NORTH KOREA NEWSLETTER NO. 164 (June 30, 2011)

*** FOREIGN TIPS

North Korea Seeks to Switch over to Digital TV

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea is pushing for a transition from analogue to digital broadcasting, a South Korean government panel said on June 22.
Pyongyang requested support from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) around last February to switch over to digital broadcasting, said the Korea Communications Commission in charge of South Korea's broadcasting and communications policies.
The commission said it is watching North Korea's moves closely, launching a study group composed of six or seven experts specializing in North Korea and broadcasting to decide how to respond to the potential transition.
South Korea is set to change its analogue broadcasting to digital in 2013.
"North Korea is presumed to have requested the ITU's technical assistance over the transition to a digital broadcasting system," a commission source said.
"South Korea has no plan to support the North's change as of now," the source added.

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Spy Chief Says Policy Failures Dealt Blow to N.K.'s Heir Apparent

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- A series of policy blunders in North Korea have dealt a blow to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's son and heir apparent, Kim Jong-un, a ruling party lawmaker said on June 22, citing Seoul's spy chief.
The North carried out a currency reform in 2009 but it is believed to have caused strong public backlash as it led to massive inflation and worsened food shortages.
The impoverished country has also dramatically cut its goal of building 100,000 houses by next year, the centennial of the birth of Kim Il-sung, the country's late founder and grandfather of Kim Jong-un.
Kim's "leadership has been undermined as he failed in the currency reform and built only 500 houses, though he planned to build 100,000," ruling party lawmaker Hwang Jin-ha said, citing Won Sei-hoon, head of the National Intelligence Service.
Won's reported comments at a closed-door session of the parliamentary intelligence committee come amid apparent efforts by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to extend his family dynasty into a third generation since he suffered a stroke in 2008.
He named his youngest son, Jong-un, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the North's ruling Workers' Party and a four-star general last year in the clearest sign yet to make him the next leader.
The succession, if made, would mark communism's second hereditary power transfer. The elder Kim inherited power from his father, who died in 1994.
Won also told the session that the North's heir apparent appears to be trying to exert his influence by taking a hard-line stance and resorting to military adventurism, such as the shelling of a front-line South Korean island, according to Hwang.

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Obama Extends National Emergency against North Korea

WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Barack Obama issued a public notice on June 23 to extend the national emergency in relation to North Korea that provides a legal and administrative basis for sanctions against the nuclear-armed socialist nation.
On the basis of the national emergency declared in 2008 under the National Emergencies Act, the Obama administration slapped tougher sanctions on Pyongyang in April, including a ban on direct and indirect imports of North Korean goods.
"The existence and the risk of proliferation of weapons-usable fissile material on the Korean Peninsula, and the actions and policies of the Government of North Korea that destabilize the Korean Peninsula and imperil U.S. Armed Forces, allies, and trading partners in the region, continue to constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States," Obama said in a statement. "For these reasons, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency with respect to these threats and maintain in force the measures taken to deal with that national emergency."
The national emergency, first declared on June 26, 2008, by then-President George W. Bush, is due to expire automatically unless the president announces each year that it will continue to be valid beyond the anniversary date of its declaration.

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Official: Policy Failure Raises N.K.'s Economic Uncertainty

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea's botched currency reform has dealt a severe blow to the impoverished country and increased its economic uncertainty, a South Korean official said on June 26.
The ill-fated currency reform in 2009 is believed to have caused strong backlash among North Koreans as it led to massive inflation and worsened food shortages.
The policy blunder has also "undermined the social stability," South Korean Unification Minister Hyun In-taek said in a program aired Sunday on public broadcaster KBS.
Hyun, who is in charge of relations with North Korea, also said North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's plan to hand over his power to his youngest son is believed to be in progress. He did not elaborate.
The elder Kim named his youngest son, Jong-un, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the North's ruling Workers' Party and a four-star general last year in the clearest sign yet of making him the next leader.
The succession, if made, would mark communism's second hereditary power transfer. The elder Kim inherited power from his father, the North's founder Kim Il-sung, who died in 1994.
Hyun's comments came days after South Korea's top intelligence official told lawmakers that policy failures on the currency reform and housing projects have undermined Kim Jong-un's leadership.
Won Sei-hoon, head of the National Intelligence Service, said last week that the North has dramatically cut its goal of building 100,000 houses by next year, the centennial of the birth of the country's late founder and grandfather of Kim Jong-un, according to lawmakers.
The North has so far built some 500 houses in its capital of Pyongyang, according to the spy agency.

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North Korea, Russia Call off Summit Talk Plan: Sources

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea and Russia appear to have canceled their plan to hold talks between their leaders later this week, multiple sources in Seoul said on June 28 following a series of media reports of the possibility of a trip to Russia by the North's leader, Kim Jong-il.
"It's my understanding that a summit between Chairman Kim Jong-il and President Dmitry Mevedev was known to be scheduled to take place in Russia's Far Eastern region of Vladivostok on June 30 or July 1," a senior South Korean government source said. "We have no idea yet why the talks were canceled."
A Russian government source also said the summit plan was scrapped.
An intelligence source privy to North Korea affairs said the two sides might have ditched the summit plan as they failed to narrow differences over the agenda.
Japanese and Russian media reported earlier that the North's leader would likely visit Vladivostok aboard his special train later this week for talks with Medvedev. Neither the North Korean nor Russian governments announced such a summit schedule.
In a presses briefing, meanwhile, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said she has no information on the matter.

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North Korea Completes New Terminal at Pyongyang Airport

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea has built a new terminal at Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang and the terminal recently started operation in June, Japan's Kyodo News agency said on June 28.
The new terminal is believed to be one of projects to develop Pyongyang, the North's capital, in a bid to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, the late father of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, slated for 2012, according to visitors to the country quoted by Kyodo. Kim Il-sung was born on April 15, 1912.
The year 2012 is also the year that North Korea is aiming to become Kangsong Taeguk, which means a great country that is powerful ideologically, militarily and economically.
Pyongyang Sunan International Airport is the North's main gateway, 22 kilometers northwest of the center of Pyongyang. It has two runways.

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N.K. Holds Geneva Disarmament Conference's Rotating Presidency

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea took over the rotating presidency of the UN Conference on Disarmament concerning nuclear arms control talks, which have been deadlocked for the last two years, AFP said on June 28.
"I am convinced that the conference is able to achieve concrete results...I am very engaged in moving the conference forward," North Korean ambassador to Geneva So Se-pyong said.
So added that a group of experts advising UN Chief Ban Ki-moon on disarmament issues will meet diplomats on June 30 informally in Geneva to discuss the current situation.
The second annual session of the conference ends on July 1, with the next session to begin in August.
The 65-nation body was established in 1979 as the single multilateral disarmament negotiating forum of the international community, while six members chair the conference in alphabetical order for four weeks every year.
Pakistan's lone public opposition in starting talks on the production of new nuclear bomb-making material has led to the deadlock in discussions at the Conference on Disarmament since 2009.
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