N. Korean foreign minister reiterates will to carry out 6-way accords

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, right, gestures beside from left, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi during their courtesy call at the Malacanang palace in Manila on Tuesday July 31, 2007. The ministers are here to attend the ongoing 40th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting and the 14th ASEAN Regional Forum. (AP Photo/ Aaron Favila)


N. Korean foreign minister reiterates will to carry out 6-way accords
MANILA, July 31 KYODO
North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun reiterated Tuesday that his country intends to carry out its denuclearization commitments in line with agreements made by the six countries involved in talks on Pyongyang's nuclear programs, Japanese officials said.
Pak made the remark when he and representatives from the six countries paid a courtesy call on Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in Manila on the sidelines of ASEAN-related meetings. The Philippines is the current rotating chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.



Philippine President Gloria Arroyo(C) poses with foreign ministers (L-R) Russia's Sergey Lavrov, North Korea's Pak Ui-Chun, China's Yang Jiechi, Philippines' Alberto Romulo, Japan's Taro Aso, South Korea's Park In-Sook and US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte at the Malacanang Presidential Palace in Manila. Asian nations piled pressure on Myanmar while China pledged to be a good neighbour, as foreign ministers from across the region met on the eve of high-level security talks.(AFP/Sam Yeh)


ASEAN-plus-3 agree to cooperate on N. Korea denuclearization
MANILA, July 31 KYODO
Foreign ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus Japan, China and South Korea agreed Tuesday to cooperate further in ensuring that North Korea will implement steps to denuclearize while welcoming Pyongyang's positive moves so far, Japanese officials said.
With the meeting in Manila taking place on the heels of the kidnapping of South Koreans by the Taliban in Afghanistan, the ministers also condemned the act and called for the ''immediate and unconditional release'' of the hostages, the officials said.

Nuclear inspectors say North Korea cooperating

The International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) inspection team chief Adel Tolba, center, followed by his team arrives at the International Airport in Beijing, Tuesday, July 31, 2007. Tolba said North Korea has cooperated fully with a team of U.N. nuclear experts who were monitoring the shutdown and sealing of the country's sole plutonium-producing reactor. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)


Nuclear inspectors say North Korea cooperating

By Chris Buckley and John Ruwitch | July 31, 2007

BEIJING/MANILA (Reuters) - North Korea has been cooperating fully with nuclear inspectors monitoring the shutdown of its atomic complex, the U.N. team said on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a North Korean foreign ministry official promised steps to improve ties with the United States if Washington scrapped its trade ban and dropped North Korea from a list of countries Washington says sponsor terrorism.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) staff arrived in North Korea on July 14 to monitor the Yongbyon nuclear complex, which the North closed as part of a disarmament pact reached in six-country talks in February.
A reactor and uranium fuel processing plant at Yongbyon can produce the plutonium that North Korea used in its first nuclear test-blast in October last year.
"In doing our actions we had complete cooperation from the DPRK authorities," the head of the IAEA group, Adel Tolba, told reporters in Beijing after arriving from Pyongyang, capital of North Korea, or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Tolba would not comment on the state of the North's nuclear facilities; such weighty issues are left to agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, who is likely to issue a report on the shutdown in September. But Tolba gave no sign of any problems.
"We think that what we need to perform was performed," he said. "We did perform all the mandated activities."
He said the team was heading back to its Vienna headquarters where an assessment would take place.
TAG-TEAM
The 10 returning nuclear monitors are part of a "tag-team" who will watch over Yongbyon while six-party talks seek agreement on advancing the initial disarmament steps. A replacement team of six IAEA personnel arrived in North Korea over the weekend.
North Korea halted the antiquated Yongbyon complex earlier this month after it began receiving heavy fuel shipments it was offered in return in the February deal.
The North also invited back IAEA personnel. They were thrown out of the country in late 2002 after a 1994 disarmament deal collapsed.
Jong Song-il, a spokesman for North Korea's delegation at an East Asian security meeting in Manila, said Pyongyang had been "very active" in fulfilling its commitments and the other parties needed to do the same.
"On the part of the United States, for example, delisting the DPRK from the list of the terrorist-supporting states and also removal of the enemy trade act," he said in English.
"At the same time we will come out with more concrete actions in the normalization of the bilateral relationship between DPRK and the United States."
The United States and North Korea do not have diplomatic relations, and Washington bars trade with the Communist country, although Pyongyang is keen to eventually establish formal ties.
The next step of the disarmament deal, hammered out between North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States, calls on Pyongyang to "disable" its nuclear facilities and provide a full accounting of its nuclear weapons programs.
(Additional reporting by Manny Mogato in Manila)
© Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

Countries in six-party talks meet with Philippine leader

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo rides a wave at a surfing camp in the north of the country. BBC NEWS



