N. KOREA: North Korean Economic Crisis Complicates Transition

March 30, 2010

by Anthony Kuhn

Economic upheaval in North Korea may have cost one of the country's top economic policy officials his job, and maybe even his life.

If media reports in South Korea are accurate, earlier this month, North Korea hauled its equivalent of Alan Greenspan in front of a firing squad.

If not, then Pak Nam Gi, in charge of finance and planning for the ruling Workers' Party, may be doing just fine.

After all, even experts don't know who many North Korean officials are, much less whether they've been shot. But North Korea watchers agree that the economic reforms Pak presided over have failed disastrously, complicating North Korea's leadership transition.

Many analysts believe Pak was made a scapegoat for the currency reform.

"Pak Nam Gi's a technocrat. He's not a power man. He has just implemented what the politicians have wanted, but he was blamed for the failures of the currency reform," says Park Hyung-jung, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute of National Unification, a government think tank in Seoul.

 North Korea kicked off economic reforms by replacing its old currency for new (shown here) at the end of November 2009. But the effects of the changes have been devastating.  Jung Yeon-je/AFP/Getty Images

Currency Reform

At the end of November, North Korea scrapped its old currency for new. This wiped out household savings and investment capital, and sent food prices soaring.

The currency reforms were meant to confiscate merchants' wealth and give it to farmers, workers and soldiers in the state sector. Many state-owned firms have fallen idle, and their workers have gradually migrated to the free markets to survive.

The plan worked, at least for a while, says Kim Yun-tae, secretary general of the Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights, a Seoul-based group that gets information from a network of informants in North Korea.

"The government printed money and distributed it to farmers and the lower classes," Kim says. "People loved it at first. But when the working class spent all that money, it was eaten up by inflation, and their lives got even harder."

At the same time, the government has cracked down on foreign trade and the use of hard currency. Park, the researcher, says that the government may not have confiscated hard currency only for its own use, but also to generally exert central government control over trade, while punishing political rivals and rewarding allies.

Succession Dilemma

All of this complicates what is perhaps North Korea's most destabilizing problem: the succession to a third generation of the ruling Kim family.

In a clandestine video shot in North Korea, schoolchildren march through the streets of Pyongyang singing a song called "Footsteps." The lyrics declare: "Commander Kim is stepping forward" and "taking over." The song is believed to refer to ailing leader Kim Jong Il's third son and presumed heir, Kim Jong Un.

But North Korea's cryptocratic regime has never publicly mentioned the fact that Kim Jong Il even has a family, much less a presumed heir.

North Korea expert Kim Yun-tae says the currency reforms were supposed to be a curtain raiser for Kim Jong Un, who is still in his 20s and lacks leadership experience.

"Kim Jong Un could have gotten the credit for the currency reform, if it had succeeded," he says. "But since it failed, he can't. So this situation makes it hard to introduce him."

For now, Kim Yun-tae says, the succession is only mentioned within the ruling Workers' Party.

Critical Voices

Outside the party, meanwhile, signs of opposition to government policies are growing, says Kang Chol-hwan, a journalist at South Korea's Chosun Daily. He co-authored The Aquariums of Pyongyang, about the decade he spent in a North Korean labor camp before defecting to the South in 1992.

He says that under the threat of harsh punishment, North Koreans' only way to defy their government is through passive resistance.

"To express their resentment against the government, North Koreans stopped obeying official orders," Kang explains. "This became widespread in the 1990s. This time, with the currency reform, North Koreans have gone from refusing orders to speaking critically about the government."

For now, that criticism is spoken in private and in hushed tones. But the voices appear to be growing louder and bolder.

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RUSSIA: Suicide Bomber Hit Station Next to Russia's Top Security Agency

Tuesday, March 30, 2010; A15

By Greg Miller and Peter Finn
Washington Post Staff Writers

The twin suicide bombings that killed at least 38 people in Moscow's crowded subway system on Monday included an attack on a station just steps away from the headquarters of Russia's premier security service.

The strike shortly before 8 a.m. at the Lubyanka station -- named for the forbidding building that houses Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor to the KGB -- is part of a wave of suicide assaults that target spy services engaged in violent confrontations with militant Islamist groups.

