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The Washington Post reported that a senior US official said on April 28 that Russia has offered to work with the US to restrain the DPRK's missile program if the US Clinton administration abandons its proposal to amend the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty to permit construction of a limited national missile defence system (NMD). The official said, "they are saying, let's deal diplomatically or cooperate on a theatre missile defence and shoot down [DPRK] missiles that way," describing the offer that Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov presented to US Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright during recent talks in the US. The official said that the US agreed to review Ivanov's suggestion; however, it still intends to seek alterations to the ABM Treaty at a June 4-5 summit in Russia.
The official said that the Russian counterproposal was geared toward eliminating the threat posed by medium-range DPRK missiles to the Asian region and fails to deal with the potential threat to the US posed by DPRK efforts to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile. US national security adviser Samuel R. Berger said on April 28 that in the context of the ABM talks, the US might be willing to consider Russia's desire to reduce the number of nuclear warheads on both sides in a START III strategic arms reduction accord. Burger said, "it seems to me to be in Russia's interest ... to do it now, in the context of an administration that wants to preserve the ABM [Treaty], versus later, with an administration that might take a more robust position and do away with the ABM [Treaty]. The Washington Post (Walter Pincus and Steven Mufson, "RUSSIA HAS OFFER ON MISSILE DEFENSE," 4/29/00)
Russian authorities consider the Korean situation to be the most dangerous hot spot in the Asian-Pacific region and one that directly concerns Russia. Moscow has all along supported a direct political dialogue and rapprochement between the North and the South. It has criticized both Korean sides for not having improved their relations long after the great powers put an end to the Cold War.
Materials found in the Russian archives reveal the reasons why Stalin changed his views in 1950 and decided to support Kim Il-sung's desire "to liberate" the South. In conversations with Kim Il-sung in April 1950 in the Kremlin, Stalin gave four reasons to support his conclusion that the international environment had "changed sufficiently to permit a more active stance on the unification of Korea."
Joongang Ilbo reported that Russian president-elect Vladimir Putin is seriously considering a visit to the DPRK after his inauguration. In an April 22 interview with Kyoto News, the Russian Vice-minister of Foreign Affairs said that "no concrete plans have yet been made but Putin will be the first Russian [i.e. non-Soviet: Ed.] president to visit North Korea." On April 21, the Vice-minister held a conference with Supreme People's Assembly chairman Kim Yeong-nam and DPRK Minister of Foreign Affairs Baik Nam-soon, who briefly visited Russia after a trip to Cuba. According to one source, the Russian Vice-minister also said, "Putin was very pleased to hear that tension between the two Koreas is beginning to abate and that summit talks will be held in June. Russia is ready to help relieve the strain between the two countries in any way possible." Joongang Ilbo (Kim Suk-hwan, "PUTIN MAY VISIT NORTH KOREA," Seoul, 04/23/00)
Pyongyang, April 26 (KCNA) -- "Let Us Reunify the Country Independently and Peacefully Through the Great Unity of the Entire Nation," a work published by General Secretary Kim Jong Il on April 18, Juche 87 (1998) was brought out in booklet by the Publishing House of the Leninabad regional committee of the Communist Party of Tajikistan on April 13.
Pyongyang, April 24 (KCNA) -- The February 16 Group for the Study of the Juche Idea Named After "Marshal Kim Jong Il" in Leninabad Region, Tajikistan, was inaugurated in Dushanbe on April 12 with due ceremony on the occasion of Sun's Day. M. Maxzhonnov, first secretary of the Young Communist League of the Region, was elected chief of the group at the ceremony. The ceremony renamed the study group the study society and decided to further expand and develop it into a nationwide organization for the study of the Juche idea. A letter to General Secretary Kim Jong Il was adopted at the ceremony.
