Korean Peninsula Today, 17 July 2009

UN sets new North Korea sanctions: A United Nations committee has added a number of North Korean individuals and firms to a sanctions blacklist. (BBC)

Five individuals, five firms and two weapons-related items are subject to the new sanctions regime.

A UN resolution in June toughened sanctions against North Korea after it conducted nuclear and missile tests.

The last time the UN imposed sanctions on Pyongyang, it responded by carrying out a nuclear test, says the BBC's Laura Trevelyan in New York.

According to the UN Security Council sanctions committee, nations are now banned from doing business with five firms involved in North Korea's nuclear programme, and five individuals are to have their financial assets frozen and face a travel ban.

They include:

· three North Korean trading corporations - Namchongang, Korea Hykosin and Korea Tangun, as well as North Korea's bureau of atomic energy

· an Iranian-based company, Hong Kong Electronics, is also sanctioned, accused of moving millions of dollars used for North Korea's nuclear programme

· Yun Ho-jin, Ri Je-son, Hwang Sok-hwa, Ri Hong-sop and Han Yu-ro now face sanctions because of their involvement in the development of North Korea's banned activities

· countries cannot sell North Korea certain types of graphite or para-aramid fiber because they could be used to make parts for ballistic missiles

· The UN resolution in June called for inspections of ships to or from North Korea believed to be carrying goods connected to weapons of mass destruction.

It also broadened the arms embargo and further cut the North's access to the international financial system, but did not authorise the use of force.

Ties between North Korea and the outside world have grown extremely tense since it walked away from six-nation talks aimed at ending its nuclear programme.

It subsequently said it would "weaponise" its plutonium stocks and start enriching uranium, prompting fears that it is working to produce nuclear warheads small enough to put on missiles - though analysts say it could take a long time to do so.

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US welcomes international 'consensus' on N Korea sanctions (AFP)

WASHINGTON – The United States has welcomed the international "consensus" on the implementation of UN sanctions on North Korea, even if the targeted entities have still not been identified.

"We had intensive discussions with all of the countries in the region and had firm statements and very good cooperation from all countries, making clear, both publicly and privately, that they intended to fully implement (UN Security Council resolution) 1874," a senior administration official said Wednesday.

"We are in the final stages right now of completing the discussions around designating persons and entities" under the resolution, which was adopted nearly two months ago, the official added, speaking on condition of anonymity.
China namely considers a strict application of the UN sanctions as the only solution to bring Pyongyang back to the table and have it abandon its nuclear program, another US official said.

"There's a broad consensus, including by China, frankly, that this is the right way to go," the official said. "I don't think the Chinese would take this step lightly, or if they believe that it wasn't important in terms of securing (the) North Koreans' compliance."

The resolution, designed to punish Pyongyang over its May 25 underground nuclear test and subsequent missile firings, calls for beefed up inspections of air, sea and land shipments going to and from North Korea, and an expanded arms embargo.

It also includes new targeted financial restrictions to choke off an important source of revenue for Pyongyang's nuclear and missile sectors, and the United Nations must now publish a list of North Korean entities, goods and individuals to be subjected to an assets freeze and travel ban.

The first US official said North Korea would not be rewarded only for returning to six-party talks -- involving the two Koreas, the United States, Russia, China and Japan.

"It is clear by all the parties... that there's a consensus that given what's happened up till now, that we're not really interested in halfway measures," the official said.

"What we need to see from North Korea is complete denuclearization and for them to take irreversible steps towards that goal."

Asked about two US journalists detained in Pyongyang, the official said Washington had still not received a response to its calls for the two women to be released.

"We haven't had any specific information from them or specific response from the North Koreans," the official said.

A North Korean court on June 8 sentenced Laura Ling, 32, and Euna Lee, 36, to 12 years of "reform through labor" for an illegal border crossing and an unspecified "grave crime."

The pair were on reporting assignment for San Francisco-based Current TV, a company co-founded by former vice president Al Gore, when they were detained by North Korean border guards on March 17 along the frozen Tumen River while researching a story on refugees fleeing the hardline communist state.

