PRESS BULLETIN - July 7, 2008

UNCLAS SEOUL 001345 DEPT FOR EAP/K, EAP/PD, INR/EAP/K AND INR/IL/P TREASURY FOR OASIA/WINGLE USDOC FOR 4430/IEP/OPB/EAP/WGOLICKE STATE PASS USDA ELECTRONICALLY FOR FAS/ITP STATE PASS DOL/ILAB SUDHA HALEY STATE PASS USTR FOR IVES/WEISEL E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KPAO PGOV PREL MARR ECON KS US SUBJECT: PRESS BULLETIN - July 7, 2008 Opinions/Editorials ¶1. We Have More Important Things to Worry About (Chosun Ilbo, July 7, 2008, Page 31) Features ¶2. U.S. "Condoned Summary Executions during Korean War" (Daily Chosun, July 7, 2008) 3 ¶3. Foreign Students in the U.S. Can Work as Interns (Dong-a Ilbo, July 7, 2008, Page 13) 3 ¶4. Majority of Koreans Think Candlelight Protests Should Stop (Hankyoreh Shinmun, July 7, 2008, Front Page and Page 5) Top Headlines Chosun Ilbo Foreign Investors Pulled 6 Trillion Won Out of Korean Stock Market over 20 Days JoongAng Ilbo Key Blue House Official: "Before Vacating Blue House, Former President Roh's Aides Moved Entire Main Computer Server System of Blue House to Bongha Village, Roh's Hometown where the Former President Retired after Leaving Office" Dong-a Ilbo, Segye Ilbo, Seoul Shinmun, All TVs Cars Owned by Government Agencies will be Driven Every Other Day Starting July 15 Hankook Ilbo Chung Sye-kyun Elected Chairman of Main Opposition United Democratic Party; He Proposes a "Round-Table Meeting" between Lee Myung-bak Administration, Ruling Grand National Party and His Party to Resolve the Nation's Crises, Including Economic Hardship, Inter-Korean Deadlock, Public Sector Reform and Education Policy Hankyoreh Shinmun Blue House Turns Blind Eye to "Candlelight Public Sentiment"... It Again Takes "Hard line" on Protesters Domestic Developments ¶1. President Lee Myung-bak will leave for Japan tomorrow to attend the G8 summit of major industrialized countries. The leaders of the G8 will begin their three-day summit today, with global warming and soaring oil and food prices atop the agenda. (All) ¶2. According to a high-ranking diplomatic source in Washington, U.S. beef that passes the U.S. Quality Systems Assessment (QSA) program will arrive in the ROK in a month at the earliest. QSA is a voluntary program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture designed to verify that the beef exported to the ROK comes from cattle under 30 months of age. (Chosun, Dong-a, Segye) ¶3. According to a Blue House official, all the Blue House's cafeterias will serve food made with U.S. beef for lunch on July 8, a move aimed at allaying public concern over the safety of U.S. beef. (All) ¶4. "Is 'Candlelight' Calming Down?:" The weekend's massive candlelight protests ended without major conflict between protesters and police. Police estimated the number taking part in the protest on Saturday at about 50,000, while rally organizers put the number at more than 500,000. Religious groups, meanwhile, said yesterday that they will stop organizing mass gatherings for the time being. An official from the Catholic Priests' Association for Justice was quoted as saying in a statement: "Following a meaningful declaration of the people's victory on Saturday, the priests stopped fasting and returned to religious duty." (All`) ¶5. According to a July 5 opinion survey by Research Plus, a local pollster, of 1,000 adults across the ROK, 68 percent of respondents said that they are still uneasy about U.S. beef. 44 percent of those polled said that they are sympathetic to candlelight vigils against U.S. beef imports but that it is time for them to stop. (Hankyoreh) ¶6. According to AP, in the early days of the Korean War, the U.S. military implicitly connived with the ROK army and police to carry out mass executions of left-wingers and their sympathizers to prevent them from joining enemy forces. (Hankyoreh, MBC) International News ¶1. President Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, in their July 6 summit in Japan, agreed to cooperate closely on the North Korean nuclear and Japanese abduction issues. (JoongAng) ¶2. Dennis Wilder, the U.S. National Security Council's Director for Asian Affairs, said on July 5 that a fresh round of the Six-Party Talks on North Korea's nuclear program will likely be held later this week (around July 11 or 12). (JoongAng, Dong-a, Hankyoreh, Segye, Seoul, VoiceofPeople) ¶3. Dong-a Ilbo featured a story saying that U.S. hardliners on North Korea, angered by moderates going it alone in dealing with the North Korean nuclear issue, are preparing for a massive counterattack at the stage of verifying the North's nuclear declaration. (Dong-a) Media Analysis North Korea Right-of-center JoongAng Ilbo today quoted President Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda as agreeing in their July 6 summit in Japan to cooperate closely on the North Korean nuclear and Japanese abduction issues. The July 4 edition of conservative Chosun Ilbo replayed a July 2 AFP report quoting President Bush as saying at a roundtable interview with Japanese news outlets prior to his departure for G8 summit: "North Korea's declaration of its nuclear programs may have stemmed from leader Kim Jong-il becoming tired of his country's isolation from the international community." President Bush was further quoted as saying: "Diplomacy has got to be the first choice of solving any of these problems, but military options remain on the table." Most newspapers also carried a quote from Dennis Wilder, the U.S. National Security Council's Director for Asian Affairs, who told reporters on July 5 on Air Force One carrying President Bush to the G8 summit that a fresh round of the Six-Party Talks on North Korea's nuclear program will likely be held later this week (around July 11 or 12). Moderate Hankook Ilbo and