ID :
191937
Thu, 06/30/2011 - 07:33
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/191937
The shortlink copeid
NORTH KOREA NEWSLETTER NO. 164 (June 30, 2011)
*** NEWS IN BRIEF
N. Korea Seen Exploiting Rare Earth Minerals for Exports
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea is showing a growing interest in developing rare earth minerals, in an apparent bid to earn much-needed cash from selling the materials abroad.
Rare earth minerals are compounds of rare earth metals, including cerium and neodymium, which are used as a crucial element in semiconductors, cars, computers and other advanced technology areas. Some types of rare earth materials can be used to build missiles.
In a report carried by KCNA on June 20, the communist state said it is working on developing rare earth minerals for economic growth.
"An effective utilization of rare earth minerals is of weighty significance in economic growth," the report said, quoting Kim Hung-ju, vice department director of the North's Ministry of State Resource Development.
"The DPRK government has paid much effort to the exploitation and utilization of rare earth minerals," it said, referring to North Korea by the acronym of its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
The report added that there are large deposits of high-grade rare earth minerals in the western and eastern parts of the country, where prospecting work and mining have already begun. It also said the rare earth elements are being studied in scientific institutes, while some of the research findings have already been introduced in economic sectors.
The article follows another KCNA report in July 2009 that described North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's inspection of a semiconductor materials plant, saying he stressed the importance of producing more rare earth metals.
Until now, North Korea's official media have mostly reported on the use of rare earth minerals in medicine and fertilizers. But its new focus on developing and using the materials appears to stem from the country's interest in selling the metals for a high price on the international market, according to experts.
Rare earth elements are becoming increasingly expensive, as China, the world's largest rare earth supplier, puts limits on its output and exports.
"It appears that North Korea only recently started taking an interest in rare earth materials," said Choi Gyeong-su, head of the North Korea Resources Institute in Seoul. "The country does not have the technology to even determine the exact amount of its reserves, so it doesn't seem likely anytime soon that the rare earth materials will be used to produce goods for the high-tech industry."
------------------------
N. Korea Pushing to Sign Double Taxation Avoidance Deal with China
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea is pressing to ink a deal with China to prevent double taxation, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper said on June 22, signaling an apparent bid to attract investment from its key ally and the world's No. 2 economy.
The isolated country has already signed similar accords with Egypt and 11 other countries and negotiations are under way with other countries, the Choson Sinbo reported, citing a North Korean official handling the issue of attracting foreign investment.
However, the newspaper, widely seen as the mouthpiece of the socialist regime in Pyongyang, did not give any further details.
The development comes as the North is struggling to overcome years of economic difficulties amid tightened U.N. sanctions over its two nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.
The North has repeatedly called for efforts to build a prosperous and powerful nation by next year, the centennial of the birth of the country's late founder Kim Il-sung, the father of current leader Kim Jong-il.
Still, Pyongyang has made a series of appeals for food assistance from the international community, a sign that the North's goal is likely to remain elusive.
------------------------
AP, KCNA Agree to Open AP Bureau in Pyongyang
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- The Associated Press and the North Korean state news agency have signed a series of agreements, including one for the opening of a comprehensive AP news bureau in Pyongyang, the organizations announced on June 29.
A memorandum of understanding agreed by the AP and the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) would expand the AP's presence in North Korea to a level unmatched by any other Western news organization, according to AP report from New York.
The U.S. news agency said it would build upon the AP's existing video news bureau, which opened in Pyongyang in 2006, by allowing AP text and photo journalists to work in North Korea as well.
With the signing, the agencies agreed to begin work immediately on detailed planning needed to set up and operate the new bureau as quickly as possible. It would be the first permanent text and photo bureau operated by a Western news organization in the North Korean capital.
In addition, the agencies signed a contract designating the AP as the exclusive international distributor of contemporary and historic video from KCNA's archive. The agencies also plan a joint photo exhibition in New York next year. They already had an agreement between them to distribute KCNA photo archives to the global market, signed earlier this year.
"This agreement between AP and KCNA is historic and significant," AP President and CEO Tom Curley said. "AP is once again being trusted to open a door to better understanding between a nation and the world. We are grateful for this opportunity and look forward to providing coverage for AP's global audience in our usually reliable and insightful way."
Kim Pyong-ho, president of KCNA, said after a signing ceremony: "I hope this agreement contributes not only to the strengthening of relations between our two news agencies but also to the better understanding between the peoples of our two countries and the improvement of the DPRK-U.S. relations."
Five years ago, AP Television News, headquartered in London, became the first Western news organization to establish an office in North Korea.