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North Korea says no dialogue without respect for sovereignty (Reuters)

SHARM EL-SHEIKH – North Korea's nominal number two leader said on Wednesday dialogue with foreign powers was impossible without respect for the sovereignty of the communist state.

China has sought to defuse international confrontation over North Korea by hosting six-party talks since August 2003.

The irregular negotiations bring together North and South Korea, China, the United States, Japan and Russia, seeking to end the North's nuclear weapons ambitions in return for aid.

"For us there can be no dialogue, nor any negotiations where the principles of respect for sovereign rights and equality are denied," Kim Yong-nam told delegates at the Non-Aligned Movement summit in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Kim, the president of North Korea's People's Assembly, said the talks ended because most of the involved parties had abandoned these principles.

"In light of the prevailing situation, the government of the DPR Korea had no other way but to take decisive measures to further strengthen its nuclear deterrence," he said.

Washington has for years being trying to press Pyongyang to end its atomic ambitions and reign in missiles that threaten U.S. allies South Korea and Japan.

North Korea launched a number of missiles earlier this month, an act of defiance to the United States on its independence day that further stoked regional tensions.

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Next IAEA Chief Hopes 6-party Nuclear Talks To Be Resumed Soon (Kyodo)

Tokyo – A Japanese diplomat set to become the next International Atomic Energy Agency chief expressed hope Thursday that the six-party talks will resume ''as soon as possible'' and inspectors from the U.N. nuclear watchdog will be back in North Korea to engage in monitoring activities.

Returning to Japan for the first time after being elected for the top IAEA post, Yukiya Amano said he is paying ''high attention'' to U.S. President Barack Obama's proposal to convene the first global nuclear security summit in Washington next March and that the IAEA is starting to study how to get involved in the event.

The 62-year-old Japanese ambassador to the Permanent Mission to the International Organizations in Vienna was elected July 2, making him the first IAEA director general from an Asian country. The voting was held by the 35-member IAEA Board of Governors.

Noting that IAEA inspectors had been involved in monitoring North Korea's main nuclear complex until recently, Amano said, ''We hope that the six-party talks will resume as soon as possible...and an agreement is reached that the IAEA should assume an important role for verification (of Pyongyang's nuclear activities) and that we will engage in such activities.'' The six-party talks aimed to denuclearize North Korea, involving the two Koreas, China, Japan, the United States and Russia, have been stalled since December over ways to verify Pyongyang's nuclear activities.

North Korea said it will quit the talks in protest over a U.N. Security Council statement condemning its rocket launch in April, which was widely seen as a disguised missile test. It also conducted its second nuclear test in May.

Asked how he will exercise his leadership, Amano said he would like to place importance on ''dialogue'' with IAEA member countries and others as part of his efforts to overcome what he calls ''various confrontations'' recently seen in the Vienna-based organization.

On Iran's uranium-enrichment activities, Amano said the problem is that Iran is ''lacking the trust of international society'' on the issue and called for further cooperation from the country.

Amano will officially assume the post in December for a four-year term, replacing Mohamed ElBaradei, who will leave office after 12 years as the IAEA head.

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Spokesman calls for all parties to continue six-party talks (Xinhua)

BEIJING – Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Thursday that all parties to the six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue should meet their commitments by adopting practical measures to advance the process.

"We hope all parties will properly resolve issues through dialogue and coordination," Qin told a regular press conference here.

Qin urged all parties to avoid intensifying the tense situation, and to jointly safeguard peace and stability in northeast Asia.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei had just concluded a tour of Russia, the United States, Japan and the Republic of Korea(ROK).

Qin said Wu had in-depth talks with officials from the four nations on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue and the six-party talks, and all parties agreed to continue efforts to resolve issues through dialogue and to promote the resumption of the talks.

"We would like to keep in contact with all concerned parties by all means," Qin noted.

It was in accordance with all parties' interests to peacefully realize denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula through dialogue, and to safeguard the peace and stability of the northeast Asia, he said.

The six-party talks, which involve China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the United States, the ROK, Russia and Japan, have been stalled since December last year.

The DPRK announced its withdrawal from the talks after the UN Security Council adopted a presidential statement which said the DPRK's April 5 rocket launch was "in contravention of Security Council resolution 1718" and urged the early resumption of the six-party talks.