Monday's attack in central Moscow appeared designed to maximize the chance that Russian intelligence officials would be among the commuters caught in the carnage. If so, the assault would extend a string of losses for intelligence services, which are more accustomed to carrying out lethal operations than being attacked themselves.

A December bombing killed seven CIA employees and contractors near the Afghan city of Khost; the deputy chief of Afghanistan's intelligence service was assassinated in September; and a series of suicide strikes killed dozens of Pakistani operatives at facilities used by the country's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency in cities from Peshawar to Lahore.

A U.S. intelligence official said that spy services have become priority targets for militant groups, since spies are at the forefront of counterterrorist campaigns.

"While every counterterror conflict is different, the fact that the enemy wears no uniform and relies on stealth means that intelligence officers will be playing key roles," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record. "The more effective they are, the more likely they are to be targets."

The sophistication in a spree of recent attacks on spy services suggests that militant groups are also becoming more skilled at stalking their pursuers. Abdullah Laghmani, the No. 2 in the Afghan intelligence service, was killed last year by a suicide bomber who caught the deputy spy chief as he was leaving a mosque.

In some cases, militants have become adept at using methods that have long been the preserve of espionage agencies. The bombing of the CIA base in Khost was carried out by an al-Qaeda double agent who convinced CIA operatives that he was their asset, and lured officials to their deaths by promising to inform them of the whereabouts of top al-Qaeda leaders in Pakistan.

Monday's attacks in Moscow were aimed at a more vulnerable target: a subway system used by millions of commuters every day. It was carried out by female suicide bombers who penetrated security systems that were strengthened several years ago after a previous wave of strikes.

A second, less powerful blast at the Park Kultury station on Monday killed 12 people, but Lubyanka appears to have been the main target. It was the site of the first explosion, and at least 23 people were killed there. Security experts said Lubyanka was almost certainly selected because the name serves as such a potent symbol of Soviet and Russian security services.

"The choice of that station is a strategic one," said Sarah Mendelson, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and co-author of the report "Violence in the North Caucasus: 2009, A Bloody Year." "They were trying to get people who work at Lubyanka on their way to work."

Alexander Bortnikov, director of the FSB, Russia's domestic security service, said those responsible for the bombings have links to insurgencies in the North Caucasus, a largely Muslim region of Russia that has been plagued by violence. The number of suicide bombings in the North Caucasus nearly quadrupled in 2009, according to the CSIS report, with most of the attacks directed at police and security services in the Russian republic of Chechnya.

The FSB has been heavily involved in counterterrorism operations in the Caucasus, battling what appear to be coalescing insurgencies in the republics of Dagestan and Ingushetia, as well as Chechnya. Rebels increasingly are adopting the tactics and language of militant Islamists.

Doku Umarov, an insurgent leader who has called for an Islamic emirate in the Caucasus, warned recently that he would strike at Russian cities, where he said the fighting in distant and impoverished Muslim-majority republics barely registers with the public.

"Blood will no longer be limited to our cities and towns," said Umarov in an interview with an extremist Web site. "The war is coming to their cities."

The FSB is routinely involved in raids, arrests and interrogations in the Caucasus. Human-rights groups have charged that Russia's campaigns in the region have also been marked by the torture, disappearances or targeted killings of suspected terrorists -- tactics that have deeply alienated the general population and bred extremism.

Russian officials have not yet said whether any FSB personnel were killed in Monday's attack.

Targeted agencies have tended to respond with promises of renewed vigor. The CIA has stepped up drone strikes in the remote corner of Pakistan where the Khost bombing is thought to have been planned.

Even so, the bombings have taken a significant toll. Among the CIA operatives killed in Khost was a longtime agency veteran who served as base chief and was one of the CIA's leading experts on al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. In Pakistan, officials said that a string of bombings has forced the ISI to put operations on hold while it repairs buildings, assesses security breakdowns and finds officers to replace those who died.

At least 74 ISI operatives were killed over the past year in attacks that included the car bombing of an ISI facility in Lahore, a suicide strike at the agency's main base in Peshawar and a follow-on attack that damaged an agency building in Multan. Each was "a very significant setback," said a Pakistani military official. Intelligence operations "are a very specialized task in which only certain people can fit in."

