Korean Unification Bulletin ( No.56 Jun, 2003)
ROK Ministry of Unification
R.O.K- Japan Summit Meeting
President Roh Moo-hyun of the Republic of Korea and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan issued a joint statement following their summit meeting in Tokyo on June 7, 2003.
The two leaders discussed developments on the Korean peninsula and in Northeast Asia, including the North Korean nuclear problem, promotion of friendship and goodwill between the two countries, and measures to expand bilateral cooperation in trade and investment.
Followings are excerpts from the Joint Statement between the Republic of Korea and Japan-To Build a Foundation for Korea-Japan Cooperation in an Age of Peace and Prosperity in Northeast Asia
< North Korea policy >
Prime Minster Junichiro Koizumi expressed his support for Korea's ¡°Policy for Peace and Prosperity¡±aimed at bringing permanent peace on the Korean peninsula and achieving common prosperity in Northeast Asia. President Roh supported the Japanese govern-ment's basic policy that the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and North Korea should be achieved in a manner that comprehensively resolves matters of interest for Japanese side, including the nuclear, missile and abduction issues based on the Japan-North Korea Pyongyang Declaration, and that contributes to peace and stability in the Northeast Asia region.
< North Korean nuclear issue >
President Roh and Prime Minister Koizumi shared the view that the North Korean nuclear issue is a serious threat, not only to the Korean peninsula but also to the peace and stability in the Northeast Asia region as well as to the international nuclear non-proliferation regime.
a) In this regard, the two leaders agreed that North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons or any nuclear development program cannot be tolerated and that the issue should be resolved peacefully and diplomatically.
b) The two leaders strongly urged North Korea not to take any steps that could aggravate the situation for the sake of achieving a peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue. In this regard, the two leaders reconfirmed the principles agreed at the Korea-US Summit and Japan-US Summit held on May 14 and May 23 respectively. They also agreed to strengthen cooperation between Korea and Japan in the future.
c) The two leaders stressed that North Korea's nuclear weapons program must be dismantled in a verifiable and irreversible manner.
d) The two leaders expressed their strong confidence that the North Korean nuclear issue can be resolved peacefully. They confirmed that ROK, Japan and the US will maintain close coordination in the future and that they will continue to cooperate with the international community, including concerned countries such as China and Russia. The two leaders also stressed that a broad assistance from the international community toward North Korea would be possible if the pending issues, including the North's nuclear issue, are resolved peacefully and comprehensively, and if North Korea becomes a responsible member of the international community.
e) The two leaders shared the view that the US-DPRK-China trilateral meeting held in Beijing between April 23 and 25 was useful as a first step towards resolving the North Korean nuclear issue through dialogue, and welcomed China's role for the talks.
f) The two leaders agreed on the need for a follow-up meeting to be reconvened at the earliest possible date in order to maintain the momentum of the talks for the resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue. They also expressed strong expectations for the multilateral dialogue process in which ROK and Japan would participate to comprehensively resolve various issues concerning North Korea.
Fifth Working-level Contact for the Connection of Railroads
and
Roads between South and North Korea
The fifth working-level contact for the connection of railroads and roads between South and North Korea was held June 7-9, 2003 in Gaeseong, North Korea. Participants from both sides discussed practical matters concerning the work to connect railroads and roads, including ceremonies that mark the actual linking of the Seoul-Sinuiju Line and the Donghae Line, which was agreed during the fifth meeting of the Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Promotion Committee.The South Korean delegation commuted to Gaeseong from Seoul for the meeting via the Seoul-Sinuiju road. It departed Seoul aboard a chartered bus for Gaeseong, entering the North across the Military Demarcation Line at around 9 a.m. and returning home at around 5 p.m. every day during the contact period.
