ROK and Inter-Korean relations January 2006

ROK and Inter-Korean relations

January 2006

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'Typhoon' Tells Story of N. Korean Defector
By BO-MI LIMThe Associated Press Saturday, January 28, 2006; 4:21 AM SEOUL, South Korea -- A North Korean refugee boy rejected by South Korea for asylum narrowly escapes North Korean guards who kill his parents, growing up to become a pirate on a vengeful mission: drenching the peninsula in a nuclear rainstorm. The South Korean action film "Typhoon" strikes many viewers as implausible, but North Koreans who risked their lives escaping the communist regime know better.
A look at movies, music and television with celebrities from around the world. "I think it's the first movie that accurately depicts the reality of North Korea," said Kang Chol Hwan, who met President Bush last year to discuss his memoir of growing up in a prison camp. "This is the true story of us. I cried throughout the movie." "Typhoon" tells the story of Choi Myung Sin and his family, who flee to China and seek refuge in South Korea after breaking into the Austrian embassy in Beijing. Fearing a diplomatic conflict with China, South Korea rejects their asylum bid and secretly repatriates them to the North. [Media] [Refugee reception]
Scholar re-elected to a global court
January 28, 2006 ? Song Sang-hyun, 65, a Seoul National University law professor on sabbatical leave, was re-elected on Thursday as a judge of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Mr. Song joined the court as an appeals judge in February 2003; his second term will be a nine-year one
Defectors feel ill-treated
January 27, 2006 ? More than six out of 10 North Korean defectors living in South Korea feel discriminated against at their workplace while half also believe they are paid less than their South Korean colleagues, a study showed yesterday. The National Human Rights Commission said there were no serious violations of the human rights of North Koreans who settled in the country, but said the defectors feel they are often discriminated against because of their origin. The finding came in a report that included a survey of 500 North Koreans now living in the South. Nearly 40 percent of those surveyed also said they felt ostracized by their colleagues at work. The report said the findings provided some evidence of continued discrimination against North Korean defectors at workplaces, but said the problem also arose from the North Koreans' lack of job experience and education. [Refugee reception]
Seoul Concocted 1967 East Berlin Spy Ring
By Park Song-wu Staff Reporter South Korea's anti-communist intelligence agency fabricated a pro-Pyongyang spy ring in 1967 to silence dissidents and fortify the power of the late President Park Chung-hee, investigators said on Thursday. They acknowledged that some of the South Koreans caught by the agency actually visited North Korea. But even one-off contacts with North Koreans were exaggerated as spy activities, investigators said. Investigators recommended that the government apologize to the victims of the dictatorial regime and seek ways to redeem their honor. In July 1967, Kim Hyong-uk, chief of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA), announced that 194 South Koreans, mostly scholars and artists, were involved in spy activities in East Berlin, which is pronounced in the old Korean way as ``Tongbaengnim.'' After a series of trials, 34 of the suspects, including composer Isang Yun and poet Chun Sang-byung, were convicted in December the same year. But all of them were granted amnesty in August 1970. [Disinformation] [Human rights] [Espionage]
South Korea to Invite Yun Isang's Wife
By Park Song-wu Staff Reporter The Isang Yun Peace Foundation said on Thursday that it will try to invite Yun's widow, Lee Soo-ja, from Pyongyang to South Korea this year as Seoul's apology is expected to come in the near future for falsely charging him with espionage in 1960s. The foundation, launched last year to restore the honor of dissident Korean-German composer Isang Yun (1917-1995), welcomed the announcement by Seoul's intelligence agency that it concocted a pro-Pyongyang spy ring in 1967, in which Yun was charged unjustly. ``Lee has always said that she would come to South Korea if Seoul officially apologizes for the false charge,'' Chang Yong-chul, the foundation's secretary-general, told The Korea Times.
Since he left for France to study music in 1956 and moved to Germany the following year, he could never return to South Korea in his life time _ except once in June 1967 when he was kidnapped from West Berlin and brought to Seoul, tortured and then forced to make a false statement that he was working as a spy for North Korea through its embassy in East Berlin. Yun received a life sentence, but he returned to Germany in March 1969. His release was reportedly possible thanks to the German government's threat to sever diplomatic ties with South Korea. [Abductees] [Human rights] [Espionage] [Disinformation]
67% of Defectors Face Discrimination
By Kim Rahn Staff Reporter More than 67 percent of North Korean defectors say they have suffered workplace discrimination herein the South, according to a report of the human rights panel. The National Human Rights Commission yesterday released a survey showing that 67.6 percent of 500 North Korean defectors said they are discriminated against at work. [Refugee reception]
NK Offers to Hold Joint S-N Festival
SEOUL (Yonhap) _ North Korea proposed Thursday that the two Koreas hold a national unification festival to mark the sixth anniversary of the landmark June 15 summit between their leaders in 2000, the North's official media said. Yang Hyong-sop, vice-president of the presidium of the North's Supreme People's Assembly, made the overture during a meeting on policy, reported the (North) Korean Central Broadcasting Station, monitored here.
S. Korea Should Actively Address NK Human Rights
By Ryu Jin Staff Reporter Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak, a probable presidential candidate for the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP), said South Korea needs to deal with the North Korean human rights issue more actively than it does presently.
