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Northeast Asia Peace and Security Network DAILY REPORT For Tuesday, October 27, 1998, from Berkeley, California, USA |
1. Hyundai Founder's Trip to DPRK
Reuters (Koo Hee-jin, "TYCOON ENTERS NORTH KOREA WITH CATTLE, CARS,"
Panmunjom, 10/27/98) and the Associated Press (J.H. Yun, "HYUNDAI CHIEF,
CATTLE CROSS BORDER," Panmunjom, 10/26/98) reported that Hyundai group
founder Chung Ju-young crossed into the DPRK on Tuesday to deliver 501
head of cattle and 20 cars. Chung stated, "I am happy to visit North
Korea again." He added, "I appreciate the nation's support for Hyundai's
project to develop the Keumkang Mountains area and the group's economic
cooperation with North Korea. We hope this will be a basis for
rapprochement, peace and unification." Regarding his prospective meeting
with Kim Jong-il, Chung stated, "If we meet, we will talk about matters
which will help both the North and the South." He added, "In particular,
I heard that there is petroleum to be found along the coast of North
Korea. If there is, the North and the South could jointly develop it and
open a fruitful era." Chung was accompanied by his younger sister, her
husband, his son Chung Mong-hun, who is the Hyundai Group chairman, and
Kim Yun-kyu, president of Hyundai Engineering and Construction. The
DPRK's official Korean Central News Agency said in a report, "They came
with cattle representing their compatriotic feelings." Chung and his
entourage were met at the demarcation line by Song Ho-gyong, vice
chairman of the Korean Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, Jong Un-op, chairman
of the National Economic Cooperation Federation, and others, the agency
said. Lee Ho, the chief analyst at the ROK Unification Ministry, stated,
"This time, Mr. Chung will finalize a tourism project being pushed by
Hyundai, which will certainly have a positive effect on the overall
inter-Korea relations."
2. ROK-Russian Military Exercises
The Associated Press ("RUSSIA, SOUTH KOREA HOLD JOINT NAVAL MANEUVERS,"
Moscow, 10/27/98) reported that Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency said that
Russian and ROK ships held a joint military exercise Tuesday to practice
preventing emergency situations at sea. The exercises in the Bay of
Peter the Great, off Russia's Far East in the Sea of Japan (East Sea of
Korea), involved an ROK frigate and a support ship and a Russian
submarine and other vessels. The ROK ships also visited Russia's port of
Vladivostok and were to head home after the exercise, the report said.
3. PRC Economic Crisis
The Washington Post (John Pomfret. "BEIJING GAMBLES ON AN OLD REMEDY,"
Beijing, 10/27/98, A16) reported that the PRC government is tightening
currency controls to prevent the loss of capital. L. William Seidman,
former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., said that PRC
officials are "patting themselves on the back" for thus far surviving the
worst of the Asian financial crisis. Seidman said that Chinese officials
were interpreting the rapid capital outflows from other affected
countries as signs that the PRC has been wise in putting off making its
currency freely convertible and in delaying further opening of its stock
markets. However, an unnamed senior Western diplomat said that PRC
officials "are petrified about the economy." Chinese economist Hu Angang
estimated last week that the PRC's unemployment rate is 8 percent and
could climb to 9 percent next year. He stressed that his figures do not
include 160 million rural migrants who have moved to the cities in recent
years. Hu stated, "We can clearly say that China has entered the high
unemployment phase." The article said that some critics have warned that
the PRC's plan to stimulate the economy by investing in the state-run
sector appears headed for trouble. These economists argue that the PRC
economy needs to have money pumped into the private sector, which they
say is the only area of the Chinese economy with the potential for
sustainable growth.
1. US-ROK Military Exercises
Nezavisimaia gazeta ("IN BRIEF .... PYONGYANG CRITICIZES WASHINGTON,
SEOUL AND TOKYO," Moscow, 6, 10/24/98) reported that, as the joint US-ROK
military exercises are to take place next week with 85,000 servicemen
from both countries engaged, the DPRK warned that the exercises might
have "catastrophic consequences." The official Nodong Shinmun newspaper
accused the US, the ROK, and Japan of creating an anti-DPRK alliance,
saying that "the planned war games cast a shadow on the third round of
talks" between the ROK, the DPRK, the US and the PRC in Geneva that were
resumed on October 21 after a gap of 7 months.
2. RF-PRC Military Cooperation
Nezavisimaia gazeta's Igor Korotchenko ("STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP AIMED AT
THE 21ST CENTURY," Beijing, 2, 10/24/98) reported that the results of RF
Defense Minister Marshal Igor Sergeyev's visit to the PRC and his talks
there open an opportunity for RF defense industry enterprises to actively
participate in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) complex modernization
program. PLA officers will continue to study in the RF. Also the RF
will render the PRC assistance in development of its own production of
high-precision weapons systems and transfer some licenses to it. Details
have not been revealed, but in the author's opinion those include
"controlled weapons complexes for tanks and armored personnel vehicles,
close range anti-aircraft means, and anti-tank complexes." With RF
assistance the PRC is to implement programs for development of "long-
range radar detection planes, controlled jet-direction engines, and self-
homing air-to-air missiles." The article stated, "Judging by everything,
Moscow took all political risks into account and in principle is ready to
assist China's transformation into a first-class military power.
