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Northeast Asia Peace and Security Network DAILY REPORT For Friday, August 21, 1998, from Berkeley, California, USA |
1. US-DPRK Talks
The Associated Press ("U.S., N. KOREA END TALKS, TO RESUME MONDAY," New
York, 08/21/98) reported that a US delegation led by ambassador-at-large
Charles Kartman met Friday with a DPRK delegation led by Deputy Minister
for Foreign Affairs Kim Gye-gwan to discuss progress on the 1994 Geneva
agreement. The DPRK delegation left the US mission to the UN after about
eight hours of talks. Kim said in brief comments to reporters that his
delegation would return Monday for more talks with the US side.
2. ROK-DPRK Relations
The Associated Press ("NORTH KOREA REJECTS SEOUL'S OFFER," Seoul,
08/21/98) reported that ROK government officials said Friday that the
DPRK has turned down an ROK proposal for opening a regular channel of
dialogue by repeating "unacceptable" demands. The DPRK Committee for the
Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland stated, "How can the South
gibber about reunification while keeping imperialist U.S. troops on its
soil?" The committee demanded that the ROK first abolish its National
Security Law, disband its intelligence agency, stop joint military
exercises with the US, and allow student rallies.
3. DPRK Trade
Dow Jones Newswires ("U.S.-BASED STANTON GROUP PLANS TO INVEST AN
ADDITIONAL $1 BILLION IN NORTH KOREA," Seoul, 08/21/98) reported that,
according to a report by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency
(KOTRA), the US-based Stanton Group plans to invest an additional US$1
billion into the oil-refinery business in the DPRK. The report noted
that Stanton set up a US$13-million oil refinery plant jointly with the
DPRK's Seungri Chemical in the Rajin-Sonbong free trade region in
September 1996 after receiving special approval from the US Treasury
Department. The joint-venture had been set up to produce light oil
products as well as heavy oil to be supplied to the Korean Peninsula
Economic Development Organization. The report said that Stanton decided
to expand its oil refinery business in the DPRK because of large
potential demand for petroleum products in the country. Stanton was also
quoted as saying that an unidentified Russian company is interested in
purchasing the venture's oil products and selling them back to its
clients. KOTRA said that Stanton did not reveal more details regarding
the venture's products, production capacity and target markets. The
report also noted that Stanton could withdraw its stakes from the
venture, depending on the progress of inter-Korean and US-DPRK relations.
4. ROK Labor Unrest
The Associated Press (Y.J. Ahn, "HOPES RISE FOR HYUNDAI SETTLEMENT,"
Ulsan, 08/21/98) reported that Hyundai Motor Co.'s labor union accepted
"a minimum level of layoffs" Friday in negotiations with government
mediators aimed to end the month-long strike. Government mediator Cho
Sung-jun stated, "Considering the difficulty being faced by Hyundai and
the car industry as a whole, the union has accepted layoffs as a
realistic solution." Representative Noh Mu-hyun, another government
mediator, added, "Since the union made significant concessions, it's time
for the company to respond." However, major employers' organizations,
including the Korea Employers' Federation, issued a joint statement
accusing the government of siding with Hyundai union leaders.
5. ROK-PRC Military Relations
The Associated Press ("CHINA, SOUTH KOREA AGREE ON MORE MILITARY
EXCHANGES," Seoul, 08/21/98) reported that the ROK Defense Ministry said
that Lieutenant General Xiong Guangkai, deputy chief of staff of the
PRC's People's Liberation Army, met with ROK Defense Minister Chun Yong-
taek and his deputy Ahn Byung-kil on Friday. The two sides agreed to
unspecified military exchanges. Ministry officials refused to elaborate
on details of the exchanges. Xiong was the highest-ranking PRC military
officer to visit the ROK since the establishment of diplomatic ties in
1992.
6. Jiang Zemin Postpones Trip
Reuters (Benjamin Kang Lim, "FLOODS SPARE CHINA'S HARBIN, JIANG DELAYS
TRIP," Harbin, 08/21/98) reported that PRC President Jiang Zemin
postponed trips to Japan and Russia scheduled for early next month due to
the floods that have hit the PRC this summer. The official Xinhua news
agency reported that Jiang made the decision "due to the immensity of
flood control and disaster relief efforts in China."
