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Northeast Asia Peace and Security Network DAILY REPORT For Thursday, May 28, 1998, from Berkeley, California, USA |
1. Military Armistice Commission
Reuters ("NORTH KOREA AGREES TO REOPEN CHANNEL WITH UNC - PAPER," Seoul, 05/27/98)
reported that Thursday's edition of the ROK's Chosun Ilbo said that the DPRK has agreed in principle to
reopen direct general-officer-level talks with the UN Command (UNC) for the first time in seven years.
The paper added that, if dialogue were to resume, the UNC side would be composed of representatives of
four nations, including the US, Great Britain, and the ROK.
2. ROK Food Aid for DPRK
The Washington Post (Kevin Sullivan, "KOREAN TRAILBLAZER'S 'OPERATION RAWHIDE'," Seoul,
05/28/98, A25) reported that Chung Ju-yung, founder and honorary chairman of Hyundai, hopes to load
1,000 head of cattle onto 45 trucks and run convoys through Panmunjom across the Demilitarized Zone
(DMZ) to the DPRK. Chung stated, "I will drive the cattle into the North through Panmunjom within a
month. North Koreans can use the cattle as they please." So far, neither the DPRK nor the ROK
government has officially approved Chung's plan, although unofficial reports say the first 500 cattle may
be transported on June 9. ROK Minister of National Unification Kang In-duk said that as long as the plan
is approved by the DPRK and the UN Command (UNC), "I personally would have no objections." UNC
spokesman Jim Coles said that so far no one has made a formal request to drive the cattle through the
DMZ. He added that, as far as he knew, the last time any vehicle drove across the DMZ was in 1976.
Since then, any delegations that have passed through Panmunjom have had to drive to the border, get out,
and walk across to the other side. UN soldiers assigned to the DMZ said that neither of the two bridges
connecting the DPRK and the ROK are sturdy enough to withstand the kind of traffic in Chung's plan.
Officials at the ROK National Unification Ministry said that, while the cattle qualify as humanitarian aid,
the trucks do not, so that the trucks would not be allowed to stay in the DPRK. However, ROK officials
also said that they fear that bringing the trucks back could introduce hoof-and-mouth disease to the ROK.
3. DPRK Famine
Reuters ("U.N.: FAMINE AVERTED BUT NORTH KOREAN CHILDREN STILL DIE," Geneva,
05/27/98) reported that Omawale Omawale, UNICEF mission chief in the DPRK, said Wednesday that a
"horrendous famine" has been averted in North Korea because of foreign aid but that many children were
still dying from malnutrition and disease. He stated, "We have managed through international assistance
with the delivery of food aid to avert what would have been a horrendous famine ... but it needs to continue
because the government does not yet have the capacity to feed the population." He added that while more
food aid was essential, there was also "dire need" for help in health, water, and sanitation. Omawale said,
"A lot of the children who are dying and malnourished are in that situation not simply because of food but
sometimes despite food."
4. PRC Arrests Alleged Taiwanese Spies
Reuters ("CHINA NABS FOUR TAIWAN BUSINESSMEN FOR ESPIONAGE," Beijing, 05/28/98)
reported that the PRC's Xinhua news agency said on Thursday that PRC security authorities had arrested
four Taiwan businessmen in March for spying. The agency said that the four admitted to joining the
Intelligence Bureau under Taiwan's Defense Ministry and to accepting missions to gather political,
economic, and military intelligence on the PRC. The PRC's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan
Strait informed its Taiwan counterpart of the arrests on Thursday. Taiwan said on Tuesday that it was
pressing the PRC for details about 18 Taiwan businessmen reported to have been detained in the PRC on
suspicion of spying.
5. Pakistan Conducts Nuclear Tests
Reuters (Tahir Ikram, "PAKISTAN CONDUCTS UNDERGROUND NUCLEAR TESTS," Islamabad,
05/28/98) and the Associated Press ("PAKISTAN EXPLODES NUCLEAR DEVICES," Islamabad,
05/28/98) reported that Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced Thursday that Pakistan
conducted five underground nuclear tests. Sharif stated, "Today, we have settled the score with India." He
added, "India is an expansionist power. The world should have sanctioned India fully ... but they didn't."