South warns North on counterfeits
January 23, 2006 ? Amid tightening U.S. efforts to end North Korea's illegal financial activities, including counterfeiting U.S. currency, South Korea's Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said over the weekend that Seoul is deeply concerned over the matter and has already delivered its warning to Pyongyang. In an interview with CNN on Saturday, Mr. Ban said, "We have conveyed our concerns to North Korean authorities." He also added that Seoul understands the U.S. position that sanctions against the North are nothing more than Washington's law enforcement. "At the same time," he said, "we hope that this kind of counterfeiting or illicit activities by North Korea will not stand in the way of the six-party talks." Mr. Ban was in Washington to attend strategic talks with his U.S. counterpart, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Meanwhile in Seoul, a delegation from the U.S. Treasury Department arrived Saturday to consult with the South Korean government regarding North Korea's alleged money laundering and printing of fake U.S. dollars. Washington believes that the North has been financing its nuclear weapons programs through drug smuggling and currency counterfeiting. Daniel Glacer, deputy assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes at the treasury, led the delegation. The team will stay in Korea until Tuesday. The officials scheduled a series of meetings with officials at Seoul's Foreign, Finance and Unification ministries as well as the National Intelligence Service. The team last week visited Hong Kong and Macao to investigate the case involving Banco Delta Asia's suspected money laundering of North Korea's dirty currency. After U.S. warnings and withdrawals of funds by other depositors, the Macao-based bank cut off its dealings with Pyongyang. The North has been complaining about the U.S. actions and refusing to schedule the next round of six-party talks. by Ser Myo-ja [Evidence] [Collusion]
Chung wants defense cuts to heal divide
January 23, 2006 ? Former unification minister and Uri Party chairman contender Chung Dong-young said at a press conference yesterday that if the strength of the army was reduced to 300,000, about half its current size, before the year 2015, the financial resources to settle the social and economic divide could be raised. Mr. Chung was commenting on President Roh Moo-hyun's New Year's address last Wednesday, where the topic was presented as a key issue facing the nation.
Kim Dae-jung's Spring Break
By Oh Young-jin[Desk Column] Economics Editor
Come April, former president Kim Dae-jung will go to Pyongyang to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Preparations are underway for Kim's second visit to the North Korean capital, which he says he will make in warm weather, preferably by train along the inter-Korean railway he helped reconnect. His aides are busy fixing the size and composition of his entourage and alternative means of transportation in case he proves to be too frail to travel by rail. Already, Chung Dong-young and Kim Geun-tae, two presidential hopefuls from the ruling Uri Party, are trying to secure seats either on the train or aboard Air Force One. There are many others who wouldn't miss Kim's April trip to become part of history, at whatever cost. Irrespective of whether the former head of state will be accompanied by large retinue or go as Jimmy Carter did with a skeleton crew, his trip is bound to be another landmark on the road to the two Koreas' reconciliation and eventual reunification. Six years ago, as the incumbent head of state, he went to Pyongyang. The rest is living history, still vivid in the minds of Koreans and people outside the Korean peninsula.
Hyundai Head Was Murdered, Monthly Claims
By Kim Rahn Staff Reporter
Chung Mong-hun, former Hyundai Asan chairman who killed himself in 2003 while being investigated over the group's slush fund scandal, may actually have been murdered or forced to commit suicide, according to a local magazine. Monthly Chosun reported the suspicion by quoting a prosecutor, whose name was not disclosed, in its February edition. Since May 2003, the prosecution investigated suspicions that the group provided money to North Korea and also bribed politicians
8,000 defect from North since end of Korean War
January 20, 2006 ? Almost 1,400 North Koreans defected to South Korea last year, raising the total number of defectors to the South since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War to 8,000, officials at the South Korean Unification Ministry said yesterday. A total of 167 North Koreans found their way to the South in December alone, bringing the total number for 2005 to 1,386, the officials said on condition of anonymity. The number was down from 1,894 in 2004, but the officials said the number has been generally rising in recent years. A group of 486 North Korean defectors was airlifted to the country in 2004 from an unidentified Southeast Asian country, marking the single largest defection of North Koreans since the end of the Korean War. An estimated 300,000 North Koreans are now believed to be in hiding overseas, mostly in China.
Hallyu and Screen Quota
[Desk Column] A recent release, the movie features a tyrant king during the Choson Period (1392-1910) and the clowns who came to shelter in the palace and perform for the king. The king eventually falls in love with a mysteriously pretty male clown who is the lover of another male clown leader. The low-budget movie, costing just $4.5 million, became a mega-hit at local box offices, without blinking at Peter Jackson's $200-million blockbuster ``King Kong.'' Acclaimed by critics, the film has attracted more than 5 million viewers in just three weeks after opening. It means that one-tenth of South Koreans watched the movie. The move is expected to break a number of records as it continues to draw audiences.
If you see this wholeheartedly Korean film, you will realize how far the Korean film industry has come. It's a case in point why the Korean pop culture wave or hallyu is sweeping Asia. It's undeniable that the development of the Korean film industry owes much to screen quotas requiring theaters to show Korean-made movies 146 days a year. The country introduced the quota scheme in 1966 to help protect the local film industry from Hollywood blockbusters. Despite the remarkable growth of Korea's film industry, strong resistance dies hard in the movie industry and the public against the removal or reductions of the quota.
Korean textbooks said to be tinged with pink
January 19, 2006 ? A Seoul National University professor said yesterday at a political seminar that many textbooks used in primary and secondary schools here contain serious distortions and are disparaging of South Korea's modern history. Park Hyo-chong, a professor of social studies at the university's College of Education, was addressing a discussion hosted by the conservative Grand National Party's Yeouido Institute. He said that many of the texts for social studies and modern Korean history classes omit such topics as the Korean Constitution and downplay the significance of the founding of the republic in 1948. The Grand National Party's chairwoman, Park Geun-hye, complained at the seminar that the Roh administration was inculcating wrong values in Korea's youth with bad textbooks. She also complained again about the recently revised private school law, which she said allowed the left-wing Korean Teachers and Educational Workers Union to increase its influence on what is taught in schools.
