SEOUL - PRESS BULLETIN; JANUARY 6, 2010

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 SEOUL 000015 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV MARR ECON KPAO KS US SUBJECT: SEOUL - PRESS BULLETIN; JANUARY 6, 2010 TOP HEADLINES -------------- Chosun Ilbo Speculation that Samsung Electronics May Move to Sejong City JoongAng Ilbo Fears of "Nomad Terrorism" Al-Qaida Terrorists Commit Terror Acts while Moving like Nomads Dong-a Ilbo Samsung Poised to Move Cutting-Edge Biotechnology Operations to Sejong City Hankook Ilbo, Hankyoreh Shinmun, Segye Ilbo, All TVs Land Costs to be Discounted at Sejong City Seoul Shinmun Araon, ROK's First Icebreaker, Set for North Pole Expedition DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS -------------- Photo and caption: Former U.S. Figure Skating Champion Michelle Kwan skates with young Korean skaters at an ice link in Seoul on Jan. 5. She is visiting the ROK as a public diplomacy envoy of the U.S. Department of State. (Dong-a, Hankook, Hankyoreh, Seoul, KBS, MBC) INTERNATIONAL NEWS -------------- According to a group of North Korean defectors, North Korean authorities recently designated the birthday (Jan. 8) of leader Kim Jong-il's third son and heir apparent, Kim Jung-eun, as a national holiday, a development suggesting that the North's power succession process may accelerate. (All) MEDIA ANALYSIS -------------- -N. Korea -------------- Moderate Seoul Shinmun noted Jan. 4 press remarks by State Department Spokesman Ian Kelly, in which he said: "We hope that North Korea will agree to resuming the Six-Party Talks. We are hopeful that we'll get some actions toward that end and not just words, and ... we are hopeful we can all sit down and reach our desired goal, which is the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a verifiable manner." According to the Seoul Shinmun report, Spokesman Kelly's remarks were made in response to the North's New Year's message last week in which the North vowed to establish a peace regime and achieve denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula through dialogue and negotiations. - Al-Qaida in Yemen -------------- Right-of-center JoongAng Ilbo carried an analysis entitled "Fears of 'Nomad Terrorism.'" It said that with Yemen emerging as a new al-Qaida stronghold, 'nomad terrorism' is putting the world on edge. It went on to say: "Al-Qaida terrorists are building their strength while traveling across a 'terror route' ranging from Afghanistan to Pakistan to Saudi Arabia to Yemen to Somalia. Even though Secretary of State Hillary Clinton singled out Yemen as a 'base for terrorist attacks,' the U.S. actually has no option but to increase its aid to counter-terrorism operations conducted by the Yemeni government; the resilience and adaptability of al-Qaida are remarkable." OPINIONS/EDITORIALS SEOUL 00000015 002 OF 003 -------------- TIME TO FACE UP TO SITUATION ON KORUS FTA (Chosun Ilbo, January 6, 2010, Page 34) By Washington Correspondent Lee Ha-won I was doubly surprised while looking at the responses of a group of American experts on Korea to a questionnaire from Chosun Ilbo. Nine of the 10 experts surveyed felt it is unlikely that the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will be ratified by the U.S. Congress this year. I was again surprised to learn that not a few of them saw little chance next year either. The U.S. Administration and Congress often exchange views with think tanks and expert groups as they formulate policy. Most of the experts who took part in the straw poll are well versed in the trends of the Administration and Congress; their projections should not be taken lightly. Since the Korea-U.S. FTA was signed by the two governments on June 30, 2007, the ROK Embassy in Washington has made consistent efforts to have the accord ratified by Congress. Ambassadors Lee Tae-shik and Han Duck-soo toured the entire country to meet state-level elected representatives. They tried to create favorable public opinion in cooperation with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. But the outcome of the straw poll shows the political environment has not changed despite two years and six months of effort. For the Korea-U.S. FTA to take effect, three important steps have to be taken - additional negotiations between the two governments, President Barack Obama's submission of the FTA to Congress, and ratification. Little chance is now seen that the three steps will go smoothly, and the Administration's priorities have shifted. When Obama returned to Washington from a vacation in Hawaii on Monday, the "war on terror" was on the agenda again after a failed bombing attack on a U.S.-bound airplane. And a public health reform bill, which Obama has pushed for in the past year with all his political resources, is still pending in Congress. The administration's will to take on the FTA also is doubtful. This is in spite of all that the U.S. Trade Representative has done in the past year is to listen to the pro-FTA views of industry overall. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke in a recent press interview said bluntly that no specific timetable has been set to send the bill to Congress. The attention of U.S. politicians is already focused on the national mid-term elections in November, which will elect 33 senators and 435 representatives. American politicians are just as obsessed with elections as their Korean counterparts. The Democratic Party knows that those who oppose the FTA have more votes and campaign money, one expert says. The important question is whether the Korean government realizes all this. "The Korean government tends to think in a Korean way that the FTA will be ratified if it is pushed ahead forcefully with diplomatic strength, without taking into account the negative feelings among the Democrats," said a diplomatic source here. Americans in Washington D.C. who heard a rumor that a senior Korean government official was outraged when told that the prospects for the FTA are unfavorable during a parliamentary audit in Seoul of the ROK Embassy in Washington D.C. found it noteworthy. It is time to search for a new way out, looking squarely at the actual situation. A two-stage approach may be feasible - resolving differences over auto industry issues during the first half of this year and then getting the FTA ratified after the U.S. mid-term elections. Trying to be forceful, as the Korean government is used to at home, could land the FTA on the scrap heap of history. (This is a translation provided by the newspaper, and it is identical to the Korean version.) SEOUL 00000015 003 OF 003 STEPHENS