Special correspondent Natasha Abbakumova in Moscow contributed to this report.

View Washington Post Article...

S. KOREA: A Korean Artist's Origins, by Parachute

Published: March 29, 2010

By SONIA KOLESNIKOV-JESSOP

SINGAPORE — Back in 2003 at the International Istanbul Biennial, the Korean artist Do-Ho Suh presented one of his large-scale fabric installations “Staircase (Installation for Poetic Justice),” a red ethereal fabric staircase suspended from the ceiling and running through two floors without quite reaching the ground. The artist is now revisiting the idea on a smaller scale and in a different medium. Working in residency at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Mr. Suh is creating a staircase in red threads laid over paper pulp.

“Almost all my fabric pieces are suspended from the ceiling and this accentuates the sense of gravity,” he said. “So here, I’ve tried to find a way to simulate lines that would almost be suspended in space, with thread in pulp and water, because the way the water pushes and pulls the thread on the paper creates these beautiful lines. The staircase connection is a literal one, but in my mind the connection and continuation with my previous installation is dealing with gravity in two-dimensional drawings,” the artist, who is based in New York, explained while recently in Singapore.

Thread, fabrics and sewing have played an important role in Mr. Suh’s site-specific installations which regularly explore the issue of cultural displacement and the relationship between individuality and collectivism.

Born in Seoul in 1962, Mr. Suh grew up in an artistic family. His father, Suh Se-ok, was a pivotal figure in Korean modern art for his use of traditional ink painting in an abstract style. In the 1960s, many of Korea’s traditional homes were destroyed to make way for modern buildings, but Mr. Suh’s parents had a small, traditional scholar’s house built of discarded wood from a demolished palace building.

This house and its traditional decorative elements have become central to the artist’s work as he reflects on his own feelings of cultural displacement and longing after moving to the United States in 1991. Right after his graduation from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence in 1994, he was living in a noisy apartment in New York when he thought about recreating his quiet Seoul home using translucent organza.

“In many ways, this was a pivotal piece in my career because it was one of two or three major pieces that I did right after school,” Mr. Suh said. “I first sewed my studio and made some samples of the Korean house.” Then he got a grant and was able to realize the full version.

Two years later, Mr. Suh was invited to present four works in the Venice Biennale, which brought him international recognition. In “Some/One,” he used Korean military dog tags to form a giant imperial robe, and in “Floor,” 180,000 fragile plastic figures tightly placed against each other hold up a glass floor. The works reflect on the power and strength of the collective, sometimes at the expense of the individual.

“All of my works really come from the same idea. They all deal with space; being an architectural one or a figurative one like your personal space,” he said.

At the Singapore institute, Mr. Suh has revisited some of his previous themes but also explores some new ones. Several of his new works portray isolated figures with shadowlike forms hovering over them.

They are “based on the belief that one is not exactly one” but “many different things — other people’s influence, history, different personalities. But you don’t see it, it’s invisible,” he said.

The artist is now preparing a fabric installation for the Venice Biennale of Architecture (Aug. 29 to Nov. 21), where he will represent the facade of his brownstone apartment in New York. He’s also planning an installation for the 2010 Liverpool Biennial (Sept. 18 to Nov. 18), where he will place a replica of his childhood house in an empty lot with a parachute and the scattered contents of the house. The Liverpool installation continues work on a theme that explores a story Mr. Suh wrote in 1999 that resembles the opening scenes of “The Wizard of Oz.” A Korean house is lifted by a tornado over the Pacific, landing in Providence. With a parachute slowing its fall, the house gets stuck in the corner of a brownstone building similar to the one the artist lives in today.

In “Fallen Star: Wind of Destiny,” (2006), Mr. Suh represented that Korean house atop a tornado of carved Styrofoam and resin, and in “New Beginning,” (2006) he showed a large dollhouse-like representation of his 18th-century apartment in Providence with his family’s Korean home stuck in the middle of it.

Mr. Suh is also working on commissions from two American museums. One is for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Korean gallery: an in situ a royal folding screen recreated in clear acrylic resin a section of the palace where the screen initially would have been housed. For his second museum commission, at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, he is recreating a traditional Korean gate, but is doing so in a negative space that visitors can walk through.

