Japan decides to extend Sanctions on North Korea by another Year

The current Japanese sanctions on North Korea that was implemented in October 2006, which includes a ban on North Korean vessels from making port calls in Japan, is set to expire next Tuesday. Today, the Japanese government decided to extend the sanctions against North Korea for another year. This makes it the sixth extension of the October 2006 sanctions.

North Korea's failure to fulfill its promise to reinvestigate abduction cases of Japanese nationals, and the North's failure to return to the Six-Party Talks were noted as the reasons for the extension of sanctions.

Korean Peninsula Today, 25 September 2009

• The US Deputy Secretary of State Steinberg is scheduled to arrive in South Korea next Tuesday (29 September)

• The US President Obama calls for full implementation of UNSC resolutions sanctioning North Korean for its nuclear program

• The South Korean President Lee and the Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama reaffirmed the necessity of maintaining current international penalties on North Korea while urging the North to return to the Six-Party Talks

• The British Prime Minister Brown warned North Korea it will face further sanctions should it fails to comply with UN demands regarding its nuclear program

• A group of conservative South Korean activist organizations sent a letter to the Chinese President Hu Jintao appealing for his government to stop repatriating North Korean defectors

• A group of nine North Koreans entered the Danish Embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam, seeking political asylum and passage to Seoul, South Korea

Korean Peninsula Today, 12 August 2009

Today’s highlights:

1) The North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong-il stated, "There will be a major development shortly in the relationship between North Korea and the United States."

2) US State Department spokesman Robert Wood stated that the United States will not reward North Korea for its recent provocations and reiterated calls for Pyongyang to return to the Six-Party Talks

3) US Treasury Department’s designation of Korea Kwangson Banking Corp. (KKBC) for involvement in WMD related activities under the Executive Order 13382

4) The South Korean Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo stated that there were no new developments on the release of the detained South Korean worker

and 5) After a 48-hour probe into the North Korean cargo ship MV Musan's illegal presence in Indian waters, the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard Monday [10 August] handed over the 39-member crew to the local police and intelligence agencies.

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High-Ranking North Korean Official; [There Will Be] 'Major Development Shortly' in the US-North Korea Relationship (Kyodo – Original in Japanese)

Ulaanbaatar, Kyodo – North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yo'ng-il, who is visiting Mongolia, held a meeting with high-ranking officials of the Mongolian Foreign Ministry in Ulaanbaatar on 10 August. Kim said, "There will be a major development shortly in the relationship between North Korea and the United States," hinting that there has been a move toward holding talks between the United States and North Korea. A Mongolian diplomatic source has revealed this on 10 August.

Vice Foreign Minister Kim commented on the Six-Party Talks on the North Korea's nuclear issue, reiterating again that North Korea "decided in the end that the country will not return [to the talks]." In addition, he said that his country "has not denied a dialogue, and if good conditions are fulfilled, a door is opened toward holding talks between the United States and North Korea," according to the source.

North Korea and Mongolia have held vice foreign ministerial-level meetings regularly every year since 2006; the recent meeting marks the fourth. Vice Foreign Minister Kim visited Mongolia on 8 August and will depart the country on 11 August. A Vietnamese Government source said that North Korean officials, including Kim, will visit Hanoi on 12-15 August.

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U.S. not to reward N. Korea for recent provocations: State Dept. (Yonhap)

WASHINGTON – The United States Monday said it will not reward North Korea for its recent provocations and reiterated calls for Pyongyang to return to the six-party talks on its nuclear dismantlement.

"They are not going to be rewarded, as the secretary and president said, for their previous behavior," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said, referring to the pledge by President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton not to reward the North just because of its coming back to the multilateral talks without taking substantial measures for its denuclearization.

"It's not going to have that kind of a relationship if it continues along -- the behavior along the lines that it's exhibited in the past," he said. "We want them to come back to the table and negotiate based on the commitments that they've made. And the ball, we believe, right now is in the court of North Korea."

Critics have said North Korea has used the talks since their inception in 2003 to buy time to build a nuclear arsenal. Its first nuclear test in 2006 was followed by a second in May.

