the global treaty on sales of missiles and related technologies but agreed to abide by its restrictions. "The Chinese government has consistently pursued a policy of opposing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their carrier rockets," the Foreign Ministry statement said. Last July, Washington punished nine PRC entities accused of transferring weapons technology or related goods to Iran. But the economic and political impact of sanctions on Norinco, a major Chinese exporter, threaten to be much greater. An official of Norinco's management office in Beijing said it was reviewing the US accusations. "The sanctions are unilateral by the US, so we don't know whether it's legal or accurate," said the official, who refused to give his name. "No matter what happens, the company follows United Nations regulations and international law." 1. Inter Korean Economic Talks Joongang Ilbo ("KOREAS TRYING TO RESTART TALKS," Seoul, 05/23/03) reported that DPRK evidently was the more desperate in a tug of war that started with the beginning of economic cooperation talks in Pyeongyang on Tuesday. A threat in DPRK's opening remarks turned into a 44-hour stalemate as ROK refused to proceed, and by late Thursday evening the two delegations had still not talked about the substantive agenda ? rice aid and cross-border economic projects. ROK had refused to proceed until DPRK explained why Pak Chang-ryon, DPRK's chief delegate, had threatened "an unspeakable disaster" if ROK persisted in its complaints about DPRK's nuclear weapons program. ROK also demanded an explanation of why DPRK had broken an agreement to keep the opening statements confidential. When the two delegation liaison officers met for 40 minutes early Thursday afternoon, DPRK official presented his counterpart a draft of a statement of explanation that ROK had demanded. Cho Myong-gyon, the spokesman of the South Korean team, said after the meeting, "Now that we have exchanged our positions, we will study things and then meet again." He refused to elaborate further on DPRK's proposed explanation. The liaison officers met a second time later in the day in an effort to negotiate the words of that statement and to address DPRK demands that ROK explain what "further steps" ROK and US might take if DPRK persisted in its nuclear weapons program. In a marked change to the conciliatory tone usually heard here, a senior aide to the president said in Seoul, "Unless the North shows a change in its attitude about inter-Korean economic talks, our team can just return." Later, another Blue House official suggested that negotiations on the statement were going on and that a compromise might be found to allow the substantive talks to continue. 2. President's Praise on USFK Joongang Ilbo ("ROH HAILS US TROOPS IN HOLIDAY MESSAGE," Seoul, 05/23/03) reported that ROK president Roh Moo-hyun praised US military members here for their role in keeping the peace. "This is the 50th anniversary of the Korea-U.S. alliance, and the next 50 years of the alliance promise to be an even more significant and momentous time," Mr. Roh said in a message sent to US forces stationed in ROK just before US Memorial Day, which is celebrated on the last Monday of May. Mr. Roh said, "The U.S. forces have shed blood in maintaining South Korea's security and have contributed to peace and stability in Northeast Asia." "I wholeheartedly thank and applaud Commander Leon J. LaPorte and the 37,000 American officers, men and women in Korea who are dedicating themselves, even at this moment, to the security and peace of the Republic of Korea," he added. 3. DPRK-ROK Confrontation by the Statement Chosun Ilbo (Kim In-gu, "PYEONYANG CRANKS UP THE BLUSTER," Seoul, 05/23/03) reported that as DPRK intensifies the criticism of ROK via its propaganda organs, observers say DPRK may be reacting in turn to ROK's rebukes after DPRK warned of an "unspeakable disaster" for ROK. DPRK's daily Rodong Shinmun and Korea Central Broadcasting System each called the statement by National Defense Adviser Kim Hee-sang - that the North Korean system and its people must be dealt with separately - an "insensible and rude remark" and that it was "an insult to our system and a declaration for a new confrontation." On Wednesday, the Rodong Shinmun said that ROK's joint declaration with US betrayed the country and that it was a dangerous move that increased the possibility of a nuclear war in the peninsula. The North Korea's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland called "slanderous" the remark by Grand National Party Chairman Park Hee-tae that "whether it is the Sunshine Policy or the Peace and Prosperity Policy, the policy should induce a systematic change in North Korea." Also out of DPRK, the North Korean Student Committee criticized ROK police for arresting members of the student group Hanchongryon after they demonstrated illegally at the ceremony in Gwangju to mark the 1980 revolt there. 4. Changing PRC for its Stability and Prosperity Chosun Ilbo (Kwon Kyung-bok, "AMBASSADOR SAYS BEIJING-PYEONGYANG TIE UNRAVELING," Seoul, 05/23/03) reported that ROK ambassador to PRC, Kim Ha-jung, said that PRC's special "blood-pledged" relationship with DPRK would soon be overhauled to become a more general nation-to-nation relationship. Kim explained that PRC's new leaders mainly consist of young and highly-educated technical bureaucrats who value practicality more than ideology. Kim said that for PRC to meet its goal of a national income per capita of $30 million by 2020, it needs a stable environment, and therefore opposes DPRK's nuclear aims. RPC values its economic and political relations with ROK higher than those with DPRK, Kim said, and wishes to develop them. He added that PRC will also avoid confronting US, in order to keep the Taiwan problem stable. 