“So here it’s also about transporting two traditional buildings in Korea to those institutions; it’s also about displacement of the space and transporting the space like my other fabric installation,” he said.

A version of this article appeared in print on March 30, 2010, in The International Herald Tribune.

View New York Times Article...

CHINA & JAPAN: Arrest over China-Japan 'poisoned dumplings' row

Chinese exports to Japan were hit by the scare

Page last updated at 10:57 GMT, Saturday, 27 March 2010

A man has been arrested in China accused of poisoning dumplings in a case which led to a diplomatic rift with Japan, state media reports.

Temporary factory worker Lu Yueting, 36, allegedly put insecticide in some frozen dumplings because he was unhappy with his pay and colleagues.

The food was exported to Japan, where 10 people became ill, sparking a scare over Chinese food.

China had denied that the contamination occurred on its territory.

Chinese police have found injectors used to poison the dumplings, according to a Ministry of Public Security statement reported by the Xinhua news agency.

Traces of methamidophos, a highly toxic insecticide were found in the dumplings.

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama issued a statement praising China's efforts to clear up the matter.

Chinese food exports to Japan fell sharply after the incident, reports the AP news agency.

The incident followed other scares over the safety of Chinese-made products, including poisoned pet food and concerns over dangerous toys.

View BBC News Article...

JAPAN: Okinawa Debate

 

Okinawa's peace park commemorates those who died in the bloody fighting

Page last updated at 00:15 GMT, Tuesday, 30 March 2010 01:15 UK

By Alastair Leithead
BBC News, Okinawa

The names of 200,000 Japanese troops and civilians are engraved in granite at Okinawa's memorial park, remembering the last major battle of World War II.

Alongside them are the 12,500 Americans who also perished in the brutal, inch-by-inch fight for the small, tropical island of coral 1,000 miles south of Tokyo.

The United States has been here ever since, but a peace deal signed 50 years ago was not an equal one, agreed in the aftermath of war, surrender, then occupation.

There are now 24,000 US troops on Okinawa, most of them marines, and their bases, airfields, housing and training facilities cover a fifth of the island.

The people of Okinawa felt their lives were sacrificed in the war for the sake of the country, and they now believe they are shouldering more of their share of the burden of hosting US forces - with three quarters of American facilities in Japan on their small island.

"We provide the Japanese government with a credible deterrence force - a highly effective, highly trained and very mobile force that is very strategically located," said Lieutenant General Terry Robling, commander of US marine bases in Japan.

"We think the stability of the region has been caused by our presence here. Over 50 years now there's been relative peace in the Asia region."

But it comes at a cost.

Local tensions

Japan pays $4bn (£2.6bn) a year to host the 50,000 US troops stationed across the country, and the noise, safety fears and disturbance of having so many troops in built-up areas is creating tension.

Futenma air base is surrounded by densely-packed residential areas

The 1995 gang rape of a young girl by US troops in Okinawa shook the relationship, a helicopter crash near Futenma air base in 2004 shocked people in Ginowan City which has grown to surround it, and crime by US personnel is also something local people complain about.

"We have not had an accident aboard Futenma since 2004 - there were no accidents at all that I know of prior to that or since then," said Colonel Dale Smith, who commands Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.

"As far as safety goes we do a number of things. Helicopters come in at more steep angles and climb out at more steep rates, which gives more distance between us and the urban terrain and decreases the noise levels."

But at Futenma Elementary School, which has a playground backing on to the end of the runway, the deputy head teacher Muneo Nakamura says he fears for the children's safety every day.

'More equal'

After years of discussions the Japanese and American governments agreed a deal to restructure US forces on Okinawa.

We think the stability of the region has been caused by our presence here

General Robling

It involved closing Futenma air base, building a new runway on reclaimed land and relocating troops at a base in the less populated north of the island. Japan would pick up $6bn of the $10bn cost.

As part of the deal, 8,000 US marines would also move to Guam, where President Obama is due next week.

But last year Yukio Hatoyama was elected prime minister, after 50 years of almost unbroken rule by the Liberal Democratic Party.

He made a campaign promise to move US troops off Okinawa as part of a creating a "more equal" partnership with America.

