Asia News Digest
Overland Route Opens Across Korean DMZ
On Feb. 5, for the first time since the Korean War began in 1950, some 100 South Korean civilians in 10 buses drove across the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone), inaugurating the new Donghae (East Coast) highway to North Korea's Mt. Kumgang. The travellers were mostly corporate officials of Hyundai Asan, on a pilot run for opening public trips to North Korea at the end of the month. The convoy travelled in North Korean buses about 30 km (18.5 mi) from the southern Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) checkpoint at Observatory Tower, to the Northern CIQ at Kosong, arriving at 4 p.m. Despite the tense military situation, no troops of either side were on the ground as the buses passed; military officers watched from observatories at both CIQs.
In Seoul, South Korean Prime Minister Kim Suk-soo told the National Assembly that the two Koreas hope to reconnect both sets of rail and road links through the DMZ before Feb. 25: the Kyongui line up the west coast to China and the Donghae line to Russia on the east. Kim also said he hoped construction of the Kaesong Industrial Complex northwest of the DMZ would begin this month. "We are happy to see the opening of a road between South and North Korea after many twists and turns. I hope the road will accelerate inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation," said Presidential spokeswoman Park Sun-Sook.
Hyundai Asan Chairman Chung Mong-hun and his team also held a ceremony with 200 North Korean dignitaries at the foot of Mt. Kumgang, celebrating the fourth anniversary of the founding of Hyundai Asan, formed to promote North-South travel. Chung's father Chung Ju-yung, founder of the giant Hyundai Group, born in North Korea, dedicated his career to opening relations with Pyongyang and sent large amounts of private aid to the North over many years. "With the opening of the overland route, I expect that more South Korean firms can participate in economic projects in the North. I hope the public supports the new tourism project," Chung Mong-hun said. If the two-day pilot is successful, Hyundai will hold the first public bus tour for 400 guests on Feb. 14, Chung said.
Powell Praises Opening of North-South Korea Road
In his testimony at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Feb. 6, Secretary of State Colin Powell praised (and took partial credit for!) the opening of the road between North and South Korea. Questioned about the difference in U.S. treatment of Iraq and Korea, and about North Korea's announcement that they are re-starting their nuclear reactor, Powell responded: "We are in touch with the North Koreans through a variety of channels. And while we note what the North Koreans have said about the reactor startit's not clear whether it has, but I expect they will start it if they haven't started itwe also note that traffic began moving yesterday between North and South Korea through one of the openings through the DMZ, that we've been working to achieve ... not each one of these issues requires the same set of tools or the same set of solutions."
Indonesians Launch 'Dialogue of Civilizations' Effort To Stop Iraq War
Indonesian religious leaders and national figures have agreed to make a series of foreign trips to Australia and Europe, including the Vatican, to campaign for world peace and to seek support for the increasing opposition to the United States' planned attack on Iraq. Leaders of the largest Islamic organizations, NU and Muhammadiyah, have joined forces with Cardinal Julius Darmaatmadja, head of the Indonesian Bishop's Conference, and others, to assert Indonesia's opposition. Cardinal Julius said this "should not be seen merely as our concern for world peace, but it will be the Asian people's voice against the war."
Delegations will visit Australia from Feb. 9 through Feb. 17, and Europe, including the European Parliament, from Feb. 17 to Feb. 25. Cardinal Julius would lead a delegation to meet with Pope John Paul II.
South Korea Presses U.S. To Engage North
South Korean President-elect Roh Moo-hyun's envoy Chyung Dai-chul told U.S. officials on Feb. 4 that everyone, including Washington, "should work harder for dialogue with North Korea.... We expressed our hope that the United States ... play a more proactive role in engaging in dialogue with North Korea, but also with an international setting, with a multilateral approach." He told reporters that this was his repeated message in meetings with Secretary of State Colin Powell, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Congressmen of both parties. But President Bush cancelled a scheduled meeting with the Koreans, to fly to Houston to lead the memorial for the Space Shuttle astronauts.
Chyung argued against the imposition of any sanctions on North Korea, in line with Roh's belief in the Sunshine Policy of outgoing President Kim Dae-Jung. North Korea has said it would regard sanctions as a declaration of war. Chyung is carrying a letter from Roh for President Bush, calling for a peaceful solution to the nuclear standoff, Roh's aides said.
Chyung indicated that Seoul "was in no hurry" to see a UN debate on North Korea's nuclear programs, but that South Korea would not frontally fight the U.S. push toward the UN. Asked what South Korea thought of IAEA and UN Security Council action, Chyung said: "The basic position of the Roh Moo-hyun Administration would be that, yes, the IAEA could bring this issue to the UN Security Council. But the solution to this should be sought in a gradual and step-by-step manner." Chyung declined to comment on the conditions Washington has set for talks with the North, and agreed with the U.S. position that North Korea's nuclear programs are an international issue, not just a bilateral matter with the United States. "We agreed that even though this dialogue should be held between the United States and North Korea, this issue involves not only North Korea and the United States," he said.
Chyung said he expected Secretary Powell to attend the inauguration of President Roh on Feb. 25 but did not know for certain. Roh has been urgently invited to Washington by President Bush in March, and officials from both sides are mindful of the damage to Seoul-Washington relations caused by a bad first summit in March 2001, when Bush openly snubbed South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung.
Japan, Russia Oppose Forcing North Korea Crisis to UNSC
The International Atomic Energy Agency announced late Feb. 3 that it will convene an emergency session Feb. 12, "to declare North Korea in breach of its commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and refer the issue to the United Nations Security Council," South Korean state radio Radio Korea International reported Feb. 4.
