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Northeast Asia Peace and Security Network DAILY REPORT For Wednesday, June 24, 1998, from Berkeley, California, USA |
1. Capture of DPRK Submarine
Reuters (Yun Suk-bong, "SOUTH KOREA POSTPONES SUB RECOVERY," Donghae,
06/24/98) reported that the ROK Defense Ministry said that the navy on
Wednesday postponed an attempt to raise the captured DPRK submarine from
the seabed. Colonel Hwang Dong Kyu, a spokesman for the ROK Joint Chiefs
of Staff, stated, "Our divers just completed securing the sub to ropes
for the lifting operation but because it was too dark, the work was
halted at 8:30 p.m." He said the navy would now try to raise the midget
submarine and tow it to a nearby dockyard on Thursday.
Reuters (Yun Suk-bong, "S.KOREA: N.KOREA SUB CREW SURVIVAL UNLIKELY,"
Donghae, 06/24/98) and the Associated Press (Sang-hun Choe, "S. KOREA
TRIES TO RAISE NKOREAN SUB," Donghae, 06/24/98) reported that the ROK
navy on Wednesday was trying to raise the captured DPRK submarine from
the sea. Naval Captain Oh Se-yuong, who led the towing operations,
stated, "It is highly unlikely to see the North Korea crew come out of
the sub alive. But we can not completely rule out the possibility of
survival." Defense ministry officials said that the submarine must
surface two to three times a day to recharge its oxygen. Major Kim Jung-
woo, a spokesman for the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated, "The sub has
not had a chance to recharge air since Monday afternoon. I don't think
there will be survivors by now." Kim said that the submarine was
believed to have come on a spy mission, arguing, "If it was not on a spy
operation, the sub must have tried to send distress signals when was
stuck in a fish mesh." Meanwhile, ROK President Kim Dae-jung on
Wednesday stated, "North Korea is revealing two or three faces in its
dealings with us. But our principles should not be shaken." He added,
"We will not tolerate an armed provocation. But we have to wait and see
if the submarine was drifting, as the North says, or it was spying on us.
Then we will act."
US State Department Spokesman James Rubin ("STATE DEPARTMENT NOON
BRIEFING, JUNE 23, 1998," Washington, USIA Transcript, 06/24/98) said
that US side raised the issue of the captured DPRK submarine during
general-level officer talks with the DPRK at Panmunjom on Tuesday. Rubin
added, "Until we know more facts we'd prefer not to comment."
2. UNC-DPRK Military Talks
The Washington Times (Willis Witter, "S. KOREA DOWNPLAYS SUB SEIZURE AT
TALKS WITH NORTH," Tokyo, 06/24/98) reported that the UN Command (UNC)
and the DPRK held their first military talks in seven years on Tuesday in
Panmunjom. A UNC spokesman stated, "It was a good first step in
establishing a crisis-management mechanism to help prevent or deal with
any military incidents. The importance of such a mechanism to reduce
tensions and discuss armistice issues was underscored by the apprehension
of a North Korean submarine."
3. Taiwanese Uranium Purchase
The Associated Press ("DUTCH APPROVE URANIUM SALE TO TAIWANESE NUCLEAR
PLANTS," The Hague, 06/24/98) reported that Netherlands Economics
Ministry spokesman Luuc van Zijp said Wednesday that the Dutch government
has approved the sale of uranium to Taiwan for use in two nuclear power
plants. Van Zijp said that the sale concerns enriched uranium which will
not be used for weapons. Dutch Foreign Ministry spokesman Frank de Bruin
stressed the uranium will be used for "peaceful purposes." He stated,
"We respect the one-China policy, but we cannot ignore the fact that we
also have economic ties with Taiwan."
4. Taiwanese Reactions to Clinton's PRC Visit
The Associated Press ("TAIWAN REMINDS US OF ECONOMIC PULL," Taipei,
06/23/98) reported that Taiwan Vice Foreign Minister David Lee said
Tuesday that Taiwan is far more important to the US economy than the PRC
is. Lee said that Taiwan imported more than US$23 billion worth of US
products in 1997, while PRC imports from the US were less than US$13
billion. Taiwan imports almost twice as much from the US as does the
PRC. He stated, "Whether you consider democracy, freedom, human rights,
or economic markets, Taiwan is America's true friend. China's future
remains to be seen."
