In and Around North Korea: May 02 - 08, 2009

A senior US government official mentioned, for the first time, that North korea is likely to conduct a nuclear test before it is forced back to the Six-Party Talks

• President Barack Obama's policy coordinator for weapons of mass destruction, Gary Saymore, said Pyongyang was trying to divide the five other countries involved in the disarmament negotiations and was looking for ways to provoke problems.

• "It's very clear that the North Koreans want to pick a fight," he said at an event at the Brookings Institution on 01 May.
  

• He said, "They want to kill the six-party talks." When asked if he expected North Korea to carry out another nuclear test, Saymore said, "I think they will. That's what they are threatening to do."
  

A Council on Foreign Relations report published last month stated that North Korea already possesses a small nuclear arsenal, but lacks the capability to deploy it

• The report, co-authored by former US Secretary of Defense William Perry, said, “North Korea has already built a small nuclear arsenal and shows no signs of being willing to negotiate it away.”
  

• The report said North Korea, which tested an atomic device in Oct 06, "may not have the ability to deploy nuclear weapons."
  

• The report, also chaired by former U.S. National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft, urged Washington to engage in "aggressive diplomacy" to revive multilateral talks aimed at ending the nuclear pursuit.
  

• "Any chance of success with North Korea and Iran will require aggressive diplomacy that fully involves the Obama administration in close cooperation with other relevant international actors," the report said.
  

U.N. Secretary General urges North Korea to return to the Six Party Talks

• On 04 May, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged North Korea to return to the Six-Party Talks, which he described are the best mechanism for peaceful denuclearization of North Korea.

• According to a transcript posted at the U.N. web site, "With respect to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, despite the current serious challenges, I continue to believe that the six-party process is the best mechanism to achieve the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner," Ban told the Third Session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2010 NPT (Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty) Review Conference, held at U.N. headquarters in New York.
  

• Ban said, "I therefore urge the DPRK to return to these talks so that everybody can resolve their respective concerns through dialogue and cooperation, based on the relevant Security Council resolutions as well as multilateral and bilateral agreements."
  

Stephen Bosworth states, after meeting his Chinese counterparts, that the US reiterates its desire to engage both multilaterally and bilaterally with North Korea

• Stephen Bosworth said on 07 May, after holding talks with his Chinese counterparts, that the US hopes to engage bilaterally and multilaterally with North Korea to solve tensions through dialogue.
  

• He said he had "very good" meetings with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, the chair of the Six-Party Talks.
  

• Bosworth said, "We had extensive discussion of where we are and talked about the way forward."
  

• He said, "The United States reiterates its desire to engage both multilaterally and bilaterally with North Korea, and we believe very strongly that the solution to the tensions and problems of the area now lies in dialogue and negotiation."
  

A ROK daily’s analysis says that North Korea’s target of harsh rhetoric has shifted from South Korea to the US and the international community, since the missile launch and the UN Presidential Statement, condemning it.

• The daily's survey showed drastic drop in the North's offensive index against the South from 1,340 in March to 285 in April, whereas the North delivers back-to-back 'nuclear threats' to the United States, which appears to aim at DPRK-US confrontation structure.
  

• A change is being perceived lately in the appearance of North Korea's external offensives. Since the launch of a long-range rocket and the opening of the Supreme People's Assembly in early April, North Korea has resumed contact with South Korean authorities and reduced the level of offensives toward South Korea, while making threats of armed provocation toward the United States and the international community.
  

North Korea releases rhetoric against the United Nations accusing it of being unfair

• On 04 May, North Korea accused the United Nations of being unfair to countries not aligned with the United States, citing its condemnation of Pyongyang's 05 Apr rocket launch as evidence.
  

• The Rodong Sinmun, said in a commentary carried by the Korean Central News Agency that the Security Council "continues to adopt unjust documents under U.S. instigation," and its Apr 13 presidential statement condemning the North Korean launch is "obvious evidence" of its unfairness.
  

North Korea releases rhetoric against the US, commenting on the speech of the Commander of US Forces Korea

• Between 03 and 07 May, North Korea released a total of five reports denouncing the speech General Sharp, Commander of US Forces Korea, made on 22 Apr. The reports reaffirmed the North Korea’s position that it will retain nuclear weapons “as long as the US continues to provide the nuclear umbrella” for the ROK.
  

• The reports contained the usual rhetoric denouncing the ROK-US alliance, military preparedness, combined exercises, and OPLANs.
  

• These reports appears to convey the North’s justification for its latest threats of additional nuclear test, ICBM launches, and uranium enrichment.
  

North Korean rhetoric against the US focusing on the increase of US defense budget for 2010

• On 06 May, North Korea criticized the US government for raising its defense budget for 2010, saying its huge defense spending prompts Pyongyang to “bolster” its own military force in defense.
  

• US Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently unveiled a plan to increase Washington's defense budget 4 percent on-year to US$534 billion for the next fiscal year.
  

• The North said, "Not a small portion of the US defense budget goes to attempts to threaten and invade our country by its military means. To cope with the accumulating military threat from the U.S., it is exceedingly just and indispensable that our nation continues to bolster our self-defense power."
  