Especially considering the fact that Beijing is ready to pay for that in
freely convertible currency."
Nezavisimaia gazeta's Igor Korotchenko ("MARSHAL SERGEYEV'S APPLIED
DIPLOMACY," Hanoi-Beijing-Moscow, 6, 10/27/98) commented that RF Defense
Minister Marshal Igor Sergeyev's official visit to Vietnam and the PRC
from October 19-24 was of a purely applied nature with protocol events
thoroughly minimized. His delegation included not just military, but
high-ranking diplomats and representatives of the state-controlled arms-
selling "Rosvo'oruzheniye" company. Although the delegation members
denied any link between Kosovo-prompted freeze in RF-NATO relations and
the visit, indeed the RF Defense Ministry sees its "Eastern direction" of
activities as a growing priority. Not by chance General Colonel Leonid
Ivashov, Chief, Main Directorate of International Military Cooperation,
RF Defense Ministry, told NG's correspondent that "the North Atlantic
Treaty has proved itself an unreliable partner." Igor Sergeyev had talks
with Chi Haotian, PRC Defense Minister, Chang Wannian, Deputy Chairman of
the PRC Central Military Council, and Jiang Zemin, PRC Chairman. The
parties expressed the same or close positions on many issues, including
strong disagreement with NATO's Eastward expansion plans and its
intention to solve the problem of Kosovo by force. They confirmed their
view regarding a multipolar world and spoke against US-Japanese plans to
create a non-strategic missile-defense system as harmful to the regional
stability and to the START process.
3. RF State Duma Chairman in PRC
Segodnya's Aleksandr Chudodeyev ("DUMA SPEAKER HAD TO APOLOGIZE FOR A
FACTION LEADER," Moscow, 3, 10/27/98) reported that Gennadiy Seleznyov,
RF State Duma Chairman, on an official visit to the PRC started his
meeting on Monday with Li Peng, PRC Parliament Speaker, by apologizing
for a recent trip of Vladimir Zhirinovskiy, Chairman and Parliamentary
Faction Leader, Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, to Taiwan and his
statements there which prompted a "great dissatisfaction" in the PRC.
Seleznyov in particular told his PRC counterpart that "the State Duma
Council denied Zhirinovskiy a trip to Taiwan by refusing to give him a
right to represent the State Duma. The Duma considers that trip as a
private person's private trip. Our position on Taiwan remains
unchanged.... I think we will soon congratulate China with a solution of
the problem of Taiwan just as we just recently congratulated it with the
first anniversary of the peaceful reunification with Hong Kong." The
accelerating decline of bilateral trade was one particular issue
discussed by the parties.
4. RF-Japan Relations
Izvestia's Yuriy Savenkov ("MOSCOW AND TOKYO SEARCH FOR A KEY TO SOUTH
KURILS DISPUTE SOLUTION," Moscow, 3, 10/27/98) reported that an
unidentified high-ranking RF diplomat said that speculations are out of
place when solving such a delicate issue as the South Kurils dispute
between the RF and Japan. The diplomat said further that "the very term
'peace treaty' sounds somewhat strange. Are there military hostilities
going on between our countries? Actually the talk is about a place for
the border in a specific area. Maybe it would be more appropriate to
conclude a comprehensive treaty on peace, friendship, and cooperation and
to consider the 'territorial issue' separately." Izvestia's author added
that "a familiar Japanese diplomat assured him that economic and
financial aid rendered by Japan to Russia in no way is linked to the
'territorial issue.'" Hisimizu Arai, Japan's Deputy Minister of Trade
and Industry, presently in the RF, told Izvestia's author that despite
financial difficulties, Japan would continue to expand its assistance to
reforms in the RF. He added that, as soon as a new realistic economic
program is adopted in the RF, Japanese investors would come there,
because they prefer real production to financial games. Although hit by
the crisis, Japanese companies have not reduced their staff in the RF.
On a more specific scale, Japanese experts "got interested in the Russian
method of production of nuclear fuel for breeder reactors that lower the
risk of radioactive exposure." Japanese astronaut Noguchi underwent a
week-long practical training course at the RF Gagarin Cosmonaut Training
Center.
5. Kurils Territorial Dispute
Nezavisimaia gazeta ("WHOM SOUTH KURILS BELONG TO?" Moscow, 8, 10/27/98)
published a half-page article by Mikhail Vaisfeld, Ph.D. (Geography).
The article is full of geographic and historical data concerning the
South Kurils. Special attention is paid to the economically disastrous
situation that the local population has found themselves in, even more so
under the present crisis. The author argued that "the destiny of South
Kurils must be solved as soon as possible, because the residents of the
isles, who besides have suffered from a destructive earthquake and
tsunami, are tired of being in the so-called 'suspended condition' and
want to know at last on whose land they will live-- Japanese or Russian?"
The author suggested creating a national park on the basis of the natural
preserve on the island of Kunashir and a similar park on Hokkaido, and
then unite both into a single complex to accommodate tourists from all
over the world.
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