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(December 1, 1998 ~ February 20, 1999) |
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December 1 NK Scientists and technicians were decorated with a medal for the successful launching of the Kwangmyongsung-I satellite into orbit, the KCBS reports. 2 The PRC's People's Liberation Army joins US forces for the first time in a search and rescue exercise off Hong Kong's outlying Lantau island, AP reports, quoting US officials. 4 Kim Yong-nam, Chairman of the SPA Presidium, holds talks in Pyongyang with Sergio Vieira De Mello, undersecretary general of the UN. A total of 2,645 SK citizens have visited NK this year alone, surpassing the cumulative 2,408 figure from June 1989, when the first SK civilian was allowed to travel to NK, and the end of 1997. This figure excludes the 2,957 SK citizens traveling to NK since tours to Mt. Kumgang began Nov. 18 6 William Perry, US North Korea Policy Coordinator and Special Advisor to the President travels to Seoul, Tokyo, and Beijing during Dec. 6-10. 7 A delegation of the European Parliament, headed by Leo Tindemans, the former Belgian prime minister and member of a European parliamentary subcommittee, arrives at Pyongyang for six-day visit. The visit closely followed talks held between NK and the EU in Brussels on Dec. 2. Rodong Shinmun, offical organ of the Workers' Party, warns that US charges of an underground nuclear facility are 'as good as a declaration of war.' Such hostile rhetoric comes after the US policy coordinator's tour. 8 NK is developing three underground facilities capable of launching ballistic missiles. U.S. spy satellites have confirmed what appear to be three missile-launch bases under construction in the northern part of North Korea. The three facilities are built at varying depths, ranging from 50 meters to 100 meters below ground, AP reports. The SK and PRC governments signed a marine criminal information exchange agreement in Beijing. 9 Japanese and RF governments meet in Tokyo and agree to hold the first meetings of the Committee on Delimitation and the Committee on Economic Activities on Jan. 21, 1999. These committees aim to facilitate achieving the goals of Japanese- Russian peace treaty negotiations. NK and RF have agreed on the draft of a new agreement on mutual friendship and cooperation, Radio Russia, quoting a spokesman of the RF Foreign Ministry, reports. 10 The WFP, UNICEF, and the EU have found that five years of severe food shortages and a breakdown in the public health system have probably left an entire generation of NK children physically and mentally impaired, The New York Times reports. 11 Hyundai announces that it plans to create another tour program along the same lines as the Mt. Kumgang tour. The new tour program includes Mt. Baekdu, Mt. Chilbo, Mt. Myohyang, and Pyongyang. RF's nuclear authorities conducted a nuclear subcritical test on a northern island on Dec. 8, Asahi Shimbun reports. The report added that although Russia is a signatory to the CTBT, it maintains that subcritical tests do not violate the treay. 14 A gala concert to raise funds for the children of NK is held at Lincoln Center in New York, organized by Korean-Americans for Global Action. North Korea and Switzerland concluded an agreement on investment promotion and protection, KCBS reports. Two SK soldiers, Kim Bok-ki and Park Dong-il, believed killed during the Korean War, have returned home after being held captive in NK for 45 years, SK government officials state. 15 The IMF announced that NK showed a deep interest in getting various materials and data from the IMF in an effort to gain membership and to receive potential bailout money from the IMF in the future, JoongAng Ilbo reports. The UN appeals for US$376 million in aid for NK next year. 16 The PRC remains hostile toward Taiwan, even though it was relieved by the defeat of the Democratic Progressive Party in recent elections, Taiwan Informa-tion Minister Chen Chien-jen states. 17 RF lawmakers postpone ratification of the START II nuclear disarmament treaty in protest over US air strikes on Iraq. 18 The South Korean Defense Ministry condemned the infiltration of the spy semi- submarine vessel as a violation of the truce agreement and asked the North to apologize for and explain the provocation. The South's Navy patrol boats sank the boat, which was first detected at sea some 2km off Yosu, a port city in South Cholla Province, at around 11:15 p.m. on Dec. 17. A spokesman of the CPRF accuses Seoul of fabricating an incident involving the intrusion of a Northern spy vessel into the southern sea off Yosu. 20 The SK government will approve commercial sales of movies and videos made by NK, beginning in Jan. 1999, The SK Agency for National Security Planning announces. 21 Police in Northeastern China's Jilin province announced they had rounded up at least 100 North Koreans and sent them back to endure the famine in their own country. They were charged with illegal resettlement in China and forming criminal gangs or engaging in prostitution, AP reports. The Japanese Cabinet approves a plan to launch four surveillance satellites by 2002. The day before, the Japanese Finance Ministry designated US$74.1 million in research spending on the satellite project for the next year. UNICEF plans to give US$4.7 million to NK over two years beginning in 1999, the SK Ministry of Unification announces. It also added that UNICEF and NK signed an agreement and worked out a schedule plan on Dec. 18 in Pyongyang. 