'Kim's self-confidence weakened'
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il may be learning as much as he can about the outside world, but it doesn't seem to be doing him much good, according to a former South Korean unification minister. In fact, Park Jae-kyu said during a lecture in Washington on Tuesday that Kim's newly acquired awareness may have sapped his self-confidence. "One difference I noticed in my latest encounter with the chairman was that the aura of supreme self-confidence I witnessed in 2000 seemed to be either absent or markedly muted," Park said. Kim, the North's "Dear Leader," is chairman of the National Defense Commission. Park said he watches all major foreign television channels available to him. Park, now president of Kyungnam University, says Kim's "absolute power" and the "top-down system," of government may have contributed to the economic crisis. However, under Kim's regime, North Korea has made significant changes by adopting economic reform measures in July 2002, which focused on reforming prices and enterprise management in commerce, agriculture and external economic relations, he said.
Park argued that the Bush administration's hard-line stance, led to North Korea's refusal to cooperate, repeated boycotts delays in meetings, and stepped up "rhetoric aimed at driving a wedge between the U.S. and South Korea." "The North is most likely serious about wanting to exchange its nuclear card for security guarantees and economic benefits," Park said. Park argued that the Bush administration's hard-line stance, led to North Korea's refusal to cooperate, repeated boycotts delays in meetings, and stepped up "rhetoric aimed at driving a wedge between the U.S. and South Korea." "The North is most likely serious about wanting to exchange its nuclear card for security guarantees and economic benefits," Park said. [US NK Policy] [Friction] [Economic reforms]
Defector Finds New Talents in Capitalist Society
By Bae Keun-min Staff Reporter Lee Kyung, a North Korean defector who arrived in South Korea in 2002, is one of them.
The 23-year-old actress debuted here in a one-act special TV drama at SBS, ``Pinguori,'' early last year, playing the role of an ethnic Korean in China who visits the South. Last fall, she also starred in a TV mini series at the same broadcasting company, ``Love Needs a Miracle (Sarangun Kijogi Piryohae),'' in which she played a North Korean defector living a difficult life while dreaming of becoming an entertainer. ``I never thought that I could start pursuing my acting career so soon. I am very lucky,'' Lee told The Korea Times. ``This might be related to changes in relations between the South and the North for the past few years.'' She said she would have never dreamed of acting on screen in the North where she was considered a dance prodigy. Lee began studying traditional dance at the age of 5 and entered a music and dance university in Pyongyang at 11. Lee became the youngest person to join the North's first-ever light music troupe at 14. However, her life completely changed when she was 15. Her parents took her and her little brother on a trip to China, and never returned.
CEOs Call for Disbanding of Human Rights Commission
By Choi Kyong-ae Staff Reporter
Korean business leaders Tuesday united to urge the government to reject what they call a labor-friendly set of recommendations by the National Human Rights Commission. ``The commission's recommendations only reflect the progressive segment of our society,'' they said in a joint statement after an emergency meeting at Lotte Hotel in downtown Seoul. They called for the replacement of all 11 members of the commission with those who would ``broadly represent the national sentiment.''
Protest over KAL bombing
Protest over KAL bombing: Bereaved families of victims of the 1987 bombing of the Korean Air (KAL) flight 858 hold a rally in front of former President Chun Doo-hwan's residence in western Seoul, Tuesday, calling for his apology over the incident. The KAL case involved a Boeing 747 plane, which exploded over the Indian Ocean on Nov. 29, 1987, from a bomb planted on board, killing 115 people. The protesters claimed Chun and the nation's spy agency manipulated the case to solidify his rule and strengthen his anti-North Korean stance. [Terrorism] [Disinformation] [KAL858] [Chun Doo-hwan]
Koreas to Hold Red Cross Talks on Feb. 21-23
South and North Korea have agreed to hold the seventh round of Red Cross talks at Mt. Kumgang in the North on Feb. 21-23, the South's Red Cross announced Tuesday. The South also accepted the North's proposals the previous day that the fourth round of reunions of separated families via video be held on Feb. 27-28, and the 13th round of separated family reunions on Mar. 20-25, it said in a press release.
Families Seek Compensation for Wartime Abductees
SEOUL (Yonhap) _ Families of South Koreans allegedly kidnapped by North Korea during the Korean War filed two compensation suits against the state Tuesday, accusing it of neglecting its duty by not locating the whereabouts of the victims, a private association of the families said.
Hallyu Phenomenon Faces Backlash in East Asia
By Park Chung-a Staff Reporter
A large signboard in front of Shanghai Television Station in Shanghai, China, advertises the hit Korean drama "Jewel in the Palace." /Korea Times File The local soap opera ``My Lovely Sam-soon'' is currently airing primetime in Taiwan. The hit drama is the latest in the booming Korean wave (hallyu), following the huge success of ``Jewel in the Palace'' there last year. However, there are signs that everything might not be so rosy for Korean dramas in Taiwan as well as the rest of East Asia. According to a Hong Kong daily last week, the Taiwanese government is considering a ban on the broadcast of foreign dramas during prime time, a measure that seems to be directed against popular Korean dramas. [Culture war] [Hallyu]
Song Sang-hyun Seeks Re-election to ICC
By Park Song-wu Staff Reporter
Song Sang-hyun, a South Korean judge who has served on the International Criminal Court since it formed an 18-member panel in February 2003, will run for re-election at the fourth session of the court's assembly of states parties to be held at the U.N. headquarters in New York Jan. 26-27. He was elected as a judge for three years in 2003 and is assigned to the appeals division. If Song wins the upcoming election, in which 10 candidates currently vie for six posts, he will be able to serve on the court over the next nine years.