О готовящемся саммите сообщил министр культуры Южной Кореи, заявивший, что соглашение о встрече можно рассматривать как доказательство успеха внешней политики Южной Кореи. На пресс-конференции, транслируемой ведущими южнокорейскими телеканалами, было объявлено, что переговоры пройдут в Пхеньяне 12 июня. Пхеньян выступил с аналогичным заявлением. (Василий Сергеев "Газета.ру" 10 апреля 2000)
Pyongyang, April 11 (KCNA) -- Foreign and overseas Korean art troupes and artistes arrived here to participate in the 18th April Spring Friendship Art Festival. Among them were a naval song and dance ensemble of the Russian Ministry of Defence, a Russian Moscow State Academic Philharmony, a Russian circus, Ukrainian and Moldovan group of musicians, a Tajik art troupe, an Armenian musical troupe, an Uzbek musical troupe. Jang Chol, chairman of the organizing committee of the 18th April Spring Friendship Art Festival, met and had a talk with Boris Ivanov, first vice-Minister of Education who is a government cultural delegate of Belarus, at the Mansudae Assembly Hall today. Also arrived in Pyongyang P. Malanuk, vice-chairman of the Ukrainian Society for the Study of the Juche Idea.
The People's Korea carries an interview with Alexandr Nikolaevich Panov, Russian
Ambassador extraordinary to Japan, on the future prospect of DPRK-Russia
relationships. Ambassador Panov said that the conclusion of the recent DPRK-Russia friendly
treaty is a starting point for a new phase in the development of the bilateral
relations and stressed the necessity for the two countries to form new
cooperative relations to achieve peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and
East Asia. Panov was interviewed by the People's Korea staff reporter Kim Ji Yong.
Pyongyang, April 6 (KCNA) -- The South Korean "ambassador" to Russia in an interview with a Russian paper Rosinskaya Gazeta shamelessly justified the sinister aim of the "sunshine policy", letting loose a string of rubbish about the issue of Korea's reunification and the issue of the U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, according to the paper on March 30. It is a well-known fact that the "sunshine policy" on the lips of the South Korean authorities is a policy of confrontation and war full of rhetoric. This is evidenced by their ceaseless war exercises and arms build up against the north.
The speakers noted that Korea has achieved the single-hearted unity of the leader, party and masses and firmly defended socialism, bravely smashing the maneuvers of the imperialists to isolate and stifle the DPRK, under the outstanding and seasoned leadership of the leader Kim Jong Il. This teaches a precious lesson that even a small country can surely stand against the imperialist powers, they added. A letter to Kim Jong Il was adopted at the symposium. The letter noted that Kim Jong Il has strengthened and developed the WPK into a genuine communist party loved and respected by the popular masses, by thoroughly embodying the Juche idea in party building and activity. The successes and experience gained in strengthening and developing the WPK serve as a precious textbook for the communists of Belarus and inspire them in the struggle to rebuild socialism, it stressed.
The Korea Herald reported that ROK officials said on March 23 that Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov proposed during his visit to Pyongyang February 9-10 that the ROK and the DPRK build a railway network connecting that would connect the two countries and extend it to Siberia. Officials said, however, that DPRK leaders refused to give an immediate response to the proposition. They also said that the Russian proposal appeared to be aimed at increasing the profitability of its Siberian railroad by connecting it with an inter-Korean line. Despite the DPRK's lukewarm reaction, ROK and Russian experts will meet in Seoul March 30-31 to discuss concrete ways to help the plan materialize. The Korea Herald (Kim Ji-ho, "RUSSIA PROPOSES INTER-KOREAN RAILWAY," Seoul, 03/24/00)
Subbotnik NG [a supplement to Nezavisimaia Gazeta] published a
letter by N.M.Denisova, wife of Valentin Moiseyev, former Deputy Director of
the RF Foreign Ministry's First Asian Department, who was arrested in 1988 in
Moscow and charged with spying in favor of the ROK. Denisova claimed
that her husband's recruitment by ROK intelligence has still not been proven.
Denisova said that her husband's ROK diplomatic counterpart did not sign any
"admission" protocols. She also said that nothing has shown
that her husband transferred RF secret documents to ROK diplomats, or that he
received an award for the work. Denisova wrote, "the South Korean
diplomat came to Moiseyev's home, drank some tea and found himself a persona
non grata. It was necessary to remove none other but Moiseyev? Why?
