In this issue:

Wall Street Demands Thailand Cut Health Care to Poor

First Continuous Mekong River Navigation

UN: Did U.S. Suppress Evidence in Afghan Wedding Debacle?

Sunshine Reappears Over Koreas

From the Vol.1,No.22 issue of Electronic Intelligence Weekly
Asia News Digest

Wall Street Demands Thailand Cut Health Care to Poor

The Nation of Thailand, a Wall Street/Dow Jones asset, is running a campaign to stop the Thaksin government's universal health-care program. The Bangkok paper sponsored a forum of economists and medical professionals to denounce Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's program for granting hospital care to all indigents (most of the population) for only 75 cents per visit. The policy applies to the 46.6 million poorest of the nation's 62 million people, but The Nation (which has been on a campaign for over a year to bring Thaksin down, on behalf of its financial backers, including Dow Jones, which owns 20% of the paper) insists that the country just can't afford it.

World Bank economist Dr. Sethaput Suthiwart-Narueput demanded: "What will be the real cost of the program as the Thai population keeps rising?" Another "expert" said: "The universal health-care program will encourage people to exploit it beyond a level that the system can sustain." Another said: "I have not seen any developing countries in the world that have successfully implemented a universal health-care program. They just can't afford it." Similar complaints were not heard, that Thailand could not afford the huge debt-service payments imposed upon the country during the 1997-98 specualtive assault on the nation.

The government has allotted over 80% of the health budget to the universal care program.

First Continuous Mekong River Navigation

Two Thai companies have announced they will sponsor the first-ever continuous navigation of the Mekong River in November 2002. according to The Nation July 30. The maiden voyage, financed by Diethelm Travel and the Brooker Group, both private firms, will take a group of government officials from the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) and "adventurous enthusiasts," on a 17-day, 2,900-kilometer hovercraft expedition from Yunnan province in China, to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

The voyage will make stops along the river in each of the GMS countries: Yunnan Province, China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. The down-river voyage departs Simao, Yunnan Province, on Nov. 3, arriving in Ho Chi Minh City Nov. 17. The return, up-river trip runs from Nov. 21, arriving in Jinghong, Yunnan, Dec. 4. Sites along the way include Luang Prabang in Laos, Myanmar's Khone Phapeng Falls, and Cambodia's Angkor Wat.

The good news is that this trip is now possible, although at this time the cost of the adventure runs between $7,400-7,700.

UN: Did U.S. Suppress Evidence in Afghan Wedding Debacle?

A draft United Nations report states that U.S. military forces may have "breached human rights and then removed the evidence," after killing more than 50 Afghan civilians at a wedding party in the village of Kakarak on July 1. A preliminary UN investigation found discrepancies in U.S. accounts of what happened at the bombing, and also did not find corroboration of the U.S. claims that its aircraft were fired on from the ground. Sources at the UN indicate that there was a U.S. coverup of what happened, and that U.S. investigators are delaying their work, to try to let the issue die down.

The UN report was produced by a team of "experienced and reputable UN people, who have been in the region a while and know it well," a UN source is quoted as saying in The Times of London July 29. There was clear evidence that human-rights violations had taken place, but that U.S. and "coalition" forces quickly arrived on the scene and "cleaned the area," removing evidence of "shrapnel, bullets, and traces of blood." Women on the scene had their hands tied behind their backs.

A prepared UN statement issued yesterday in Afghanistan said that the report contained judgments that were not sufficiently substantiated; however, "the findings on the ground bear out the paramount necessity that such incidents do not recur, both from a humanitarian and political perspective." On an ongoing joint U.S.-Afghan investigation of the strike, one UN official said: "The more it drags on, the harder it is to prove, and probably the people investigating want it to go slowly and die away."

While Pentagon officials claim that cameras on the helicopter gun turrets showed gunfire coming from the ground, the Pentagon has not released the film, as it has on previous occasions.

Sunshine Reappears Over Koreas

During the last week in July, an extraordinary turn in the crisis in the Koreas was achieved, both between the North and the South directly, and between North Korea and the United States and Japan. Taken together, these developments indicate a shift of the political geometry in East Asia. With significant participation from Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, it is also a blow against the "axis of evil" notion (North Korea was tagged by President Bush as one of the nations in that "axis"), in the Washington debate about whether to go to war. "This is an apparently astonishing result, but obviously, it was carefully prepared in advance," an Asian source said. This revival of the "Sunshine Policy" championed by South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, includes the following events:

The Two Koreas Agree To Reopen Talks.

