In and Around North Korea: 07 - 13 March 2009

• North Korean leader Kim Jong Il voted in parliamentary elections on Sunday (08 Mar), the country's media said, in long-overdue polls that experts say may provide a clue to who will be the country's next leader. Speculation has mounted over power succession in North Korea since Kim, 67, reportedly suffered a stroke last summer. The North's media have recently emphasized the themes of "bloodline" and "inheritance," a possible indication that the country may be preparing for another hereditary transfer of power. Kim "went to the festively decorated polling place ... and cast his ballot" for an army officer seeking a parliamentary seat representing the 342nd district, the North's Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station said in a report.

• The U.N. agency responsible for aviation safety has decided to send a letter of protest to North Korea for its recent threat against the safety of South Korean passenger jets, South Korea's foreign ministry said Tuesday (10 Mar). "The ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) decided unanimously to send the letter in a meeting of the board of directors on Monday (09 Mar)," the ministry said. The letter, to be delivered formally to Pyongyang on Thursday (12 Mar), stresses that the North's announcement is a "grave threat" to the safety and security of global civil aviation and travelers, according to the ministry.

• KCNA made public a report on 12 Mar that the DPRK acceded to the international treaty and convention on space. According to it, recently the DPRK acceded to the "Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies" and the "Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space." The DPRK's accession to the said treaty and convention will contribute to promoting international confidence and boosting cooperation in the scientific research into space and the satellite launch for peaceful purposes.

• President Lee Myung-bak and the new U.S. point man on North Korea met on Monday (09 Mar) and discussed a range of issues, officials said just hours after the communist state unilaterally severed its last remaining communications line with the South. "President Lee and Bosworth exchanged their views on a wide range of issues that concern both of their nations," an official at the presidential office said. "Kim and Bosworth discussed the North's missile activity and other issues," an official said, asking not to be identified.

• The top U.S. envoy on North Korea left the door open to visiting Pyongyang during his recent Asian tour, but authorities in the North were unresponsive, a senior Seoul official said Tuesday (10 Mar). Stephen Bosworth could have traveled to the North if it had "responded positively" to the plan, said the official, speaking to reporters on customary condition of anonymity in a background briefing. "I think North Korea was aware of the U.S.'s intention but it gave no response," he said. The official refused to clarify whether Bosworth delivered his intention to visit North Korea directly.

• Stephen Bosworth, Washington's special envoy on North Korea, on 09 Mar ruled out immediate dialogue with the communist state, although he said that Washington remains willing to make high-level contact with North Koreans. He also once again urged Pyongyang to refrain from launching either a missile or a satellite, saying it would be a violation of a United Nations Security Council resolution. "For the most part, the U.S. has been willing to make high-level contact with the North Koreans ... we will remain fully engaged with them and we will coordinate very closely. But that doesn't mean we are going to be immediately in agreement and it certainly doesn't mean that in this case our commitment to the six-party process is any less," he said.

• Stephen Bosworth, the new U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, expressed confidence Tuesday (10 Mar) about an early resumption of six-party negotiations aimed at disbanding North Korea's nuclear arsenal. "I'm optimistic we can resume the six-party process very soon," he told reporters upon returning from his three-nation tour of Asia that took him to Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul. Describing the trip as "encouraging," Bosworth said at an airport outside Washington that "I think we made a good contribution to coordination among the five" dialogue partners of North Korea in the six-way process.
  
• China and the United States on Wednesday (11 Mar) agreed to make further efforts to promote the six-party talks on the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula. Visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and his U.S. counterpart Hillary Clinton discussed the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula during their talks at the State Department. Secretary Clinton said that the goal of a nuclear-free peninsula is indispensable, adding that the U.S. side hopes that the six-party talks could continue to proceed forward.

• North Korea's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday (11 Mar) accused the United States of preparing for a war against the communist state in Pyongyang's first verbal criticism of the Obama Administration. A ministry spokesman said military drills taking place between U.S. and South Korean forces were "nuclear war exercises designed to mount a preemptive attack on the DPRK." The DPRK is the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "The new administration of the U.S. is now working hard to infringe upon the sovereignty of the DPRK by force of arms in collusion with the South Korean puppet bellicose forces," said a Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman, in comments carried by the North's official KCNA news agency.