"I think the president and Secretary Clinton have spoken very clearly on this that the North cannot be rewarded for its past behavior," Wood said. "Simply, what the North needs to do is to live up to its obligations. If you remember, the North signed on to the joint statement from 2005, committing to a verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

The six-party deal, signed in September 2005 by the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia, calls for the North to abandon its nuclear ambitions in return for massive economic aid, diplomatic recognition by the U.S. and Japan and establishment of a permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula to replace the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

Pyongyang, however, has said it will boycott the multilateral talks for good due to U.N. Security Council sanctions for its recent nuclear and missile tests.

Instead, the North has called for direct talks with the U.S.

Washington declined, and threatened to continue sanctioning Pyongyang until it returns to the multilateral negotiations.

"The international community expects the North to live up to its obligations," Wood said. "These are obligations it took freely. And we want to see them come back to the table."

The spokesman noted the North's expressed willingness to have a dialogue and improve ties with the U.S.

"The North has said it wants dialogue, it wants to have good relations with the United States and other members of the international community," he said.

He was talking about the discussions former President Bill Clinton had for more than three hours with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il last week when Clinton visited Pyongyang to win the release of two American journalists held for illegally entering the North.

National Security Adviser James Jones made a similar point on Sunday.

"The North Koreans have indicated they would like a new relationship, a better relationship with the United States," Jones said in an interview with "Fox News Sunday." "They've always advocated for bilateral engagement. We have put on the table in the context of the talks we would be happy to do that if, in fact, they would rejoin the talks."

Jones also said that Kim is "in full control" despite rumors of his failing health after apparently suffering a stroke last summer.

He expressed optimism last week amid allegations that Kim Jong Il proposed a "grand deal" for a breakthrough in the stalled negotiations and improved ties between the sides.

"We certainly hope it could lead to other good things, but we won't know that for a while," Jones told reporters Thursday. "Who knows where the future will lead."

Former President Clinton will likely meet with Obama in the coming days to brief him about his trip, U.S. officials said.

Meanwhile, South Korean and U.S. officials said they have been discus sing a "comprehensive package," a possible breakaway from a six-party deal on the North's denuclearization that calls for action for action in the North's nuclear dismantlement.

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U.S. sanctions another N. Korean bank for WMD involvement: Treasury Dept. (Yonhap)

WASHINGTON – The United States Tuesday blacklisted another North Korean financial institution for its affiliations with North Korean firms and banks already sanctioned under U.N. resolutions adopted after North Korea's nuclear and missile tests in recent years.

In a statement, the Department of Treasury said it has "designated the Korea Kwangson Banking Corp. (KKBC) under Executive Order (E.O.) 13382 for providing financial services in support of both Tanchon Commercial Bank (Tanchon) and Korea Hyoksin Trading Corporation (Hyoksin), a subordinate of the Korea Ryonbong General Corporation (Ryonbong)."

Executive Order 13382 "freezes the assets of proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and their supporters and prohibits U.S. persons from engaging in transactions with them, thereby isolating them from the U.S. financial and commercial systems."

Hyoksin is among five North Korean firms blacklisted by the U.N. Security Council in June under Resolution 1874, adopted after North Korea's second nuclear test on May 25.

Ryonbong was among three North Korean firms targeted by the Security Council in 2006 under Resolution 1718, adopted after the North's first nuclear test in 2006.

The additional listing comes amid growing optimism for a breakthrough in the stalled negotiations over North Korea's nuclear weapons program after the landmark visit to Pyongyang by former U.S. President Bill Clinton last week to win the release of two American journalists held there for four months for illegally entering the North.

Clinton met with reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong Il [Kim Cho'ng-il] for more than three hours, during which Kim expressed his willingness to have bilateral talks and improve ties with the U.S., according to U.S. officials who debriefed the former president.

U.S. officials dismissed Kim's proposal for bilateral talks, saying those will be possible only within the framework of the six-party talks involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia, which Pyongyang refuses to attend, citing punitive U.N. resolutions.