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Inter-Korean Dialogue |
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Agreement on the Connection of South-North Railwaysand The South and the North held the fifth working-level meeting to discuss the connection of South-North railways and roads from June 7 to June 9, 2003, in Gaeseong and agreed on the following: 1. The South and the North will jointly hold ceremonies for the connection of the Seoul-Sinuiju Railway and the Donghae (East Sea) Railway at the connection sites on June 14, 2003. Both parties will notify each other of the participants, except for work personnel, two days prior to the ceremonies and guarantee the safety and convenience for the participants. 2. For a smooth connection of the Seoul-Sinuiju Railway and the Donghae Railway and their parallel roads, the South and the North will bring items, materials and equipment as specified in Annex 1 and cooperate positively in providing them to avoid adverse impact on the work. The two parties will continue to discuss and fix the items and amount of the materials and equipment through exchange of documents. The two parties will agree and adjust the first batch of materials as specified in Appendix 3 to facilitate the uninterrupted work on the Seoul-Sinuiju Railway and the Donghae Railway as well as their roads. 3. According to the Agreement on the provision of materials and equipment for the work to connect the railways and the roads, the South will provide technical assistance for the installation of equipment and the normal operation from mid-June to the end of July, while the North will guarantee safety and convenience for the technical personnel. Technical assistance will be provided in accor-dance with Appendix 2 of the Agreement. 4. Delivery and acceptance of the materials and equipment for the connection of the railways and roads, as well as the comings and goings of technical personnel, between the South and the North will be done through temporary roads built along the Seoul-Sinuiju Railway and the Donghae Railway. Entry and exit of the personnel will be in accordance with the already set procedures for entry and exit. 5. The South and the North will conduct on-site surveys to help design signals, communications and power systems during the month of July at an agreed time. 6. The third meeting of the working-level discussions for the connection of the South-North railways and roads will be held in Munsan from July 2 to July 4. June 9, 2003
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Inter-Korean Cooperation |
Two Koreas Link Railroads Along both East and West Coasts
Despite the tension on the Korean peninsula escalated by North Korea's nuclear ambitions, the two Koreas on June 14 made a stride toward a brisk, substantial economic cooperation, linking their railways along both the east and west coasts. The railroads between the two Koreas were connected over the truce line, known as the Military Demarcation Line, which was drawn at the end of the three-year Korean War in the early 1950s.
The trans-Korea railways, however, will not be available immediately for inter-Korean transportation. The North has only built railroads in the 2km-wide buffer zone and has yet to construct 13km-long railways linking the edge of the buffer zone called the ¡°Demilitarized Zone¡± and Gaesong, where an industrial park will be built to house mostly South Korean manufacturers producing export goods. The trans-Korea railroads on the west coast will open for traffic in late September and that on the east coast by the end of this year.
Ceremonies were held on the two linking spots on the truce line that runs at the center of the 4km-wide buffer zone to lay 25m-long tracks each from the South and the North and to tighten the bolts to connect the railroads.
The linking of South and North Korean railways came three years after the leaders of the two Koreas held their first-ever talks in the North's capital, Pyongyang, and produced a joint declaration aimed at holding official talks to provide programs for promoting reconciliation and cooperation between the two Koreas.
In a meeting of working-level officials from Seoul and Pyongyang earlier this month, South Korea agreed to supply equipment and materials, along with technical service, to help the North build the railroads essential to the inter-Korean railways linking. They will meet again on July 2-4 to provide programs for the efficient operation of the trans-Korea railroads.
Ground-breaking Ceremony for the Gaeseong
Industrial Complex
South and North Korea held a groundbreaking ceremony on June 30 to mark the beginning of construction for the Gaesung Industrial Complex in North Korea. The ceremony took place off one section of the temporary utility road connecting the two Koreas through the complex site. Approxi-mately 300 representatives from the two sides attended the ceremony, which was arranged by civilian businesses involved in the construction project.
Of the 119 South Korean delegates present, 64 came from Hyundai Asan Group, 24 from the political and industrial sectors, and 12 from the government. A group of 19 journalists was also present.
Representing the North were some 100 officials, including Ri Jong-hyok, deputy commissioner of the Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, and Choi Hyeon-gu, deputy director of the Central Special-zone Devel-opment Agency, along with over 100 local citizens.