The AP in recent years has been talking with North Korean officials on various topics including how to set up broader access for AP print and photo journalists to Pyongyang. As the contacts progressed, KCNA hosted Curley in Pyongyang in March.
A five-member KCNA delegation, led by Kim, arrived on June 25 for talks with the AP at the AP's world headquarters in New York City.
Government officials in each country were aware of the AP-KCNA initiative and the U.S. State Department approved visas for the group coming to New York, the AP said. U.S. government policy backs some cultural exchanges with North Korea as a way to build trust between the two countries.
Founded in 1846, the AP maintains bureaus in some 100 countries around the world and is the oldest and largest of the world's major news agencies.
------------------------
North Korea Ups Slander against South Korean President
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea has drastically stepped up its smear campaign against South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, Seoul's Unification Ministry said on June 23, in an apparent sign of growing frustration over the inter-Korean impasse.
The North frequently accused Lee of being a "traitor" and "stooge serving the U.S." for what Pyongyang claims is South Korea's hostile policy toward the North and Seoul's subservience to Washington.
The North's official news agency has recently carried articles full of slander on Lee and threats against South Korea almost every day.
The cases of the North's slander on Lee has jumped to 166 in June from 64 in May when Lee offered to invite North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to next year's international security summit in Seoul, the ministry said.
Lee unveiled the offer during a trip to Berlin in May on condition that Pyongyang firmly commits to nuclear disarmament and apologizes for last year's two deadly attacks on the South.
North Korea has refused to take responsibility for the sinking of a South Korean warship and shelling of a frontline South Korean island, keeping the two sides from moving their relations forward.
In what could be a sign of frustration over the lack of progress in inter-Korean ties, the North has recently vowed not to deal with "traitor Lee Myung-bak" and to attack the South for anti-Pyongyang "psychological warfare."
It's not unusual for the North to denounce leaders of South Korea and its key ally, the United States.
In 2009, a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman described U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as "a primary schoolgirl" and "a pensioner going shopping" in response to her criticism to Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programs.
Clinton likened North Korea's leaders to "unruly teenagers" who seek to gain U.S. attention through nuclear and missile activities.
------------------------
North Korea Marks Korean War with Downscaled Ceremony
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea held a rally on June 25 in Pyongyang Indoor Stadium to commemorate the 61st anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, amid the socialist country seeking to improve ties with the United States.
The North' official Korean Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS) and Radio Pyongyang on June 26 said the rally of Pyongyang citizens was held in the 20,000-seat indoor stadium, with high ranking officials of the Party and the government in attendance.
They included four secretaries of the North's ruling Workers' Party Kim Ki-nam, Choe Tae-bok, Choe Ryong-hae and Mun Kyong-dok; Yang Hyong-sop, vice president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA); Vice Premier Kang Nung-su and among others.
It is the first time since 2008 that the North held the rally indoors. Last year, about 120,000 Pyongyang citizens convened in Kimilsung Plaza for the rally, while in 2009 about 100,000 citizens were mobilized for the festivities.
In his speech during the rally, Ryang Man-gil, chairman of the People's Committee in Pyongyang, said North Korea will never be sitting on its hands against anti-North Korean confrontations and war schemes by the United States and South Korea.
North Korean experts in Seoul said that the downscaled Korean War ceremony in North Korea seems to stem from an attempt to improve relations with the United States.
Earlier, the North's 17-member taekwondo team traveled to the United States from June 9-21 to perform taekwondo, a traditional Korean martial art and an Olympic sport that has gained international popularity.
A delegation of the North's official news agency, led by its General Director Kim Pyong-ho, is visiting the United States starting June 23 at the invitation of the Associated Press.
The U.S. is reportedly considering the resumption of the food aid to the North that was suspended in 2007.
Meanwhile, the North's media also claimed in a variety of news stories that the Korean War is clearly "an aggressive war" by the U.S. to gain control of North Korea.
And also, the KCNA demanded on June 28 an apology from Japan, saying the neighboring country took part in the Korean War.
The war that broke out on June 25, 1950 ended with a cease-fire, not a peace treaty, on July 27, 1953. North Korea and China inked the Korean armistice agreement with the U.S.-led United Nations Command, which represented South Korea.
------------------------
N. Korea Closer to Acknowledging 2nd Father-to-son Power Transfer
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea on June 27 gave its first apparent confirmation of reports that it is preparing for a second father-to-son succession from its current leader, Kim Jong-il, to his third and youngest son, Jong-un.
The implicit recognition came nine months after Kim Jong-un, presumed to be in his late 20s, was made a four-star general and appointed as a vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the North's ruling Workers' Party. The appointments, made before and during a large Workers' Party convention in Pyongyang, all but confirmed media speculation that the communist state is grooming the young man for a back-to-back power transfer.