On June 12, the United Nations adopted UN Security Council Resolution 1874 imposing tougher sanctions on the DPRK over its May 25 nuclear test.

The DPRK rejected the resolution and announced it had quit the talks and the ceasefire agreement of the Korean War.

The DPRK tested seven missiles off its east coast on July 4. The launches came two days after the DPRK test-fired four short-range missiles off its eastern coast.

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Clinton Calls For Patience in N. Korean Denuclearization (Yonhap)

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Wednesday called for patience in pursuing North Korea's denuclearization amid escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula after the North's nuclear and missile tests.

Speaking to a forum (Council on Foreign Relations Address by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton) ahead of her trip to Thailand and India next week, Clinton emphasized the need to develop "a tougher joint effort toward the complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean peninsula."

"Cultivating these partnerships and their full range takes time and patience; it also takes persistence," she said.

Clinton's remarks came hours after North Korea's ceremonial head of state, Kim Yong-nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, told the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Sharim El-Sheik, Egypt, that the six-party talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions "came to a permanent end because the U.S. and the majority of the obedient parties to the talks abandoned this principle" of "respect for sovereign rights and equality."

North Korea has been boycotting the multilateral nuclear talks, involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia, in protest of the U.N. Security Council resolution that bans any further nuclear and missile tests by North Korea and imposes financial sanctions, an overall arms embargo and cargo inspections on the high seas.

"We have invested a significant amount of diplomatic resources to achieve Security Council consensus in response to North Korea's provocative actions," Clinton said.

She praised the resolutions as having "real teeth and consequences for North Korea" and also lauded the "follow-on active involvement of China, Russia and India with us in persuading others to comply with the resolutions."

Clinton will attend the annual ASEAN Regional Forum in Phuket, Thailand, next week to discuss North Korea's recent provocations and other regional and global issues.

"I imagine that North Korea will be a topic at the ASEAN meeting," spokesman Ian Kelly said Tuesday.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Scot Marciel, meanwhile, said that Clinton has no plans to meet with North Korean officials in Phuket, although bilateral meetings are expected among other members of the six-party talks.

Marciel said he does not expect a five-way meeting that excludes Pyongyang on the margins of the security forum because China, host of the multilateral talks, is lukewarm to the idea, preferring not to provoke Pyongyang.

Reports said North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun will not attend the forum in Thailand on July 22-23, but will send an ambassador-at-large.

Kurt Campbell, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, is visiting Seoul and Tokyo ahead of the forum to meet with officials on ways to persuade North Korea to return to the six-party talks.

Campbell will also likely follow up on discussions on implementing financial sanctions and an arms embargo on North Korea.

Philip Goldberg, U.S. interagency coordinator for implementation of the sanctions, recently met with officials in Asian capitals to discuss U.N. Security Council Resolution 1874, adopted after North Korea's nuclear test May 25.

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U.S. has no plan to meet with DPRK officials at ASEAN meetings (Xinhua)

WASHINGTON – The United States has no plan to meet with officials of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) at the meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Thailand next week, a senior U.S. official said here on Wednesday.

Ruling out the possibility of a U.S.-DPRK meeting, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Scot Marciel also told reporters that there will probably not be a meeting of the five nations pushing the DPRK to abandon its nuclear weapons programs on the sidelines of the ASEAN meeting.

The five countries are the United States, the Republic of Korea, China, Japan and Russia. Bilateral meetings among officials of the countries are possible, according to Marciel.

The U.S. official made the remarks when Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the DPRK's Supreme People's Assembly, said at the 15th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt that the DPRK is not ready to resume disarmament talks over its nuclear program because the United States and its allies do not respect the nation's sovereignty.

Thailand is due to host the 42nd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM), Post Ministerial Conferences (PMC) and 16th ASEAN Regional Forum(ARF) in the southern province of Phuket from July 17 to 23.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has confirmed her participation in the forthcoming ASEAN meetings in Thailand.

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N.Korea Sanctions To Be Discussed at ASEAN Meet (Chosun Ilbo)

Sanctions against North Korea will be a discussed at the ASEAN Regional Forum in Phuket, Thailand on July 22-23, the U.S. State Department says.