5. US-PRC Missile Targeting
Reuters ("CLINTON HOPES FOR CHINESE DEAL ON MISSILE TARGETING,"
Washington, 06/24/98) reported that US President Bill Clinton said on
Wednesday that he hoped to get an agreement during his PRC trip for the
two countries to stop targeting nuclear missiles at each other. Clinton
said that such an agreement would do "two things. It literally delays
significantly the amount of time it takes to arm a missile and aim it,
therefore eliminating the possibility of accidental firing and it also
really increases the confidence between the countries that we're moving
to reduce the nuclear threat."
Dow Jones Newswires ("EX-U.S. OFFICIAL URGES NO FIRST-USE NUCLEAR POLICY
- KYODO," Tokyo, 06/24/98) reported that Thomas Graham, former Special
Representative of the US President for Arms Control, Nonproliferation,
and Disarmament, said Wednesday that the US should adopt a policy of "no
first use" of nuclear weapons regardless of the PRC's decision over de-
targeting its missiles. Graham, currently president of the private
Lawyers' Alliance for World Security, stated, "It is my personal view
that the United States should make a decision to issue a policy statement
that its policy in the future is to not to be the first to use nuclear
weapons under any circumstances." He added, "It's very important to
reduce the political value of nuclear weapons," noting that one of the
principal ways to achieve this is for the five recognized nuclear weapons
states to adopt a no-first use policy. Graham is visiting Japan at the
invitation of the Japanese Foreign Ministry and has held talks with
officials at the ministry, the Defense Agency and Diet members.
6. US-PRC Pollution Agreement
The Associated Press ("CHINA, U.S. TO OK POLLUTION PACT," Beijing,
06/24/98) reported that Xie Zhenhua, head of the PRC's State
Environmental Protection Agency, appealed Wednesday for closer
cooperation with the US in solving the PRC's pollution problem. Xie said
that environmental agreements would be signed during US President Bill
Clinton's state visit. He stated, "As two major players in the
environmental field the two countries have broad prospects for
cooperation." PRC economic plans for 1996 to 2000 call for a 450 billion
yuan (US$54 billion) investment in the environment.
7. Alleged Missile Technology Transfer to PRC
The New York Times (Eric Schmitt, "HOUSE HEARS ABOUT ENCODED CIRCUIT
BOARD MISSING FROM CHINESE ROCKET," Washington, 06/24/98) reported that
US officials said Tuesday that they suspected that PRC authorities took a
secret encoded circuit board containing sensitive technology from the
wreckage of US satellite aboard a Chinese rocket that exploded in 1996.
The circuit board tells an orbiting satellite which way to point to
receive and transmit signals to and from Earth. If the PRC did steal the
circuit board, it would be a violation of a technology safeguard
agreement that the PRC and the US last amended in 1993. A statement by
the US National Security Agency stated, "If the encryption board were
reversed-engineered, the knowledge gained could be used to strengthen
adversaries' knowledge" of the devices the US uses to safeguard its
communications systems. An unnamed senior Defense Department official
said on Tuesday, "We're not 100 percent sure [the PRC] filched this
encryption card. It may have just fallen out, but we have to assume they
do have it." The Defense Department said in a statement it that the
"loss of the chips" would actually have a "minimal impact" on national
security. However, William Reinsch, an undersecretary of commerce for
export administration, told a House hearing last Thursday that there
"there would not have been any effect on national security" if PRC
engineers illegally obtained the encoded device.
8. Japan-PRC Territorial Dispute
Reuters ("JAPANESE SHIPS TRY TO BLOCK CHINESE CRUSADE," Taipei, 06/23/98)
reported that Taiwan's state radio said that at least three Japanese
coast guard vessels tried early on Wednesday to block Chinese
nationalists from sailing close to disputed islands in the East China
Sea. The three ships of Japan's Maritime Safety Agency pulled close to
the four protest boats about 20 to 30 nautical miles from the islands.
The activists said that they were intent on asserting Chinese claims to
the archipelago. The 40 activists from Taiwan, Hong Kong and the PRC
left a northern Taiwan fishing port for the islands on Tuesday night.
Organizers said that the timing of the protest voyage had nothing to do
with US President Bill Clinton's visit to the PRC.