In a dissertation published on its official Web site, Uriminzokkiri, North Korea described last year's convention as "an historical opportunity that provided the basic conditions for guaranteeing consistency in the succession of the great juche (self-reliance) revolution." The juche principle is the backbone ideology of the communist regime.
The paper also stressed the importance of succession and listed the qualities required of a successor.
"The issue of leadership succession is a vital matter related to a country's propagation," it said, adding that the process involves the inheritance of a leader's principles, achievements and appearance.
Although the paper does not mention Kim Jong-un by name, the statements reveal an underlying purpose of Kim Jong-un's hairstyle and attire at the convention, which closely resembled those of his late grandfather and North Korea founder, Kim Il-sung.
"North Korea may be promoting Kim Jong-un's qualifications as a successor within its borders, but it's probably not comfortable yet with publicizing them abroad," said a North Korea expert, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
------------------------
N. Korea Threatens to Launch Retaliatory 'Sacred War' on S. Korea
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea threatened on June 29 to launch "a retaliatory sacred war" against South Korea for slandering the North, as the two sides prepared to hold rare talks on their troubled joint tour project in the isolated country.
The North accused South Korea's frontline military units of setting up slogans allegedly casting barbs at the army and dignity of the North, saying they were "little short of a clear declaration of war."
The North "will make a clean sweep of the group of traitors through a retaliatory sacred war," an unidentified North Korean government spokesman said in a statement carried by the KCAN.
He also warned of "unpredictably disastrous consequences" unless South Korea apologizes for the alleged provocation, saying those who hurt the North's dignity will never go scot-free.
North Korea bristles at criticism of its leader Kim Jong-il and his late father and the country's founder, Kim Il-sung, the subject of a massive personality cult that pervades almost every aspect of North Korean society.
The development illustrates lingering tensions between the two Koreas since last year when the North torpedoed a South Korean warship and shelled a South Korean frontline island.
North Korea has spurned Seoul's long-standing demand that Pyongyang take responsibility for the attacks that killed 50 South Koreans, keeping the two sides from moving their relations forward.
The North has made similar threats in recent months over what it claims is Seoul's anti-Pyongyang psychological warfare, and said it would not deal with the South anymore.
The latest warning comes as South Korean officials and businessmen were heading to a scenic mountain in the North to discuss the ownership of South Korean assets seized by the North.
(END)
N. Korea Seen Exploiting Rare Earth Minerals for Exports
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea is showing a growing interest in developing rare earth minerals, in an apparent bid to earn much-needed cash from selling the materials abroad.
Rare earth minerals are compounds of rare earth metals, including cerium and neodymium, which are used as a crucial element in semiconductors, cars, computers and other advanced technology areas. Some types of rare earth materials can be used to build missiles.
In a report carried by KCNA on June 20, the communist state said it is working on developing rare earth minerals for economic growth.
"An effective utilization of rare earth minerals is of weighty significance in economic growth," the report said, quoting Kim Hung-ju, vice department director of the North's Ministry of State Resource Development.
"The DPRK government has paid much effort to the exploitation and utilization of rare earth minerals," it said, referring to North Korea by the acronym of its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
The report added that there are large deposits of high-grade rare earth minerals in the western and eastern parts of the country, where prospecting work and mining have already begun. It also said the rare earth elements are being studied in scientific institutes, while some of the research findings have already been introduced in economic sectors.
The article follows another KCNA report in July 2009 that described North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's inspection of a semiconductor materials plant, saying he stressed the importance of producing more rare earth metals.
Until now, North Korea's official media have mostly reported on the use of rare earth minerals in medicine and fertilizers. But its new focus on developing and using the materials appears to stem from the country's interest in selling the metals for a high price on the international market, according to experts.
Rare earth elements are becoming increasingly expensive, as China, the world's largest rare earth supplier, puts limits on its output and exports.
"It appears that North Korea only recently started taking an interest in rare earth materials," said Choi Gyeong-su, head of the North Korea Resources Institute in Seoul. "The country does not have the technology to even determine the exact amount of its reserves, so it doesn't seem likely anytime soon that the rare earth materials will be used to produce goods for the high-tech industry."
------------------------
N. Korea Pushing to Sign Double Taxation Avoidance Deal with China
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea is pressing to ink a deal with China to prevent double taxation, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper said on June 22, signaling an apparent bid to attract investment from its key ally and the world's No. 2 economy.
The isolated country has already signed similar accords with Egypt and 11 other countries and negotiations are under way with other countries, the Choson Sinbo reported, citing a North Korean official handling the issue of attracting foreign investment.