According to the layout of the construction plan, the complex will sprawl over Gaeseong City and the Panmun-gun area involving 20 million pyong. (1pyong equals 3.3 square meters) The complex facilities will sit on the plot of 8 million pyong of land, with some 12 million pyong of ¡°Milieu cities¡±(including Gaesung City). The construction will proceed in three principal stages.
The groundbreaking ceremony on June 30 launched the first stage of construction work, which will be conducted over a stretch of one million pyong of land.
¡á History
Hyundai Asan of South Korea and the Asia Pacific Peace Committee of North Korea first signed an ¡°Agreement on Develpment of the Gaeseong Industrial Complex¡±on August 20, 2000.
To accommodate the project, the North promulgated the Law Governing the Gaesung Industrial District on November 27, 2002.
It was on May 23, 2003, at the Fifth Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Promotion Committee meeting that the two Koreas agreed to hold the groundbreaking ceremony for the industrial complex in late June.
On June 29, 2003, the North announced two ¡°Subordinate decrees¡±of the Law Governing the Gaeseong Industrial District: titled ¡°Development Regulations for the Gaeseong Industrial District,¡± and ¡°Guidelines for Business Start-ups and Management Operations at the Gaegseong Industrial District.¡±
¡á Significance
The construction of the Gaeseong Industrial Complex is an economic cooperation project that will bring together the technologies of the South and the labor and rich resources of the North for mutual benefit.
Once built, the complex is expected to serve as a test case of inter-Korean economic cooperation and will eventually become a hub of inter-Korean economic activities. Along with the ongoing railroad/highway construction works to re-link the two Koreas, the construction of the Gaeseong complex is an essential part of a larger project that is aimed at developing an inter-Korean economic entity.
The geographic features of the complex (an hour's drive from Seoul and located in the vicinity of Gaesung City) reflect the complex's strong potentials to grow as a logistical hub of inter-Korean economic activities.
The complex will also provide an important breakthrough for the small/medium businesses in the South, which have been suffering from chronic labor shortages. For this reason, the government plans to continue to support the industrial complex construction project.
Specifically, the government plans to ensure that the Gaesung complex will provide the South Korean businesses with the kind of business-friendly environment that offers South Korean industrial standards, especially in the areas of infrastructure facility, office/factory rental rates, the wage levels, labor-management relations and taxes.
To proceed with the first stage of construction work, the two Koreas will continue to cooperate in terms of follow-up procedures that will include construction measurement projects and the signing of a principal construction contract.
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Separated Families |
Seventh Round Reunion of Separated Families of
South and North Korea
Between June 27 and July 2, 2003, a total of 899 families living in separation in South and North Korea were reunited at Mt. Geumgang in two batches. In the first batch of reunions held on June 27-29, 110 family members (100 elderly people and 10 minders of the infirm) from the South met with their kin of 217 from the North. In the next batch of reunion on June 30-July 2, 100 from the North met with 472 family members from the South.
The separated families had a reunion time of 12 hours over six occasions by way of collective and individual meetings, a welcome dinner, a luncheon, and a farewell meeting. Among the South Koreans were a 102-year-old woman, who met her daughter from the North, and a 76-year-old woman, who met her son kidnapped to the North 36 years ago.
A total of 7, 109 Koreans from both sides have had the arranged reunion through the exchange of separated families over seven rounds since the inter-Korean summit meeting in June 2000.
Meanwhile, the Red Cross leaders from the two Koreas agreed to increase from 100 to 400~500 the number of people from the South and North to be selected for meetings to be held on the occasion of Chusok, the Korean Thanksgiving Day, on Sept. 11 this year.
¡á Significance and Achievement
Despite a difficult inter-Korean situation stemming from the North Korean nuclear issue, the seventh round reunion of separated families was held smoothly. The seventh round reunion was among the agreed points reached during the 10th inter-Korean ministerial talks. The latest round of reunion is expected to have a positive impact on the resolution of the separated family problem and progress in the inter-Korean relationship.
