ROK and Inter-Korean relations
November 2006
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S. Korean Authorities Accused of Blocking Visits to Pyongyang
Pyongyang, November 9 (KCNA) -- The south Korean authorities disallowed the visits to Pyongyang by the visiting group of south Korean youths and students for reunification, representatives of various reunification movement organizations, non-governmental aid organizations and religious organizations. Such action is a reckless act of hamstringing the process of reconciliation and cooperation between the north and the south as it is quite contrary to the spirit of the June 15 joint declaration and the trend of the times. Rodong Sinmun Thursday observes this in a signed commentary.
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Stop to Fabrication of "Spy Ring Case" Demanded
Pyongyang, November 7 (KCNA) -- The Educational Information Committee of the Federation of Koreans in the U.S. reportedly made public a statement on Oct. 31 urging the Intelligence Service of south Korea, which is trying to chill the ardent desire of the Korean people to reunify the country by inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation, to immediately stop the fabrication of a "spy ring case." Noting that IS of south Korea was now maneuvering to cook up a "spy ring case" called "single-minded association", the statement said: It is obviously a co-product of IS and the pro-U.S. conservative forces, which is a political terrorism with an eye on the next "presidential election".
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Spy Agency to Extend Probe of Rights Violations
By Lee Jin-woo
Staff Reporter
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) Wednesday said it has decided to extend the operation of a fact-finding body on the spy agency’s past human rights violation cases for another year.
Since November 2004, the special committee named the NIS Development Committee for Clarifying the Past, has re-investigated seven major allegations involving the NIS, including the KAL 858 bombing in 1987, and the era of authoritarian government in the 60s, 70s and 80s.
Of the seven cases, the investigation result of the 1973 kidnapping of Kim Dae-jung, then an opposition leader who later became the nation’s president, has not been disclosed yet in Japan, due to concerns that it could cause a diplomatic conflict between the two neighboring countries, committee officials said.
[Human rights] [Disinformation] [KAL858]
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Defense, Welfare Budget to Grow About 9% by 2010
By Yoon Ja-young
Staff Reporter
National defense, welfare and education will be key sectors in government financing for a few years to come, while industry and social overhead capital (SOC) projects will have to depend on private capital.
The budget for national defense, welfare and education will increase around 8 percent to 9 percent yearly on average, the Ministry of Planning and Budget said Wednesday after handing in its National Finance Management Plan for 2006 through 2010 to the National Assembly. The budget for the industry and SOC sectors, however, will see only 0.7 percent annual increase on average.
In national defense, which will see around an 8.4-percent budget increase each year, priority is on strengthening the military.
[Military balance]
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Why Roh Went to See Kim Dae-jung
Did Roh Seek Sage Advice on State Affairs?
President Roh Moo-hyun visited former president Kim Dae-jung at his home in Seoul on Saturday. In a turn-up for the books, the two and their wives had a two-hour meal together after an hour looking around the Kim Dae Jung Presidential Library.
Roh and Kim have not seen eye to eye since the administration took office
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Korea taking steps to promote hallyu
October 17, 2006 ? With the number of Chinese fans of Korean pop culture rising every year despite concerns about the staying power of the exports, the Korean government has been coming up with several new plans in recent months to support the hallyu boom in China.
To promote Korea's traditional and pop culture to people living in the southeastern part of China, the Korean Tourism Organization is building a public relations office in Guangzhou. Dubbed "Korea Plaza," the center will be one of three new foreign offices the organization is establishing by 2010 in locations in Asia where more hallyu fans reside than anywhere else.
[Softpower]
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Labor Party Brings Home‘Disputed Fruits’ From North
By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
Lawmakers from the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) leave Incheon International Airport guarded by police as conservative group members stage a rally to protest against their five-day visit to North Korea on Saturday./ Korea Times
A delegation of the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) returned home from a five-day visit to North Korea with what it called ``fruits’’ in hand, but the political debate has deepened as conservatives here increased their criticism of the minor opposition party.
