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E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO PGOV PREL MARR ECON KS US
SUBJECT: PRESS BULLETIN - January 12, 2009 
 
Features 
 
¶1. Pyongyang Wants Envoy at Obama's Inauguration 
(JoongAng Ilbo, January 12, 2009, Front Page) 
¶2. Ambassador Stephens: "Obama Will Take a Package Approach toward 
North Korea's Nuclear Dismantlement and the Establishment of 
Diplomatic Ties" 
(Dong-a Ilbo, January 10, 2009, Page 8) 
 
 
Top Headlines 
 
Chosun Ilbo 
National Assembly Seeks to Refer Lawmakers who are Involved in 
Violent Clashes at the Assembly to Disciplinary Committee 
 
JoongAng Ilbo 
Private Education Institutes Fall on Hard Times 
as Parents Tighten up the Purse Strings 
 
Dong-a Ilbo 
Online Personal Attacks Rising Against the Judge who Issued 
an Arrest Warrant for Popular Online Commentator "Minerva" 
 
Hankook Ilbo 
ROKG Plans to Send 100,000 Youths Overseas to Serve as Internship 
Trainees or Regular Employees, but Chances are that They will Become 
Mere Foreign Migrant Workers 
 
Hankyoreh Shinmun, Seoul Shinmun 
Attorneys Say Evidence Insufficient to Arrest Online Commentator 
"Minerva" for Spreading False Rumors 
 
Segye Ilbo 
ROK Alone in Grappling with High Inflation 
among OECD Countries, Due Mainly to a Weaker Currency 
 
 
Domestic Developments 
 
¶1. Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso arrived in Seoul yesterday for a 
summit today with President Lee Myung-bak. This summit will focus on 
boosting economic cooperation and the North Korean nuclear issue. 
(All) 
 
¶2. According to USFK, USFK Army and Air Force personnel, along with 
F-16 fighter jets and PAC-3 missiles, begin a week-long war exercise 
today. (Dong-a) 
 
 
International News 
 
¶1. According to an ROKG source, North Korea last month delivered to 
the U.S. a request to send a representative to the Jan. 20 
inauguration of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama. This North Korean 
move clearly indicates that North Korea is willing to take a more 
cooperative stance toward Washington, with a new liberal 
administration in charge. (JoongAng) 
 
¶2. According to multiple sources knowledgeable about North Korean 
affairs, North Korea last year sold $100 million worth of weapons to 
countries in the Middle East and Africa while engaging in 
negotiations to end its nuclear programs. (Dong-a) 
 
¶3. According to a source in Beijing, North Korea has opened a 
consulate office in Dandong, a major Chinese city bordering North 
Korea. This signals that North Korea is keen to reinforce bilateral 
trade with China. (Hankook) 
 
 
Media Analysis 
 
North Korea 
Right-of-center JoongAng Ilbo gave front-page play to a report 
quoting an ROKG source as saying yesterday that North Korea notified 
the U.S. last month that it would like to send a representative to 
the Jan. 20 inauguration of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama.  The 
source was further quoted as saying: "This North Korean move clearly 
E 
indicates that North Korea is willing to take a more cooperative 
stance toward Washington, with a new liberal administration in 
charge." 
 
Citing multiple sources knowledgeable about North Korean affairs, 
conservative Dong-a Ilbo's front-page report said that North Korea 
sold $100 million worth of weapons to countries in the Middle East 
and Africa last year, while engaging in negotiations to end its 
nuclear programs.  In a related development, conservative Segye Ilbo 
replayed a Jan. 10 Kyodo News report quoting a high-ranking North 
Korean official as saying that North Korea will dismantle all its 
nuclear weapons after it establishes its diplomatic ties with the 
U.S. 
 
Moderate Hankook Ilbo quoted a source in Beijing as saying yesterday 
that North Korea has opened a consulate office in Dandong, a major 
Chinese city bordering North Korea.  The report went on to say that 
this signals that the communist state is keen to reinforce bilateral 
trade with China. 
 
Gaza 
The Israeli military offensive in Gaza continued to receive wide 
attention.  Conservative Chosun Ilbo reported that Israel indicated 
for the first time on Jan. 11 that an end was in sight to its war on 
Hamas.  Chosun quoted Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as saying 
during a Jan. 11 Cabinet meeting: "Israel is approaching the goals 
it has set for its operation, even though more patience and 
determination are required in order to reach these goals." 
Right-of-center JoongAng Ilbo, meanwhile, reported that Israel is 
stepping up its offensive on Gaza after rejecting a UN Security 
Council resolution calling for a halt to the fighting.  The report 
went on to say that Israel and Hamas are also waging a fierce 
publicity war to sway international opinion to their side.  Moderate 
Hankook Ilbo headlined its story: "The Cruelty in Gaza Exceeds All 
Imagination."  Left-leaning Hankyoreh Shinmun carried a quote from 
Israeli defense officials who said on Jan. 10 (local time) that they 
are prepared for a third stage of their offensive, indicating that 
Israeli ground forces would push further into Gaza. 
 
Most of the ROK media also gave attention to the anti-Israeli 
protests held across the world over the weekend against Israel's 
military offensive in the Gaza Strip. 
 
 
Features 
 
 
Pyongyang Wants Envoy at Obama's Inauguration 
(JoongAng Ilbo, January 12, 2009, Front Page) 
 
Reporter Yeh Young-june 
 
North Korea last month said it wanted to send a representative to 
the Jan. 20 inauguration of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama.  But 
Washington has so far remained reluctant to accept the request, 
according to South Korean government sources. 
 
"The North, through its United Nations mission office in New York, 
conveyed the message that it can send Vice Foreign Minister Kim 
Gye-gwan as a representative to the inauguration ceremony," said the 
source.  The message was first delivered to The Korea Society, an 
U.S. nonprofit organization that promotes Korea-U.S. relations, and 
was later delivered to the Obama transition staff. 
 
