From the Korea Herald:
Lee opposes additional sanctions on N. Korea
South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok has taken another shot at the United States, saying that additional sanctions against North Korea were undesirable.
“The solution to the missile problem is for South Korea and the United States to collaborate and for China, Russia and other countries to cooperate […] We must think about whether what the United States does immediately equals to what the international community wants to do.”
Lee’s comments are in line with the South Korean government’s policy to expand sanctions against the communist regime and avoid creating further tension on the peninsula, government officials later explained.
Lee underscored the “South Korean government, as a valid member of the international community must make our own voice known as well.”
The Seoul government has been visibly cautious against slapping sanctions on North Korea, which test-fired a barrage of ballistic missiles July 5 despite international warnings.
“There must not be any more comments or actions that will heighten military tension on the Korean Peninsula,” Lee said.
He urged that it was most important to bring North Korea back to the negotiating table and not give it more time to further develop any weapons.
But inter-Korean relations continue to take on a sour note. Upon North Korea’s demand to halt the ongoing construction of a family reunion center in Mount Geumgang, most of the 150 South Korean workers were set to return home yesterday afternoon.
The United States, in the meantime, reportedly refused a visa application for Ri Gun, North Korea’s director-general of the North American Division at the Foreign Ministry.
Ri was set to attend a seminar hosted by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University later this month.
The United States is stepping up pressure on the North through investigating its alleged money counterfeiting and by highlighting its human rights abuses.
Japan has also made moves to fortify its defense lineup against the possible threat from North Korea.
“To solve this, any form of dialogue must be accomplished (with the North),” Lee said. Seoul officials said bilateral talks between the United States and North Korea should be considered as a possibility.
Here is what the US has been up to: 6/22/2006 From the Joong Ang Daily:
U.S. and Japan press on with plans for sanctions
The recent visit to Seoul by a U.S. Treasury Department official and his stops in other regional capitals is a sign that Washington intends to tighten the financial noose around Pyongyang. After telling Korean officials that Washington might reinstate trade sanctions on North Korea that were lifted during the Clinton administration, Stuart Levey, the under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, moved on to Vietnam, Singapore and Japan. Sources in Seoul said yesterday that the main purpose of his trip was to search for bank accounts linked to illicit activities in which North Korea is engaged.
On Tuesday, the under secretary reportedly met with Vietnamese government and financial officials. A diplomat in Seoul said, “A bank account that is used by Hyundai Asan and North Korea has been under investigation there.”
Last autumn, Washington warned Banco Delta Asia in Macao of financial sanctions if it did not tighten its controls against money laundering; about 40 North Korean accounts there have reportedly been frozen. Hyundai Asan once sent its payments to North Korea to that bank; Pyongyang has directed the payments to other bank accounts in Austria and Vietnam since then.
After arriving in Tokyo on Thursday Mr. Levey reportedly gave officials there a list of persons and companies suspected of being linked to North Korea’s missile programs. The U.S. official also discussed with his hosts possible measures to block the flow of cash from ethnic Koreans in Japan to their homeland, a move Tokyo has said publicly it was considering.
In Singapore, at least one bank account has been linked to money sent by the Hyundai Group to North Korea before the 2000 inter-Korean summit between Kim Dae-jung of South Korea and Kim Jong-il. Ironically, Don Kirk, a reporter for the International Herald Tribune in Seoul, mentioned that account in an article he wrote shortly after the summit; Seoul reacted with fury and the matter lay dormant for some time. Prosecutors eventually announced in 2003 that $450 million had been sent to North Korea to induce Kim Jong-il to host the summit meeting.
As other nations study ways to step up pressure on North Korea, the Roh administration remains defiant in pursuing reconciliation. But even more important to North Korea than the South is China. Efforts to coordinate sanctions have centered on the North’s major ally and provider of food and energy; Beijing is seen internationally as having enough leverage to bring Pyongyang back to the six-nation nuclear negotiations.
But a senior Chinese general said Thursday there was little his government could do. Guo Boxiong, the vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission, flatly told an audience at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., that “China cannot possibly force the DPRK to do anything or not to do anything.”
Separately in Washington, the Bush administration is planning to implement the recent United Nations Security Council resolution on North Korean missiles and nuclear programs by enacting new legislation. Senator Sam Brownback, a Kansas Republican, told a news conference that a bill called the “North Korea Nonproliferation Act” is in the works. It would bar companies or individuals involved in North Korea’s mass weapons programs from doing any business with U.S. companies. The act is similar to legislation already in force, aimed at Iran in 2000 and then expanded to include Syria.
Defenses against missiles are also being given more attention. Washington and Tokyo are expected to sign an agreement on the operation of missile defense systems that includes commitments to more sharing of intelligence on North Korea. The Mainichi Shimbun, a Tokyo daily, added in an article yesterday that the agreement will allow Japan to receive U.S. satellite photos and data more quickly.
by Lee Chul-hee, Brian Lee
From the Associated Press (Via Korea Liberator)
Japan Won’t Rush Sanctions on North Korea
7/19/2006
Hiroko Tabuchi
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Wednesday Japan will not rush to impose more sanctions on North Korea, amid reports Tokyo may call for five-party talks on the sidelines of a regional security forum on the North’s nuclear ambitions.
Japan, meanwhile, plans to launch two spy satellites to monitor North Korean activity by the end of the year, a news report said.
Koizumi told reporters Wednesday Japan will wait for a further response from North Korea to a U.N. Security Council resolution and a Group of Eight summit statement condemning its missile test-launches.
“North Korea should take the resolution and the (G-8) chairman’s statement seriously. I think it’s better for us to wait and see,” Koizumi said.
He also urged Pyongyang to return to six-nation talks on its nuclear weapons program, which have stalled over the North’s anger at U.S. sanctions for alleged counterfeiting and money laundering activities.
Koizumi’s remarks seemed at odds with recent hardline remarks by Japan’s top government spokesman, as well as a report carried earlier Wednesday by Japan’s largest daily newspaper, the Yomiuri Shimbun.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe suggested Tuesday that Tokyo had begun preparations to impose further economic sanctions on North Korea.
The Yomiuri said Wednesday Japan was considering banning cash remittances and freezing North Korean assets in Japan early next month. The newspaper did not say where it got the information.
Tokyo has so far imposed only limited sanctions — such as barring a North Korean trade ferry from Japanese ports — against North Korea in response to its missile tests.
A separate news report said Wednesday Japan has called for five-party talks, excluding Pyongyang, on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum next week to explore ways to resume stalled multilateral negotiations on the North’s nuclear ambitions.
It remained unclear whether the talks — potentially involving Japan, South Korea, Russia, China and the United States — would materialize, because Beijing hasn’t said whether it is willing to participate, Kyodo News agency reported. Kyodo did not say where it obtained the information.
Chun Young Woo, South Korea’s deputy foreign minister and chief South Korean delegate to the six-party talks, was slated to visit Japan for talks Thursday with Japanese counterpart Kenichiro Sasae.
Also Wednesday, Japan’s space agency, JAXA, said it would launch two more spy satellites using H-2A rockets, according to Kyodo. JAXA launched two spy satellites in March 2003 to monitor North Korea. JAXA officials couldn’t be reached for comment late Wednesday.
North Korea drew international condemnation this month after test firing seven missiles, including a long-range Taepodong-2 believed capable of reaching parts of the U.S.
On Saturday, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution criticizing the missile tests and banning all U.N. member states from trading with Pyongyang in missile-related technology. The North has since rejected the resolution, warning of further repercussions.