Led by the party chairman, Moon Sung-hyun, the 13-member delegation told reporters at a press conference on Saturday that a high-level North Korean official said Pyongyang intends to discuss the resumption of cross-border family reunions with Seoul.
DLP lawmakers told reporters that Kim Yong-nam, president of North Korea’s Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, asked them to deliver the message to Han Wan-sang, president of South Korea’s National Red Cross (KNRC).
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UN Sympathizes With ‘Conscientious Objectors’
By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
A United Nations committee on human rights expressed its concern on Friday about South Korea’s punitive rules against citizens who refuse to serve in the military, often called ``conscientious objectors.’’
One of the seven U.N.-linked human rights treaty bodies, the U.N. Human Rights Committee, also urged South Korea to revise its anti-communist National Security Law, cautioning against the possibility that it could be misused for political purposes.
[Human rights] [National Security Law]
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Reckless Moves to Increase Force of NSL Denounced in S. Korea
Pyongyang, November 2 (KCNA) -- The south Korean Internet Radio Voice of People on Oct. 26 accused the south Korean security authorities of making desperate efforts to increase the force of the "National Security Law (NSL)". The radio drew attention to the fact that the security authorities were orienting their investigation into the case of Choe Hui Jong, permanent researcher of the "south Korean Institute for Civil Rights Studies," to an investigation into "forces of backstage organization".
The security authorities are intensifying the investigation into even the students' movement and activities of members of progressive organizations in the past days on charges of violation of the NSL, the radio said.
This suggests the increasing possibility that the oppression of the security authorities might be expanded to an offensive against the pan-democratic forces, it said, adding: The force of NSL is being increased by the moves of the security authorities. The evil laws itself cannot be justified with any logic.
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Moon Sung-hyun talks with Kim Yong-nam
Moon Sung-hyun, left, chairman of the Democratic Labor Party, talks with Kim Yong-nam, North Korea's No. 2 leader, at Mansudae Assembly Hall in Pyongyang, Friday. Kim said North Korea had no other alternative but to develop nuclear weapons in order to protect itself.
[Photo]
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Air-to-air missile
Air-to-air missile: An F-4E fighter jet of the Air Force launches an AIM-7M Sparrow air-to-air missile during an aerial combat training exercise over the west coast, Friday. The AIM-7M, which entered service in 1982, is a radar-guided, medium-range air-to-air missile with a high-explosive warhead. The missile uses a semi-active radar homing guidance and either continuous wave or pulse doppler radar for target illumination. It flies at a maximum speed of Mach 4 and has an effective target range of 70 kilometers.
[Military balance]
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Roh says talks with the North are inevitable
November 03, 2006 ? President Roh Moo-hyun used an address to a group of foreign investors in Korea yesterday to lay out a strongly worded defense of his engagement policy with North Korea. He told them that if they understood the reasons any South Korean president, regardless of his political leanings, was fated to keep talking to Pyongyang, "Korea would not seem such an insecure place."
[Dilemma]
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Concealed trip to birthplace of Kim Il Sung gets criticism
November 03, 2006 ? A visit by Democratic Labor Party members to the birthplace of North Korea's late founder ? reported Wednesday night by one of the communist country's news outlets, not by the party itself ? attracted heavy criticism yesterday in South Korea's political arena.
The Democratic Labor Party's delegation, led by its chairman Moon Sung-hyun, arrived at Pyongyang on Tuesday.
That day, the South Koreans visited Mangyongdae, the birthplace of Kim Il Sung. However, the Democratic Labor Party made no mention of the stop when it briefed journalists the next day about the delegates' activities.
North Korea Central TV, however, aired footage of the visit later on Wednesday.
[Human rights] [National Security Law]
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Culture Minister Promotes 6 Traditional Brands
By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
Actor-turned-Culture and Tourism Minister Kim Myung-gon wants to be remembered as the chief campaigner of the so-called ``six Hs'' (6Hs) for the marketing of Korean traditional brands.