22 The North Korean situation may reach a turning point next year with the government becoming increasingly confrontational, Kyodo News reports, quoting a Japanese foreign ministry report. The report said the North Korean rocket launch over Japan on August 31 and other recent hostile actions, along with the development of a suspected underground nuclear site, had "increased caution in related countries, including the United States." The SK Rural Development Administration announces that the total sum of grain production in NK is predicted to increase by 11 percent from 3.49 million tons in 1997 to 3.89 million tons, however, these figures do not reach the 5.51 million tons that NK needs. The US and SK agree on a new 'Special Measures Agreement' for the 1999-2001 period. US and SK military officials say that SK will pay US$333 million for the maintenance of US troops stationed there next year. 23 North Korea and Russia recently agreed to strike an automatic military involvement clause from their bilateral friendship treaty, a MOFAT official said on Dec. 22. Pyongyang and Moscow instead agreed to consult each other in the event of military conflicts arising on their respective territories,the Korea Herald reports. The Communist Party of China reaffirms its commitment to forge ties with other foreign parties, including the US Republican and Democratic parties, China Daily reports. The Taiwan military plans to cut back purchases of foreign-made anti-aircraft missiles after domestically produced versions are successfully tested, the Associated Press reports, quoting Taiwanese Defense Minister Chiang Chung-ling. 24 North Korea is intensifying its campaign to build the personality cult of Kim Jong- suk, the first wife of the late Kim Il-sung and natural mother of Kim Jong-il. The occasion was the late Kim Jong-suk's 81st birthday, which fell on Dec. 24. Revealing the meticulous plan for the dynastic power succession, her birthday coincides with the date seven years ago that Kim Jong-il became supreme commander of the North Korean Peoples's Army. The DAJ moved closer to a decision to set up an emergency line with the MND, Kyodo News reports. The proposal will be discussed between the countries top defense officials, Hosei Norota, DAJ chief, and SK Defense Minister Chon Yong- taek in Seoul in early Jan. 29 UNHCR told Seoul that it would express regrets over PRC's deportation of NK escapees while calling on Beijing to deal with the issue out of humanitarian considerations. 30 North Korea asserts that an inter-Korean tourists project on Mt. Kumgang faces a serious obstacle due to intervention of the SK and U.S. governments. William Perry, U.S. policy coordinator on North Korea, is Blamed for raising concerns that Pyongyang may divert the earnings from the inter-Korean tourist project for military purposes, Radio Pyongyang announced. |
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January 1 North Korea's Rodong Shinmun, Chosun Inmingun and Youth Vanguard, the organs of the Workers' Party, the Ministry of the People's Armed Forces, and the Kimilsung Socialist Youth League, carry a joint New Year's editorial, entitled, "Let This Year Mark Turning-Point in Building a Powerful Nation." 2 NK appears to have built 30 of its first-generation ballistic Rodong missiles and exported some to Iran and Pakistan. It is also believed to have deployed some of the missiles, with an estimated range of more than 1,000 km, in a combat-ready posture at a military base in the northwest, NHK reports. Taiwan's top spy agency plans to open an office in NK to help collect intelligence on PRC and to acquire missile technology. In return, NK has demanded that Taiwan purchase from Pyongyang $3 million worth of coal and other raw materials, the Hong Kong-based Yazhou Zhoukan reported. 4 NK may open direct air links with Taiwan by allowing chartered commercial aircraft from this island to fly to Pyongyang. Taiwan Far Eastern Air Transport Corp. is expected to become the first air carrier to operate the service, which the company spokesman denies, AFP reports. SK's National Security Council meeting holds at Chong Wa Dae, to review the government's security policy from last year, examine recent developments on the peninsula, and outline security policy for the New Year. 5 North Korea is presumed to have about 300-350 agricultural markets across the country, a sharp increase since the mid-1990s, the Ministry of Unification reports. 8 Family members of a deceased South Korean prisoner of war and three others have defected to South Korea after escaping from North Korea. The wife, daughter and son of the late Suh Jong-hyon, a former prisoner of war, arrived in Seoul on Jan. 6, the Agency for National Security Planning said. Suh was seized by North Koreans in June 1953, forced to work in the mines before his death in March 1997, the Korea Herald reports. 10 U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen begins for a six-day visit to Japan and SK. 11 A KCNA official said that NK will not allow U.S. inspection of a suspected nuclear weapons site unless it is given US$300 million in compensation, AP reports. 