• A spokesman for the DPRK Ministry of Foreign Affairs gave the following answer to the question raised by KCNA on 11 Mar as regards the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint military exercises kicked off by the U.S. and the south Korean puppets: The U.S. and the south Korean puppets started large-scale war exercises targeted against the DPRK on Mar. 9 at last. These war exercises were kicked off by the U.S. and the south Korean puppet war-like forces across south Korea at a time when the inter-Korean relations have reached the worst phase and the situation has grown so tense that a war may break out any moment due to the reckless policy of confrontation pursued by the south Korean conservative authorities. The war maneuvers are nuclear war exercises designed to mount a preemptive attack on the DPRK in terms of their scale and contents from A to Z. This situation hardens the will of the DPRK to bolster up its defense capability in every way no matter what others may say. The DPRK, exposed to the potential threat of the U.S. and its allied forces, will take every necessary measure to protect its sovereignty.

• The Central Election Committee for the Election of Deputies to the 12th Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK on 09 Mar released a report on the results of the election of a deputy to the SPA held at Constituency No. 333 on 08 Mar According to the report, all the voters of Constituency No. 333 participated in the election and voted for Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army Kim Jong Il who is general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission, reflecting the unanimous will and wishes of all the servicepersons of the KPA and the people of the country.

• North Korea released the names of its new Assembly members including leader Kim Jong Il on Monday (09 Mar), but the list did not include his youngest son, who was rumored to have run in the election. The Supreme People's Assembly is a rubber stamp parliament, but Sunday's election drew keen outside attention because of the possibility that it would provide a clue to the country's next leader. But Kim Jong-un, 26, was conspicuously absent from the full list of names of the 687 members of the new Assembly, which was announced by the Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station and other state media.

• North Korean Premier Kim Yong Il will soon visit China, the North's official Korean Central News Agency reported Tuesday (10 Mar). Kim will make an official goodwill visit to China at the invitation of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the news agency said. Sources close to China-North Korea relations said earlier China and North Korea are in the process of arranging reciprocal visits by their premiers this year as part of events to mark the 60th anniversary of their diplomatic ties.

• The North Korean Central Election Committee announced on 09 March the results of the election of deputies to the 12th Supreme People's Assembly held on the previous day. A total of 687 deputies, including General Secretary Kim Jong Il, were elected to a five-year term. Based on these election results, the SPA is expected to hold the first plenary session of the new deputies. The names of the three sons of Kim Jong Il are not included in the list of elected deputies, but indeed, it is highly possible that the selection of the successor will take place unrelated to the SPA election. Kim himself was named as successor in 1974, but he was first elected as SPA deputy in 1982 after he had appeared in official media reports as the successor.

• Sunday's election of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly, the country's parliament, has replaced just under half of its 687 mem bers, a Tokyo-based organization monitoring North Korean media said Wednesday (11 Mar). Radiopress said its analysis showed a total of 299 of the delegates on the list of those elected were new to the assembly's seats, while 367, or 53.4 percent, were reelected. North Korea's official media said Monday (09 Mar) that leader Kim Jong Il and his close aides have been elected to the assembly as a result of the election..

• Authorities in North Korea have begun enforcing a ban on the use of foreign cars in the isolated Stalinist state, putting further pressure on a population already struggling to survive. Beginning in early February, Pyongyang's National Defense Commission began enforcing a directive banning imported cars and ordered a crackdown According to a cross-border Chinese merchant, those targeted by the crackdown are primarily officials who take bribes to fraudulently register cars to state-owned enterprises or military bases. Authorities also want to stop North Korean mechanics from rebuilding and modifying imported cars by changing them from right-hand-drive Japanese vehicles—the Japanese drive on the left—to left-hand-drive vehicles for use on North Korean roads "The National Defense Commission regards failure to enforce its directive banning imported cars as a provocative act," said the Chinese merchant, who is a frequent traveler to North Korea.

• Under the leadership of Kim Jong Il, the country cannot feed its people. Perennially dependent on food aid, North Korea has become a truculent ward of the wealthy countries it threatens. It is the world's first nuclear-armed, missile-wielding beggar -- a particularly intricate challenge for the Obama administration as it begins to formulate a foreign policy.North Korea has informed an international organization on shipping safety that it will fire a rocket carrying a "satellite" between April 4-8, an intelligence source in Seoul said Thursday (12 Mar). Earlier in the day, the communist nation said through its official agency that it had notified the IMO and other related global bodies about the upcoming rocket launch. "The DPRK (North Korea) informed the International Civil Aviation Organization, the International Maritime Organization and other international organizations of necessary information for the safe navigation of planes and ships according to relevant regulations as part of its preparations for launching Kwangmyongsong-2, an experimental communications satellite, by carrier rocket Unha-2 which was made public by the Korean Committee of Space Technology recently," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported, without mentioning a date for the rocket launch.

• Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Saturday (28 Feb) indicated Beijing's opposition to a possible missile launch by North Korea, urging "relevant parties" to do more to benefit peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. China is aware of North Korea's recent announcement that it is getting ready to launch a communication satellite, Yang said, adding, "We are following developments.""This would be extremely ill-advised for North Korea to do this," Bosworth told reporters after holding a series of consultations with top-ranking South Korean officials. Bosworth rebuffed the North's claim of a satellite launch, saying, "whether they describe it a satellite launch or something else makes no difference. They would be a violation of the U.N. resolution 1718."

• The chief U.S. intelligence official said on 10 Mar that he believes that North Korea is about to launch a rocket into space as North Koreans insisted. The remark by National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair is the first by any U.S. official amid conflicting reports about the nature of the rocket Pyongyang is threatening to launch. U.S. officials have said that the North's claim to shoot a communications satellite into space is a cover to test a ballistic missile capable of reaching the mainland U.S. "It is a space-launch vehicle that North Korea launches," Blair told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. "The technology is indistinguishable from intercontinental ballistic missile, and if a three-stage, space-launch vehicle works, then that could reach not only Alaska, Hawaii, but also part of the, part of what the Hawaiians call 'the Mainland,' and what the Alaskans call 'the Lower 48.” He said he "tended to believe that the North Koreans announced that they were going to do a space launch, and I believe that that's what they intend. I could be wrong, but that would be my estimate."

• Japan will extend sanctions against North Korea for six months and may consider additional measures if the communist country tests a ballistic missile, Nikkei English News said, without citing anyone. The sanctions, imposed in October 2006, include a ban on the import of North Korean goods and stop its citizens from entering Japan, the report said. Japan’s Cabinet will approve the extension of the sanctions, due to expire on April 13, early next month, the report said.

• North Korea and the U.S.-led United Nations Command (UNC) in South Korea ended their high-level military border talks Friday (13 Mar) , officials said, as Pyongyang stepped up its warnings against an upcoming U.S.-South Korea military drill. The latest round of talks at the borderline truce village of Panmunjom "only lasted 45 minutes," a South Korean defense ministry official said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity. The official declined to discuss the agenda.

• KPA Supreme Command Orders All Personnel to Be 'Fully Combat Ready' (KCNA): The madcap Key Resolve and Foal Eagle are extremely adventurous and dangerous military provocations which can be seen only on the eve of a war and an undisguised military threat to the DPRK and a sort of a declaration of a war. The revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK have grown stronger thanks to the songun [military-first] politics under the care of the great illustrious commander of Mt. Paektu. They will never remain a passive on-looker to the prevailing situation now that dark clouds of war are gathering to hang over the homeland and armed clashes are imminent. The KPA Supreme Command issued an order to all the servicepersons to be fully combat ready and follow every move of the aggressors with vigilance in view of the grave situation prevailing in the country and deal merciless retaliatory blows at them, should they intrude into the sky and land and seas of the DPRK even an inch.

• Scores of South Koreans scheduled to return from a joint industrial park in North Korea could not cross the border Monday (09 Mar) after the North cut off the last remaining inter-Korean communications channel, a Seoul spokesman said. About 80 people who were scheduled to return by 5 p.m. from the inter-Korean complex in the North Korea's border town of Kaesong were not able to make the trip, Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun said. North Korea severed the inter-Korean channel earlier in the day in protest against an ongoing South Korea-U.S. military drill and said the closure will continue until the drill ends on 20 Mar. It was the last such communications line to remain open after Pyongyang closed several others last year in retaliation to the Lee Myung-bak government's hardline policy.

• The Seoul government said Friday (13 Mar) that North Korea is violating international law by threatening the safety of South Korean flights in its airspace and urged Pyongyang to stop its military warnings. "To militarily threaten the normal operations of civil airplanes not only violates international rules but is also an inhumane act that can never be justified," said Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun. Tension has risen sharply on the Korean Peninsula since North Korea said it is "compelled to declare that security cannot be guaranteed for South Korean civil airplanes" in its airspace, adding to concerns that Pyongyang may be preparing for a missile launch.

• North Korea reopened its borders to South Koreans visiting a joint industrial complex in the communist state, a day after it severed inter-Korean communications, Seoul officials said. "A North Korean military official notified us that the North will allow passage through the military demarcation line as of 10 a.m.," Seoul's Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun said. The North will keep the channel closed until the drill ends on March 20, the spokesman said. South Koreans can cross the border only after North Korea is notified of their planned arrival through the military communication channel.

• Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan on 11 Mar called on North Korea to drop its smear campaign on the South and abandon its tactics to stoke tension with a missile launch. "North Korea must refrain from provocative action such as vilifying South Korea, threatening to launch a missile and banning access to Gaeseong Industrial Complex, and should now return to inter-Korean talks," Yu said at a meeting with the members of the European Chamber of Commerce. Once the talks restart, Yu said the two Koreas could discuss ways for easing inter-Korean tension, intensifying economic cooperation and providing humanitarian aid for the impoverished North.

• South Korea's top defense official said Tuesday (10 Mar) North Korea's military threats have increased across the board, even though the communist state has "nothing to gain" by raising tension. "The recent series of provocative and tension-raising rhetoric and acts are not only straining inter-Korean relations but also making it impossible to rule out the possibility of clashes in land, sea and air," Lee told a group of about 210 newly commissioned officers graduating from an Army academy in Seoul. "We will push to make (North Korea) realize that there is nothing to earn through acts that raise tension and that such moves will never be of help."

• South Korea and the United States kicked off one of their largest joint military exercises on Monday (09 Mar) amid fears North Korea may test-fire a long-range ballistic missile in protest. The Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercise, which mobilizes over 25,000 U.S. troops, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and tens of thousands of South Korean soldiers, has been dubbed by North Korea as a prelude to war. The drill, slated to end on 20 Mar is genuinely defensive, its organizers say, even though the North warned of "consequences" during two rounds of general-level talks with the U.S.-led U.N. Command in South Korea last week.

• The international community should "maintain heightened control over" the situation in the Korean region in connection with increased tension between South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Vasiliy Likhachev, deputy chairman of the Federation Council international relations committee, said in a broadcast of Ekho Moskvy radio. "Reports from the Far East, which are far from positive, attest to the fact that the international community has not exhausted all the resources and means for a comprehensive settlement of the situation,”

• Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, have called on the countries involved to refrain from activities that could undermine security on the Korean Peninsula in connection with the aggravation of the situation in the region, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced on 11 March after a telephone conversation between the Russian and Chinese foreign ministers. "During the discussion about the situation in North East Asia, serious concern was expressed about the aggravation of the situation on the Korean Peninsula," the ministry said. "The ministers called on the countries involved to show restraint and equanimity and refrain from any activities that could undermine security and stability in the region," it added.

• Loaded with missiles capable of intercepting a flying rocket, a pair of argus-eyed U.S. destroyers glided into a South Korean port this week along the east coast where North Korea appears determined to launch what it calls a space satellite. The USS Chafee and the USS Stetham, docked at Donghae Harbor about 130 kilometers south of the intensely guarded inter-Korean border, are among at least six U.S. warships deployed around South Korea as part of the 12-day joint defense exercise that began Monday (09 Mar).

• Barack Obama won last year's historic presidential election on a pledge to bring change to the United States. But there is at least one area in which no substantial change is expected -- U.S. policy on North Korea. U.S. experts say the new team dealing with the reclusive country will not seek to change how they try to resolve the issue surrounding Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, namely through the six-party talks. Tension on the divided Korean Peninsula is expected to escalate further this week, as South Korea and the United States plan to kick off their joint military exercise as scheduled, despite a series of North Korean threats.

• President Lee Myung-bak received a rare briefing from his security-related ministers Monday as North Korea continues to escalate tensions with threats of war and other hostile measures aimed at South Korea. The content of 09 Mar's special briefing was not immediately released. An official at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, however, tried to downplay the significance of the briefing, saying it is customary procedure following the president's overseas trips.

• North Korea's combative language is unproductive and destabilizing for the Korean Peninsula, a U.S. State Department spokesman said Monday (09 Mar). U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises aren't threats to the region, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said during a news briefing. "What is a threat to the region is this bellicose rhetoric coming out of the North." "The North is the party that is, you know, preparing to launch missiles, has launched missiles in the past," Wood said. "Its actions are of concern not just to the United States and the (South Korea), but to the entire international community."

• A North Korean freighter sailing through the Jeju Strait collided with a South Korean fishing boat, leaving one man injured, the local Coast Guard said Tuesday (11 Mar). The Coast Guard said the 1,790 ton Nampo-based ship collided with a 29-ton fishing boat from Uljin on Monday off the coast on Yeosu, 455 km southeast of Seoul. Of the 12 South Korean crew members, one was taken to a nearby hospital after complaining of chest pain.

• Kim Hyun-hui, a self-confessed North Korean terrorist responsible for the mid-air bombing of a South Korean jet in 1987 and now a housewife living in South Korea, stepped into the spotlight again Wednesday in an emotional meeting with the family of a Japanese woman kidnapped by Pyongyang three decades ago. The event in this southern port city bolstered Tokyo's efforts to garner support at home and abroad to press North Korea to settle the abduction issue, which involves more than a dozen Japanese nationals.