The highest authorities of the Red Cross president Suh Young-hoon of the South and his counterpart from the North, Jang Jae-eon-led their delegations. They conveyed their respective positions on the implementation of the agreed points, including repatriation of the South Koreans abducted to the North and the South Korean prisoners of war held in the North, which were reached during the fourth inter-Korean Red Cross meeting, the construction of permanent reunion centers and the subsequent reunion program.
The seventh round reunion event marked the first ¡°Unbalanced reunion¡±in terms of the numbers of separated kin participating: 110 from the South versus 100 from the North. Ten from the South were added to take care of their infirm family members. Departing from the previous practice of equal number participants, the ¡°Unbalanced reunion¡±has provided a turning point for the solution of the problem stemming from the disparity in the reunion pools between the two Koreas.
There was a patient among the South Korean visitors who needed an emergency care. The patient was transported to the Gangneung Asan Hospital in Gangneung aboard a military helicopter from the ambulance that transported the patient to the South via the interim road along the Donghae Railway. The incident has created a good example of how the North and the South could cope with an emergency situation in the future as shown in the urgent evacuation of the patient.
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Exchange & Cooperation |
Inter-Korean Trade Totals $227 Million duringthe
First Five Months of 2003
Bilateral inter-Korean trade totaled $227.3 million for the first five months this year. a 22.0 percent increase from the same period a year earlier. South Korea imported $93.4 million worth of goods, a 16.0 percent increase from a year earlier, while goods worth $133.9 million were shipped to North Korea, an increase of 26.7 percent.Major items imported were agricultural-forestry-fishery products and textiles, as was the case for many months. Major northbound shipments were steel, metal products, textiles and machinery, as in previous months.
The increase in bilateral trade was attributed to a steady gain in commercial transactions, including deals on processing-on-commission arrangements, as well as in ¡°Non-commercial¡± transactions under inter-Korean cooperative projects, including shipments of materials and equipment to connect cross-border railways and roads, and humanitarian assistance. The trend is expected to continue in June amid increases in non-commercial transactions arising from delivery of fertilizer and grain.
During the January-May period, the South posted a $ 40.4 million surplus in nominal trade, while the North registered a $69.8 million surplus in actual trade, not counting the value of non-commercial transactions.Of the bilateral trade figure of $227.3 million, commercial transactions amounted to $117 million, up 19.8 percent from a year ago, and accounting for 51.5 percent of the total volume: The rest was of a non-trade nature such as inter-Korean cooperative projects and humanitarian assistance, which amounted $110.3 million, a gain of 24.6 percent from a year earlier.
Trade under the cooperative project category reached $41.2 million, up 36.8 percent from 2002, and accounting for 37.3 percent of the total trade and for 37.4 percent of non-trade nature, respectively. Major items are materials for the construction of light-water reactors valued at $37 million and those for Mt. Geumgang tourism program worth $2.8 million.Shipments of goods in support of North Korea totaled $69.1 million, up 22.6 percent from a year ago, and accounting for 30.4 percent of the total trade and for 62.6 percent of non-trade nature, respectively.
Hundred seven companies, including 41 involved in processing-on-commission basis, participated in the two-way trade of 423 items, including 169 handled under the processing-on-commission formula.
R.O.K Approves Grain Assistance to North Korea
The Ministry of Unification reported on June 21 that the government's Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Promotion Council approved the use of the inter-Korean cooperation fund for the provision of grain to North Korea.The total amount approved at the council meeting was 167.6 billion won (about $1.3 billion) under terms of the inter-Korean loan and included the goods and shipping expenses. A total of 400,000 tons of rice will be supplied to North Korea at $265 per ton, which is the unit price agreed between the two Koreas.
The council also decided that the government would disburse 895 million won, again from the inter-Korean cooperation fund, for the seventh round of reunion of separated families between the two Koreas.