The original deal was put on hold and he is now torn between a threat from ruling coalition partners to withdraw support if he breaks his promise, and pressure from the US. He has promised to announce a new plan by the end of May this year.

Mr Hatoyama's stance has strained the alliance, but America has to tread carefully as it also relies on Japan as the centre of its strategic operations in Asia.

"I think the US presence is an incredibly stabilising factor. Asia is going through a period of historic strategic change in the balance of power," said Raymond Greene, the US consul general in Okinawa.

"We have the nuclear missile programmes in North Korea; obviously the rise of China is something we welcome, but as it rises economically there are many questions about military modernisation programme and its transparency, or lack thereof."

Security hub

The razor wire on the beach surrounding the northern base where troops could be moved to is covered in ribbons and protest banners.

Crime and noise pollution have led to a rise in anti-base sentiment

Small but vocal demonstrations are held periodically - there is a growing feeling that Japan should go its own way and reduce its reliance on America.

But generations of Okinawans have made a living out of the US military.

Shinichiro Isa used to work on a base but is now retired. His son, Hiroyuki, currently works at Futenma air base and they accept the large American presence in exchange for the money it brings.

"It's not just because I worked on the base that I am in favour of the Americans being here," Mr Isa said.

"It's important not just for the security of Okinawa or Japan but for the whole of the region from South Korea to the Philippines."

But he does not know if there'll be the chance for his two year-old grandson, Shunpei, to follow the family tradition.

The future of US forces here depends on the military alliance continuing, and the direction in which Japan's new government wants to take the country.

View BBC News Article...

CHINA: Rio Tinto Reports Misguided

2010-3-30

By Jin Dou

CHINA'S investment environment is far from perfect, hampered as it is by many elements such as business bribes.

Cracking down on bribes would help clean the field for doing business in China, but CNN, BBC and a host of other Western media argued otherwise in their loaded reports of the Rio Tinto case.

The Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court yesterday sentenced four employees of the British-Australian mining giant, including one Australian national (Stern Hu, who headed the firm's Shanghai office), to seven to 14 years in prison for bribery and stealing commercial secrets.

CNN reported yesterday: "Executive Stern Hu's admission of accepting bribes led to leniency, the court said, reducing his sentence to 10 years total... The case against Hu and three other employees of the British-Australian company was closely watched over fears of a government crackdown on foreign companies doing business in China."

Indeed, Stern Hu admitted he had taken bribes. It was not a forced guilty plea. How could this man's fall from grace translate into "a government crackdown on foreign companies doing business in China?" In so strenuous an argument, CNN was literally saying that Stern Hu represented most foreign business people in terms of morality. He did not.

Apparently knowing that such an argument could only turn CNN into a laughing stock, a CNN anchorman yesterday tried to appear more critical by asking why China had singled out Rio Tinto for punishment while bribery is not uncommon in China.

This anchorman should have done more solid homework by researching how many Chinese officials and business people had been arrested, even executed, for bribery or embezzlement. If he were an average, not to say a good, journalist, he would not have used the phrase "singled out" to describe China's handling of the Rio Tinto case.

The BBC wrote yesterday: "The trial has heightened concerns among the foreign business community in China. Australian diplomats have expressed concern about the lack of transparency in China's conduct of the trial."

If the trial really "heightened concerns," it did so among bribe takers, foreign or Chinese. It would only be victory for the business community, foreign or Chinese, who are clean and honest.
As for a fair trial, China's laws are there for all to see before anyone enters the Chinese market.

The laws say clearly that a case involving commercial secrets can be handled in private if one party so proposes. Rio Tinto knew that when it came to China. BBC reporters should have known that before they wrote the story. China did not twist its laws just for Rio Tinto. China is open to criticism, but critics need to be capable of critical reasoning in the first place.

View Shanghai Daily Article...

S. KOREA: Korea's self-sufficiency in oil, gas grows

Monday, March 29, 2010

This file photo shows a natural gas production platform in offshore Vietnam partly operated by Korea National Oil Corporation. [KNOC]

Korea's self-sufficiency in energy supply sharply increased last year thanks to active acquisition of oil and natural gas fields overseas, the government said yesterday.