Blue House: taking steps on abductees to the North
January 17, 2006 ? The Blue House yesterday responded to a posting on its web site from Choi Wu-yeong, the daughter of a fisherman who was kidnapped by North Korean agents, asking for more attention to the abductee issue, by extending its condolences and saying it is taking diverse steps to solve the problem. "Solving the problem [of South Koreans kidnapped by North Korea] is the government's basic responsibility and there has been some progress, although it may seem trivial to the families of the missing persons. We will make efforts to utilize opportunities such as ministerial talks in the future to address the problem more aggressively," Blue House spokesman Kim Man-soo told reporters.
Rights commission says Korea massacred lepers
January 17, 2006 ? The National Human Rights Commission of Korea announced yesterday it had confirmed massacres in Hansen villages throughout Korea in the late 1940s and 1950s. Its report on the killings, as well as other human rights infringement of leprosy (also called Hansen's disease) patients, was based on data collected from 51 Hansen villages by Seoul National University professor Jung Geun-sik and his research team. According to Professor Jung's team, there were 11 instances of genocide from 1945 to 1957. On the island of Sorokdo, off the coast of South Jeolla province, a massacre that followed a conflict between patients and hospital staff in 1945 resulted in the deaths of 84 patients. In Haman county, South Gyeongsang province, national defense guards and police killed 29 leprosy sufferers on July 1950. In the city of Gangneung, in Gangwon province, a group of lepers were forced into a cave, and grenades were thrown in after them. [human rights]
New policymaker for North preceded by his reputation
January 14, 2006 ? The news coverage of President Roh Moo-hyun's recent cabinet changes was dominated by the controversy between the president and the Uri Party about two of the new aides. But one other nominee, Lee Jong-seok, 48, to be unification minister, could have implications not only for North-South Korea relations but also for relations between Seoul and Washington. Mr. Lee has been most recently the deputy head of the National Security Council at the Blue House, and has been a central and somewhat controversial figure in inter-Korean affairs. With his elevation to minister's rank and with Mr. Roh's intention to keep him on as head of the security council, he would in effect be in charge of Korea's security and foreign policy in addition to his policy role on North Korea. The minister-to-be has had a hand in those broad policymaking efforts in the past. He has been called the behind-the-scenes architect of those policies for the past three years; his new position will also bring him under more public and political opposition scrutiny as well as cement his position in the administration. Indeed, the conservative Grand National Party already has voiced its concern over the appointment. In a statement, the Grand National Party called him a man standing at the center of an unstable security situation and one who has brought the U.S.-Korea alliance to its lowest point ever. That, the statement continued, "can only be explained as an act to curry favor with North Korea." Mr. Lee has done research on North Korea during his days as an academic, but he is said to have a much weaker understanding of the United States and its political and security policies. That perceived weakness, some say, could tip Korea's foreign policy too far off center. [Media] [Spin] [Pro-Americanism]
Advocate of DJ's 'Sunshine Policy'
By Jung Sung-ki Staff Reporter For former Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, a presidential hopeful for the 2007 election, North Korea is very special in terms of both his family's tragic history and his ambition to enter Chong Wa Dae. Serving as the country's point-man on the inter-Korean relations for two years since 2004, he achieved much enough to pave the way for his presidential bid with several ``successful'' rounds of ministerial-level talks with North Korea. Chung, 53, a former anchorman of MBC, grabbed the largest media spotlight when he, as a special envoy, met North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang on June 17, 2005. That was the first meeting between a South Korean politician and Kim since the historic inter-Korean summit in 2000.
GNP's Outcries against Indictment Presented by Unconverted Long-term Prisoners Accused
Pyongyang, January 13 (KCNA) -- Those unconverted long-term prisoners who came into the care of the north after undergoing all sorts of pain and sufferings baffling human imagination behind bars for decades in south Korea sent a joint indictment to the south Korean Human Rights Committee and the Committee for the Settlement of the Past History for Truth and Reconciliation through a liaison office in Panmunjom on Jan. 6 in which they condemned the shuddering crimes committed by the successive fascist dictatorial regimes and demanded the punishment of the criminals and an apology and compensation for the damage caused by them. The Grand National Party and other ultra-right conservatives, however, let loose vituperation at them for raising the above-said demands while uttering not a single word about the crimes their predecessors committed. [human rights]
Peace Institute to Be Established in Cheju
By Park Song-wu Staff Reporter A government-funded foundation for peace was launched at a ceremony in Seoul on Thursday. The foundation will officially launch the Jeju Peace Institute at Cheju Island in March. In January 2005, the government designated the scenic provincial island as an ``island for international peace.'' This is the first such institute for South Korea and is solely designed to conduct academic research on peace. ``We are determined to develop this institute as a center for international peace research, which facilitates peace and cooperation on the Korean Peninsula as well as Northeast Asia,'' the foundation said in a press release. Kim Cae-one, an emeritus professor of Seoul National University, was named chief director of the foundation. Kwon Young-min, former ambassador to Germany, has been appointed as deputy director. The institute is expected to focus on studying ways to establish a ``peace regime'' on the Korean Peninsula, following the joint principle statement adopted on Sept. 19 at the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
Dear Leader in China Pyongyang Should Seek Ways in Open Reform
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is reportedly visiting China, only 70 days after he met Chinese President Hu Jintao in Pyongyang. One could naturally assume then that, either Kim has a very urgent problem, or needs to directly attend to something in China, or both. It would also be a safe bet that Kim's secretive visit has something to do with the six-nation talks on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, stalled amid the U.S. financial sanctions. At stake is whether the two allies find a breakthrough.
There are visible signs the isolationist regime is suffering a cash shortage _ particularly since Washington, citing Pyongyang's alleged counterfeiting, money laundering and drug running, choked off the spigot of the dollar pipeline. Beijing must have been well aware of the situation, as the bank in question is based in its territory of Macao. So, Kim will likely be asking Hu's advice while sounding out how far China would go with its cornered neighbor on this matter. The answers could ? and should ? be negative.