Seoul Shinmun on Saturday, meanwhile, quoted a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying in a July 4 statement that North Korea could not discuss the next stage of denuclearization until its negotiating partners fulfill their duties. The spokesman was further quoted as claiming: "We have carried out more than 80 percent of the disablement of our key nuclear facilities but the five other parties fulfilled only 40 percent of their obligations under the October third Six-Party Agreement." Hankook saw this statement as a North Korean attempt to gain the upper hand in the soon-to-be held Six-Party Talks, and speculated that this development might set back the resumption of the Six-Party Talks, which are slated for July 10. Most newspapers over the weekend and today gave inside-page play to Abdul Qadeer Khan's interview with AP, in which the architect of Pakistan's nuclear program alleged that Pakistan's army supervised a shipment in 2000 of used P-1 centrifuges to North Korea and that it must have been sent with the approval of Pervez Musharraf, the then-army chief who took power in a 1999 coup. Conservative Dong-a Ilbo ran an inside-page story today saying that U.S. hardliners on North Korea, angered by moderates going it alone in dealing with the North Korean nuclear issue, are preparing for a massive counterattack at the stage of verifying the North's nuclear declaration. U.S. Beef Controversy Carrying the identical headlines, "Is Candlelight Calming Down?," newspapers reported today that the weekend's massive candlelight protests ended without major conflict between protesters and police. Newspapers cited the police as estimating the number taking part in the protest on Saturday at about 50,000, while rally organizers put the number at more than 500,000. Newspapers also gave attention to yesterday's statement by religious groups saying that they will stop organizing mass gatherings for the time being. An official from the Catholic Priests' Association for Justice was quoted as saying: "Following a meaningful declaration of the people's victory on Saturday, the priests stopped fasting and returned to religious duty." Citing a Blue House official, newspapers also reported that all the presidential Blue House's cafeterias will serve food made with U.S. beef for lunch on July 8, a move seen by newspapers as aimed at allaying public concern over the safety of U.S. beef. Left-leaning Hankyoreh Shinmun today front-paged a July 5 opinion survey by Research Plus, a local pollster, of 1,000 adults across the ROK, in which 68 percent of respondents said that they are still uneasy about U.S. beef, with 44 percent of those polled saying that they are sympathetic to candlelight vigils against U.S. beef imports but that it is time to stop them. G8 Summit in Japan Newspapers over the weekend and today gave inside-page coverage to the G8 summit in Japan, which will begin its three-day session today, with global warming and soaring oil and food prices atop the agenda. President Lee Myung-bak, newspapers said, will leave for Japan tomorrow to participate in the G8 summit at Toyako and to hold a series of bilateral summit talks with President Bush, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and leaders of India, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia and Australia. Left-leaning Hankyoreh Shinmun's inside-page report on Friday noted that the G8 industrialized countries have a big difference of opinion on issues such as regulating biofuels and speculative funds and speculated that it would be difficult for them to set a target goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Hankyoreh's headline read: "Leaders of G8 Summit Only Bent on Serving Their Own National Interests" Opinions/Editorials We Have More Important Things to Worry About (Chosun Ilbo, July 7, 2008, Page 31) A massive protest organized by the People's Association for Measures Against Mad Cow Disease (PAMAMCD) was held in Seoul on Saturday. Religious groups including Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists and Won Buddhists, as well as the opposition United Democratic Party, Democratic Labor Party, New Progressive Party and Renewal of Korea Party took part. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and university students also showed up. Protests have been going on for two months now, with participants claiming that eating U.S. beef leads to death by variant Creutzfeldt Jakob disease (vCJD),or the human form of mad cow disease. Over the last two months, anybody who is anybody has joined in the protests, and just about every imaginable act of violence has been committed. It's about time the protests came to an end. People in around a hundred countries eat U.S. beef every day, including Americans and Europeans. Most people around the world consume U.S. beef from cattle aged 30 months or older, but nowhere do you see mad cow hysteria or protests. If you ask people in other countries right now whether they believe eating American beef will cause them to come down with vCJD, they will say you must be out of your mind. A former presidential candidate of the opposition left for the United States a few days ago, where he plans to stay for more than a year. The leading candidates who vied for the top UDP spot in the party's election convention on Sunday lived in the U.S. until recently. If what the protesters are saying is correct, then one of the UDP's candidates must have had a death wish and the other candidate should be dropping dead from vCJD soon. It's all nonsense. A few days ago, one civic group that was believed to have more common sense announced it would take part in the mad cow protests. At least its members did not carry signs saying "mad cow disease." Most of