Sharif also thanked the PRC for its help, but did not specify what that entailed. An official government
statement said, "The long-range Ghauri missile is already being capped with the nuclear warheads to give a
befitting reply to any misadventure by the enemy." US President Bill Clinton criticized the move, saying,
"By failing to exercise restraint and responding to the Indian tests, Pakistan lost a truly priceless
opportunity to strengthen its own security, to improve its political standing in the eyes of the world."
Clinton stated that the US had "no choice but to impose sanctions." US intelligence officials in
Washington confirmed that Pakistan had conducted at least two nuclear tests. According to the US
National Earthquake Information Center, the strongest test registered a preliminary magnitude of 4.9.
Japanese government spokesman Kanezo Muraoka said that the tests were "totally unforgivable," and that
Japan would consider imposing stiff economic sanctions against Pakistan. Jahanzeb Naseer, head of
research at Jardine Fleming Pakistan, stated, "If the sanctions are similar to those on India, the impact (on
the economy) will be around two billion dollars."
6. Indian Reaction to Pakistani Tests
Reuters (Chaitanya Kalbag, "INDIA REACTS TO PAKISTAN'S NUCLEAR TESTS," New Delhi,
05/28/98) and Dow Jones Newswires ("INDIA PRIME MINISTER:WILL RECONSIDER NUKE TEST
MORATORIUM," New Delhi, 05/28/98) reported that Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said
Thursday that Pakistan's nuclear tests vindicated India's decision to hold its tests earlier. He added, "India
is ready to meet any challenge." Asked if India would review its moratorium on further tests, Vajpayee
replied, "A new situation has been created and it will be taken into account in formulating our policy."
However, a senior Indian official said that if Pakistan makes an offer to resume peace talks, "it will not be
spurned." The Indian foreign ministry said in a statement, "Pakistan's nuclear tests have confirmed what
has been known all along -- that the country has been in possession of nuclear weapons." An Indian
Foreign Ministry denied Pakistani charges that it had received "credible information" of an Indian plan to
attack its nuclear installations. India's Army chief, General Ved Prakash Malik, stated "[Pakistan] wanted
to carry out the nuclear test and they were trying to find an excuse to justify their action by raising a hue
and cry over a possible attack."
7. History of Indian and Pakistani Nuclear Programs
The Associated Press (Laura Myers, "NUKE RIVALRY FUELS PAKISTAN, INDIA," Washington,
05/28/98) distributed an article detailing the histories of India's and Pakistan's nuclear weapons programs.
The article said that India established an Atomic Energy Commission in 1948, and that in 1956, the US and
Canada agreed to help India build a nuclear research reactor for power generation, although India rejected
oversight by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The US also supplied heavy water, used to control
nuclear fission. In 1958, India began designing and buying equipment for a plutonium reprocessing plant
at Trombay, and the following year, the US trained Indian scientists in reprocessing and handling
plutonium. Joe Cirincione, a South Asia nuclear expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace, stated, "We basically gave it to them. This is an example of the nuclear chickens coming home to
roost." After its 1974 test, India received US nuclear fuel and reactor exports by promising to accept
international monitoring by 1980, but President Jimmy Carter waived the requirement, and India never
accepted monitoring. Pakistan secretly decided to develop a nuclear weapons program in the early 1970s,
after its defeat by India in the 1971 Bangladesh war. Pakistan built a uranium-enrichment program starting
in 1975 under the guidance of Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, a German-trained metallurgist. The PRC was
reported to have supplied Pakistan with highly enriched uranium and a nuclear bomb design, but Peter
Saracino, an analyst with the Monterey Institute for Nonproliferation Studies, said that Pakistan "didn't turn
to China until the door closed" on US nuclear imports. In 1981, the US lifted sanctions imposed in the
1970s after Pakistan was caught smuggling uranium enrichment technology, as payment for Pakistan's aid
to Afghan rebels fighting the Soviet Union.
8. PRC Reaction to Pakistani Nuclear Tests
The Associated Press ("CHINA 'DEEPLY CONCERNED' OVER PAKISTAN NUCLEAR TESTS,"
Beijing, 05/28/98) reported that the PRC Foreign Ministry, in a statement read on state-run TV Thursday,
expressed regret over Pakistan's nuclear tests. It urged India and Pakistan to show "utmost restrain" and to
"immediately give up nuclear weapons development programs to stop the situation from getting any
worse." It added that the PRC has consistently advocated the total abolition and destruction of nuclear
weapons and was "opposed to the proliferation of nuclear weapons in any form."