"The IAEA gave formal notice Monday to its 35 members of its decision to hold the special board meeting to address North Korea's nuclear weapons program," RKI said. "North and South Korea have both repeatedly objected to this move." The IAEA acts by consensus, and South Korea's objection stalled the IAEA meeting, planned initially for the week before last. Moving the issue into the UN could threaten North Korea with the same supranational "process" which Iraq has undergone.
Japan and Russia have both criticized the push to force the issue into the Security Council. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters in Tokyo Feb. 4 that any move to "force" North Korea before the United Nations would be "regrettable," according to Kyodo News. He added that Japan is calling for international talks on the future of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO), which the U.S. announced Feb. 4 is being completely cut from the U.S. budget; this, Koizumi objected, "will affect bilateral negotiations between Japan and North Korea." "Any decision on the issue should be made through talks with relevant countries," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said, implying U.S. unilateralism was not appreciated. Japan has put billions of dollars into KEDO.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said it would be "counterproductive" to send the North Korea issue to the UNSC now, "as there still remains the possibility of resolving the dispute through dialogue," Yonhap News reported Feb. 4 from Moscow.
Project Democracy Caught Fuelling Thai-Cambodia Tensions
As the leaders of Cambodia and Thailand are attempting to restore friendly relations, Sam Rainsy, the Cambodian puppet of the U.S. neo-conservatives' Project Democracy, was prevented by the Thai government from aggravating the severe crisis anew. When Rainsy, an operative of the International Republican Institute (IRI) wing of Project Democracy (he is also affiliated with related circles in France), announced that he was going to Bangkok on Feb. 1 to hold a press conference, blaming Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen for a mob's destruction of the Thai embassy and businesses in Phnom Penh on Jan. 29, Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra refused Rainsy entry in to Thailand. Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said the Rainsy visit was "inappropriate and could worsen the situation," which of course was Rainsy's intent. (Former Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai objected, calling for Rainsy to be allowed in.)
Rainsy moved his press conference to Singapore, and from there accused Hun Sen of stirring up anti-Thai sentiment, claiming Hun Sen's acts were like "a mobilization for war." (Rainsy himself is infamous for fanning racial hatred against the Vietnamese within Cambodia, for his own political purposes.)
Cambodia has accepted full blame for the violence and for the failure of the police to stop the violence. Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong visited Thailand, and met with the King, to express apologies.
Thai Prime Minister Bucks IMF
Openly challenging IMF control of his nation, Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra dropped plans to raise the value-added tax (VAT) to 10% from 7%, and suggested the tax may even be lowered to 6%. He said that after July, "Thailand will be freed from IMF control and will have no necessity to raise the VAT to 10% for increased revenue." At the same time, the Cabinet approved a draft budget for fiscal year 2004, set to start in October 2003, which will see increased government spending, with a sharply reduced deficit below 100 billion baht.
Finance Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said, "The last thing we want to do is put a greater tax burden on the private sector."
Thai Economy Grows With Domestic Stimulus
Despite collapsing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Thailand's economy is growing through domestic stimulus. Finance Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said that government revenues have been steadily rising parallel with economic growth, which is projected to have been 5% last year and at least 4.5% or higher this year. Government income in December rose by about 20%, and it has raised its revenue target for the fiscal year by 5.1%.
And yet this growth came as FDI fell by 83% in the first 11 months of 2002. One cause of this is that overseas companies borrowed at lower interest rates from local banks to pay loans to their parent companies (the Thai Central Bank counts borrowing from parent companies as foreign direct investment). Companies paid a net US$585 million to their parents in the first 11 months, compared with a net investment of US$322 million a year earlier.
Also, investments from Singapore, Thailand's biggest foreign direct investor in the past two years, fell by a quarter to US$1 billion, as the Singapore economy has been hit hard by the collapse in exports to the United States.
India Signing Agreement with Thailand, Singapore
India will sign a "comprehensive economic cooperation agreement" with both Singapore and Thailand in September 2004. Indian Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani said he expects the framework agreement to be adopted by both countries, including a Free Trade Agreement, reported the Bangkok Post on Feb. 2. Advani arrived in Bangkok on Jan. 29, and held meetings with his counterpart Visanu Krue-ngarm, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and others. The two nations also agreed to activate the Thailand-India Joint Working Group on Security, which Prime Ministers of the two countries agreed to set up during Thaksin's visit to India in November 2001.
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee agreed last year with ASEAN leaders that India would form a Free Trade Agreement with ASEAN within 10 years, following the lead of China.
Filipino Doctors Prepare To Leave Philippines in Droves
Filipino doctors are taking up nursing courses in droves, hoping to land high-paying though less prestigious jobs overseas, an industry association official said on Feb. 4, according to the publication Business World. There is greater demand overseas, particularly in the United States, for nurses than there is for doctors, said Rose De Leon, executive director of the Philippine Nurses Association.
De Leon said nursing colleges in the Philippines estimated that 2,000 Filipino doctors are enrolled in nursing courses. Nurses in the United States get higher salaries than doctors in the Philippines, luring even highly trained professionals away, De Leon said.
It is often easier to get a U.S. visa as a nurse than as a doctor. Also, Filipino doctors who migrate do not automatically qualify as doctors in the United States.
About 7 million Filipinos work overseas. Their earnings are a major source of foreign exchange for the country.
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