The Asianist

The Bush administration made no new "offer" to the North Korean regime, but North Korea has decided to return to the negotiation table:

"We are able to confirm that we have an agreed upon date with all the parties for resuming six-party talks, the week of July 25," a senior U.S. official traveling with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.

The confirmation came during a dinner hosted by China for Hill and Kim Kye-gwan, who headed North Korea's delegations to previous six-party talks and is expected to do so again at the next round.

Since a third inconclusive round of talks in Beijing in June last year, Pyongyang had demanded that any new round must have an expanded focus on broader disarmament issues, not just on the North's nuclear programs.

But U.S. officials said Pyongyang had reaffirmed the narrower focus. "It's significant that the purpose is denuclearisation," the senior official said.

We Americans often discuss the cost to ourselves of any failure in negotiations, but we should not forget that North Korea has more to lose in many ways by playing chicken with us, PROVIDED that we negotiate from a principle of strength, not from any sense of desperation and weakness.

Posted by James Na at 9:25 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Before pressing "SEND," it always helps to double check as one Korea "expert" recently found out (hat tip: The Marmot's Hole).

The U.S.-Asia foreign policy establishment here is positively gaga over a teensy transmission error last week by consultant Chris Nelson , author of the highly authoritative Nelson Report, a must-read for those involved in foreign affairs, especially on Asia.

Nelson, who works for Samuels International, prepared an exceptionally frank "special report for the embassy of the Republic of South Korea" titled "Players on Korea Policy in Washington, D.C."

Acknowledging his brutal assessments -- his survey left few untrashed -- he warned the embassy that "if ANY of this Report is seen by ANY one outside of the embassy, its humble author is going to have to receive political asylum."

Alas. Nelson, instead of sending the 22-page analysis to the Korean Embassy, hit his list for Nelson Report subscribers, administration officials, Hill folks, think tankers, media types and others -- more than 800 people, including many of whom he had skewered or identified as people who talk to him. So it's most unclear who would offer asylum.

Posted by James Na at 12:21 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Asahi Online reports:

An apparent terrorist threat forced organizers to abruptly cancel a rally in Iraq on Sunday intended to support the Japanese Self-Defense Forces stationed in Samawah.

The rally was arranged by an Iraqi sports group and an association that wanted to show its appreciation of Japan's goodwill in the area, organizers said.

"We wanted to express our gratitude for Japan's contributions for promoting sports activities here, but we had to cancel it to avoid trouble," one of the organizers said.

Of course, most Americans are unaware of troop contributions from our Asian and other allies, because the mainstream news media suddenly discovers allies in this "unilateral" war only when they draw down their participation.

Posted by James Na at 6:35 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

That includes Senator Hillary Clinton.

And naturally, I'd expect her to tout her husband's "accomplishment" in this regard, the now infamous 1994 "Agreed Framework":

There is a precedent for this. According to former defense secretary William J. Perry (in a 1999 book) it was the threat of U.N. sanctions that led to negotiations concluding in the Agreed Framework, which froze the North Korean plutonium-based nuclear program for nine years.

If Levin and Clinton are calling for an Agreed Framework 2, they are setting up America's North Korean policy for a failure... again.

Posted by James Na at 5:37 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Previously, I urged in "China's Strategic Direction" (April 15th, 2005, RealClearPolitics) not to neglect the possibily that China's strategic influence may heard "north" to Central Asia rather than "south" to Southeast Asia.

RadioFreeEurope reports that Kazakhstan and China signed a joint declaration on a "strategic partnership" (hat tip: Registan.net):

[Chinese President] Hu is reported to be particularly interested in boosting energy and trade ties as he visits Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan and China are building a 988-kilometer pipeline worth some $700 million to export Kazakh oil to China. [Kazakh President] Nazarbaev said on 4 July the pipeline will be completed on 16 December.

A likely topic on the agenda is recent violence in eastern Uzbekistan.

Tashkent says the violence on 13 May in the city of Andijon killed 176 people and was caused by Muslim extremist groups intent on toppling the government.

But human rights groups say more than 500 people, mostly civilians, were killed by fire from government troops.

China, Kazakhstan, and Russia have strongly supported Tashkent's position.

Nazarbaev said on 30 June in Astana that states have the right to crack down on what he termed "terrorists."

"What should the state do in such cases?" Nazarbaev said. "The state of Israel, for instance, never negotiates with terrorists."

The SCO, a regional security grouping dominated by Russia and China, includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

Posted by James Na at 5:05 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)