National Security Adviser James Jones, however, was a bit optimistic about the future U.S.-North Korea ties after the Clinton trip.

"We certainly hope it could lead to other good things, but we won't know that for a while," Jones told reporters last week. "Who knows where the future will lead?"

U.S. officials have, meanwhile, dismissed the Clinton trip as a "private mission," warning the U.S. will continue to sanction the North unless Pyongyang returns to the six-party talks.

In blacklisting KKBC, Stuart Levey, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said, "North Korea's use of a little-known bank, KKBC, to mask the international financial business of sanctioned proliferators demonstrates the lengths to which the regime will go to continue its proliferation activities and the high risk that any business with North Korea may well be illicit."

KKBC is based in North Korea and has operated at least one overseas branch, in Dandong, China, according to the department.

Tanchon, Ryonbong and Hyoksin have already been listed by the U.N. resolution as well as the Treasury Department for their involvement in the North Korean WMD programs.

The Treasury Department accused Tanchon of utilizing KKBC since 2008 to "facilitate funds transfers likely amounting to millions of dollars, including transfers involving Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation (KOMID)-related funds from Burma to China in 2009."

KOMID is "North Korea's premier arms dealer and main exporter of goods and equipment related to ballistic missiles and conventional weapons," and Tanchon "plays a key role in financing KOMID's sales of ballistic missiles," the department said, suspecting Hyoksin "sought to us e KKBC in connection with a purchase of dual-use equipment in 2008."

In a strategic dialogue here last month, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner agreed with their Chinese counterparts to cooperate closely on implementing U.N. resolutions on sanctioning North Korea.

Any sanctions on North Korea, already one of the most heavily sanctioned nations in the world, are seen as ineffective without the full participation of China, North Korea's staunchest communist ally.

China has often been accused of disregarding U.N. resolutions against North Korea, which is heavily dependent on its communist neighbor for food, energy and other necessities.

Beijing is believed to dislike any instability on its border with North Korea as it is gearing up to be an economic power in the coming decades to match the world's superpower, the U.S.

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Hyundai Chief Extends Pyongyang Visit Seeking Worker's Release (Yonhap)

SEOUL – The chairwoman of South Korea's Hyundai Group, visiting North Korea to bring a detained employee home, extended her stay by one day, her company said Tuesday, as progress in the negotiations appeared to have been delayed.

Hyun Jung-eun was scheduled to return home Wednesday after a three-day visit to Pyongyang, during which she was largely expected to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to win the worker's release.

"We received the message from Hyun's entourage in Pyongyang that her return will be put off until Thursday," a Hyundai spokesman, Kim Ha-young, said over the phone.

The reason for the extension was not immediately known.

It appeared that Hyun has not yet met with the North Korean leader, said Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo. Hyundai requested government approval for the trip extension Tuesday night, and "there are no particular reasons not to approve," Lee said.

Hyun drove across the inter-Korean land border Monday in the wake of former U.S. President Bill Clinton's trip to Pyongyang last week to win the release of two American journalists. Hyun's visit raised hopes that the Hyundai employee, identified only by his family name of Yu, would be released after a detention of nearly four-and-a-half months.

Yu was detained in late March at a joint park in the North's border town of Kaesong on accusations of criticizing the North's political system and trying to persuade a local woman to defect to the South. The 44-year-old with Hyundai Asan Corp., the group's North Korea business unit, had been working at the joint park for years.

In contrast to the American reporters, who were detained for illegal entry in mid-March, North Korea has not allowed Yu any phone calls to his family or access to Seoul officials, only saying an investigation was underway.

In a positive sign, North Korea gave a hearty welcome to the Hyundai chief, opening the land border for her drive to Pyongyang and sending a high-level official, Ri Jong-hyok, to receive her.

Sources in Seoul said Hyun appeared to be staying at the Paekhwawon State Guest House, North Korea's highest-level guest house reserved for foreign heads of state and top dignitaries, judging from the background of a photograph of her released by state media on Monday. Clinton stayed at the same guest house and dined there with the North Korean leader.