However, the newspaper, widely seen as the mouthpiece of the socialist regime in Pyongyang, did not give any further details.
The development comes as the North is struggling to overcome years of economic difficulties amid tightened U.N. sanctions over its two nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.
The North has repeatedly called for efforts to build a prosperous and powerful nation by next year, the centennial of the birth of the country's late founder Kim Il-sung, the father of current leader Kim Jong-il.
Still, Pyongyang has made a series of appeals for food assistance from the international community, a sign that the North's goal is likely to remain elusive.
------------------------
AP, KCNA Agree to Open AP Bureau in Pyongyang
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- The Associated Press and the North Korean state news agency have signed a series of agreements, including one for the opening of a comprehensive AP news bureau in Pyongyang, the organizations announced on June 29.
A memorandum of understanding agreed by the AP and the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) would expand the AP's presence in North Korea to a level unmatched by any other Western news organization, according to AP report from New York.
The U.S. news agency said it would build upon the AP's existing video news bureau, which opened in Pyongyang in 2006, by allowing AP text and photo journalists to work in North Korea as well.
With the signing, the agencies agreed to begin work immediately on detailed planning needed to set up and operate the new bureau as quickly as possible. It would be the first permanent text and photo bureau operated by a Western news organization in the North Korean capital.
In addition, the agencies signed a contract designating the AP as the exclusive international distributor of contemporary and historic video from KCNA's archive. The agencies also plan a joint photo exhibition in New York next year. They already had an agreement between them to distribute KCNA photo archives to the global market, signed earlier this year.
"This agreement between AP and KCNA is historic and significant," AP President and CEO Tom Curley said. "AP is once again being trusted to open a door to better understanding between a nation and the world. We are grateful for this opportunity and look forward to providing coverage for AP's global audience in our usually reliable and insightful way."
Kim Pyong-ho, president of KCNA, said after a signing ceremony: "I hope this agreement contributes not only to the strengthening of relations between our two news agencies but also to the better understanding between the peoples of our two countries and the improvement of the DPRK-U.S. relations."
Five years ago, AP Television News, headquartered in London, became the first Western news organization to establish an office in North Korea.
The AP in recent years has been talking with North Korean officials on various topics including how to set up broader access for AP print and photo journalists to Pyongyang. As the contacts progressed, KCNA hosted Curley in Pyongyang in March.
A five-member KCNA delegation, led by Kim, arrived on June 25 for talks with the AP at the AP's world headquarters in New York City.
Government officials in each country were aware of the AP-KCNA initiative and the U.S. State Department approved visas for the group coming to New York, the AP said. U.S. government policy backs some cultural exchanges with North Korea as a way to build trust between the two countries.
Founded in 1846, the AP maintains bureaus in some 100 countries around the world and is the oldest and largest of the world's major news agencies.
------------------------
North Korea Ups Slander against South Korean President
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea has drastically stepped up its smear campaign against South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, Seoul's Unification Ministry said on June 23, in an apparent sign of growing frustration over the inter-Korean impasse.
The North frequently accused Lee of being a "traitor" and "stooge serving the U.S." for what Pyongyang claims is South Korea's hostile policy toward the North and Seoul's subservience to Washington.
The North's official news agency has recently carried articles full of slander on Lee and threats against South Korea almost every day.
The cases of the North's slander on Lee has jumped to 166 in June from 64 in May when Lee offered to invite North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to next year's international security summit in Seoul, the ministry said.
Lee unveiled the offer during a trip to Berlin in May on condition that Pyongyang firmly commits to nuclear disarmament and apologizes for last year's two deadly attacks on the South.
North Korea has refused to take responsibility for the sinking of a South Korean warship and shelling of a frontline South Korean island, keeping the two sides from moving their relations forward.
In what could be a sign of frustration over the lack of progress in inter-Korean ties, the North has recently vowed not to deal with "traitor Lee Myung-bak" and to attack the South for anti-Pyongyang "psychological warfare."
It's not unusual for the North to denounce leaders of South Korea and its key ally, the United States.
In 2009, a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman described U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as "a primary schoolgirl" and "a pensioner going shopping" in response to her criticism to Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programs.
Clinton likened North Korea's leaders to "unruly teenagers" who seek to gain U.S. attention through nuclear and missile activities.
------------------------
North Korea Marks Korean War with Downscaled Ceremony
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea held a rally on June 25 in Pyongyang Indoor Stadium to commemorate the 61st anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, amid the socialist country seeking to improve ties with the United States.
The North' official Korean Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS) and Radio Pyongyang on June 26 said the rally of Pyongyang citizens was held in the 20,000-seat indoor stadium, with high ranking officials of the Party and the government in attendance.