Agency Probes Leakage of Military Secrets
By Jung Sung-ki Staff Reporter
The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) plans to establish a special committee to decide the scope of classified documents related to arms acquisition projects to be revealed, in a bid to meet the public's right to know, a spokesman of the agency said on Tuesday. The move came after the DAPA, which began its business on Jan. 2, was under fire for the leakage of confidential documents.
ncluded in the plans of the leaked dossier was the Navy's plan to build six 1,800-ton level Type 214 submarines between 2012 and 2020 and deploy three 3,500-ton class next-generation vessels in the field by 2020 in stages. The documents also revealed that the country is seeking to build advanced fighter jets using its own technology beginning 2018, under the ``KF-X'' program, which is in the last stage of a feasibility study by the state-run Agency for the Defense Development. [Military balance]
Legacy of Cold War
[EDITORIAL]
The claim for damages by former North Korean agents captured and imprisoned in the South reached a billion dollars. Meanwhile, South Korean who returned from decades of captivity in the North are demanding a hundred million dollars each. The astronomical figures involved in this latest exchange of law suits between the two parts of Korea over alleged human rights violations only serves to diminish the value of these actions. We are saddened to see this latest episode of the epic tragedy on the divided peninsula being played out at the beginning of the New Year. The spokesman for the opposition Grand National Party described the northerners' suit as "ridiculous, not even a comedy." Former long-term North Korean prisoners repatriated from the South in 2000 consider the GNP as the heir to the villains that caused them extreme suffering. The ruling Uri Party's spokesman, meanwhile, echoed, saying the North Korean accusation went "beyond common sense." We do not know for sure how many of the 63 who were repatriated have survived the five years and four months since their return to demand compensation. The deportees were "partisan" fighters or armed infiltrators who were convicted here for murder and other acts of sabotage following the 1953 truce in the Korean War. It was out of humanitarian considerations that the Seoul government decided to release them following the historic inter-Korean summit in 2000.
Koreas Swap Lawsuits Cold War Victims Seek Compensation
By Seo Dong-shin Staff Reporter
Both the South and North Korean governments are being charged with human rights abuses as victims of the inter-Korean ideological confrontation during the Cold War era on each side lodge complaints against the opposing governments. A group of four South Koreans who were abducted by the North filed complaints against the Pyongyang regime with the Seoul authorities Monday, calling for financial compensation for their suffering in the North. They demanded that the Seoul government deliver them to the North via the truce village of Panmunjom. The move came after a group of former North Korean spies and communists who were repatriated to the North after decades of imprisonment in the South, sent a petition to Seoul, seeking compensation for their suffering under the South's previous authoritarian governments. [response]
Korea to Spend $12 Bil. on New Fighter Jets
SEOUL (Yonhap) _ South Korea is seeking to build 40 new fighter jets at a cost of about $12 billion starting from 2018 to beef up its air defense capability, informed Air Force sources said Monday. The program, dubbed KF-X, is now at the last stage of a feasibility test by the state-run Agency for Defense Development. The development cost for South Korean-made fighters is expected to reach about $192.5 million from 2007 until 2010, the sources said.[Military balance]
From North, demands to pay up for torture
January 09, 2006 ? A group of pro-North Korean sympathizers, convicted and imprisoned here for political crimes and later repatriated to the North, have taken aim at the conservative Grand National Party, demanding compensation for alleged torture. The group called the party the successor to Korea's past military governments and demanded an apology and $1 billion in compensation. The petition was addressed to the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, according to North Korean broadcasts, and was delivered to South Korean liaison officers at the truce village of Panmunjeom on Friday. The party flatly rejected the document and protested its acceptance by Seoul authorities. The former prisoners claimed that they had suffered torture and suppression while imprisoned, some for as long as 40 years. [Human rights]
New Ideological Groups to Gain Momentum
By Jung Sung-ki Staff Reporter Amid deepening social and political disputes, ``new'' forces, both from the right and left, are emerging. The groups, dubbed the ``new right'' and the ``new left,'' share the common goal of integrating the ideologically-divided South Korean society on the basis of pragmatism and reform.
Ex-North Korean Spies Call for Compensation
SEOUL (Yonhap) _ Scores of North Koreans who were imprisoned in South Korea for decades are seeking compensation for the suffering they endured at the hands of the South's past military regimes, North Korea's official news outlet reported Friday. The petition was conveyed to South Korea via the truce village of Panmunjom in the afternoon, the (North) Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The North Koreans were arrested in the South as pro-communist partisans and spies after the end of the 1950-53 Korean war and served sentences of 31 years on average, and 43 years at the longest. As they never renounced communism throughout the jail term, they are known as "unconverted long-term prisoners" in South Korea.
n their petition, the North Koreans said, "Because of the unprecedented vicious ideology conversion system (in the South), we were forced to suffer unbearable torture, persecution and mistreatment for 30 to 40 years behind bars,'' the KCNA said. "The masterminds of these wicked acts against the unconverted long-term prisoners during that fascist era and their followers should be sternly punished in the name of history and the nation." "It is (South Korea's opposition) Grand National Party (GNP) which has assumed the heritage of the past military dictatorship," the North Koreans were quoted as saying. The North Koreans called for the GNP to make an apology and grant compensation, claiming their physical suffering amounted to "billions of dollars," said the KCNA, monitored here. Meanwhile, South Korean government officials confirmed that North Korea had delivered the petition via Panmunjom. The joint complaint was addressed to South Korea's National Human Rights Commission and the Commission on the Review of History for Truth and Reconciliation, the officials said.
N.K. learns international law through latest clash, Ban says
[HERALD INTERVIEW]
South Korea's top diplomat said North Korea would learn the importance of international regulations through the latest clash with the United States over its alleged counterfeiting of U.S. dollars.