12 U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen rejected an offer by NK to allow the U.S. to inspect an underground construction site for US$300 million, Reuters reports. 13 In Seoul, the three environmental ministers of SK, the PRC, and Japan agree to jointly cope with environmental issues facing Northeast Asia in the future by establishing an around-the-clock information network that will monitor major cases involving environment pollution in the region. Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the opposition Liberal Party agreed to form a coalition. The coalition reached soon after they agreed that Japan's Self Defense Forces would be able to participate in U.N. peacekeeping operations that did not entail the use of force. The Korea Herald reports that U.S. has agreed to pay NK US$ 1.2 million this year to recover the remains of UN soldiers killed during the 1950-53 Korean War. U.S.-Japan Defense Talks held in Tokyo between U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen and Japanese defense chief Hosei Norota on the security threat posed by North Korea. The two agreed to US, continue cooperation among the US, Japan, and SK to prevent NK from acquiring nuclear weapons and to stop its missile development, Kyodo News Agency reports. 14 80,000 tons of free crude oil provided by the PRC Government arrives in NK. The decision to supply this shipment of oil was made last Oct. after the PRC had sent 100,000 tons of food and 20,000 tons of fertilizer to NK. Frank Hesske, head-designate of the EU delegation to SK, says that the EU will dispatch three top-level officials, including a bureau head of the EU executive committee, to NK from Jan. 22-25, to assist rebuilding the farming infrastructure. The high-ranking EU officials's visit to NK is the first of its kind. 15 The 30th annual Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) is held to coordinate their response to NK's missile development and alleged nuclear development programs. SK Defense Minister Chun Yong-taek and his U.S. counterpart William Cohen agreed to beef up their joint defense posture by placing SK under the protection of the superpower's nuclear umbrella should NK wage war using weapons of mass destruction. The SK government approves Hyundai's Mt. Kumgang tourism development project. Government approval will allow Hyundai to send the first installment of US$25 million to NK, less the US$2.87 million already paid out. 18 The fourth plenary session of the four-party peace talks holds in Geneva (Jan. 18- 22). The two subcommittees, established at the third plenary session, to discuss the establishment of a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula and tension reduction there. 19 An ocean-going vessel 'Hyundai Kumgang' with tourists and journalists on board, visits NK port of Mt. Kumgang. 1,000 tourists and dozens of journalists walk on NK soil. Chosun Ilbo reports that Commerce attache Kim Kyung-pil of NK's trade representative office in Germany has sought political asylum in the US. Kim, accompanied by his wife, is currently under the protection of US authorities. South Korea and France agrees to sign a treaty on protection of military secrets at an early date to further strengthen mutual cooperation in the defense industry and to exchange military intelligence. 20 The NK and the KEDO starts the first round of talks on concluding a protocol for the training of NK nuclear technicians. During the five-day talks in Hyangsan, North Pyongyan Province in NK, the two sides will discuss the signing of a letter of intent on the training of technicians who will operate the two light-water reactors. 21 Asahi Shimbun reports that Japan demanded that NK stop testing ballistic missiles and also called for a resumption of dialogue, when the director of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's NK division met informally in New York with NK's deputy head at the UN mission on Dec. 22, 1998. Korea Times reports that the dispute over the alleged 'abduction' of a NK diplomat in Germany has ruined the atmosphere for constructive dialogue among the four countries joining peace talks in Geneva started the day before. 22 US President Bill Clinton authorizes US$12 Million in Economic Support Funds for a US contribution to the KEDO. 25 Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov meets with SK Foreign Minister Hong Soon- yung and agrees to develop relations in the economic, cultural, scientific, and technical areas. The PRC's National People's Congress Standing Committee Chairman Li Peng meets with former prime minister of SK Lee Soo-sung and his delegation, praising Sino-SK cooperation. The US and NK are narrowing their positions on the deadlocked issue of site access at the Kumchang-ri underground facilities, Chosun Ilbo quotes a high- ranking SK official. The official said that NK is likely to allow a one-time site investigation and continue its discussion with the US for any further investigations, if necessary. In return, the US will supply food aid demanded by NK for site access through the WFP and ease economic sanctions. 27 Korea Times reports that SK and the international community have offered aid, including food and medicine, totaling US$1.08 billion to NK since 1995, according to data revealed by the Unification Education Institute, under the aegis of the Unification Ministry. 28 A 69-year-old NK laborer, Lee Chong-ho who had been abducted to NK during the Korean War was smuggled into SK by way of a third country, NIS announces. The UNDP is planning to extend US$62.27 million in loans to NK this year as part of its efforts to help NK¤£ agricultural restructuring, the Korea Herald reports 30 Park Jie-won, Chong Wa Dae's chief spokesperson and public information aide, visits Mt. Kumgang, NK from Jan 30 to Feb. 2. He is the highest-ranking official to visit Mt. Kumgang since the Mt. Kumgang tour project began last year. |