They included four secretaries of the North's ruling Workers' Party Kim Ki-nam, Choe Tae-bok, Choe Ryong-hae and Mun Kyong-dok; Yang Hyong-sop, vice president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA); Vice Premier Kang Nung-su and among others.
It is the first time since 2008 that the North held the rally indoors. Last year, about 120,000 Pyongyang citizens convened in Kimilsung Plaza for the rally, while in 2009 about 100,000 citizens were mobilized for the festivities.
In his speech during the rally, Ryang Man-gil, chairman of the People's Committee in Pyongyang, said North Korea will never be sitting on its hands against anti-North Korean confrontations and war schemes by the United States and South Korea.
North Korean experts in Seoul said that the downscaled Korean War ceremony in North Korea seems to stem from an attempt to improve relations with the United States.
Earlier, the North's 17-member taekwondo team traveled to the United States from June 9-21 to perform taekwondo, a traditional Korean martial art and an Olympic sport that has gained international popularity.
A delegation of the North's official news agency, led by its General Director Kim Pyong-ho, is visiting the United States starting June 23 at the invitation of the Associated Press.
The U.S. is reportedly considering the resumption of the food aid to the North that was suspended in 2007.
Meanwhile, the North's media also claimed in a variety of news stories that the Korean War is clearly "an aggressive war" by the U.S. to gain control of North Korea.
And also, the KCNA demanded on June 28 an apology from Japan, saying the neighboring country took part in the Korean War.
The war that broke out on June 25, 1950 ended with a cease-fire, not a peace treaty, on July 27, 1953. North Korea and China inked the Korean armistice agreement with the U.S.-led United Nations Command, which represented South Korea.
------------------------
N. Korea Closer to Acknowledging 2nd Father-to-son Power Transfer
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea on June 27 gave its first apparent confirmation of reports that it is preparing for a second father-to-son succession from its current leader, Kim Jong-il, to his third and youngest son, Jong-un.
The implicit recognition came nine months after Kim Jong-un, presumed to be in his late 20s, was made a four-star general and appointed as a vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the North's ruling Workers' Party. The appointments, made before and during a large Workers' Party convention in Pyongyang, all but confirmed media speculation that the communist state is grooming the young man for a back-to-back power transfer.
In a dissertation published on its official Web site, Uriminzokkiri, North Korea described last year's convention as "an historical opportunity that provided the basic conditions for guaranteeing consistency in the succession of the great juche (self-reliance) revolution." The juche principle is the backbone ideology of the communist regime.
The paper also stressed the importance of succession and listed the qualities required of a successor.
"The issue of leadership succession is a vital matter related to a country's propagation," it said, adding that the process involves the inheritance of a leader's principles, achievements and appearance.
Although the paper does not mention Kim Jong-un by name, the statements reveal an underlying purpose of Kim Jong-un's hairstyle and attire at the convention, which closely resembled those of his late grandfather and North Korea founder, Kim Il-sung.
"North Korea may be promoting Kim Jong-un's qualifications as a successor within its borders, but it's probably not comfortable yet with publicizing them abroad," said a North Korea expert, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
------------------------
N. Korea Threatens to Launch Retaliatory 'Sacred War' on S. Korea
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea threatened on June 29 to launch "a retaliatory sacred war" against South Korea for slandering the North, as the two sides prepared to hold rare talks on their troubled joint tour project in the isolated country.
The North accused South Korea's frontline military units of setting up slogans allegedly casting barbs at the army and dignity of the North, saying they were "little short of a clear declaration of war."
The North "will make a clean sweep of the group of traitors through a retaliatory sacred war," an unidentified North Korean government spokesman said in a statement carried by the KCAN.
He also warned of "unpredictably disastrous consequences" unless South Korea apologizes for the alleged provocation, saying those who hurt the North's dignity will never go scot-free.
North Korea bristles at criticism of its leader Kim Jong-il and his late father and the country's founder, Kim Il-sung, the subject of a massive personality cult that pervades almost every aspect of North Korean society.
The development illustrates lingering tensions between the two Koreas since last year when the North torpedoed a South Korean warship and shelled a South Korean frontline island.
North Korea has spurned Seoul's long-standing demand that Pyongyang take responsibility for the attacks that killed 50 South Koreans, keeping the two sides from moving their relations forward.
The North has made similar threats in recent months over what it claims is Seoul's anti-Pyongyang psychological warfare, and said it would not deal with the South anymore.
The latest warning comes as South Korean officials and businessmen were heading to a scenic mountain in the North to discuss the ownership of South Korean assets seized by the North.
(END)