"North Korea would learn about international rules, about things that it should do and should not do," Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, 62, said in an interview with The Korea Herald.
North Korea and the United States are at odds over U.S.-imposed sanctions against a Macau-based bank for allegedly laundering North Korea's counterfeited U.S. dollars. The North has threatened to boycott the next round of the six party talks on the nuclear standoff until Washington lifts the sanctions.
South Korea has been taking a neutral position in the conflict, contending that the facts must be first verified.
Ban said that a dispute over counterfeiting and money laundering is a global issue that involves supranational crimes. [Evidence] [Collusion]
North Korea demands billions over POWs, outrages South Korea
SEOUL (AFP) - Stalinist North Korea is demanding billions of dollars in compensation for alleged atrocities against its prisoners of war and spies formerly held in South Korea, a demand which has sparked outrage among politicians in Seoul. There was no official response from the government to the unprecedented demand. But the main opposition party Sunday highlighted the North's own rights record, which often comes in for strong international criticism. The formal damages complaint was filed to the South's human rights commission through a border office Friday, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said. The complaint insisted Seoul compensate former North Korean long-term prisoners for their time in "nightmarish prisons" run by former authoritarian governments in the South. "The physical damage, except mental damage done to them, stands at one billion US dollars even according to a preliminary estimate made by specialists of the DPRK (North Korea) in line with international practice," the agency said on Saturday. "It would come to several billions of US dollars ... if the damage done to all those unconverted long-term prisoners killed in prisons is put together." But the North Korean demand backfired across the border. [Human rights] [Media] [Response]
State Asked to Pay W1.5 Bil. for Professor's Death
By Lee Hyo-sik Staff Reporter
The Seoul High Court has ordered the government to pay 1.55 billion won ($1.5 million) to the bereaved family of the late professor Tsche Chong-kil, who died in 1973 during questioning by the spy agency over his alleged espionage activities.
Tsche, law professor of Seoul National University, died in October 1973 during questioning by the Korea Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA), predecessor of the National Intelligence Service, over allegations that he helped organized spying activities for North Korea in Europe. The spy agency said that Tsche committed suicide by jumping from the agency building after confessing his spy activities. But his family and human rights groups have demanded the government investigate his death for about 30 years. In May 2002, the Presidential Truth Commission on Suspicious Deaths announced Tsche's death was caused by the government's abuse of its power. [Human rights]
Negative Sentiment Against Imported Cars Waning
By Kim Yon-se Staff Reporter
Driving imported cars, like smoking foreign brand cigarettes, was once viewed as anti-patriotic in Korea. But such hostile sentiment against foreign cars is wearing off fast in line with globalization and a wider market opening. Young people who are emerging as important customers of imported car companies seem to no longer harbor sentiment against cars imported from foreign countries.
Does Roh understand history?
It is reported that President Roh Moo-hyun frequently talks about history these days. At the recent year-end party with the Blue House press corps, President Roh said that "heroes" like Kings Sejong and Jeongjo consistently pursued reform but were ultimately unable to change the course of history. He said they failed because the ruling class at the time rejected the use of hangul, the Korean alphabet after King Sejong passed away, and the scholars whom King Jeongjo supported were all arrested right after the king's death. Looking back at history is useful for understanding reality in a proper light. It is good that the president is interested in history. However, his belief that the reforms pursued by Kings Sejong and Jeongjo failed is a pre-modern conception which focuses on heroes or is a remnant of Japanese imperialists' perspective.
The historical facts show that some progressive scholars were driven out after the deaths of Kings Sejong and Jeongjo, but it was just a temporary phenomenon and the tide of reform did not actually stop. Hangul was gradually adopted after the death of King Sejong and disseminated widely throughout the country, becoming the basis for our national culture today. Five years after King Jeongjo died of natural causes, the scholars who were nurtured by the king arrested the conservatives. The progressive scholars belonging to the northern and western schools became the mainstream of the ruling class at the time. Korea's modern political culture is an extension of the traditions they established.
The tide of reform that began with Kings Sejong and Jeongjo continues today because it corresponds with the direction of historical development. This development did not stop after a "hero" died because history is not something that is led by one "hero."
*The writer is a professor of history at Hanshin University. Translation by the JoongAng Daily staff. by Yoo Bong-hak
3,500-Ton Class Submarines to Debut by 2020
By Jung Sung-ki Staff Reporter
The 1,800-ton class Type 214 submarine is being jointly developed by the Navy and German firm Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft AG (HDW). /Korea Times The Navy seeks to deploy three 3,500-ton class next-generation submarines in the field by 2020 in stages under plans to achieve a ``self-reliant'' defense posture, the Defense Ministry said Thursday. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is currently reviewing required operation capabilities for the submarine-building project, code-named ``KSS-III,'' worth some $3.7 billion, a spokesman of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration said. [Military balance]
Civic group seeks DNA to confirm abductee ID
January 06, 2006 ? A South Korean civic group representing family members of people abducted by North Korea has asked the Japanese and South Korean government to investigate the identity of the husband of a female Japanese abductee, who the North claim is North Korean but they suspect was kidnapped from the South in the 70s. Choi Seong-yong, who represents the group Abductee Family Assembly, said yesterday that the group asked the Blue House, the South Korean Foreign Ministry, the Japanese Foreign Ministry and the prime minister's office for DNA testing and comparisons. Mr. Choi said that family members suspect that Kim Chol-jun, identified by North Korea as the husband of Megumi Yokota, who according to the North married Mr. Kim in 1986 but committed suicide in 1994, is not a North Korean but an abducted South Korean. A source in Tokyo recently said that Tokyo was informed of such claims and Asahi TV in Japan has also reported them. Family members of five South Koreans high school students who were abducted in 1977 have provided DNA samples and want a comparison with DNA samples from the daughter of Ms. Yokota, that Tokyo officials obtained in 2002 during an interview in Pyongyang. [Abductees]
Beyond Cold War toward Korean Economic Community
Chung Dong-young
December 20, 2005 Remarks At the Korea Economic Institute by Chung Dong-young Minister of Unification, ROK
Lee's appointment stresses Seoul's reconciliation policy toward N.K.