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Internet Sites of the Ministry of Unification |
Chronology
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http://www.unikorea.go.kr |
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1 Sun . 1 The delegation from the U.S. Congress visited Seoul, after completing its three-day visit to North Korea. 3 Tue . The G8 summit adopted a joint decla-ration urging North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program. 6 Fri . The representative of the UNICEF Pyongyang Office appealed for huma-nitarian aid for hunger-stricken North Koreans. 7 Sat . President Roh Moo-hyun held a summit meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in Tokyo. . The fifth working-level contact for the connection of railroads and roads between South and North Korea was held in the North's Gaeseong June 7-9. 9 Mon . The North's Red Cross Society issues a statement denouncing Japan's restrictions on the Niigata port call of Mangyongbong-92 as an ¡°inhumane crime.¡± . White House Spokesman Ari Fleischer commented that it is the North Korean regime itself that poses the biggest threat to the North Korean citizens. 12 Thu . Prime Minister Goh Kun said so long as the North Korean nuclear issue does not aggravate, there would be no change in the South Korean government's position toward the current inter-Korean relations. 13 Fri . Inter-Korean working-level contacts were held at the Mt. Gumgang resort to discuss the resumption of tourism and the ground- breaking ceremony for the Gaeseong Industrial Complex. 14 Sat . The South and the North held two ceremonies (Korea's east coast and west coast) to mark the linking of two inter-Korean railways, the Seoul-Sinuiju (Western route) and the Donghae (Eastern route) lines. 15 Sun . The South and the North exchanged the list of names for the Seventh Round Inter-Korean Reunions of Separated Families, which will take place on June 27 at Mt. Gumgang. . An event was held to commemorate the third anniversary of the June 2000 South-North Joint Declaration. The South and the North held the ceremonies separately. 16 Mon . The U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated the number of North Korean defectors in China to reach about 100,000. 17 Tue . The National Assembly committee on unification and foreign relations approved the bills on four inter-Korean economic cooperation agreements - investment protection, prevention of double taxation, clearance of accounts, and settlement of disputes. |
19 Thu . Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun stressed that the North Korean nuclear issue should be resolved through inter-Korean talks and emphasized that the situation on the Korean peninsula would be managed peacefully by pursuing inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation on a sustained basis. 20 Fri . With regard to the connection of inter-Korean railways and roads, the South and North held a working-level military contact for the installation of the military hotline. 21 Sat . The Inter-Korean Exchange and Coo-peration Promotion Council approved the use of 167.6 billion won of the inter-Korean cooperation fund for grain aid to North Korea. 23 Mon . North Korea informed the Jochongnyeon, a pro-North Korean association of Korean residents in Japan, of its decision to pospone the entry of the North Korean ferry boat, Mangyeongbong, into the Japanese Nigata port, which was scheduled for June 23. 24 Tue . Richard Bridle, representative of the UNICEF Pyongyang Office, appealed to the international community to provide more humanitarian aid for North Korean children and women. . A ground-breaking ceremony for a Russian Orthodox Church was held in Pyongyang with the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church. 26 Thu . Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun sent a letter to the president of the UN Security Council to explain the North's position regarding the U.S. call on the Council on June 19 to adopt a resolution urging North Korea to scrap its nuclear weapons program. 27 Fri . The Seventh Round of Inter-Korean Reunion of Separated Families began in Mt. Gumgang. . James Morris, secretary general of the WFP(World Food Program), revealed that WFP's aid to North Korea was facing difficulties due to the sanctions imposed by the North Korean authorities. 29 Sun . A delegation from the U.S. Congress, led by Rep. Curt Weldon, a Republican and vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, visited Pyongyang. 30 Mon . A ground-breaking ceremony for the Gaesong industrial complex was held, with the participation of hundreds of North and South Korean officials and businessmen, including Chung Mong-hun, chairman of Hyundai Asan and Ri Jong-hyok, vice chairman of the Asia-Pacific Peace Committcc. |