The 6Hs are ``hangul,'' the Korean alphabet; ``hansik,'' food; ``hanbok,'' costumes; ``hanok,'' houses; ``hanji,'' mulberry paper; and ``hankuk umak,'' music.
In an interview with The Korea Times, he expressed confidence that the 6Hs will help Korea promote its culture overseas and develop backward rural villages through exports. He said these 6Hs are long-ignored symbols of Korea and are good tools to differentiate Korea from the rest of the world.
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Singer Recalls Tragic Day 27 Years On
By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
Sim Soo-bong, a singer who is assumed to have witnessed the assassination of former President Park Chung-hee in 1979, revealed the story behind the incident to the Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese daily newspaper.
In her first interview with Japanese media, 51-year-old Sim confessed that the assassination of Park on Oct. 26, 1979, changed her life completely. She had visited the former president's banquets three times
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Take off blinders over the North's nukes
Even if the North has no intention to attack the South with its nuclear weapons, its possession of n
The situation is truly incomprehensible. Is it because the Sunshine Policy is too brilliant to behold, or because we intentionally look away from the North Korean nuclear crisis?
For some reason, our country's diplomatic and security strategy is almost blind to the North's nuclear ambitions.
No country except South Korea is actually threatened by North Korea's nuclear armament. To aim at Japan or the United States, the North would have to make its nuclear weapons small. It would take years to develop. So, at the moment, South Korea is the only place where the North can explode the bomb. In case North Korea is slapped with military sanctions while trying to transfer nuclear substances to other countries, South Korea is also the only possible target of retaliation by the North.
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S. Korean Party Delegation Here
Pyongyang, October 31 (KCNA) -- A delegation of the Democratic Workers' Party of south Korea led by its representative Mun Song Hyon arrived here Tuesday. It was met at the airport by Kim Yong Dae, chairman of the Central Committee of the Korean Social Democratic Party, and officials concerned.
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New Team to Continue Engagement Policy
By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
President Roh Moo-hyun's reshuffle of his security and foreign affairs team yesterday revealed the government's determination to maintain its basic approaches to the United States and North Korea.
The government policy of economically engaging the communist North will not likely be changed much after the shakeup, officials said.
Roh nominated Lee Jae-jeong, 62, senior vice president of the presidential National Unification Advisory Council, as the unification minister and Song Min-soon, 58, top presidential secretary for security affairs, as the minister of foreign affairs and trade.
He also picked up Kim Jang-soo, 58, Army chief of staff, as the new defense minister and promoted Kim Man-bok, 60, the first deputy director for international affairs at the National Intelligence Service (NIS), to the top post of the anti-espionage agency. [Continuities]
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Journal Aims to Serve for Regional Prosperity
[Academy]
By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
The inaugural issue of Global Asia was published on Sept. 25 as an English-language biannual journal in the region aiming to give voice to the global dimension of what is happening in Asia, according to the editors.
Moon Chung-in, a professor of political science at Yonsei University in Seoul and editor-in-chief of the new journal, said that Global Asia would provide a forum where ``Asia speaks to the world and the world to Asia.''
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Spy suspect linked to North Korean payments
November 01, 2006 ? Prosecutors said yesterday that Jang Min-ho, the chief suspect in a continuing espionage investigation, had received a total of $19,000 from North Korean intelligence officials to set up what they called a spy ring. Mr. Jang allegedly received $10,000 during a trip to Pyongyang in 1989 and the remainder at several meetings with North Korean officials in Beijing.
[National Security Law]
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Minister supports a second summit
November 01, 2006 ? South Korea's point man on North Korean affairs yesterday said he believes a second inter-Korean summit could help ease the tension sparked by North Korea's recent nuclear test, but stopped short of saying whether the government was pushing for a meeting between the leaders of the divided Koreas.
"There are certain factions (in our society) that say the government is to blame for the North Korean nuclear test that took place. But I believe there needs to be an inter-Korean summit despite such claims," Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok told the parliamentary committee on unification, foreign affairs and trade.