The Korea Society, a New York-based group which counts many members 
who once served as prominent diplomats, is helping to arrange the 
historic concert of the State Symphony Orchestra of DPRK in the U.S. 
 "We don't know for now whether the Obama team has made a decision 
to accept the request or not," the source said.  "I've heard 
negative opinions far outpaced the positive views." 
 
The latest request from Pyongyang, however, clearly indicates that 
the North is poised to take a more cooperative stance towards 
Washington, with a new liberal administration in charge.  "Pyongyang 
may be trying to test the political waters in the Obama 
Administration by watching Washington's response," the source said. 
 
Other government sources in Seoul also said it is unlikely the U.S. 
will invite Kim, also Pyongyang's chief negotiator for the six-party 
talks on denuclearizing the North, while the Obama Administration 
has yet to clearly map out its North Korea policy.  The current 
setback in the talks - with the North refusing to offer a clear 
verification protocol on its nuclear facilities - further clouds any 
possibility for Washington to invite Pyongyang's envoy to the 
inauguration. 
 
The Peace Foundation, a Seoul-based civic group that makes policy 
suggestions on national security and inter-Korean relations, 
proposed last November that Washington invite the North's special 
envoy to the inauguration ceremony to cement momentum to form better 
North Korea-U.S. relations under the new administration. 
 
* This is a translation provided by the newspaper, and it is 
identical to the Korean version. 
 
 
Ambassador Stephens: "Obama Will Take a Package Approach toward 
North Korea's Nuclear Dismantlement and the Establishment of 
Diplomatic Ties" 
(Dong-a Ilbo, January 10, 2009, Page 8) 
 
By Reporter Kim Jung-ahn 
 
An interview with U.S. Ambassador to the ROK Kathleen Stephens 
 
"The incoming Administration will maintain the large frameworks of 
trade policy and the Six-Party Talks... The ROK's additional troop 
dispatch to Afghanistan will help ROK-U.S. relations" 
 
"The interest shown by Koreans in U.S. President-elect Barack Obama 
and what he represents about the 'American dream' will help deepen 
the bilateral relations." 
 
U.S. Ambassador to the ROK Kathleen Stephens made the statement 
during a December 30, 2008, interview with Dong-a Ilbo, adding that 
the launch of the Obama Administration is also very encouraging for 
ROK-U.S. relations. 
 
Regarding U.S. President-elect Obama's "tough and direct diplomacy" 
toward North Korea, she said, "It is a 'comprehensive package' 
policy toward North Korea, which is aimed at North Korea's nuclear 
dismantlement as well as the normalization of diplomatic ties 
between North Korea and the U.S. and between North Korea and Japan, 
and that is in line with the September 19 Joint Statement adopted at 
the Six-Party Talks in September 2005." 
 
These remarks are noteworthy because they came amid speculation by 
Washington sources that, based on the principle of "the more 
Pyongyang gives up, the more it gets," the incoming U.S. 
Administration will take a comprehensive approach toward Pyongyang, 
which encompasses North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, 
economic aid, and a security guarantee. 
 
Ambassador Stephens also said that the ROK and the U.S. will discuss 
ways to expand the ROK's contribution to Afghanistan, hinting that a 
request from the  incoming U.S. Administration for (the ROK) to 
dispatch additional troops to Afghanistan will be forthcoming. 
 
¶Q. Some say that the Six-Party Talks have ended in failure. 
 
¶A. The Six-Party Talks are a difficult negotiation process, and 
there is work still to be done.  However, the incoming 
Administration does not disagree, either, that the Six-Party Talks 
are the best way.  Don't you also have the Korean proverb, "Well 
begun is half done"?  Within the framework of the Six-Party Talks, a 
variety of ideas are coming up.  Through the Six-Party Talks, we 
have built a pattern of consultation, and the U.S. and China also 
have deepened their understanding and cooperation. 
 
¶Q. Some analysts say that the reason why Libyan leader Muammar 
Qaddafi abandoned a nuclear-arms development effort is that he was 
guaranteed his safety and power.  Can North Korean Chairman Kim 
Jong-il make the same calculation? 
 
¶A. The DPRK will have a better future absent nuclear weapons.  The 
"future" that the North should dream of was laid out in the 
September 2005 Joint Statement. 
¶Q. Do you think that the ROK's additional troop deployment to 
Afghanistan will have a positive impact on the ROK-U.S. alliance? 
 
¶A. The ROK has made remarkable contributions overseas through its 
active volunteer activities.  In the same context, additional troop 
dispatch will contribute to developing ROK-U.S. relations into a 
more "broad and dynamic" alliance.  President-elect Obama has made 
clear that "we" need to think about how to contribute regarding the 
situation in Afghanistan.  Here, "we" encompasses all allies, 
including the ROK.  This is not yet the time to talk about the 
specific details, but I think the ROK also has an intention to 
participate in such a "conversation." 
 
¶Q. Many people are concerned that, due to an economic downturn, the 
U.S.'s viewpoint on free trade may change.  In particular, many are 
skeptical of the prospects for the ratification of the ROK-U.S. Free 
Trade Agreement (FTA). 
 
¶A. If you look at the Obama economic and trade team, you can see 
that the (members of the team) have very strong histories as 
proponents of free and fair trade.  I do not think that the basis of 
trade policy will change much.  Americans are also well aware that 
protectionism is not a solution to the economic crisis.  The Obama 
Administration knows well that, in order to overcome economic 
challenges, countries like the ROK and the U.S., which are 
successful models of free trade, have to work together.  The Obama 
Administration will take a detailed look at the FTA in that 
context. 
 
 
Stephens 
1