the protesters must know that the notion is ridiculous, but the PAMAMCD has succeeded by leading the protests this far based on such nonsense. But in the shadow of that success, the traders and residents of downtown Seoul are crying out for help. Mad cow disease is not even a topic of concern for Korea's business leaders: far more serious problems face the country. One businessman said just 1,000 unsold homes translates into hundreds of billions of won in losses for construction companies, and right now builders in Korea are left with many thousands of unsold homes. He said Korea will feel the full blast of the real bomb that is ticking away behind their backs as they are fixated on the candlelight protests. The monthly interest on mortgages has soared past 9 percent and consumer prices are increasing faster than growth, leading to a sharp gain in household debt. Middle-class families are being driven to the edge and the entire economy may end up being shaken to its foundations. Prices of crude oil, grain, iron ore and other raw materials are rising to ever-new highs. And now, the fluctuation of the Korean won against the U.S. dollar is mimicking patterns seen before the Asian financial crisis. Amid these dangerous developments, we see thousands of people, including innocent children, making a great song and dance downtown about how U.S. beef will cause vCJD. A major force in the protests is the KCTU, which is saying laborers can't work if they catch vCJD and has vowed to hold strikes that damage production. How much longer are these forces going to enjoy the mad cow festival while their country is being driven closer to the brink? It is time for everyone to worry about reality. * This is a translation provided by the newspaper and it is identical to the Korean version. Features U.S. "Condoned Summary Executions during Korean War" (English Chosun, July 7, 2008) In the early days of the Korean War, the U.S. military implicitly connived with the South Korean army and police to carry out mass executions of left-wingers and their sympathizers to prevent them from joining enemy forces, AP reported Saturday. The wire agency reported based on its own archival research in declassified documents from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration that American officers observed, photographed and c-o-n-f-i-d-e-n-t-i-a-l-l-y reported the wholesale executions by their South Korean ally, AP said the "s-e-c-r-e-t-i-v-e slaughter" was believed to have killed 100,000 or more leftists and supposed sympathizers, usually without charge or trial, in a few weeks in mid-1950s. Its research found no indication that Far East Commander General Douglas MacArthur took action to stem the killing. The declassified record shows an equivocal U.S. attitude continuing into the fall of 1950, it said, when Seoul was retaken and South Korean forces began shooting residents who had collaborated with the northern occupiers. When Washington's British allies protested, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Dean Rusk told them U.S. commanders were doing "everything they can to curb such atrocities," according to a memo of Oct. 28, 1950. British troops at one stage seized "Execution Hill" outside Seoul to block further mass killings there. (Editor's Note: This same AP story is also carried in the July 7 edition of Hankyoreh Shinmun without additional comment.) Foreign Students in the U.S. Can Work as Interns (Dong-a Ilbo, July 7, 2008, Page 13) By Reporter Hwang Kyu-in Starting from September, the Department of State will add the student internship subcategory to the J1 visa program. Student interns may participate in a student internship program for up to 12 months at each degree level. Only when they are accepted into a U.S. internship program can they apply for a J1 visa. From the second semester of this year, the door will be open for undergraduate or graduate students to make money in the U.S. for a year while studying there. According to the latest issue of the Federal Register, the U.S. Department of State created a new subcategory of "Student Interns" in the J1 Visa or cultural exchange visitor program. Under this subcategory, student interns can participate in an internship program at a U.S. accredited academic institution for up to 12 months. The addition of the new student intern subcategory has consequently brought the number of the types of the J1 visa programs to 18. Among them, the subcategories of exchange students, interns and student interns are similar. However, exchange students can only maintain a J-1 status when they take classes at accredited academic institutions for more than 18 hours per week, and although they may participate in an internship, they can only earn credits. On the other hand, interns can make money at a private company but cannot enroll in an accredited academic institution. The new student internship program is a combination of these two types. Student interns are allowed to work as paid interns at a designated university or private sector entity for at least 32 hours a week while taking classes at an accredited academic institution. This revision, which expands internship program sponsors from government agencies or private sector entities to universities, is effective July 21, 2008. Kim Sang-rok, 24, who stayed in the U.S. as an exchange student last year, said, "Among the part-time jobs that an exchange student can do is simply serving food at a school restaurant at the minimum wage," adding, "If the student internship program is introduced, it will help build experience in fields of study and help (students) understand the corporate culture of the U.S." Potential applicants for the J-1 Student Intern visa should be students currently enrolled in