Countries in six-party talks meet with Philippine leader

Jul 31, 2007, 12:23 GMT

Manila - Countries involved in six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear crisis met briefly in the Philippines on Tuesday on the sidelines of an annual Asian security meeting.
The 30-minute closed-door meeting was hosted by Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo at the Malacanang presidential palace ahead of dinner for delegates to the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum.
The discussions were expected to have focused on how to advance a February agreement following Pyongyang's shutdown of its main nuclear reactor.
Arroyo has in the past offered the Philippines as a venue for negotiations involving the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, North Korea and Russia.
US negotiator Christopher Hill was not in the meeting and was scheduled to arrive later Tuesday.
It was not clear if Hill would meet with ministers from the countries involved in the six-party talks.
South Korea and North Korea were also expected to meet on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, ASEAN, Japan, China and South Korea reaffirmed their support for the six-party talks 'as the most viable mechanism for peacefully resolving the North Korean nuclear issue.'
They stressed that 'the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula is essential in maintaining peace and security in the region,' and expressed support for the resolution of the nuclear issue through dialogue and negotiations.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

First IAEA inspection team leaves DPRK

The head of the IAEA group, Adel Tolba (L) speaks to the media as he arrives at Beijing's airport from North Korea, July 31, 2007. REUTERS/Jason Lee


First IAEA inspection team leaves DPRK

The first team of UN inspectors left here for Beijing Tuesday after wrapping up a two-week inspection of the nuclear facilities at Yongbyon in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
"We just completed the job which was planned and we have had full cooperation with the DPRK authorities," Adel Tolba, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)'s inspection team, told Xinhua at the airport.
As for the installation of monitoring equipment at Yongbyon nuclear facilities, he said the "evaluation and the assessment" of that equipment will be done at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna.
The first inspection team arrived in Pyongyang on July 14 and then went to Yongbyon to verify and monitor the shutdown of the nuclear facilities there.
On July 18, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said the DPRK had shut down all of its five nuclear facilities.
Following the first team, the second IAEA team arrived in the DPRK Saturday and now is at Yongbyon for another two weeks of inspection work.

Source: Xinhua



Nuclear inspectors say North Korea cooperating
Reuters

BEIJING (Reuters) - North Korea has been cooperating fully with nuclear inspectors monitoring the shutdown of its key atomic complex, the U.N. team said on Tuesday.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) staff arrived in North Korea on July 14 to monitor the Yongbyon nuclear complex, which the North closed as part of a disarmament pact reached in six-country talks in February.
"In doing our actions we had complete cooperation from the DPRK authorities," the head of the IAEA group, Adel Tolba, told reporters at Beijing airport after arriving from Pyongyang, capital of North Korea, or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Tolba would not comment on the state of the North's nuclear facilities; such weighty issues are left to agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, who is likely to issue a report on the shutdown in September.
But Tolba gave no sign of any problems.
"We think that what we need to perform was performed," he said. "We did perform all the mandated activities."
He said the team was heading back to its Vienna headquarters where an assessment would take place.
The 10 returning nuclear monitors are part of a "tag-team" who will watch over Yongbyon while six-party talks seek agreement on advancing the initial disarmament steps. A replacement team of six IAEA personnel arrived in North Korea over the weekend.
A reactor and uranium fuel processing plant at Yongbyon can produce the plutonium that North Korea used in its first nuclear test-blast in October last year.
North Korea halted the antiquated complex earlier this month after it began receiving heavy fuel shipments it was offered in return in the February deal.
The North also invited back IAEA personnel. They were thrown out of the country in late 2002 after a 1994 disarmament deal collapsed.
The next step of the disarmament deal, hammered out between North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States, calls on Pyongyang to "disable" its nuclear facilities and provide a full accounting of its nuclear weapons programs.
Talks between the countries this month failed to produce a deadline for those steps.
They are to hold several sets of working-level talks in August and more senior meetings in September that could clear the way for implementation.
©Reuters 2007

SKorean FM to visit Philippines for security conference, may meet with NKorean counterpart

Song Min-soon


SKorean FM to visit Philippines for security conference, may meet with NKorean counterpart

The Associated Press
Monday, July 30, 2007
SEOUL, South Korea: South Korea's foreign minister will visit the Philippines this week to attend a regional security conference where he may meet with his North Korean counterpart, his office said Monday.
Song Min-soon is scheduled to be in Manila on Wednesday and Thursday for a foreign ministers' meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum — Asia's biggest annual security conference established by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
North Korea is also a member of the forum, and Song could hold a one-on-one meeting with his counterpart from Pyongyang, Pak Ui Chun, on its sidelines, a South Korean Foreign Ministry official said on condition of anonymity, saying the meeting has not been fixed.
Their meeting, if realized, is expected to focus on how to move a February international nuclear disarmament accord forward. Under the deal, North Korea recently shut down its sole functioning reactor, and is supposed to disclose its nuclear programs and disable facilities in exchange for economic and political concessions.
Pak said Sunday in Manila that his country remained committed to the nuclear disarmament pact reached in February between China, Japan, the two Koreas, the United States and Russia.
Song will return home Friday morning without attending other related conferences in Manila, as he has to oversee efforts to release South Korean nationals taken hostage in Afghanistan, the official said.
The Taliban seized 23 South Koreans on July 19, and killed one of them.

