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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 004628 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR INR/R/MR; IIP/RW; IIP/RNY; BBG/VOA; IIP/WEU; 
AF/PA; EUR/WE /P/SP; D/C (MCCOO); EUR/PA; INR/P; INR/EUC; 
PM; OSC ISA FOR ILN; NEA; WHITE HOUSE FOR NSC/WEUROPE; DOC FOR 
ITA/EUR/FR AND PASS USTR/PA; USINCEUR FOR PAO; NATO/PA; MOSCOW/PA; 
ROME/PA. 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR FR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT - North Korea Missile Tests 
PARIS - Thursday, July 06, 2006 
 
 
(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: 
 
North Korea Missile Tests 
 
(B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: 
 
While the victory of France over Portugal in the World Cup semi 
finals dominates the majority of today's headlines, the North Korean 
missile tests are the topic of a number of editorials and analyses. 
 
 
Francois Sergent in left-of-center Liberation notes that President 
Bush is "spinning around the Axis of Evil." Sergent quotes Henry 
Kissinger, who said that the format of current negotiations with 
Iran... and with North Korea is "highly dysfunctional" enabling the 
two countries to "play off of each other." On state-run France 2's 
evening newscast the reporter said that the North Korean missile 
tests are "intentionally political," that North Korea is pushing to 
be treated like Iran and that while North Korea is "used to testing 
the limits of the international community," this is "a dangerous 
game in which Kim Jong Il could get burned."  (See Part C) 
 
Press reports on the North Korean tests agree that they serve to 
strengthen the military and political alliance between the U.S. and 
Japan. "This alliance is summed up in the Security Treaty signed by 
the two countries some fifty years ago: 'Any country that attacks 
Japan, attacks, de facto, the U.S.'" notes left-of-center 
Liberation's correspondent in Tokyo. 
 
In right-of-center Le Figaro a full page of op-eds is devoted to 
Iran. Ramin Parham, Iranian thinker and president of the 
Franco-Iranian Committee for Democracy in Iran, writes that "faced 
with theocratic fanaticism, diplomacy is pointless." Seyed Ali 
Moujani, Charg d'Affaires at the Iranian embassy in Paris, however, 
insists that "Iran has the right to nuclear technology." Nicole 
Gnesotto, Director of the European Union Institute for Security 
Studies, says that the "Iranian Crisis is a Test for Europe's 
Security Policies." "The shift in the American position, agreeing in 
principal to direct talks after over 25 years of diplomatic silence, 
is a major victory with regard to Europe's determination and 
strategy... Of course we must remain extremely cautious concerning 
the final outcome of the Iranian crisis... but the latest steps 
taken are decisive... They show that when Europe is united it can 
have real influence, in particular on its American partner. Divided, 
as Europe was at the outset of the Iraqi conflict, it simply does 
not count. In a world that must become by definition, multi-polar... 
strengthening the EU's influence on each of the world's strategic 
poles should be Europe's only objective." 
 
Left-of-center Le Monde's front page says that: "Baghdad is Under 
the Rule of Warlords and Islamists." A two-page article by the 
daily's correspondent in Baghdad, Patrice Claude, paints a grim 
picture of day-to-day life in Iraq with violence, assassinations, 
and intimidation running rife. Claude says that "when the virus of 
fanaticism infects youths who are pathologically ignorant and often 
illiterate it becomes lethal." 
 
Catholic La Croix gives a brief account of the six French nationals 
captured by the U.S. in Afghanistan. Their trial began in Paris 
yesterday. All six men traveled to Afghanistan through London-based 
clandestine networks. Once in Afghanistan, they had direct links to 
al-Qaeda either through enrollment in Koranic schools or by training 
at military camps. A French diplomatic telegram published in 
left-of-center Liberation yesterday referred to intelligence agents 
who conducted interviews with the suspects at least twice while at 
Guantanamo. Defense lawyers are claiming that these interviews 
violated their clients' rights.  France 3 television last night 
aired a report in which one defense lawyer said that the entire 
trial is "underhanded." The defense has asked for the case to be 
thrown out and for France to be sentenced by the European Court. 
The journalist pointed out the irony in the fact that the telegram 
stressed the "excellent cooperation of French intelligence with the 
Americans at Guantanamo" while the French government was openly 
denouncing the illegality of the detention center. An editorial in 
regional Les Dernieres Nouvelles d'Alsace says that "this 
contradiction could be very damaging for the image of France on the 
other side of the Atlantic." 
(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: 
North Korea Missile Tests 
 