university or graduate school located outside the U.S. To apply for the visa, they also need an admission notice for the student intern programs issued by the universities, research institutes or government organizations for which they want to work. Those who receive this visa granting them the status of student intern will be able to stay for a maximum of 12 months in the U.S. for each bachelor's course. Undergraduate students who worked as student intern can stay for another 12 months when they enter the master's course and for another 12 months again for their doctor's course. Professor Moon Hae-won, in charge of international educational exchanges programs at Yonsei University, said, "Since school performance and the English ability required by each U.S. private or government organizations differ, potential applicants for the student intern programs need to check for detailed information through their colleges." The number of J-1 visa issuance by the U.S. Embassy in Seoul last year was 17,452, up by 750 from 2006. When the student intern program is added to the J-1 visa category, the figure is likely to increase further. An official from the ROK Foreign Ministry said, "The U.S. created a system which is modeled on Japan's working holiday visa that allows foreigners to learn Japanese, travel and work in Japan." The official added, "More American private firms are likely to join the student intern program since they do not have to pay employment taxes for hiring interns." According to the U.S. Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS),Koreans were the largest foreign student group in the U.S. as of the end of last year. The number of Korean students in America marked 103,394, accounting for 14 percent of foreign students in the U.S. Majority of Koreans Think Candlelight Protests Should Stop (Hankyoreh Shinmun, July 7, 2008, Front Page and Page 5) By Reporters Lim Seok-gyu, Lee Hwa-ju and Shin Seong-gun But citizens still want U.S. beef agreement renegotiated and put the president's approval ratings at 20.9 pct. In spite of the South Korean government's additional round of negotiations with the United States over quarantine terms for the resumption of U.S. beef imports, public fears about the American meat have not been eased and a majority of people still think the government should renegotiate the deal to revise the quarantine terms. As for the candlelight demonstrations, people said they ((agree with the reasons people are protesting)),but the majority of respondents to a recent survey said that the rallies should stop. According to an opinion poll conducted by The Hankyoreh and Research Plus on May 5, 29 percent of respondents said that "concerns (about American meat) have been eased," while 67.5 percent responded that "concerns (about American meat) have not been eased." In addition, 59.9 percent said that renegotiation of the beef agreement is "necessary," while 34.5 percent said renegotiation is "not necessary." These results are in contrast to the government's assertion that public fears over U.S. beef have eased after the additional round of negotiations in June. The survey also confirmed the existence of lingering concerns about the government's plan to increase the number of restaurants that are required to show country-of-origin information for beef. The poll showed that 73.9 percent of respondents do not trust the government's plan, which will require most restaurants and retailers to provide the information. These results seem to support the public sentiment that a renegotiation with the U.S. would be the best way to guarantee the safety of beef and likewise call into question the effectiveness of other government measures, such as an expansion of the country-of-origin labeling policy. As for the candlelight rallies, 28.5 percent of survey respondents said they "agree with the reasons behind the rallies" and that "the rallies should go on," while 43.7 percent said they "agree with the reasons behind the rallies," but that "the rallies should be halted." Another 22 percent said they "do not agree with the reasons behind the rallies" and that "the rallies should be halted." While 72.2 percent of respondents said they agree with the candlelight protests, more than fifty percent think that the protests should be brought to an end. Lim Sang-ryeol, the president of Research Plus, said, "While people are still critical of the government's handling of U.S. beef imports and agree with the candlelight rallies, they are likely feeling a sense of fatigue and expect a resolution as both the government and protesters have been in confrontation for a long time without any sign of compromise." When asked about whether the government should replace economy-related ministers, including Finance Minister Kang Man-soo, 49.1 percent responded that they should be replaced, while 30.5 percent said they should remain in office. As for President Lee Myung-bak's appointment of people who served as his media advisers during his election campaign as presidents of broadcasting companies, 67.7 percent said the move is "problematic because it could undermine the neutrality of the broadcasters," while 21.7 percent said there is "no problem because the appointments are based on (an individual's) competence and specialization." The poll showed that President Lee's approval rating stood at 20.9 percent, compared with the 22.2 percent recorded in a May 31 survey. The telephone survey was conducted nationwide among 1,000 people aged 19 or older. The survey had a response rate of 16 percent and a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points with a confidence level of 95 percent. * This is a translation provided by the newspaper, and it is identical to the Korean version. Vershbow