Because he never hid his North Korean sympathies? Because he thought our
North Korean policy erroneous?" Subbotnik NG [a
supplement to Nezavisimaia Gazeta] ("QUESTIONS OF VALENTIN MOISEYEV'S
WIFE," Moscow, 7, 02/26/00)
The following "DPRK Report" is the product of a joint project between the Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) of the Monterey Institute of International Studies (Monterey, California, USA) and the Center for Contemporary International Problems (ICIP) (Moscow, Russia). It is written by Russian analysts associated with the ICIP and edited by the CNS.
Nezavisimaia Gazeta reported that O Yon-cher, an official of the Commercial Counselor Department of the DPRK Embassy in Moscow, was killed in an accident on February 25 when his Mercedes car smashed into a MAZ lorry. An unidentified woman in the car was also killed. Nezavisimaia Gazeta (Oleg Nedumov, "A NORTH KOREAN DIPLOMAT DIED IN A ROAD ACCIDENT," Moscow, 2, 02/26/00)
В Москве на улице Нижние Мневники в четверг (24 февраля) произошло дорожно-транспортное происшествие, в результате которого погибли два представителя посольства КНДР в России. Столкновение произошло около 20:10 Автомобиль «Мерседес», принадлежащий посольству КНДР (с дипломатическими номерами) выехал на полосу встречного движения и столкнулся с грузовым автомобилем МАЗ. В результате аварии «Мерседес» загорелся водитель и пассажирка погибли на месте: их тела обуглились до неузнаваемости. На месте происшествия находятся сотрудники Северо-Западного административного округа и представители ГУВД.(in Russian) //www.gazeta.ru
Pyongyang, February 21 (KCNA) -- Kim Yong Nam, politburo member of the central committee of the Workers' Party of Korea and President of the presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK, met and had a talk with the delegation of the Russian Communist Workers' Party led by V. Tyulkin, first secretary of its central committee, in a friendly atmosphere at the Mansudae Assembly Hall today. Choe Jin Su, vice-director of a department of the central committee of the WPK, was present there.
Pyongyang, February 24 (KCNA) -- V. Tyulkin, first secretary of the central committee of the Russian Communist Worker's Party on a visit to the DPRK, in an interview with reporters highly praised the greatness of General Secretary Kim Jong Il who is leading the socialist cause to victory. He said that during his stay he witnessed all the Korean people vigorously advancing, breaking through hardships and difficulties, rallied close around the great Kim Jong Il. Kim Jong Il has devoted himself to accomplishing the cause of revolution pioneered by the President Kim Il Sung, he said, and went on: Kim Jong Il has instilled into the Korean people and all communists strength and courage with his energetic ideological and theoretical activities. He is a worldwide statesman and a staunch defender of the socialist cause. After the demise of the President the imperialists blared that Korean socialism would advance no longer, but Korean socialism has been firmly defended and is vigorously advancing under the leadership of General Secretary Kim Jong Il.
Izvestia's Yury Golotyuk reported that DPRK leader Kim Jong-il failed to get his main gift on the occasion of his recently celebrated birthday, as the test launch of a modernized Taepodong missile was postponed at the very last moment. The launch was planned to take place at the missile base near Musudanri in Northern Hamgyong province on February 16.