The Ministry of Knowledge Economy said that the rate in oil and gas increased to 9 percent of local demand from 5.7 percent in 2008 as Korea spent $5.18 billion - a 32 percent increase - on energy exploration projects and acquisition of energy assets last year.

However, Korea must be more active in acquiring oil and gas fields as competition for energy security has heated up among major players with deep pockets, experts said.

The growing demand for energy along with the recovery of the global economy is pressuring countries to enhance their energy security, they added.

Compared with other global major energy firms, Korea's investment in oil and gas exploration overseas - plus the capital size of its state-run oil developer - is still small, an energy expert in Seoul said.

"It is a money game, favorable to those who can pay much more than others. So China, which holds an estimated $2 trillion in foreign reserves is undoubtedly at the fore," said Choi I-tae, manager of the planning and international cooperation team, at the Energy & Mineral Resources Development Association of Korea.

PetroChina Co., a state-run oil developer, said it will spend at least $60 billion in the next decade on overseas acquisitions in a recent interview with Bloomberg.

PetroChina, also known as Sinopec, is the world's largest company in the field by market value, while KNOC is ranked 50th, Choi said.

Korea is likely to acquire two or three oil and gas fields this year with an $8.7 billion budget, said Park Soon-kee, director of the resource development policy division at the Ministry of Knowledge Economy. The government hopes to increase self-sufficiency in oil and gas to 18.1 percent by 2012.

"The number of oil and gas fields listed in the market has increased from before the Lehman crisis," he said.

Energy demand growing

Experts say the world will see a significant increase in energy prices with demand growing this year.

"Oil prices have been rising since late last year with signs of economic recovery appearing around the world," said Hana Daetoo Investment analyst Chung Min-kyu in a recent report.

The market price of Western Texas Intermediate surged to $80 per barrel in December last year from $30 per barrel in early 2009.

Investors are also pouring funds into the commodity market as the value of the U.S. dollar drops and they try to find a stable source of investment. Oil and gas fields, in this respect, are likely to gain value.

"This is why Korea has to step up its effort in securing energy overseas and invest in a long-term perspective. If we lose in the energy competition now, China and other major firms will dominate the market scene, offering us no chances to secure more energy sources in the future," Choi said.

As major energy firms based in Europe and North America have already dominated major oil and gas fields around the world in the past years, China, Japan and Korea are looking for new markets in Africa, Middle East and South America that still have higher political risks.

"Korea can think of seeking cooperation with Japan, to deal with giant energy firms funded by the Chinese government," he said.

(christory@heraldm.com)

By Cho Chung-un

View Korea Herald Article

JAPAN: Sky Tree Now Tallest Structure in Japan

What's the limit?: Tokyo Sky Tree in Sumida Ward, at 338 meters tall and growing, on Monday became the tallest structure in the country.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Kyodo News

Tokyo Sky Tree, a new tower under construction for terrestrial digital broadcasting, reached 338 meters Monday, surpassing Tokyo Tower and becoming the tallest structure in Japan.

The new tower in Sumida Ward will be 634 meters tall when it is completed at the end of 2011. Tokyo Tower, a 333-meter radio and TV transmission tower in Minato Ward, was the country's tallest structure for 52 years.

Even though Tokyo Sky Tree will not open to the public until spring 2012, it has already become a tourist attraction.

About 100 people were on hand Monday to witness the moment it overtook Tokyo Tower and applauded when a sign showing its height was updated to 338 meters, following the installation of an elevator section at the tip of the new tower at around 10 a.m.

"We are relieved that Sky Tree has become the tallest (structure) in Japan, but we will continue our construction work . . . to make it the world's tallest self-standing radio tower," said Tobu Tower Sky Tree Co., operator of Tokyo Sky Tree.

Saying more than 160 million people have visited Tokyo Tower, operator Nippon Television City Corp. pledged to continue its "service as a landmark in Tokyo" and celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2058.

View Japan Times Article...

EAST ASIA: Japan, South Korea, China to hold talks

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

SEOUL (Kyodo) Senior officials from Japan, South Korea and China are to meet on South Korea's southern island of Jeju on Friday to prepare for a trilateral summit and foreign minister talks, a South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said Monday.

South Korea will host the trilateral summit and the foreign ministers' meeting this year.