North Korean Announcer Is 1988 Abducted Japanese

Old photo of Yakura (left) known to have been abducted by North Korea in 1988


North Korean Announcer, Abducted Japanese in `88

Forensics confirms identity says Tokyo Medical and Dental University Professor
By Kim Yong Hun
[2007-07-30 11:46 ]
An announcer from a North Korean government based radio broadcast, “The Voice of Chosun” is believed to be a Japanese person once abducted from Tottori prefecture in 1988.
In a telephone conversation with the DailyNK on the 26th, Kazuhiro Araki, representative for Investigation Commission on Missing Japanese Probably Related to N.Korea　asserted, “On comparing the photos of abducted Japanese person Yakura Tomiyatsu in 1988 and a footage of announcer Shin Beom at a recording of “The Voice of Chosun” at Pyongyang’s Korea Hotel on March 15th, there is a high possibility that they are the same person.”
Representative Araki said, “The informant who requested the name said that members of an organization in Japan “Aechoenghwoi of Pyongyang broadcasting (a group for North Korean radio listeners)” took the photo on their visit to Pyongyang on March 15th and relayed the photos in early July” and, “Information was conveyed as there is a possibility that Shin portrays the exact same likeness as Yakura who was possibly abducted by North Korea.”
The photo taken on March 15th portrays 3 members of the association and 3 North Korean affiliates of the Central Broadcasting Committee including Shin. The photo of Yakura is an old photo approximately 20 years ago, taken before his disappearance.
“On receiving the information, I sought Professor Hashimoto of Tokyo Medical and Dental University regarding the possibility of the person being the same person, in which the results indicated, ‘There would be no problem to consider the person as the same’” he said and, “This is the result we received after comparing 30 photos of Yakura and 2 photos of Shinbom taken on March 15th.”
Representative Araki added, “According to Professor Hashimoto’s medical jurisprudence, facial characteristics such as the ears, nose, cheekbones, Adam’s apple and finger shape are alike as is the height.”
He said, “We are certain that it is the same person” and revealed, “The assistance of a voice recognition expert has been requested. Results should come out mid-August.”
According to data obtained from North Korea, Shin studied in Pyongyang Medical College and worked as a teacher for 10 years. In 1998, he began working for the Central Broadcasting Committee. People who had met Shin have commented that Shin’s Japanese skills were perfect in comparison to his Korean skills which were poor.
On the other hand, Yakura was born in 1951 and was abducted on August 2nd 1988 while catching fish on a boat that left Sakaiminato Port in Tottori prefecture. Following investigations at the time, coastline police found Yakura’s boat off coast from where it usually caught fish on August 10th. At the time, evidence of a brawl had been noted within the captain’s cabin.
Representative Araki said, “Yakura was an extremely skilled mechanic who worked for a machine tool factory in Japan, but lived as a fisherman after the company became bankrupt in 1984” and asserted, “He was a well known mechanic and often received invitations to visit Eastern European blocs. Hence, there is a high possibility he caught the attention of North Korea and was kidnapped.”

Senior S.Korean Diplomat Dies in Beijing

Whang Joung-il, minister for political affairs at the Korean Embassy in China


Senior S.Korean Diplomat Dies in Beijing

Whang Joung-il, 52, a high-ranking diplomat at the Korean Embassy in China, died while being treated in a clinic in downtown Beijing Sunday morning.

On Saturday evening Whang ate a sandwich from a nearby shop while working in his office at the embassy. He then experienced diarrhea and severe abdominal pain and went home.
The next morning Whang suffered shortness of breath and died while being given an injection of Ringer's solution at a clinic in the Chaoyang district of downtown Beijing.
According to Korean Ambassador to China Kim Ha-joong, Whang continued to suffer from stomachache and diarrhea after he returned home from his office.
Around 8:30 in the morning Whang drove his car to the clinic, which is popular with foreigners. He died about 20 minutes after he began receiving the intravenous solution.
The clinic had prescribed Ringer's solution to prevent dehydration. Just after he began receiving the solution, he began having difficulty breathing.
The clinic dialed the emergency number 911, the equivalent to Korea's 119, and began performing CPR. But when emergency medical responders arrived 20 minutes later, Whang had stopped breathing. The clinic confirmed his death at 11:30 a.m.
Witnessed by an embassy official, Chinese police and officials from China's Ministry of Health seized the remaining solution for investigation.
With the consent of the embassy and Whang's family, Chinese police performed an autopsy on his body Monday afternoon.
The exact cause of Whang's death will likely be known after the results of the autopsy are released. Chinese authorities promised the embassy they would deliver the results as soon as possible.
The embassy believes Whang's death may be linked to the sandwich he ate the previous evening, or to the intravenous solution. The solution may have been fake or improperly administered.
China has been plagued by serious health issues in recent days, including an uproar over steamed dumplings allegedly stuffed with chemical-laced cardboard instead of pork, and the distribution of bogus foods and medicines including phony blood for transfusions.

(englishnews@chosun.com )