Hyun stayed there during visits in 2005 and 2007, when she was granted a meeting with the leader.

The high-profile trips by Clinton and the Hyundai chief have spurred hopes for progress in political relations in the region. Tensions rose after North Korea's rocket and nuclear tests earlier this year, and the U.N. Security Council adopted resolutions to stem the cash flow used to fund the North's weapons program. Pyongyang withdrew from regional denuclearization talks in protest.

Experts say North Korea's key concern is improving relations with the U.S., and to that end it is necessary to mend ties with Seoul.

Hyundai is deeply involved in inter-Korean relations, with several North Korea ventures initiated by its late founder Chung Ju-yung, born in North Korea. But the ventures hit a snag as political ties unraveled after President Lee Myung-bak took office last year with a tougher stance on North Korea's nuclear program and on economic aid.

The South Korean government suspended Hyundai's major tourism program to North Korea's Mount Kumgang in July last year after a female tourist was shot dead by a North Korean solider there.

North Korea closed another Hyundai tour program to the historic border town of Kaesong in December as part of retaliatory steps against the South's hard-line posture.

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Indian Navy, Coast Guards hand over North Korean ship crew to police (PTI News Agency)

New Delhi – After a 48-hour probe into the North Korean cargo ship's illegal presence in Indian waters, the Navy and the Coast Guard Monday [10 August] handed over the 39-member crew to the local police and intelligence agencies.

Navy and Coast Guard sources said here that their investigation did not lead them to any clandestine activities on the part of the crew members and that they had handed over the men to the local police and intelligence agencies for further action.

However, Indian authorities were yet to decide when the cargo vessel, carrying 16,000 tons of sugar, would be allowed to set sail again to its destination in Iraq.

The ship, M V Musan, was found anchored about 65 nautical miles south of Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar, last Wednesday and the Navy and Coast Guard ships carried out an operation, including firing of a round, to force the vessel to accompany the enforcement agencies to the port.

The vessel was on its way to a port in Iraq and had set sail from a Thai port on 27 July. The ship's captain told Indian authorities that the vessel had a mechanical fault, due to which it had to enter Indian waters.

Korean Peninsula Today, 04 August 2009

Today’s highlights:
1) The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister stated sanctions against North Korea must be implemented consistently but their unrestrained interpretation must be avoided
2) The North Korea Sanctions Act of 2009 has been submitted to the US congress for imposing an arms embargo on North Korea
3) Chinese communist party delegation led by a publicity official has arrived in North Korea for a “good will visit”
4) North Korea remained silent on the status of the captured South Korean fishing boat despite repeated calls for the release
and 5) North Korean defectors claim North Korea is helping Myanmar (Burma) develop its nuclear weapons program.

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Moscow Against Unrestrained Interpretation Of N. Korea Sanctions (Interfax-AVN)

Moscow believes that sanctions against North Korea must be implemented consistently, but their unrestrained interpretation should be avoided.

"Our approach is that these sanctions must be implemented by all - consistently, resolutely, fully and transparently," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin told Interfax on Monday.

"But an unrestrained interpretation of these sanctions must be avoided," he said.

"We think unilateral sanctions must not be introduced bypassing the UN Security Council. Nor should these sanctions become a pretext for inciting additional tensions in Northeast Asia and on the Korean Peninsula," Borodavkin said.

Furthermore, the sanctions must not damage the humanitarian situation in North Korea, he said. "They must focus only on the prevention of further development of North Korea's nuclear and missile programs," the Russian diplomat said.

The sanctions against North Korea, listed in Security Council resolutions, are not for good, he went on to say. "If North Korea complies with the demands, advanced by the international community, naturally they will be lifted," he said.

"The idea of the sanctions is not to punish North Korea, but to demonstrate the international community's adherence to the goal of re-launching the six-party talks and making the Korean peninsula nuclear-free," Borodavkin said.

Russian-U.S. consultations on the implementation of the earlier adopted sanctions are underway in Moscow on Monday.