South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Yong Joon, Chinese Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Hu Zhengyue and Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Kenichiro Sasae will attend the meeting on Jeju.

"There will also be a wide-ranging discussion on ways to further deepen cooperation among the three countries, on situations in Northeast Asia and other global affairs," South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Kim Young Sun told a press briefing.

View Japan Times Article...

CHINA & JAPAN: Kan Beijing-bound to discuss economics, yuan

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Bloomberg

Finance Minister Naoto Kan will head to Beijing this weekend to discuss economic issues, including the status of the yuan, Vice Finance Minister Naoki Minezaki said Monday.

Kan is to meet with top officials, including Premier Wen Jiabao, Minezaki said.

They will also talk about fiscal policy and the role of the Group of 20 nations, he said.

The trip comes just as debate heats up between China and U.S. lawmakers over whether the Chinese currency should appreciate.

Kan's other deputy, Yoshihiko Noda, said this month that a more flexible yuan is desirable for the Chinese and global economy.

Kan has largely refrained from talking about the yuan since taking office in January, saying only that he was prepared to discuss it at a Group of Seven meeting last month "on the understanding that stable growth in China is desirable for Japan."

Wen's government has kept the yuan at 6.83 against the dollar since mid-2008 to shield exporters from the global recession and a contraction in world trade.

Kan's visit to China, the biggest market for Japanese goods, also comes as it is poised to overtake Japan as the world's second-biggest economy.

In January, Kan said it is a "good thing" that China is growing, while adding that he had a "sense of sadness" that Japan will lose its status as the No. 2 economy and the largest in Asia.

View Japan Times Article...

JAPAN: Hakuho admits relief at Osaka win

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

SAKAI, Osaka Pref. (Kyodo) Yokozuna Hakuho admitted Monday he was a relieved man after winning the first basho of the post-Asashoryu era at the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka.

With Asashoryu having recently retired from sumo amid claims he attacked a man in January, all the pressure was on Hakuho as the lone yokozuna to capture his 13th Emperor's Cup.

The Mongolian was pushed all the way by Estonian sekiwake Baruto but held his nerve to slam down ozeki Harumafuji in the final bout of the tournament to finish with a perfect 15-0 record.

"It was incredibly tough. I am relieved more than anything," Hakuho told a news conference. "No matter how much I drank (celebrating) last night, I could not get drunk. Maybe that means I have become stronger both in body and mind," joked Hakuho.

View Japan Times Article...

JAPAN: Hatoyama backpedals on Futenma timetable

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Kyodo News

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama indicated Monday his administration won't be able to come up with a single proposal for the relocation of the Futenma U.S. military base by Wednesday, saying it is not legally bound to do so.

Hatoyama's remarks came shortly after Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada indicated prior to talks Monday with Defense Secretary Robert Gates in Washington that Japan doesn't have to narrow its proposals down to one before it begins negotiating with the United States in earnest.

"There is no legal basis on which we must come up with a government proposal within this month," Hatoyama said, backpedaling on an earlier promise to come up with a plan by the end of March.

The administration is mulling several alternatives to the existing plan to relocate the Futenma airfield within Okinawa Prefecture, with Hatoyama promising to resolve the issue by the end of May.

Hatoyama said the government will come up with one proposal soon because only about two months are left before the end of May.

"It may be natural for there to be several proposals at the beginning," he said. "But there can't be multiple ones as (the government) negotiates and puts together (a deal) over a government plan in the end."

The opposition was quick denounce Hatoyama's remarks, with Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Tadamori Oshima demanding his resignation.

"The prime minister's words change every day," Oshima told reporters. "I suggest that he step down."

The U.S. has called on Japan to follow through on the existing plan, saying it is the best option. The plan is part of a broader agreement forged in 2006 on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan.

The accord, which took years to hammer out, calls for transferring the aircraft operations of the Futenma base, now situated in the crowded city of Ginowan, to Camp Schwab's Henoko coast.

Once the replacement base is operational, 8,000 marines are to be relocated from Okinawa to Guam.

View Japan Times Article...

CHINA: China Sentences 4 Rio Tinto Employees To Jail

March 29, 2010

by Louisa Lim

A Chinese court sentenced four employees of mining giant Rio Tinto with jail terms of seven to 14 years on bribery and commercial secrets charges. The judge said the crimes committed by the four had caused major losses to the Chinese steel industry.