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February 1 The KCNA carries a New Year's message from the ruling Communist Party, the military, and youth groups, which urged the people to turn the country into an 'impregnable fortress.' The message calls for unity around Kim Jong-il and the military. Meanwhile, SK President Kim Dae-jung states that his government would continue its 'sunshine policy' toward NK. The NIS announces that at least 22 SK citizens are being held in NK concentration camps. The inmates were defectors or victims of kidnapping and had been confined within one or two years of arrival in NK. Of the 22, NIS confirmed the identities of 15 as well as when they were taken to NK. 2 Japanese and SK officials are scheduled to meet in Tokyo on Feb. 9-10 to discuss arrangements for their first joint naval exercise. 3 During 1998, the scale of NK-SK trade decreased rapidly, but joint manufacturing trade increased by 27.1 percent, the MOU announces. The possibility of joint manufacturing development was recently strengthened when NK allowed 19 people from four SK companies to stay in NK for one month to teach NK workers skills and technology. SK foreign ministry officials said that NK closed 14 of its overseas missions last year, quoting NK's announcement in March last year it would reduce foreign operations until food shortages and economic conditions improved. The number of NK missions abroad now stands at 54. KCNA quotes Kim Yong-sun, secretary of the ruling Workers' Party Central Committee, as proposing inter-Korean high-level political talks in the second half of the year. Kim says, however, that SK would first have to discontinue joint military exercises with the US. abolish its National Security Law, and do away with 'anti- North Korean cooperation with outsiders.' 4 Hyundai founder Chung Ju-yung crosses through Panmunjom into NK. It is his fourth visit. During three-day visit, Chung said he will mainly discuss a plan to build an industrial park on NK's west coast to accommodate crossborder trade with SK and to accommodate factories to be moved from the South. Kim Hae-young, a NK actress, and her family have been living in SK officials reveals. Kim arrived in Seoul with her family in August last year and sought asylum, but their defection was not publicized for security reasons. Kyodo news service quotes unnamed diplomatic sources as saying that, during the third round of high-level US-NK talks held last month in Geneva, the US offered up to 700,000 tons of additional food aid to NK in exchange for multiple inspections of an underground construction site. The NK side countered with a proposal to allow the US two 'visit,' not inspections, to the site in exchage for 1 million tons of food aid. PRC police has recently been carrying out house-to-house searches near the border with NK to stop the flow of NK refugees, and raised fines for anyone caught helping NK refugees from 500 yuan last year to 5,000 yuan. The SK Unification Ministry issues a brief statement in support of NK's proposal for high-level officials adding that "the government urges the North to agree to talks as soon as possible without any conditions attached." 5 Japan and SK complete a new fisheries treaty, agreeing on quotas and fishing methods in their respective waters. 6 Hyundai's founder Chung Ju-yung, returning from his visit to NK, says in a press conference that an inter-Korean basketball game will be held in Pyongyang as early as this coming April. DAJ Director General Hosei Norota and SK Defense Minister Chun Yong-taek meet at the SK Defense Department to discuss various security concerns. The US and NK have begun expert talks in Pyongyang to address the joint exhumation of US servicemen killed in action during the Korean War. During that talks, which will run from Feb. 6-16, they will discuss concrete schedules, sites and compensation for the exhumation. 7 Rodong Shinmun, declares that NK 'will never give up its sovereign right' to build and launch missiles. The PRC has declared it will keep IAEA informed of its cooperation with non- nuclear-weapon countries and its imports and exports of nuclear materials, China Daily reports. 