South Korea proposed, and Pyongyang accepted, a meeting at North Korea's Mount Geumgang Aug. 2-4, to prepare high-level ministerial talks for early August, Seoul Unification Ministry (MOU) spokesman Kim Hong-jae said July 30. North Korea expressed "regret" for the June 29 North-South Yellow Sea shootout, and proposed to restart the talks. Seoul Presidential Secretary for Foreign Affairs Yim Sung-joon said July 29, that the South has taken Pyongyang's "regret" as an apology and, so, can resume meetings. Main agenda items are "the reunion of separated families and reconnection of severed inter-Korean railways," Yonhap News reported July 30.

Russia Played a Crucial Role in Reviving the Sunshine Policy.

"Pyongyang is ready for a constructive dialogue with the U.S. and Japan without any preconditions," Russian Foreign Minister Ivanov was quoted by Itar Tass as saying in Pyongyang July 29. "Such a dialogue allows discussion of the entire range of issues concerning the Korean peninsula," he said. Ivanov had five hours of talks with Northern leader Kim Jong-il and Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun.

Ivanov said he was carrying a message from South Korean President Kim Dae-jung to the North Korean leader, and that he intended to discuss plans with the North Koreans for linking an inter-Korean railroad with Russia's Trans-Siberian Railway, which would connect South Korea to Europe by rail. This followed Ivanov's two-day trip to South Korea July 27-28, during which he met President Kim Dae-jung and Foreign Minister Choi Sung-hong.

Ivanov said he also delivered a personal letter from President Vladimir Putin to Kim Jong-il, containing "Russia's firm will to implement the agreements reached between Russia and North Korea in Moscow and Pyongyang," North Korean TV said.

"In recent months, Russia has been applying all its diplomatic channels to the peninsula, while making what preparations it can for the possibility the idea might work," the Seoul daily Chosun Ilbo reported. "It has become known that at the G-8 summit in Canada during June, Putin detailed the Russian plan to US President George W. Bush," the daily said.

Powell Meets with North Korean Minister In Brunei.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun met on the sidelines of the Brunei ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) July 31, to discuss resumption of dialogue. It was the highest level meeting since former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited North Korea in October 2000, and the first significant US meeting with North Korea since Bush became President.

"Secretary Powell noted the recent statements the North Koreans have made, he reaffirmed the President's policy, and said that in any future discussions we would want to emphasize a variety of matters including proliferation and mutual commitment made under the Agreed Framework," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. "As for follow-on meetings or travel, we would consider the statements the North Koreans have made."

In response, Paek welcomed the U.S. move for disscussions. "We are ready to have dialogue if they propose first," Paek told reporters. South Korea welcomed the meeting between Powell and Paek, revealing hope it would lead to a trip to Pyongyang by a U.S. delegation, headed by James Kelly, assistant secretary of state in charge of Northeast Asian and Pacific affairs. The Korea Times reported that, "Jack Pritchard, U.S. envoy for negotiations with North Korea, is also likely to visit North Korea on Aug. 7, to attend a ceremony marking the start of construction of two nuclear reactors."

Japan, North Korea Agree To Resume Regular Meetings.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi and North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun agreed July 31 that their two countries would restart stalled senior-level talks in August. The two foreign ministers, meeting at ARF in Brunei, also encouraged a meeting next month between Japanese and North Korean Red Cross officials. North Korean and Japanese Red Cross organizations issued a statement in April, saying the North had agreed to step up its search for Japanese nationals Tokyo says have been missing for decades. The move was seen as a sign that Pyongyang was trying to improve relations with Japan.

Twenty-Three Governments Call for Second Inter-Korean Summit.

The Chairman's statement of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Brunei July 31, states that the foreign ministers of the 23 participating nations, including ASEAN, the European Union, Russia, China, Japan, North and South Korea, and the United States, "emphasized the importance of the holding of a second Inter-Korean summit." They also hailed "the latest moves towards the easing of tensions and the resumption of dialogue," and "expressed hope that genuine progress would be made for the mutual confidence building between North and South Korea and the enhancement of North and South reconciliation and cooperation."

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