5. Inter Korean Economic Talks Stalemate Joongang Ilbo ("TALKS IN NORTH ARE FROZEN," Seoul, 05/22/03) reported that after threatening "an unspeakable disaster" to ROK on Wednesday if it persisted in raising nuclear weapons issues, DPRK responded to indignation from ROK by saying the threat was nothing more than a theoretical argument. It was based, they said, on losses ROK could expect in retaliation if US were to attack DPRK. ROK's delegation responded to the threat by freezing any further discussions at DPRK-ROK economic talks now going on in Pyongyang until, the delegation said, DPRK explained that remark and apologized for making public the keynote address by its chief delegate, Pak Chang-ryon. The threat was contained in those opening remarks. ROK complained that the two sides had agreed in advance not to release the text of the opening remarks by both sides, and showed signs of reacting to the threat only after DPRK broke that embargo and repeated the text in its state-run media. The reports of Mr. Pak's threatening words resulted in the cancellation of morning and afternoon sessions Wednesday, where rice shipments to the famine-stricken DPRK are the key item on the agenda. "We told the North Koreans that they should handle the situation sincerely and persuasively," said Cho Myoung-gyon, the spokesman for ROK team. Officials said the chances of resuming the talks were slim, but they left an opening. "We may not return to the South on Thursday," said Kim Gwang-lim, the vice minister of finance and economy and the head of Seoul's delegation. 6. DPRK Smuggling of Drug and Missile Joongang Ilbo (Ser Myo-ja, "NORTH DEFECTORS TELL OF DRUGS, MISSILES," Seoul, 05/23/03) reported that DPRK defectors painted a new picture of DPRK's crimes at a US congressional hearing Tuesday in Washington, supporting long-standing allegations that DPRK raised money from the sale of narcotics to finance its military. The defectors also confirmed claims DPRK continued missile development. According to a report by the Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Financial Management, the Budget and International Security, a former senior North Korean official testifying before the panel said opium production began in DPRK in the early 1980s. The opium farms spread nationwide, he said, and a methamphetamine plant was built near Pyongyang. The report says the defector testified that seven people were brought from Thailand to oversee the drug refining. The official, who left DPRK in 1998, said DPRK produced 1 metric ton of opium and methamphetamine each annually while he was in DPRK. The drugs were smuggled into Japan and ROK, he said. He testified behind a screen to protect his identity, the subcommittee reported. The report says that another defector, who worked as an engineer in DPRK until 1997, said he visited Iran in 1989 to perform a missile guidance test. He said 90 percent of missile parts were smuggled into DPRK from Japan via Mangyeongbong, a cruise line that connects Japan and DPRK. 7. Japanese Self-Defense Army to Armed Forces Chosun Ilbo (Jung Kwon-hyun, "KOIZUMI WANTS AMENDMENT TO CALL FORCES 'ARMY'," Tokyo, 05/22/03) reported that Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Tuesday that a constitutional amendment to confirm that Japan's self-defense forces were "armed forces" was called for. On a question presented by a representative from the opposition party, Koizumi said that the self-defense force is practically an army, and that being unable to say so is unnatural. He said that a revision was required to fairly and squarely say that the self-defense force is an army to maintain peace and independence. It is unusual for Japan's prime minister to state in public that an amendment to confirm its self-defense force as an army is necessary. Until recently, to square with the ninth article of the constitution, which prohibits the existence of the self-defense force and its possession of a fighting force, the Japanese government has maintained that the self-defense force exists for the country's minimal self-defense and it does not constitute military power. Koizumi stressed that the Japanese government should strive for an independent defense to maintain US-Japan cooperative defense structure, saying that if the government is not dedicated to defending the nation on its own, other nations will not provide support. 8. DPRK's Market Expanding Chosun Ilbo (Kang Chol-hwan, "NORTH'S MARKETS BUSIER, REPORTS SAY," Seoul, 05/22/03) reported that DPRK's farmers' markets, the only ways the public can buy food and daily necessities, are getting bigger and more active, as DPRK government is loosening restrictions, according to reports. A Korean-Chinese who visited DPRK last week said after returning that the markets are busier, although the public is restricted from moving freely due to the SARS scare. Previously, farmers were only allowed to sell agricultural goods at the markets, but now the government is letting them sell other products and letting "approved businessmen" sell at the market, in addition to performing their regular jobs. As activity at the markets heats up, the government has expanded their sizes by 150-200 percent, reports say. The policy change was made on the orders of DPRK's leader Kim Jong-il, said a DPRK official who crossed into PRC recently. As a result of the changes, almost all products, excluding drugs and stolen goods, are allowed to be sold. In March, DPRK shortened the name of the markets from "farmers' markets" to just "market." It lends credence to the conjecture that after the government increased the prices of commodities last July 1 the rationing system has collapsed and the farmers' market is taking over its functions.
1. Issue #126 The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation first learned about Canada's offer of US$2.5 million worth of food aid to the DPRK from the North Korean press. In a move to separate humanitarian aid from linkage to political developments, such as the settlement of the nuclear issue, South Korea has decided that food aid shipments will no longer be handled as inter-Korean economic co-operation. Seoul intends to provide 400,000 metric tons of rice worth US$101 million. The next shipment of ROK-supplied fertilizer is to depart on 29 May. In the year that marks the fiftieth anniversary of the US-ROK Mutual Defense Treaty, President Roh Moo-hyun wraps up his maiden voyage to the United States of America by re-affirming the alliance between the two countries. The South Korean President shares his views on the DPRK in an interview with senior media executives, excerpts of which appear in this issue of CanKor. Despite current tensions over the DPRK's nuclear programme, the KEDO-led consortium continues construction of two light-water reactors, while the Swiss company ABB Ltd. signs a memorandum of understanding to implement a "super-tension power grid project" with Pyongyang. As the World Health Organization removes Canada from its list of SARS-affected countries, this week's FOCUS examines the extreme measures taken by the DPRK for SARS prevention and preparedness there. For back issues: http://www.cankor.ca
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