The DPRK Foreign Ministry said on January 23 that the DPRK would resume its missile tests if the US continued its anti-missile tests. Thus, "the diplomatic justification was faultless," but RF Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov's visit to Pyongyang a week ago "spoiled the party," because when signing the new RF-DPRK treaty, the RF delegation persistently asked its DPRK counterparts not to breach the missile test moratorium. In exchange the DPRK asked for "an alliance" clause to be included in the treaty, which would have meant automatic "nuclear guarantees" to the DPRK on the part of RF strategic forces. Finally a compromise was reached, with the DPRK canceling the missile test and the RF agreeing to consider the DPRK "its full-fledged partner" at negotiations on creation of a global system of non- proliferation of missiles and missile technologies. Thus, the right of DPRK to join "the elite club" of countries possessing long-range missiles was recognized and the Taepodong test became unnecessary. Izvestia's Yury Golotyuk ("KOREAN MISSILE MEN'S WORD WAS TRUSTED TO BE TRUE," Moscow, 4, 02/17/00)
Choe Thae Bok, alternate member of the political bureau and secretary of the Central Committee of the Worker's Party Korea, said in his speech that Kim Jong Il embarked on the road of revolution in his early years and performed immortal exploits on behalf of the fatherland and people, the era and revolution. The meeting was addressed by V. Tyulkin, first secretary of the central committee of the Communist Worker's Party of Russia who is heading the delegation. Kim Ki Nam, secretary of the WPK Central Committee, met with a delegation of the Union of Communist Parties-the Communist Party of the Soviet Union led by its member of the council of the union Vladimir Tolstikov.
Agence France-Presse reported that an anonymous ROK official said Monday that DPRK Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun has accepted an invitation to visit Moscow. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov "invited Paek to visit Russia, and Paek agreed to the offer" during Ivanov's visit to Pyongyang last week. The ROK's Yonhap News Agency said that the visit will likely take place in the latter half of this year, and would mark the first by a DPRK foreign minister to Russia in 13 years. Agence France-Presse (N.KOREAN FOREIGN MINISTER TO VISIT RUSSIA," Seoul, 02/14/00)
На родине Чучхе произошло великое историческое событие: глава МИД России Игорь Иванов подписал со своим северокорейским коллегой товарищем Пэк Нам Суном новый Договор о дружбе, добрососедстве и сотрудничестве. Россияне могут перевести дух: в нем нет прежнего пункта об оказании военной помощи непредсказуемому Пхеньяну. (Alexander Chudov, Gazeta.ru in Russian)
Georgii Toloraya, deputy head of the RF Foreign Ministry's Asian department, stated, "the visit starting on Wednesday will be a symbolic commitment and a significant start of a new stage of relations based on the recognition of new realities." The report also said that Ivanov hopes his visit will restore cooperation between Russia and the DPRK with the signing of a new friendship treaty, which will replace a 1961 defence pact. Toloraya also said that Ivanov will seek the DPRK's support for a global system of control over missiles and weapons technology. Toloraya stated, "we will propose that North Korea participate in this project. Both countries have come out against the creation of an anti-missile defense system of military operations in the Asian theater." Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said on February 7 that the DPRK-Russia treaty "is not aimed against a third country."
Новое
открытие
Северной
Кореи
Москва
больше не
обязана
защищать
Пхеньян (in Russian)
Двухдневный визит министра иностранных дел РФ Игоря Иванова в Пхеньян подводит черту под десятилетием затишья в двусторонних отношениях. Последний раз Москву на министерском уровне представлял Эдуард Шеварднадзе в 1990 году. Такое отчуждение не принесло нам никаких дивидендов, только упущенные шансы. Так, в свое время мы не воспользовались возможностью стать участниками консорциума по строительству ядерных реакторов на легкой воде в КНДР вместо старых графитовых, построенных по советской технологии. За это время американская дипломатия добилась существенных успехов - свято место пусто не бывает. (Юрий САВЕНКОВ, Известия N 24 (25616) от 09.02.2000)
Izvestia reported that seven DPRK citizens apprehended by the RF border guards in the RF Far East were deported to the PRC from where entered the RF. According to RF border guards, the defectors looked tired and exhausted and said it was "impossible to live [in the DPRK], as there is famine and no money." The defectors had hoped the RF authorities would send them to the ROK or let them stay in the RF. Izvestia ("NORTH KOREAN DEFECTORS SENT TO CHINA," Moscow, 4, 02/03/00)
The Korea Herald reported that Han Ho-sok, president of the Center for Korean Affairs, claimed in a report released on the center's website (http://www.onekorea.org) on February 6 that the DPRK has built an underground nuclear facility for military purposes which US spy satellites and reconnaissance planes cannot easily detect. Han said that the DPRK's Yongbyon facility was a nuclear complex constructed only for civilian purposes. Han said that since the mid-1980s, when the DPRK signed an agreement on nuclear energy development with the former Soviet Union and several other East European countries, the DPRK has increased its efforts to develop nuclear energy technology. He said that the DPRK also dispatched over 200 scientists to the former Soviet Union between 1956 and 1991 to be trained at a nuclear energy institute. The Korea Herald ("N.K. MAINTAINS UNDERGROUND NUCLEAR WEAPONS FACILITY, SCHOLAR CLAIMS," Seoul, 02/08/00)
PYONGYANG WATCH: Quiet or Noisy Diplomacy?
