SEOUL - PRESS BULLETIN; July 23, 2009

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 SEOUL 001164 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV MARR ECON KPAO KS US SUBJECT: SEOUL - PRESS BULLETIN; July 23, 2009 TOP HEADLINES -------------- Chosun Ilbo Newspaper Companies and Conglomerates to be Allowed to Enter Broadcasting Business, Albeit Limitedly JoongAng Ilbo, Dong-a Ilbo Investment Barriers, which Banned Newspapers from Owning Stakes in Broadcasters, Lifted for First Time in 29 Years Hankook Ilbo, Segye Ilbo, Seoul Shinmun National Assembly Thrown into Chaos after Ruling GNP Railroads Controversial Media Bills Amid Scuffles with Opposition Parties Hankyoreh Shinmun, All TVs Broadcasting Bill Passage Controversial as Voting Occurred Twice... Opposition Parties Call the Passage "Invalid" DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS -------------- The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Korean War Veterans Recognition Act on July 21, which calls for the commemoration of the Korean War Armistice Day, July 27, by flying flags at half mast in recognition of the veterans. (Chosun, Hankook, Seoul) INTERNATIONAL NEWS -------------- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held a series of meetings with ROK, Chinese, Japanese and Russian foreign ministers in Phuket, Thailand yesterday, ahead of today's annual ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF),in order to work out a strategy to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions. (All) Secretary Clinton was widely quoted as saying during a press conference following the meetings: "We have made it very clear to the North Koreans that if they will agree to irreversible denuclearization, the U.S., as well as our partners, will move forward on a package of incentives and opportunities, including normalizing relations that will give the people of North Korea a better future." (All) MEDIA ANALYSIS -------------- -Secretary Clinton at ASEAN Meeting -------------- All ROK media gave prominent coverage to Secretary Clinton's July 22 press conference following a series of meetings in Phuket, Thailand with her ROK, Chinese, Japanese and Russian counterparts. Secretary Clinton was widely quoted as saying: "We have made it very clear to the North Koreans that if they will agree to irreversible denuclearization, the U.S., as well as our partners, will move forward on a package of incentives and opportunities, including normalizing relations that will give the people of North Korea a better future." Conservative Chosun Ilbo, in particular, noted that this is the first time Secretary Clinton mentioned the new "comprehensive package" strategy which Seoul and Washington discussed recently to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions. Secretary Clinton's remarks about possible military cooperation between North Korea and Myanmar also received wide media coverage. She was quoted: "We know that there are growing concerns about SEOUL 00001164 002 OF 003 military cooperation between North Korea and Burma, which we take very seriously. It would be destabilizing for the region. It would pose a direct threat to Burma's neighbors. " Newspapers carried the following headlines: "Clinton, Sung Kim: (U.S.) Has No Plans to Meet with N. Korea" (conservative Chosun Ilbo); "Clinton Says, 'We Do Not Intend to Reward N. Korea Just for Returning to the Table,' Presenting New Solution for Complete and Irreversible Denuclearization" (right-of-center JoongAng Ilbo); and "U.S. Willing to Improve Ties with N. Korea If the North Agrees to Complete Denuclearization" (conservative Dong-a Ilbo, moderate Hankook Ilbo, left-leaning Hankyoreh Shinmun, conservative Segye Ilbo, moderate Seoul Shinmun) FEATURES -------------- CLINTON SAYS THAT IF NORTH KOREA PURSUES DENUCLEARIZATION, U.S. IS WILLING TO DISCUSS NORMALIZING RELATIONS (JoongAng Ilbo, July 23, page 12) By Reporter Ye Young-joon During a July 22 press conference, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that if North Korea pursues complete and irreversible denuclearization, the U.S. is willing to discuss normalizing relations with North Korea. Secretary Clinton arrived in Phuket, Thailand on July 22 to attend the annual ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). In the press conference, she was quoted as saying, "If the North Koreans will agree to irreversible denuclearization, the U.S., as well as our partners, will move forward on a package of incentives, including normalizing relations." This is the first time in an open press conference that Secretary Clinton made remarks about normalizing relations with North Korea in return for its denuclearization. However, Secretary Clinton noted that the U.S. will not reward North Korea for just returning to the negotiating table. She added that if North Korea does not return to the negotiating table, it will face international isolation and sanctions. As evident in Secretary Clinton's remarks, the "irreversible concept," which means "irreversible (nuclear) dismantlement," is considered a core principle of the "comprehensive package" idea that emerged as a new solution to the North Korean nuclear issue. Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan agreed to this irreversible concept during his meeting with Secretary Clinton the same day. The comprehensive package is different from the Six-Party Talks process that calls for North Korea to take phased steps to dismantle nuclear programs and provides phased-in rewards to North Korea. Under the comprehensive package, all pending issues including the dismantling of nuclear weapons, which is the final objective, will be placed on the negotiating table all at once. The ROK and the U.S. emphasize "irreversibility" because of their judgment that the 1994 Geneva Agreement, which called for freezing Yongbyon's nuclear facilities, or the 2007 Six-Party Talks agreement, calling for nuclear disablement, would not lead to North Korea's genuine nuclear dismantlement. Therefore, (the ROK and the U.S. view that) North Korean denuclearization should start from Pyongyang taking irreversible steps that it cannot roll back whenever it so chooses. An (ROKG) official said, "Now, looking back on the steps toward disablement - as negotiators judged at that time - these steps were not 'irreversible' but 'reversible,' which has been proven true by North Korea's behavior." (For example,) Yongbyon and its reprocessing facility and its nuclear facilities were initially subject to disablement by Pyongyang, but it recently declared that it would restore the facilities and extract additional plutonium from them. SEOUL 00001164 003 OF 003 "Irreversible dismantlement" is the term that the U.S. once refrained from using but has recently started to use again. In the early days of the Six-Party Talks, the U.S. Bush Administration put forward the so-called "CVID" principle of North Korea's nuclear dismantlement. It is an acronym for "Complete, Verifiable, Irreversible Dismantlement," and was advocated by the neo-cons, the key force driving U.S. foreign policy at the time. Among those four words, "irreversible" drew particularly strong resistance from North Korea, and since 2005, the U.S. has rarely used the word. The ROKG government official noted, "In the past, 'irreversibility' was part of the principle, but these days, Washington is focused only on irreversibility." North Korea: "(The ARF) Should Not Become a Place Where a Member Nation Is Attacked" Park Geun-kwang, a (vice minister-level) representative from North Korea for the ASEAN Regional Forum, told Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, "An attack on a certain nation (North Korea) should not be a main agenda item of the ARF," according to a source who asked not to be named. In response, Thailand reportedly said, "We will keep that in mind." Meanwhile, ROK Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan had a series of meeting with his Chinese and Japanese counterparts Yang Jiechi and Hirofumi Nakasone, respectively, on July 22. STEPHENS