Moscow and Washington's positions on sanctions against North Korea "are very consistent, near and similar," he said.

Borodavkin commended the implementation of the sanctions by other members of the world community. "We have no reason to claim that any member of the international community does not observe these sanctions," he said.

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Congressmen Submit Bill to Sanction North Korea for Nuclear Test (Yonhap)

WASHINGTON – A bill has been submitted to US Congress for imposing an arms embargo on North Korea under a U.S. domestic law for the North's second nuclear test in May after one about three years earlier.

The North Korea Sanctions Act of 2009 (HR 3423), introduced by Michael McMahon (D-NY) and Rep Bob Inglis (R-SC) on Thursday, calls on the Barack Obama administration to "impose certain sanctions on North Korea as a result of the detonation by that country of a nuclear explosive device on May 25, 2009" under the Arms Export Control Act (AECA).

The AECA bans arms shipments to any countries if the exports "would contribute to an arms race, aid in the development of weapons of mass destruction, support international terrorism, increase the possibility of outbreak or escalation of conflict, or prejudice the development of bilateral or multilateral arms control or nonproliferation agreements or other arrangements."

It also prevents U.S. governments and financial institutions from doing business with those countries under an arms embargo.

North Korea has already been subject to international sanctions under a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted after the May 25 nuclear test.

Under the resolution, the Security Council blacklisted five North Korean firms early last month, imposed a travel ban on and froze the assets of five North Korean officials, and banned the trade to and from North Korea of graphite for electrical discharge machining and aramid fiber, used in nuclear weapons and missiles.

The introduction of HR 3423 also follows a U.S. Senate resolution adopted late last month to call on the Obama administration to "assess the effectiveness" of relisting North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism.

The resolution calls for Obama to submit a report within 30 days on Pyongyang's record on weapons of mass destruction proliferation and terrorism since it was removed from the U.S. State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism in October.

North Korea was first put on the terrorism list soon after it downed a South Korean airplane over Myanmar in 1987, killing all 115 passengers. Its delisting came in October 2008 and paved the way for a fresh round of multilateral nuclear talks deadlocked for nearly a year.

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China's Party Delegation Arrives in N. Korea For 'Goodwill Visit (Yonhap)

SEOUL – A Chinese party delegation led by a publicity official arrived in North Korea on Monday [3 August] for a "goodwill visit," state media of the two countries said.

The delegation of the Communist Party of China was led by Luo Shugang, deputy head of the party's publicity department, the official Korean Central News Agency said.

The one-sentence dispatch did not elaborate on the purpose or length of the trip, only saying it came at the invitation of the Workers' Party of Korea.

China's Xinhua news agency said the delegation was making a "goodwill visit," but gave no further details.

The two countries are holding a variety of events to celebrate 60 years of diplomatic relations this year, but watchers say their traditional alliance has been displaying signs of fraying. China joined the world condemning North Korea's nuclear test in May and signed a U.N. Security Council resolution to tighten a trade embargo and other sanctions on North Korea.

Some watchers pointed out the watered-down attitude of North Korean media toward China, as some recent dispatches left out the usual descriptions of the relationship between the two countries, such as "blood-sealed." China fought for the North against the U.S.-led U.N. Command in the Korean War and is still a major donor to the impoverished country.

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N Korea silent on S Korean boat crew (AFP)

SEOUL – North Korea was silent Monday on South Korea's renewed call for the release of a fishing boat and four crew members which strayed across the maritime border four days ago.

"The North Korean side simply replied that the investigation was underway," said unification ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-Joo, after maritime authorities of the two countries communicated with each other early Monday.

Seoul says the 29-ton squid fishing boat drifted into the North's waters off the east coast Thursday due to a malfunctioning navigation system.

Pyongyang on Saturday said the boat had "illegally intruded" into its territorial waters, its first direct official response to the incident.

"A relevant institution is conducting concrete investigation into it at present," the communist state's official news agency said.

The two countries have remained technically at war since their 1950-53 conflict, but have sometimes returned each other's craft in the past.