(By Bradley Martin)
What's the best way to keep North Korea from killing its own people when they try to defect and get caught? There's an ongoing debate on that topic in South Korea between advocates of vocal international pressure and ''quiet diplomacy''. The immediate focus of the debate has been a family of seven North Korean defectors who were captured by Russian border police last November while they were trying to sneak into Russia from China. South Korea's Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry entreated Moscow not to send the seven back, but the Russians turned them over to China on December 30 anyway.
Chosun Ilbo reported that ROK Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT) Lee Joung-binn asked Russian ambassador Evgeny V. Afanasiev to inquire on the safety of seven DPRK refugees deported back to the DPRK. While expressing regret at the incident, Lee said that it would not affect relations between the ROK and Russia. Chosun Ilbo (Lee Ha-won, "FOREIGN MINISTER ASKS RUSSIA ON SAFETY OF 7 DEFECTORS," Seoul, 01/31/00)
Chosun Ilbo reported that United Nation's secretary-general Kofi Anan will visit Russia within the week and meet with acting Russian President Vladimir V. Putin and other high ranking government officials to protest the deportation of seven DPRK escapees. The DPRK Nationals were granted the status of 'refugees' to the PRC by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), but were still returned to the DPRK. Anan asked assurance that such deportations would not recur. A diplomatic source stated that the UN regards the recent deportations by Russia and then by the PRC, both of whom signed the International Refugee Treaty in 1951, as an act damaging the authority of the UN. Chosun Ilbo (Jung Kwon-hyun, "UN HEAD TO VISIT RUSSIA TO PROTEST DEPORTATION.," Seoul, 01/24/00)
Reuters reported that a Kazakhstan military tribunal today opened court hearings in Almaty against the head of the armed forces' general staff Bakhitzhan Yertayev and businessman Alexander Petrenko, charged with the illegal sale of several MiG-21 fighter aircraft to the DPRK last year.
Petrenko's lawyer Vladimir Abiyev told reporters, "Petrenko is being tried under Article 250 for smuggling army property while Yertayev is being tried under Article 380, that is, for misusing his official position and overstepping his commission." Kazakhstan has admitted that the MiGs were sold to the DPRK but denied government knowledge of the sale. Yertayev, however, said that the sale had taken place with the knowledge of his superiors at the Defense Ministry. "(A)s chief of general headquarters, I was carrying out a government resolution. If I had not fulfilled it, they would have done (to me) what they want to do now. There were no violations." Reuters ("KAZAKHSTAN OPENS TRIAL FOR NORTH KOREA MIG SALE," Alamaty, 1/10/00)
Chosun Ilbo reported on Friday that the head of the DPRK Supreme People's Council Standing Committee, Kim Young-nam, was learned to have visited Moscow for fifteen days in November to discuss ties with Russia.