1. Japanese-US Relations
The Yomiuri Shimbun ("US AMBASSADOR TO TOKYO FOLEY SPEAKS FOR JAPAN,"
Washington, 08/19/98) reported that US Ambassador to Japan Thomas Foley
gave a lecture in Washington on August 19 in which he spoke for Japan's
efforts for economic recovery, saying, "Japan is taking necessary
measures (for economic recovery)." The ambassador also pointed out that
Japan has come to realize that its export-led method has become
ineffective. However, he hailed Japan's announced decision to stabilize
its financial system by the introduction of a "bridge bank," and
suggested giving Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi more time to implement the
decision. The report added that the ambassador did not forget to point
to the shrinking of the Japanese market due to the ongoing recession as
the main cause of the US trade imbalance in favor of Japan.
2. Japanese-PRC Relations
The Sankei Shimbun ("JAPAN REFUSES TO STATE 'THREE NOES' IN 'JOINT
STATEMENT'," 08/21/98) reported that a high-ranking Japanese Foreign
Ministry official revealed on August 19 that the Japanese government had
already decided not to accept the PRC's offer to clearly state the "three
noes policy" in a Japan-PRC Joint Statement at the time of PRC President
Jiang Zemin's visit to Japan next month. The official said, "To do so
means creating a new principle, which is not acceptable," according to
the report. The official also suggested that if the PRC still asks Japan
to state the policy in the statement, the Japanese government might
refuse to make such a statement in the first place. As for the reason
for Japan's decision, the official said, "Japan-Taiwan relations and US-
Taiwan relations have different aspects, including history." He also
emphasized that Japan's Taiwan policy will not go beyond the 1972 Japan-
PRC Joint Communique and the 1978 Japan-PRC Peace and Amity Treaty. The
article added that, while the PRC wants to include the issue of history
and Taiwan policy in the joint statement, Japan wants to make a statement
similar to the Japan-US Common Agenda, which includes such global issues
as environment and nuclear nonproliferation issues, and does not want to
include the Taiwan issue.
3. DPRK Trade
The Yomiuri Shimbun ("DPRK TRADE INCREASED FOR TWO CONSECUTIVE YEARS,"
08/18/98) reported that the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO)
concluded its survey on the DPRK's trade in 1997, according to which the
DPRK's exports increased by 0.9 percent from US$1,025,630,000 in 1996.
According to JETRO, the main reason for the increase is a 4.5 percent
increase in the DPRK's exports to Hong Kong, which was designed to earn
foreign currency to cope with the food crisis. The DPRK's exports
increased to US$10,880,000 in 1997, said the article. On the other hand,
the DPRK's imports increased by 3.5 percent to US$1,473,290,000 in 1997
due to an increase of imports of grain, which amounts to approximately
US$13,200,000 (700,000 tons). As for the DPRK's trade partners, the PRC
ranked first, Japan second, and the ROK third. Together, they made up
59.0 percent of the total amount of the DPRK's exports in 1997. The
article added that the DPRK's exports to Japan increased by 3.9 percent
to US$27,630,000, but the DPRK's imports to Japan declined by 21.0
percent to US$197,690,000. As a result, the DPRK's trade surplus with
Japan reached US$78,340,000 in 1997.
1. US Food Aid for DPRK
The following is a letter sent on August 12, 1998 to US President Bill
Clinton from Moon J. Pak, M.D., of the Christian Association for Medical
Mission. The views expressed are his own. For more information, contact
Moon J. Pak at moonpak@compuserve.com.
Dear Mr. President;
I listened with great interest to your weekly radio speech made to the
American public on Saturday, July 18, 1998. In the speech you said that
the U.S. government will purchase 2.5 million tons of surplus wheat from
the American farmers at the cost of $250 million, including the cost of
transporting it to various parts of the world, where such commodities are
needed desperately by millions of people who are on the verge of
starvation.
Your announcement was of great personal interest to me because, as a
member of an organization called the Christian Association for Medical
Mission (CAMM), I have just returned from my fourth medical mission
leading a team of Korean-American physicians to work in a hospital in
Pyongyang, North Korea (The Democratic People's Republic of Korea).