Lee Jong-seok, the president's foreign policy engineer and newly nominated unification minister, is expected to head up the National Security Council, the government's department for dealing with national crises. At 48, Lee has enjoyed a speedy ride to high authority, drawing concern from critics along the way due to his thin experience in government. Some conservatives have also criticized Lee for being pro-Pyongyang at the cost of South Korea's traditional alliance with the United States. Cheong Wa Dae explained that Lee's academic background and direct experience in the security fields make him the most suitable figure for the job. Observers pointed out that Lee's appointment as unification minister and now the NSC chief further signals South Korea's determination to maintain a policy of reconciliation towards North Korea as one of the nation's key foreign affairs strategies.
Spending on overseas study hits new high
Koreans' spending on overseas education hit a record high last year as parents sought higher-quality education for their children while escaping from increasing private education costs at home. The Bank of Korea said yesterday that Koreans spent more than $3 billion on overseas education from January to November in 2005. The figure marks a nearly 37 percent increase from a year earlier and a nearly threefold rise from four years ago. In contrast, foreign students' expenditures in the country were estimated at $9 million, dropping more than 40 percent in the same period, the central bank said. A separate report showed that the number of Korean schoolchildren studying overseas is estimated to hit a record high of 16,446 for the year ending February 2005. The Korean Educational Development Institute said in a report that the number of elementary, middle and high school students who left the country for study last year increased more than 60 percent from 10,498 recorded a year earlier. "As learning English becomes the high priority in the nation, many parents have sent their children overseas to study it," said Kim Kwang-hyeoun, deputy director of overseas Korean education division at the Education Ministry. The United States was the top destination for Koreans, attracting 5,355 students, an increase of 18 percent from a year earlier. Canada is next with 1,899 Korean students, and New Zealand and Southeast Asian countries follow with 1,896 and 1,255 students respectively.
Roh Calls for Easing Polarization
By Jung Sung-ki Staff Reporter President Roh Moo-hyun Tuesday asked his Cabinet ministers to concentrate efforts on easing the widening social polarization in 2006.
More Young Kids Studying Abroad
By Chung Ah-young Staff Reporter The number of Korean students studying abroad has shot up more than 10-fold over the past six years due to an increasing demand for early English education.
Ex-president Kim Dae-jung hopes to visit N. Korean by train
SEOUL, Jan. 1 (Yonhap) -- Former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung wants to revisit North Korea by train, according to ruling party officials who paid a courtesy call on him Sunday. "I would like to go to North Korea again by train as soon as my health permits it," a ruling Uri Party spokesman quoted Kim as saying in a New Year's Day meeting with party officials.
Government officials said that the former president's planned train journey would be highly significant if it comes to fruition. The two Koreas have almost completed connecting two railways across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) -- the Gyeongui Line on the western part of the Korean Peninsula and the Donghae Line on the eastern side. During a meeting with Lee Byung-wan, chief of staff at the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae, Kim also said he would visit Pyongyang "after the weather warms up." Kim also requested the government's help in traveling across the border. Under the country's inter-Korean exchange law, all South Korean nations are required to receive government approval for traveling to the communist nation. Two parallel cross-border roads linking the two countries have been in use since last year despite no formal opening ceremony. They are being used to ferry South Korean workers and travelers to the Kaesong industrial complex and Mount Geumgmag, a North Korean resort that has been open to South Korean tourists since 1998.
Kim Dae-jung has been repeatedly invited to revisit North Korea, and the South Korean government has said it would support him if he makes inroads in that direction.
Lee Jong-seok Set to Mastermind NK Policy
By Seo Dong-shin Staff Reporter Lee Jong-seok, the new unification minister nominee, is not a new broom in the administration. The 48-year-old has been a close aide to President Roh Moo-hyun. Lee has been advising Roh on foreign affairs and security-related issues as well as policy toward North Korea since Roh's victory in the presidential election in December 2002. He served as a member of the transition committee. After Roh's inauguration, Lee began actively taking part in coordinating Seoul's policy toward North Korea and the stance at the six-nation talks on the North's nuclear programs. He has been serving as deputy chief of the presidential National Security Council (NSC), which was chaired until late last month by Chung Dong-young, Lee's predecessor.
As well-versed and experienced Lee might be in inter-Korean relations, there are few conservatives who will be pleased to see him as a unification minister, especially among members of the largest opposition Grand National Party (GNP). In fact, Lee has been a frequent target of the conservatives' fierce offensives in the past months, as they took issue with what they saw as ``progressive ideology'' of Lee. The former scholar was once taught by professor Kang Jeong-koo, whose allegedly pro-North Korean remarks once again stirred South Korean society a few months ago
Speech by Unification Minister
at Seoul Foreign Correspondents' Club on Dec. 27, 2005
This year 2005 is a significant year for Korea. It marks the 60th anniversary of Korea's liberation and national division. It is also the 5th anniversary of the historic South-North Joint Declaration of June 15, 2000.
As Minister of Unification, I proposed that we should make 2005 the year of a new opportunity for dismantling the Cold War structure and building peace on the Korean peninsula.
We have made significant progress this year in this regard.
However, we will have to work harder in the New Year. We have three main tasks: working on action plans for the resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue and undertaking discussions on a peace regime on the Korean peninsula; promoting a Korean economic community; and resolving humanitarian issues.