In the press briefing on Monday, State Department spokesman Ian Kelley said, "I imagine that North Korea will be a topic at the ASEAN meeting."

The ARF session will be attended by delegates from 10 ASEAN member states, participating nations in six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear issue, and EU member nations.

The U.S. is apparently going to ask participating nations to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1874 passed after the North's recent nuclear test. Clinton suffered an elbow fracture last month and was unable to accompany President Barack Obama on his trips to Russia, Italy and Ghana but has said she is determined to attend the ARF session herself. She visits India beginning July 17 before flying to Phuket.

North Korea will reportedly send an ambassador-at-large to the ARF session instead of Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun. A diplomatic source in Washington said, "If the situation was in its favor, North Korea has usually send its foreign minister to the ARF sessions, but if not it sent lower-ranking officials."

Earlier on, a senior State Department official told reporters that ASEAN member states as a whole or individually have pledged to implement the resolution.

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Comments from “Site Admin”: Although the following article’s title suggests North Korea suffered flood damage from this year’s monsoon rains, but nowhere in the article does it report there was actual flood damage in North Korea this year. It merely goes through and reports the rainfall amount and what North Korean authorities would do in case of flood. The article implies North Korea should have suffered flood damage from the recent rainfall simply based on what has happened in the South due to most recent rainfall.

North Korea Suffers Flood Damage (Daily NK)

The annual Korean rainy season has taken its toll on South Korea, with a recent storm taking one life and injuring a further 200.

North Korea's Chosun Central TV reported on the 14th that 172mm had fallen in the Pyongkang region of Kangwon Province, the highest one-day rainfall figure in the country. The rains were caused by an atmospheric effect coming in off the West Sea, according to the report.

The report listed recent rainfall by region, noting that in addition to Pyongkang at 172mm; Gosan received 166mm; Icheon 149mm; Anbyun 148mm; and Pangyo suffered 146mm. The heaviest rains were reserved for the Kangwon Province region, though other regions did not escape completely.

In South Korea, when there is heavy rainfall, flooded areas are immediately identified and military units are dispatched, generally resulting in a prompt recovery effort. Of course, in recent days the South has suffered flooding too. President Lee Myung Bak, immediately after returning from his visit to Europe on the 14th, headed for the Central Disaster Safety Countermeasure Headquarters and ordered appropriate measures after inspecting flood damage.

So how does North Korea respond in the case of a flood?

A defector talked to Daily NK about the floods in Shinuiju in 1994. Kim Jong Il had appeared on the scene after Kim Il Sung's death in July of the same year, and the defector explained how the new leader utilized the recovery effort primarily to spread awareness of his power.

According to the source, some Shinuiju citizens were trapped by flooding, so an army unit was sent, allegedly as a result of a special instruction from Kim Jong Il himself. The unit carried people to safety on tanks. As a result, it is said, there were no deaths.

Afterwards, Kim Jong Il mobilized actors and ordered that the situation be made into a play for use as a propaganda tool to strengthen public devotion.

The defector Daily NK spoke to reminisced about aid, including clothing and other daily necessities, which flowed in from abroad. He recalled fondly that South Korean goods were found among them.

In reality, whenever a natural disaster takes place in North Korea, citizens are ordered by the Party to take care of clean-ups and reconstruction, without direct practical state support.

Indeed, according to an investigative report on North Korean children's rights called "Child Is King of the Country," published by the Citizens' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights in May, the North Korean authorities even exploit children in teenage elementary and middle school classes during reconstruction periods, forcing them to work from early morning until late at night under the pretext that academic studies and labor go hand in hand.

North Korea often mobilizes young children to repair railways and repave roads as well, according to the report.

As such, North Korea uses the floods for ideological education, and even young children are seen as tools to overcome the serious limitations of the North Korean authorities.

Rain can be particularly damaging in a place like North Korea, where fields and irrigation facilities are not properly maintained, and hills and mountainsides have been largely deforested in order to allow for the destructive cultivation of private fields on the slopes, even small amounts of rain can cause landslides and floods which, due to inadequate, overflowing drainage routes, cause significant damage.