Two South Korean trawlers strayed into the North's waters in April 2005 and December 2006 and were returned after five days and 18 days respectively.

But tensions have been mounting this year after nuclear and missile tests by the North and tougher UN Security Council sanctions in response.

The North has since March 30 detained a South Korean worker at the Seoul-funded Kaesong industrial estate, accusing him of insulting its system and urging a North Korean worker to defect.

It is also holding two US journalists captured on its border with China. They were jailed for 12 years in June for an illegal border crossing and an unspecified "grave crime."

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Defectors tell of Burma's secret nuclear reactor (The Independent)
North Korea is helping country develop weapons, according to the men

Two of Asia's most oppressive regimes may have joined forces to develop a nuclear arsenal, according to strategic experts who have analysed information supplied by a pair of Burmese defectors.

The men, who played key roles in helping the isolated military junta before defecting to Thailand, have provided evidence which suggests Burma has enlisted North Korean help to build its own nuclear bomb within the next five years.

Details supplied by the pair, who were extensively interviewed over the past two years by Professor Desmond Ball of the Australian National University and Thai-based Irish-Australian journalist Phil Thornton, points to Burma building a secret nuclear reactor and plutonium extraction facility with the assistance of North Korea.

Thitinan Pongsudhirak, the head of Thailand's Institute of Security and International Studies, said: "The evidence is preliminary and needs to be verified, but this is something that would completely change the regional security status quo.

"It would move Myanmar [Burma] from not just being a pariah state but a rogue state – that is one that jeopardises the security and well-being of its immediate neighbours," he said.

The nuclear claims, revealed by The Sydney Morning Herald at the weekend, will ring alarm bells across Asia. The newspaper said the testimony of the two defectors brought into sharp focus the hints emerging recently from other sources, supported by sightings of North Korean delegations, that the Burmese junta, under growing pressure to democratise, was seeking a deterrent to any foreign moves to force regime change.

Their evidence also reinforces concerns expressed by Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, in Thailand last week about growing military co-operation between North Korea and Burma. "We worry about the transfer of nuclear technology and other dangerous weapons," she said at a regional security conference.

The two defectors whose briefings have created such alarm are both regarded as credible sources. One was an officer with a secret nuclear battalion in the Burmese army who was sent to Moscow for two years' training. He was part of a nuclear programme which planned to train 1,000 Burmese. "You don't need 1,000 people in the fuel cycle or to run a nuclear reactor. It's obvious there is much more going on," he said.

The other is a former executive of the regime's leading business partner, Htoo Trading, who handled nuclear contracts with Russia and North Korea. The man, who died in 2008, provided a detailed report which insisted that Burma's rationale for a nuclear programme was nonsense.

"They [the generals] say it is to produce medical isotopes for health purposes in hospitals. How many hospitals in Burma have nuclear science? he asked. "Burma can barely get electricity up and running. It's a nonsense," he said.

Professor Ball and Mr Thornton reported that the army defector claimed that there were more than five North Koreans working at the Thabeik Kyin uranium processing plant in Burma and that the country was providing yellowcake – partially refined uranium – to both Iran and North Korea.

The authors concluded that the illicit nuclear co-operation was based on a trade of locally refined uranium from Burma to North Korea in return for technological expertise.

What is missing in the nuclear chain at the moment is a plutonium reprocessing plant, but according to the army defector, one was being planned at Naung Laing in northern Burma, parallel to a civilian reactor which is already under construction with Russian help.

The secret complex would be hidden in caves tunnelled into a nearby mountain. Once Burma had its own plutonium reprocessing plant, it could produce 8kg of weapons-grade plutonium-239 a year, enough to build one nuclear bomb every 12 months.

If the testimony of the two defectors proves to be correct, the secret reactor could be operational by 2014, The Herald reported. "These two guys never met each other, never knew of each other's existence, and yet they both tell the same story basically," said Professor Ball.

"If it was just the Russian reactor, under full International Energy supervision, then the likelihood of them being able to do something with it in terms of a bomb would be zero," Professor ball said. "It's the North Korean element which adds danger to it."