9. Kuril Islands
The Associated Press ("JAPANESE OFFICIAL VISITS KURILS," Tokyo, 06/24/98)
reported that Japanese Cabinet minister Muneo Suzuki on Wednesday opened
a goodwill trip to Kunashiri island in the disputed Kurils chain. It
marked the first Japanese Cabinet-level visit there since the Soviet
Union occupied the islands at the end of World War II. While there,
Suzuki will offer US$3.2 million for the reconstruction of a pier damaged
in a 1994 earthquake, according to an anonymous Japanese official.
1. Capture of DPRK Submarine
Jie Fang Daily ("DPRK SUBMARINE STRANDED IN ROK WATER AREA," Beijing,
06/24/98, A3) reported that a submarine of the DPRK ran aground in the
East Sea of the ROK on June 22. The report said that the small-sized
submarine was entangled in a fishing net. There were no mariners in the
submarine, but officials could not exclude the possibility that some
crewmembers had escaped from the sub.
2. Hyundai Founder's PRC Visit
People's Daily ("ROK ENTERPRISER FINISHES HIS VISIT TO DPRK," Seoul,
06/24/98, A6) reported that Hyundai Group honorary chairman Chung Ju-yung
finished his 8-day visit to the DPRK and came back to Seoul through
Panmunjom. Chung said that during his visit, the two sides signed some
cooperation agreements to develop the DPRK's tourist trade.
3. UNC-DPRK Military Talks
People's Daily ("DPRK AND US RESUME GENERAL-LEVEL DIALOGUE," Seoul,
06/24/98, A6) reported that generals from the US Forces in the ROK and
the army of the DPRK met at the truce village of Panmunjom on June 23,
which was the first such meeting since 1991. The two sides reaffirmed
the importance of continuing dialogue to build confidence, prevent
misunderstanding, and reduce tension on the Korean Peninsula. The US and
DPRK officers exchanged their views on the establishment of a crisis
management mechanism to help prevent or deal with military incidents.
4. KEDO Meeting
China Daily ("PENINSULA MEETING," Seoul, 06/23/98, A12) reported that the
Korea Energy Development Organization (KEDO) will meet in Brussels next
Monday to discuss how to share the cost of building two nuclear reactors
in the DPRK. The ROK, the US, Japan, and the European Union will
reassess the cost sharing of construction of the two reactors, originally
estimated at about US$5.2 billion.
5. PRC-ROK Relations
China Daily ("NEW TOURIST ZONE," 06/18/98, A2) reported that the PRC and
the ROK have agreed on measures to open the ROK as a tourist destination
for Chinese citizens. Tourism earns the equivalent of billions of US
dollars in foreign currency every year. The ROK expects to welcome
500,000 to one million Chinese tourists annually, bringing in US$500
million to US$1 billion.
6. Clinton's Visit to PRC
Jie Fang Daily carried a report on PRC President Jiang Zemin's interview
by Elizabeth G. Weymouth from US-based Newsweek ("CHINESE-US RELATIONSHIP
MAINTAINS GOOD MOMENTUM," Beijing, A1, 06/23/98). During the interview,
President Jiang said that the consensus that he and President Clinton
reached last year has gradually come true. PRC-US relations have since
witnessed constant improvement with new progress in wide-ranging
bilateral cooperation and exchanges, Jiang said. The two countries have
consulted and cooperated on a series of major international issues, such
as promoting peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, mitigating the
Asian financial crisis and easing tensions in South Asia, Jiang said. He
fully believes that the mutual visits by two presidents will further
promote the development of PRC-US relations. Jiang announced at the
interview that the PRC plans to sign the United Nations Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights this autumn.
People's Daily ("CHINA ATTACHES GREAT IMPORTANCE TO CLINTON'S VISIT,"
Beijing, 06/24/98, A4) reported that PRC Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan
met a group of Beijing-based US journalists on June 23. On the Taiwan
issue, Tang said that it is the most sensitive and most important issue
in PRC-US relations. Tang said, "We think President Clinton should
publicly reaffirm the US commitment on Taiwan on appropriate occasions
during his upcoming visit to China." He urged the US to abide by the
principles of the 1982 Sino-US August 17 Communique, gradually reducing
and eventually halting arms sales to Taiwan. Referring to the remaining
sanctions the US has imposed on the PRC, Tang said that leaders of the
two countries should "view and handle problems in bilateral relations
from a strategic, long-term perspective." The remaining sanctions on the
PRC imposed by the US after 1989 are no longer of any practical
significance, Tang said. He added that the US government, proceeding
from the larger interest of further improving and expanding Sino-US
relations, should take appropriate measures to lift all sanctions imposed
on the PRC. As to the Sino-US constructive strategic partnership, Tang
said such a relationship is a normal state-to-state relationship. It is
not an alliance, not exclusive, and not targeted at a third country.