Therefore, I have fresh memories of people suffering from dire food
shortages in that country due to three consecutive years of flood and
drought. I must also say that I was deeply impressed by the gallant
efforts being made by the people and their government to cope with many
difficult problems in their effort to reach an agricultural self-
sufficiency in the near future.
The CAMM is an organization composed of approximately 220 Christian
physicians of Korean ancestry, headquartered near Detroit, Michigan, with
branch chapters in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Buffalo, Boston,
Atlanta, Minneapolis, and Seattle. The organization is in its eighth
year of operation and its singular purpose is to dedicate itself to the
evangelism of North Korea through medical assistance. We stand
absolutely clear of the political ideological conflict existing between
the two Koreas; thus we are respected and accepted uniquely by both
governments as a humanitarian, non-governmental entity. In our modest
way, we have managed to maintain a constant stream of medical assistance
of various kinds to Pyongyang in the past eight years.
According to the announcement made by Mr. Brian Atwood of the U.S. Agency
for International Development, a total of nine countries were under
consideration for receiving food donations from this project. The
purpose of this communication is to urge you to consider sending a major
part, if not all, of this surplus wheat to North Korea. I am very much
aware of the intensity of famine existing in many other parts of the
world. How can one forget the video- footage of starving African
children being followed by a group of expectant vultures! Nevertheless,
I present the following arguments in support of my recommendation:
1. The World Food Programme of the United Nations has announced recently
that there is a very definite danger of seven million deaths due to
starvation in North Korea, a country with a total population of 27
million; hence fully a quarter of the total population is at risk. Based
on this analysis, the UN agency appealed to the international community
for US$380 million to purchase 2.5 million tons of needed grain this
year. Therefore, we have here a very clearly defined urgent need that
can be effectively dealt with by delivery of the amount of the American
surplus wheat under consideration.
2. Unlike many other parts of the world where the food need has been
demonstrated, North Korea has a well developed distribution system with
effective management capabilities; thus the effect of the aid will be
demonstrated more clearly and dramatically.
3. Aside from humanitarian reasons for the aid, there is an important
and unique geopolitical consideration that needs to be addressed in this
case; i.e., one can not overestimate the danger of having a major famine
and resulting unrest in this country, which would clearly be a threat to
the peace and security of the entire Northeast Asia or of the whole
world, for that matter.
4. It goes without saying that the United States has a significant
measure of moral obligation for the turmoil on the Korean peninsula.
Aside from its historical involvement that led to the unfortunate
division of the country along the 38th parallel after World War II, which
in turn directly led to the Korean War and subsequently to the current
dangerous stalemate, we have presently an armed force of 37,000 US
soldiers stationed in that country. Therefore the prospect of a massive
famine in the Korean peninsula and resulting destabilization could
represent a serious direct threat to our national security.
5. North Korea is a country in need of change; it has to move out of its
ideological, political, diplomatic, economic, and even cultural
isolation; it has to open its doors and join the parade of countries of
the world and take its rightful place among them that is deserving of,
and commensurate with its proud people's intelligence and heritage. Much
of the seemingly idiosyncratic and xenophobic behavior of its government
manifested in its international dealings in the past reflects its
insecurity stemming from the hostilities they must perceive to be coming
from the surrounding countries, including the United States. I have no
doubt at all in predicting that massive humanitarian food- aid from us,
on a scale such as recommended, would have a tremendous positive effect
on their national psyche, and that we would emerge as their trusted
friend that they need in their unavoidable process of peaceful national
transition.
6. The size of the Korean-American population in this country has been
variously estimated to be 1.2 to 1.5 million. I understand that they
have been regarded as one of the most desirable model immigrants in the
country due to their diligence, intelligence, adherence to law, and known
fervor for education for the second generation. I can also tell you that
the group is currently being rapidly politicized. Your action on large-
scale humanitarian food-aid to North Korea, with the resultant
stabilization and improvement of the relationship between the two
countries, will be greatly applauded and fondly remembered by each and
every one of the Korean-Americans.
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