8 NK, which successfully cultivated 'Super Corn' in 83 test villages near Pyongyang last year, will plant the same variety in over 1,000 more villages this year, Kim Soon- kwon, an SK University professor developed the corn variety and donated seeds to NK says. SK announces that they will raise electricity rates by 3 percent to pay for SK's share of the project to build two nuclear power plants in NK. The SK's share of the construction costs is US$3.22 billion, which is about 70 percent of the total project's budget, with Japan financing the remaining US$1 billion. SK Minister of Unification Kang In-duk states that motivated by humanitarian factors, the SK government is considering supplying fertilizer, agricultural insecticides, seeds, and ambulances to NK without any reciprocal conditions. 9 During the NK policy consultation in Seoul, the US, Japan, and SK agree to make efforts to solve the problems surrounding the underground facilities in Kumchang-ri, NK. 10 Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura warns that NK's launching of another missile would lead to the Diet rejection of the government's plan to offer US$1 billion for the light-water reactor project in NK. Taiwan's defense ministry states that Taiwan intelligence has confirmed that the PRC has deployed more than 100 ballistic missiles that could be fired at the island. US Congressional Research Service reports that NK government is producing up to 500,000 tons of opium a year and marketing it overseas to earn foreign currency. 11 Generals from the US, Great Britain, SK, and NK hold talks on Thursday in Panmunjom on how to avoid military accidents caused by the 'Y2K millennium bug' computer problem. PRC Foreign Ministry says that including Taiwan under a US Theater Missile Defense system would threaten Asian stability. MOFAT announces that the IMF and the IBRD are seeking to set up a market- economy education program to train NK in the PRC. US Defense Department officials states that PRC has stepped up construction of a military base on Woody Island in the South China Sea, part of the Paracel Islands chain, for future deployments of Su-27s or other military aircraft. 12 An estimated 100,000 NK refugees are living in northeastern PRC, and that many refugees commute between the two sides to engage in black market trade, the Washington Post reports. NK is estimated to be lavishing more than US$100 million on the celebration of Kim Jong-il's birthday, money which could be used to import 500,000 tons of corn, NIS states. The MND announces its new defense plan for the next five years. According to the plan, SK forces will be better-trained and technology-oriented, and be better prepared against the threat of a NK attack. The Ministry will spend more than US$20 billion in 320 different areas, including missile and anti-missile development, the next-generation scout plane project, new combat helicopters. 17 NHK quotes unidentified Japanese defense sources as saying that NK has the technology to launch a long-range ballistic missile capable of reaching parts of the US. The sources added that NK has made significant progress in developing its Taepodong-2 liquid-fuel missiles. The NIS cites a classified NK Public Security Ministry survey as showing that NK's population has shrunk by as many as 3 million people in the past four years because of famine. The survey confirms widespread Western reports that more than 500,000 NK citizens have died of hunger each year since 1995. 18 William Perry, US policy coordinator on NK, will visit SK and Japan again in March to wrap up his NK report, the Korea Herald reports. 19 SK President Kim Dae-jung remarks that the recent NK proposal to hold high-level talks with SK shows that NK is responding to his initiatives for engagement. The President made the statement in reference to NK's recent announcement that it was ready to hold high-level political talks in the second half of the year. The SK has welcomed the proposal, which led to reports suggesting imminent developments in inter-Korean ties, including possible unconditional provision of fertilizer aid to NK. The NK sent a message to SK through Mohsen Aminzadeh, Iranian vice foreign minister, that it is interested in a political dialogue with SK. |
| AFP | Agence France-Presse |
| AP | Associated Press |
| CPC | Communist Party of China |
| CPRF ^^ |
Committee for the Peaceful Reuni-fication of the Fatherland of North Korea |
| CTBT | Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty |
| DAJ | Defence Agency of Japan |
| EU | European Union |
| IAEA | International Atomic Energy Agency |
| IBRD | International Bank for Recon-struction and Development |
| IMF | International Monetary Fund |
| KCBS | Central Broadcasting Station of (North) Korea |
| KCNA | Central News Agency of (North) Korea |
| KEDO | Korean Peninsula Energy Devel-opment Organization |
| MND | Ministry of National Defense of South Korea |
| MOFAT | Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of South Korea |
| MOU | Minstry fo Unification of South Korea |
| NHK | Japan Broadcasting Corporation |
| NIS | National Intelligence Service of South Korea |
| NK | North Korea |
| PRC | People's Republic of China |
| RF | Russia Federation |
| SK | South Korea |
| SPA | Supreme People's Assembly of North Korea |
| UN | United Nations |
| UNHCR | UN High Commissioner for Refugees |
| UNICEF | United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund |
| US | United States |
| WFP | World Food Programme |
| UNDP | United Nations Development Program |
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