7. US-PRC Missile Targeting
When asked at a regular news briefing if the PRC and the US will sign an
agreement on missile detargeting during US President Bill Clinton's
coming visit, PRC Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao said that the
PRC and the US should first reach an agreement on no-first-use of nuclear
weapons, and then on detargeting missiles from each other, China Daily
("US INVITES CHINA TO OBSERVE EXERCISES," 06/19/98) reported. Besides,
the PRC is holding discussions with the US on the observation of US
military exercises and a seminar on conducting a joint naval exercise.
Zhu said that the US army has invited representatives from the PRC
People's Liberation Army to observe an air exercise in Alaska and a naval
exercise in Hawaii in mid-July.
8. Alleged Transfer of Missile Technology to PRC
Wen Hui Daily ("SUCCESSFUL LAUNCHES DUE TO COUNTRY'S OWN EFFORTS," Los
Angeles, 06/21/98, A2) reported that the assertion that "China used US
know-how to improve its nuclear ballistic missiles" is simply untrue.
Zhang Xinxia, president of China Great Wall Industry Corp (CGWIC), said
at a press conference on June 19 that it is due to ignorance of the
development of the PRC's Long March launch vehicles that some in the US
think the PRC's 10 successful launches in the past two years were the
result of US assistance. In fact, according to Zhang, the Long March
launches were successful before 1985, when the PRC first offered
commercial services to foreign clients. After an LM-3B failed to launch
the intelsat 708 satellite on February 15, 1996, the PRC aerospace
industry adopted strict measures to minimize problems, improve the
production process and ensure the quality of its product, Zhang said.
The underestimation of the ability of Chinese rocket experts by some in
the US is illogical and unreasonable, Zhang said. He hoped that after
learning the facts, people in the US would support the normal, commercial
launch services provided by the PRC for US satellites.
9. Russia-India Nuclear Deal
China Daily ("NUCLEAR DEAL," New Delhi, 06/23/98, A12) reported that
India concluded a deal with Russia on June 22 to build the subcontinent's
first large nuclear power stations. Indian experts and officials said
Russia's decision to revive a 10-year-old pact to build two 1,000-
megawatt nuclear reactors in southern India broke the perceived isolation
of the country after its nuclear experiments last month. The deal had
been on hold since the collapse of the Soviet Union and is now estimated
to be worth US$3 billion.
China Daily ("US CONDEMNS NUKE DEAL," Washington, 06/24/98, A12) reported
that the US condemned a Russian nuclear power deal with India on June 22,
saying that the agreement undermined a united international front aimed
at punishing India for last month's nuclear tests. US State Department
spokesman James Rubin said that the US believes the Indian deal is
inconsistent with Russia's commitments as a member of the Nuclear
Suppliers Group. Russians have argued the proposed Indian reactors are
exempt from these commitments, but the US disagrees.
1. Korean-American Convention
The National Association of Korean Americans (NAKA) announced that it
will be holding its 5th National Convention on Saturday and Sunday,
August 1-2, 1998, at the Quality Hotel Eastside, New York. The theme of
the conference will be "Uniting Divided Koreans." Confirmed speakers
include Dr. Ilpyong Kim, President of the International Council on Korean
Studies; Dr. Stephen W. Linton of the Eugene Bell Foundation; Dr. K.A.
Namkung, Director, Program on Conflict Resolution, Atlantic Council of
the USA; and Rev. Dr. Syngman Rhee, Professor, Union Theological
Seminary, VA. The conference will feature a panel discussion on "Half a
Century of Korean Division," a luncheon speaker, workshops on Reunion of
Separated Families, a reception, a gala dinner, and a tour of Ellis
Island Museum (Optional). For a Brochure, registration, and further
information, please contact John Kim at (212) 679-3482.
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The Center for Global Communications, Tokyo, Japan
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Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China
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Berkeley, California, United States
Seoul, Republic of Korea
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