North Korea will begin what it calls the “150-Day Battle”, a nationwide campaign to restore its economic infrastructure starting 10 May, the anniversary of the foundation of the Workers’ Party

• It has been reported that the North Korean authorities have instructed committees of the Party to undertake a “150-day battle” to achieve enhanced production targets. The instruction was conveyed to the entire membership of the Workers Party in a secret letter from the Central Committee of the Party in March.
  

• A source from North Pyongan Province told The Daily NK on the 04 May, “The 150-day battle will progress from 10 May, the foundation day of the Workers’ Party, to 10 Oct. The fundamental aims are the construction of houses, the normalization of farming and railroads and enhancing the activities of local factories and mines.”
  

• The reason why Pyongyang is encouraging members of the Workers Party to embark on the 150-day battle is nothing less than its own salvation; to build a “strong and prosperous state” by 2012 in the current situation where foreign aid is decreasing due to several recent, provocative acts including the missile launch of 05 Apr.
  

An increase of activities on the construction site at Tongchang-ni missile test area as well as at Punggye-ri

• Chosun Ilbo reported North Korea has been speeding up construction of a new long-range missile test site in Tongchangri, North Pyongan Province. And vehicles and personnel are busily moving around in Kilju, North Hamgyeong Province, where the North conducted an underground nuclear test in 2006.
  

• "The North has recently been speeding up construction at the test site in Tongchangri by deploying more equipment and personnel," a South Korean government official said on 06 May. "We expected the North would complete construction sometime late this year, but it now seems that it could be completed several months earlier."
  

• Construction of the test site began eight years ago and was 80 percent complete last September.
  

The US State Department’s announcement that it is reviewing whether to relist North Korea as a sponsor of terrorism

• The United States said on 30 Apr that it was reviewing the status of North Korea to decide whether to relist it as a state sponsor of terrorism.
  

• "The State Department is in the process of reviewing the DPRK's status as what they call a not-fully-cooperating country," said Ronald Schlicher, acting coordinator of counterterrorism at the State Department, at a news briefing to mark the release of the department's annual country reports on terrorism. The list does not include North Korea.
  

• "That review is part of a broader process of identifying the countries not fully cooperating," Schlicher said. "And decisions in that whole process, including North Korea, should be coming in the next few weeks."
  

• The annual report said that North Korea "was not known to have sponsored any terrorist acts since the bombing of a Korean Airlines flight in 1987."
  

North Korea’s renewed warning that South Korea’s participation in PSI will be regarded as a declaration of war and it will bolster its nuclear force in self-defense

• North Korea on 04 May renewed its warning that South Korea's participation in a US-led security campaign will be regarded as a declaration of war and vowed to bolster its nuclear force in self-defense.
  

• The warning has been repeated by North Korea several times since the Seoul government announced its plan in early April to expand its participation in the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) aimed at curbing the spread of weapons of mass destruction. South Korea is currently an observer in the campaign.
  

• The North published in a commentary, "For traitor Lee Myung-bak to speak of full participation in the Proliferation Security Initiative is a public declaration of military confrontation against us and of war provocation to invade the North."
  

South Korean Unification Ministry’ announces that that it will close its bureau in charge of humanitarian aid to North Korea

• South Korea's Unification Ministry is set to close its bureau on humanitarian aid to North Korea as part of its restructuring, officials said on 04 May, a move that mirrors frozen political relations.

• The restructuring plan, when approved by a Cabinet meeting on 06 May, will shut down the Humanitarian Cooperation Bureau established in late 1996, ministry officials said.
  

• The bureau has been in charge of sending humanitarian aid to the North, arranging reunions of families separated by the Korean War and assisting with the resettlement of North Korean defectors in the South.
  

South Korean Foreign Ministry announced it has expanded its nuclear task force

• South Korea has expanded its nuclear task force to deal with North Korea's warning that it will conduct a second nuclear test, a foreign ministry official said on 04 May.
  

• The ministry added non-governmental nuclear experts and government officials to the ad hoc unit launched in April last year so as to strengthen its technical analysis, the ministry official said, requesting anonymity.
  

• The expanded task force, led by Seoul's deputy chief envoy to nuclear disarmament talks, Hwang Joon-kook, includes officials from the ministries of foreign affairs, national defense and unification, the National Intelligence Service and the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae as well as think tank experts and scholars, the official said.
  

South, North Korea may meet again about the KIC as early as next week

• A spokesman said on 07 May that South Korea will "soon" respond to the North's proposal to begin negotiations over a joint industrial park, and the meeting may take place as early as next week.
  

• Pyongyang proposed in government-level talks on 21 Apr that the two sides open negotiations to discuss wage hikes and contract revisions for the joint park in the North's border town of Kaesong.
  

• "Our government will soon send our proposal on the date," Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun told reporters.
  

• "Our government position is that the next talks should be able to ensure the safety of our citizens (in Kaesong) and the stable development of the Kaesong park," Lee Jong-joo, the ministry's deputy spokeswoman, said.
  

North Korea says it is on high alert to deter the influx of the H1N1 influenza and so far there are no cases of the contagion

• North Korea said on 06 May there are no cases of influenza A in the country, but it is on high alert to prevent the inflow of the highly infectious virus found in South Korea.

• North Korea's state media have been quick to report the global epidemic since it was first reported in Mexico late last month.
  

• The Korean Central News Agency said, "With regard to the A-type influenza -- H1N1, swine flu -- rapidly spreading in South Korea, (North Korea) is strengthening quarantine projects on high alert."