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ROK Military exercises
Military exercises: Soldiers of the 9th Army Division build a float ribbon bridge before a river-crossing operation at a river in Paju, Kyonggi Province, Tuesday.
[Photo] [Military balance]
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Sunshine Policy Survives Uncertain Times
By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter
President Roh Moo-hyun, second from right, talks with former presidents about North Korea's nuclear test in this file photo taken at Chong Wa Dae on Oct. 10, a day after the North tested a nuclear weapon. From left are Chun Doo-hwan, Kim Dae-jung, Roh and Kim Young-sam. /Korea Times File
Many South Koreans still think the nation should maintain its ``sunshine policy'' of economically engaging North Korea, despite Pyongyang's nuclear test that defied Seoul's reconciliation efforts.
Forty-six percent of the respondents to The Korea Times poll said it is necessary to review and modify Seoul's North Korea policy, but said the policy's principle should remain untouched.
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Seoul Mulls Buying F-35 Fighter Jets
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
A F-35 Lightening II fighter jet
The Air Force is considering purchasing F-35 Lightening II fighter jets of the U.S. Lockheed Martin as part of its second-phase aircraft procurement project beginning next year, a top Air Force official said yesterday.
[Military balance] [Arms sales] [Proliferation]
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Labor Party Delegation Arrives in Pyongyang
By Lee Jin-woo
Staff Reporter
The 13-member delegation of the minor opposition Democratic Labor Party (DLP) arrived in Pyongyang yesterday despite criticism from conservative groups in South Korea. The visit is the first by a South Korean political party since North Korea’s nuclear test on Oct. 9.
The main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) has strongly opposed the visit, raising suspicions about the ongoing investigations into an espionage case allegedly involving two of the progressive party’s former and incumbent officials.
The DLP dismissed such claims and made it clear that the visit is aimed at urging the North to give up its nuclear weapons program.
[National Security Law]
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Party delegation heads to Pyongyang
October 31, 2006 ? With its deputy leader jailed on espionage charges, a Democratic Labor Party delegation left for Pyongyang yesterday.
The 13-member delegation, including Moon Sung-hyun, the party's chairman, stopped in Beijing and will arrive in Pyongyang today. They will be visiting the North until Nov. 4 at the invitation of the North Korean Social Democratic Party.
"Our footsteps are very heavy because we are heading to North Korea while an espionage investigation is going on, targeting our party," Mr. Moon told press at the airport.
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Base Anti-North Campaign of S. Korean Public Security Authorities Assailed
Pyongyang, October 30 (KCNA) -- The prosecution and the "Intelligence Service" of south Korea are now busy kicking up a racket of arrest and investigation against five former and incumbent leading members of the Democratic Workers' Party by invoking the "National Security Law" (NSL), charging that they "got in touch with an "operative of the north" and "are suspected of visiting the north without permission." They are crying out for spreading the dragnet of investigation, asserting that there may be in the political and opposition camps more student leader-turned politicians believed to have got in touch with operatives of the north.
[National Security Law]
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Spy Suspects in Hunger Strike
By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
Prosecutors investigating a possible espionage involving members of the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) are trying to confirm whether more people, including lawmakers and civic activists, cooperated in the alleged spying activities for North Korea.
[National Security Law] [Human rights]
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Ruling Party, Cheong Wa Dae Furious at NIS Chief
Cheong Wa Dae and the ruling party are up in arms after the Chosun Ilbo published remarks by the outgoing National Intelligence Service chief Kim Seong-kew on Monday hinting at political pressure to drop the investigation into a spying scandal. Kim said "Everyone [in the NIS] will work hard to investigate the North Korean spy ring case, even if it costs them their job." Since the scandal concerns key figures in the so-called 386 generation of former student activists now close to the centers of power, Kim said the next NIS chief should not be someone "who does what politicians want him to do."
[National Security Law]
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