Seoul's Charm Offensive on NK to Intensify
By Seo Dong-shin Staff Reporter For some South Korean policymakers, North Korea's nuclear weapons programs are not the only thing to be dismantled on the Korean Peninsula. In their view, to move toward peace and prosperity, one more thing needs to be dismantled as urgently but cautiously as the possible nukes: the remains of the Cold War structure. However vague it may sound, the idea of dismantling the Cold War structure boils down to this: the establishment of a permanent peace regime of the two Koreas. Seoul officials have touted the issue as one of the top priorities to be tackled this year. Chung Dong-young, who served as Unification Minister and the chair of the presidential National Security Council until last month, saw discussions on the peace regime as one of the three main tasks for this year, along with promoting a Korean economic community and resolving humanitarian issues. ``A peace regime is a broader concept for bringing about peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula beyond the settlement of the nuclear issue,'' Chung said in a speech last week. ``If established, (it) will lay the legal and institutional foundation for peaceful coexistence and economic community'' between the two Koreas, he said. The road to the peace regime, however, would involve as many thorny issues as reunification itself, as it is bound to be affected not only by inter-Korean relations but also by hegemony in Northeast Asia as well as the traditional alliance between South Korea and the United States, experts say. [In denial]
NK Defector to Debut in Musical
By Bae Keun-min Staff Reporter Kim Young-un, who defected from North Korea in 2004, is seen playing drums in this promotional photo for the upcoming muiscal "Waikiki Brothers." A North Korean defector, who entered South Korea in July last year after some six months of wandering around China and Southeast Asian nations, will perform in an original Korean musical in March. ``I had never known about the musical genre before I came here,'' Kim Young-un said in a press conference for ``Waikiki Brothers'' in Seoul. ``I was able to gather up the courage to audition for this musical as I used to be a professional singer.'
Military Launches Procurement Agency
SEOUL (Yonhap) _ South Korea launched a streamlined military procurement agency on Sunday to enhance efficiency and transparency in its arms introduction projects. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration consolidates eight organizations related to procurement and technology development that were dispersed in the country's Defense Ministry, Army, Navy, and Air Force, officials said. The new agency, operated under the control of the defense minister, employs 807 public servants, and its annual budget reaches 10 trillion won ($ 9.8 billion). Its first major job will be the selection of a contractor to supply four early warning aircraft, a 2-trillion-won business code-named "E-X Project." The decision is expected to come around May. The foundation of the agency is a key part of government efforts to reform the nation's scandal-ridden arms procurement programs. 01-01-2006 20:59 [Friction] [Military balance]
Rodong Sinmun on National Independence and Cooperation
Pyongyang, December 29 (KCNA) -- National independence and cooperation are a powerful weapon to establish the sovereignty of the Korean nation free from outside domination and interference and propel the victorious advance of the cause of independent reunification. Rodong Sinmun says this in a signed article today. It goes on: National independence and cooperation are an effective mode of the Korean nation's victorious struggle against the foreign forces, which is proved by the experience of this year's struggle. The Korean nation has achieved great successes in the struggle against the foreign forces this year by materializing national cooperation for independence in solidarity with surging hatred for the U.S. imperialist aggressors. National cooperation for independence means independence against the foreign forces. Only when the Korean nation invariably upholds the banner of national independence and cooperation can it win victory in confrontation with the diabolic foreign forces and accomplish the cause of national independence and reunification.
Results More Important Than Timing: Roh
More than five years have passed since leaders of South and North Korea held a historic summit in Pyongyang in June 2000. Inter-Korean relations have improved a lot since then, but there still seems to be a long way to go for the two Koreas to attain a lasting peace on the peninsula. Could they find another breakthrough with a second summit despite the international standoff over the North's nuclear program? _ ED.
By Ryu Jin Staff Reporter
Despite some festive occasions on the North Korean calendar such as the 60th anniversary of the Workers' Party on Oct. 10, the year 2005 was a tough one for the "Dear Leader" ? Kim Jong-il. And, to his grief, the New Year does not seem to be less challenging.
Experts on the Stalinist state say the year 2006 could provide Kim Jong-il with a chance to deal with a host of problems his country has with other nations if only the "audacious" ruler would come out of his shell and recognize the real-world situation,. Once in a while, he surprises outsiders with what North Koreans call his "wide-width politics" in times of crisis to find a breakthrough for an impasse, which could not be solved easily. And, that's why so many people expect a second inter- Korean summit, this time in the South, this year. [Summit]
Paving a path of peace
[EDITORIALS] The year 2006 is upon us. New Year's morn is usually a time to extend good wishes and speak of hope and the future, but in the past few years, our resolutions have been shattered by dark shadows. Our high hopes have been smashed year after year, as could be seen in the slouched shoulders of our laid-off fathers, the contracted form of our unemployed youth or the businessmen that lack the will to invest. In spite of this, the reason we could not afford to give up was because the blood and sweat we shed under the rule of Japan and amidst the ruins of the Korean War were too precious. We believed in the potential of our people, who were able to catch up in half a century with the industrialization and democracy that it took the West centuries to accomplish. We may be lagging behind now due to the aftermath of such rapid achievements but if we can gather the will of the people, we will be able to drive forward again. If politicians can not play that role, the people should take it upon themselves to step forward. Petty ideological conflicts must end in the new year, as well as relationships with North Korea that lean toward one-sided concession and romanticized nationalism. Even if we support North Korea, we must point out problems such as human rights abuses and counterfeiting of money. Although we must cooperate with the United States to solve the North's nuclear problem, we have to maintain a sense of balance so that we can restrain its hardline policy toward North Korea. [Friction] [Collusion]

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