9. UN Reaction to Pakistani Nuclear Tests
The Associated Press ("U.N. CHIEF URGES INDIA, PAKISTAN TO SIGN TEST BAN TREATY,"
United Nations, 05/28/98) and the United States Information Agency (Judy Aita, "UN MEMBERS
DEPLORE PAKISTAN'S NUCLEAR TESTS," United Nations, 05/28/98) reported that UN Secretary-
General Kofi Annan on Thursday denounced Pakistan's nuclear test explosions. Annan said in a statement,
"I deplore both the Indian and the Pakistani tests. They exacerbate tensions in an already difficult
relationship." He called on the two countries to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and suggested
"they might also sign a 'no first-use' pledge with each other." He added, "Finally, both nations should
freeze their nuclear weapons development programs. The number of nuclear weapons should decrease, not
increase." Some UN diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Pakistani tests have in effect
established a three-way nuclear balance in Asia between the PRC, India, and Pakistan. They added that the
best approach would be to urge India and Pakistan to sign the test ban treaty and the Nuclear Non-
Proliferation Treaty in an effort to discourage other countries such as Iran, Iraq, and the DPRK from
building such weapons. UN spokesman Fred Eckhard added that Annan has also offered to mediate
between the two countries. He added, "The secretary general strongly appealed to both India and Pakistan
to make every effort to reduce increasing tensions in the region especially in Kashmir." US Ambassador to
the UN Bill Richardson said that the US is "concerned about developments in South Asia and we urge
restraint on all sides." He added, "We will be seeking appropriate Security Council action. We think there
should be a multilateral, multinational response to reduce tensions in South Asia." He added that both
countries should also sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Security Council President Njuguna
Mahugu of Kenya said that the council is working on a formal reaction in the form of a presidential
statement late in the day. Alex Taukatch, the spokesman for General Assembly President Hennadiy
Udovenko of Ukraine said the president was "gravely concerned" about Pakistan's nuclear tests.
10. US-Russian Nuclear Security Cooperation
The Department of Energy ("U.S. AND RUSSIA WORK JOINTLY TO SECURE NUCLEAR
MATERIALS," USIA Text, 05/27/98) announced on May 26 that four more Russian nuclear facilities
upgrades have been completed under the nuclear material protection, control, and accounting program.
The program is a joint undertaking by the DOE and the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy (MINATOM).
DOE and MINATOM have been cooperating since 1994 to improve security systems throughout Russia
which involve weapons-usable material. The program was originally part of the Department of Defense's
Cooperative Threat Reduction program, but was assumed by DOE in 1995. DOE Under Secretary Ernest
Moniz stated, "We look forward to building upon this important success in future cooperation between our
governments to ensure that all weapons-usable material in both of our countries remains out of reach of
terrorists and rogue states. These upgrades significantly reduce the risk of unauthorized use, theft, or
diversion."
1. DPRK Participation in ARF
[Ed. note: The following comments were provided to NAPSNet by Aidan Foster-Carter, Hon. Senior
Research Fellow in Sociology and Modern Korea, Leeds University, Great Britain. Dr. Foster-Carter
responded to the item DPRK Participation in ARF in the PRC section of the May 27 Daily Report.]
"The statement attributed to a Philippine official, that the DPRK has no diplomatic relations with most
ASEAN countries, is untrue. In fact it has relations with two-thirds of ASEAN member states; the
exceptions being Brunei, Philippines, and Myanmar (which broke off ties after the 1983 Rangoon
bombing). Nor are these ties merely formal. The DPRK has substantial and active embassies in Singapore,
Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta, as well as in Hanoi and Vientiane.
Moving from the realm of fact to comment, it would be unfortunate if the Philippines' own reluctance to
entertain bilateral relations with the DPRK (which Pyongyang has been seeking for some time) were to
bias ASEAN's response. The more North Korea can be persuaded to join and participate in international
society and organizations, the better. As in the case of the Asian Development Bank, one is puzzled as to
the motives and reasoning of those who would rather see the DPRK remain isolated. What good does that
do?"
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