A diplomatic source said that, following the meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov will visit the DPRK in January or February 2000. Should the visit be realized it would be the first visit by a Russian foreign minister in ten years, since Eduard Shevardnaze. The official reason for the visit was illness, as Kim was hospitalised in Moscow Central Hospital for eye surgery. As a former foreign minister, Kim has a lot of contacts and his visit was kept secret at the DPRK's request. He is currently ranked as number two in the DPRK government's hierarchy, but technically listed as head of state on official documents. Chosun Ilbo (Hwang Seong-joon, "NK POLITBURO HEAD VISITS MOSCOW," Seoul, 12/30/99)
В Москве открыта выставка Северо-корейских книг, фотографий и поделок народного творчества
Центральное Телеграфное Агенство (КНДР) и Анна Калинина (Москва)
В ознаменование 8-й годовщины со дня утверждения Любимого Руководителя северо-корейского народа товарища Ким Чен-ира в должности Верховного Командующего Корейской Народной Армии, и в связи с 82-й годовщиной со дня рождения его покойной матушки - доблестной революционерки Ким Чжон-сук, в Москве открылась выставка книг, фотографий, и поделок народного творчества КНДР. (in Russian)
Korean Book, Photo and Handiwork Exhibition Opens in Russia
A North Korean book, photo and handiwork exhibition opened in Moscow on the occasion of the 8th anniversary of Kim Jong Il's election as Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army and the 82nd birth anniversary of Kim Jong Suk. At the opening ceremony, Russian poet Alexander Brezhnev recited a poem "The Great Comrade Kim Jong Il" written by himself in reverence for Kim Jong Il.
The Russian General Staff's View of the North Korean Missile Program
The General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces is paying serious
attention to North Korean efforts to develop its nuclear and missile potential. These
attempts are viewed in Moscow as "one of the most important problems
directly affecting ... Russia's national security, as well as
regional and global stability." Preventing this "serious
threat" to Russia's security is identified as one of the main tasks facing
Moscow.
Российскому дипломату дали 12 лет за шпионаж в пользу Южной Кореи
Московский
городской
суд
приговорил
бывшего
заместителя
директора
первого
департамента
Азии МИД РФ
Валентина
Моисеева к 12
годам
строгого
режима с
конфискацией
имущества.
Дипломат
обвинялся в
передаче
секретных
документов
южнокорейской
разведке.
Сам Моисеев
отрицает
обвинения и
поручил
своему
адвокату
обжаловать
приговор. (in Russian)
Russia-North Korean Border Repatriation Clause Confirmed
Chosun Ilbo reported that it was confirmed on Thursday in clauses 13 and 14 of a copy of the 1990 border treaty between Russia and the DPRK that Russia agreed to send migrant workers such as loggers, defectors and asylum seekers back to the DPRK.
Clause 13 defines who is and who is not a defector, while
14 covers their treatment; stating that the two governments agree to inform
each other's representative of the arrest of illegal border-crossers
immediately, and following any investigation of criminal acts may detain them
for the duration of any prison term, before repatriating them to their country
of origin.
Chosun Ilbo (Jung Kwon-hyun, "RUSSIA-NK BORDER
REPATRIATION CLAUSE CONFIRMED," Seoul, 12/05/99)
Seoul Urged Russia to Bring Detained North Korean Defectors to South
Korea
South Korean civic groups reported that a seven-member family had defected from the DPRK and was in custody after being arrested by the Russian Federation security guards for illegally crossing the border on November 7.
by DONALD N. CLARK
In the far northeast corner of Korea at the mouth of the Tumen River, Korea and Russia share a thirteen-mile land frontier. Beyond it is the Bay of Posset, the port of Vladivostok lying at the eastern end of the Trans-Siberian Railway, and the Ussuri River, which serves as the Russo-Manchurian border.
See more about Russian Novina at
North
Korean Kyongsong Hot Springs
Северная Корея купила немножко МиГ-2
7 августа 1999 г. мировые информационные агентства распространили информацию со ссылкой на публикации в южнокорейской прессе о закупке Северной Кореей 40 истребителей МиГ-21 в одной из стран СНГ. (in Russian)
Symposium on Kim Jong Il's work held in Russia
According to a recent poll conducted by a prestigious Russian research organization, none of the respondents across the Russian Federation identified North Korea as a threat to Russian security.
"CЕВЕРНАЯ
КОРЕЯ ЖДЁТ
ИНОСТРАННЫХ
ГОСТЕЙ"
(...но
не понимает,
куда же они
подевались)