TRANSCRIPT

RENEE MONTAGNE, host:

NPR's business news starts with China sending a foreign executive to prison.

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MONTAGNE: A court in Shanghai has sentenced four executives of an international mining company to jail. One was an Australian citizen. The men were working for the mining giant Rio Tinto. The case has riveted foreign business community in China.

NPR's Louisa Lim was in the courtroom, and has this report.

LOUISA LIM: Australian Stern Hu gave no visible reaction when his sentence of 10 years in prison was read out. Foreign journalists have been allowed to watch the verdict on closed circuit television. Hu and three Chinese Rio Tinto employees were found guilty of accepting bribes and violating commercial secrets. The longest sentence was 14 years, handed down to an employee found guilty of taking $9 million in bribes.

In the matter of commercial secrets, the court said the men had collected information about closed meetings held by the China Iron and Steel Association. It said the actions of the four Rio Tinto employees had caused losses of $150 million to China's steel industry and seriously damaged its competitiveness.

Louisa Lim, NPR News, Shanghai.

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SHANGHAI, CHINA: Excited crowds greet remade Bund

Tens of thousands of Shanghai residents and tourists swarm the Bund yesterday as the city's landmark site reopens after nearly three years' renovation work, just in time for visitors to the Shanghai World Expo. A vehicular tunnel beneath the promenade, designed to lighten traffic on the Bund itself, also opened yesterday.

2010-3-29

By Zha Minjie

ALONG the riverfront promenade that stretches along the west bank of Huangpu River, eight-year-old Shao Meirenyu gave out a yell.  "I can see it, I can see it."

Shao was just a pre-school girl three years ago when the Bund was closed for renovation. And the riverfront and the high-rises facing the river were just subjects on television or pictures for her.

Yesterday, she and her classmates and teacher joined the tens of thousands of people who poured onto the riverfront to view the renovations as the place made its long-awaited return on a Sunday that shone with sunshine after days of overcast weather in Shanghai.

The area, once a terminal for docks and a lane for lovers, was closed in 2007 as the city planned to make it "as charming as the Champs Elysee in Paris."

Three years, to locals, are not long enough to forget, but long enough to remember.

"It's worth being remembered by heart and documented by pen," said resident Tao Jun.

Tao, 81, said he used to stroll along the Bund at night. "I felt at peace as I watched the rolling river."

"Peace" seemed to be a thing that could be found nowhere yesterday, however.

Crowds leaned against riverfront barriers, where once stood concrete walls that had permitted a less-open view of the river. They walked along the broad new promenade that stretches over 2,000 meters.

Many stood on the 2,000 new benches to take photos.

"It's amazing to see so many people," said Smets Karel, a visitor from Holland.

During his last trip to the city in January, the area was still blocked to the public. He could only view the Bund from across the river in the Pudong New Area.

To Judy McKinney, a teacher from the United States, the trip meant a huge difference.  "When I came here 25 years ago, I could not see so many high buildings along the skyline," said McKinney.  "Are there still senior people doing tai chi in the early morning around here?" asked McKinney. She remembered the groups of people, exercising in morning light, who typically gathered along the Bund riverside.

Though some facilities have not been fully completed and shops not opened, curiosity was hard to resist.

The 500 parking spots in the area were filled by morning and some cars had to park on nearby streets.

About 400 bottles of water at two small stands selling soft drinks soon sold out.

In contrast to the hubbub above, the underground tunnel which also opened yesterday saw a quiet beginning.

No congestion was reported as it was not a workday, police said.
The tunnel, which runs beneath the promenade, aims to alleviate heavy Bund traffic.

Visitors generally gave high marks for the brand-new facilities, but some people, especially elderly ones, complained of too few places to get shade from the sun.

Authorities said they would make some improvements after soliciting people's suggestions.

The grand project formally opened at 9:30am, after a 30-minute ceremony attended by Shanghai's top government officials and local celebrities.

"Everything is under control," shouted a police officer to his walkie-talkie as the speeches ended and the crowds, which had been standing outside the ceremony site, swarmed in to catch places along the riverside.

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