"Diplomacy on the Edge of the Abyss" 
Philippe Pons pens an analysis in left-of-center Le Monde (07/06): 
"Until now Pyongyang's regime has shown that it is much less 
unpredictable than thought and that it is skillfully playing the few 
cards that it still has in hand... From the point of view of the 
North Koreans, the U.S. nuclear agreement with India and the ongoing 
negotiations with Iran (which possesses a much less advanced nuclear 
program than North Korea) are proof of the little regard that 
Washington has for Pyongyang... North Korea may think that the time 
has come to open a new front, or at least create a diversion while 
Washington remains mired in the Iraqi conflict and is condemned to 
keep waiting in its tug-of-war with Teheran. From Pyongyang's point 
of view, Washington today is being forced to negotiate with the 'bad 
guys' (Iranians, Iraqi insurgents...). But the surprise may come 
from China, to what point will the Chinese put up with North Korea's 
provocations...? Provocations which will also reinforce the 
U.S.-Japanese military alliance - and it should be noted that Japan 
is inclined to adopt a hard line stance vis-`-vis North Korea. The 
U.S., for its part, is becoming increasingly impatient ... but is at 
an impasse, Democrats and Republicans alike are urging George W. 
Bush to change tactics. The American wait-and-see attitude, along 
with sanctions and arm waving have proved fruitless with North Korea 
but the U.S. continues to refuse direct dialogue... After including 
North Korea in the 'axis of evil' with Iran and Saddam Hussein's 
Iraq, Washington, today, seems to be minimizing the threat level 
that North Korea represents... a reticence that could indicate a 
certain degree of embarrassment." 
 
"Iran - North Korea: The Axis of Blackmail" 
Stephane Marchand editorializes in right-of-center Le Figaro 
(07/06): "The concert of protestations from the international 
community is music to Pyongyang's ears. Irritated since September 
2005 by the stalemate of the six-way negotiations on the subject of 
his nuclear program, Kim Jong Il is trying to win back the upper 
hand with regard to the U.S. in order to establish a direct dialogue 
with the superpower... To be able to exist on the international 
scene, North Korea, which has a disastrous economic situation... 
only possesses two things with which to scare: its rudimentary 
nuclear weapons... and the missiles that it builds and exports. Over 
the course of the last ten years the country has consummately 
wielded these two instruments of blackmail. This blackmail, that 
some would call deterrence, has been fruitful. Condoleezza Rice... 
implicitly promised last year that he U.S. would not engage in 
military strikes against North Korea. This military and diplomatic 
toing and froing is being closely watched in the Middle East, where 
the invasion of Iraq proved one thing: it is better to have real 
weapons of mass destruction if one is on Washington's blacklist... 
On the 'Axis of Blackmail" the Islamic Republic and the Communist 
dictatorship mutually copy one another... Both of them are intent on 
wreaking havoc, biding their time and using the threat of the bomb 
to protect their regimes." 
 
"Washington Seeking Not to Fall Into a Trap 
Washington correspondent Philippe Gelie writes in right-of-center Le 
Figaro: "If Kim Jong Il wanted to steal Iranian president 
Ahmadinejad's thunder by becoming the lead trouble maker in the 
world, he succeeded pretty well. With a salvo of missiles launched 
on the same day as the take-off of the shuttle Discovery, the day 
the U.S. observed July 4 - when Americans had their eyes riveted to 
the sky to watch the fireworks, and while George Bush was 
celebrating his 60th birthday (which is today) with 150 guests 
invited in Washington, the least one can say is that the 
'provocation' did not go unnoticed. But if it was intended to 
destabilize the American Administration it definitely failed... 
Immediately the White House reacted in a calibrated way condemning 
Pyongyang's actions and insisting on a diploma tic solution to the 
issue." 
"Beijing - Pyongyang: The Temptation to Let Go" 
Alexandre Adler in right-of-center Le Figaro (07/06): "The only 
thing that is saving North Korea right now is the fact that the U.S. 
is entirely focalized on the Middle East... Americans see only the 
benefits of putting off until later a confrontation with North 
Korea..." 
 
"Bogged Down" 
In left-of-center Liberation the editorial by Antoine de Gaudemar 
(07/06): "For the time being George W. Bush is stalling by putting 
the emphasis on diplomacy as opposed to the use of force, a use of 
force that the hawks in the Administration would like to see used 
against North Korea. If truth be told, President Bush does not 
really have a choice. He is mired down in Iraq and at odds with 
Russia and China... Despite the fundamental importance of the 
non-proliferation treaty, the international community seems to be 
incapable of blocking the road to nuclear weapons... and applies a 
double standard when it allows a country like India to acquire the 
bomb." 
 
"Missiles" 
Communist l'Humanite's editorial by Maurice Ulrich: (07/06): "Are 
the missile tests proof of the absurd blindness of a paranoid and 
megalomaniac power or a last ditch attempt to get the attention of 
the international community? The answer is: perhaps both. For years 
North Korea has been dangerously shilly-shallying with the U.S. to 
get economic aid and diplomatic recognition... The official 
reactions of world leaders do not tell the whole story. Nuclear 
powers, France among them, continue to preach to a dozen other 
countries 'do as I say, not as I do.' The club of nuclear powers is 
a very closed one that is, not surprisingly, hostile to general 
nuclear disarmament. Remember just a few months ago President Chirac 
made the case for reinforcing France's powers of deterrence... And 
while France condemns the tests it should also plead for dialogue, 
for transparency for a stronger relationship between the UN and the 
international community, and not just with the members of the 
'club.'" STAPLETON