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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SEOUL 001880 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV MARR ECON KPAO KS US
SUBJECT: SEOUL - PRESS BULLETIN; December 1, 2009 
 
TOP HEADLINES 
------------- 
 
Chosun Ilbo, All TVs 
¶N. Korea Revamps Currency for First Time in 17 Years 
 
JoongAng Ilbo 
State-run Korea Labor Institute Locks Out Unionized Workers 
as Strike Drags on 
 
Dong-a Ilbo 
Yongin City and Ulju County Ranked Top on Regional Competitiveness 
Index List 
 
Hankook Ilbo, Segye Ilbo 
Federation of Korea Trade Unions Softens Stance and 
Suggests Changes to ROKG Labor Policies 
 
Hankyoreh Shinmun 
ROKG's Hard-line Response to Unionized Railway Workers' Legitimate 
Strike Activity 
 
Seoul Shinmun 
Korail Unionists Face Arrest 
 
 
INTERNATIONAL NEWS 
------------------ 
 
According to the Daily NK, a Seoul-based Internet news site on North 
Korea, North Korea has revalued and replaced its national currency 
as of Nov. 30. According to the source, the exchange rate for the 
new currency is 100:1, so old 1,000 won bills are being exchanged 
for new ten won bills. (All) 
 
Analysts saw this North Korean move as an attempt to control 
inflation as well as to tighten the North Korean regime's hold at 
home ahead of a power succession to leader Kim Jong-il's third son, 
Jong-eun. (Chosun) 
 
 
MEDIA ANALYSIS 
-------------- 
 
-N. Korea 
--------- 
All ROK media gave attention to a report by the Daily NK, a 
Seoul-based Internet news site on North Korea, claiming that North 
Korea revalued and replaced its national currency yesterday at a 
rate of one new won to 100 old won.  According to media reports, the 
revaluation was the first for North Korea since 1992. 
 
Conservative Chosun Ilbo observed that there is speculation that the 
latest currency reform may have been initiated in order to tighten 
the regime's hold on power and to bring runaway inflation under 
control amid apparent efforts to prepare for the succession of North 
Korean leader Kim Jong-il's third son, Jong-eun. 
 
Most media reported that ROKG officials were cautious about the 
report since North Korea has yet to make an official announcement of 
the revaluation as it did in 1992.  An official at the Unification 
Ministry was quoted as saying: "We cannot confirm the report." 
 
Conservative Segye Ilbo and state-run KBS replayed a Nov. 30 report 
by Japan's Sankei Shimbun that North Korea told the U.S. that, 
during the upcoming visit of Special Representative for North Korea 
Policy Stephen Bosworth to Pyongyang, it will announce when it plans 
to return to the stalled Six-Party Talks.  Segye Ilbo's sub-heading 
read, "North Korea Seems to Have Decided to Give a 'Gift' Since 
Direct Talks with U.S. Came True." 
 
 
OPINIONS/EDITORIALS 
 
SEOUL 00001880  002 OF 002 
 
 
------------------- 
 
BOSWORTH SHOULD MAKE SURE NORTH KOREA STOPS PLAYING NUCLEAR GAMES 
(Dong-a Ilbo, December 1, Page 33; Excerpts) 
 
By Former Vice Defense Minister Park Yong-ok 
 
During his November 19 summit with President Lee Myung-bak in Seoul, 
U.S. President Barack Obama announced that Special Representative 
for North Korea Policy Stephen Bosworth will visit North Korea on 
December 8.  The U.S. is insisting that Ambassador Bosworth's visit 
is simply a bilateral contact aimed at bringing the North back to 
the Six-Party Talks.  However, North Korea, which vowed to quit the 
Six-Party Talks permanently, is unlikely to express its willingness 
to return to the multilateral framework unless it receives 
satisfactory rewards. 
 
It remains to be seen what outcome Ambassador Bosworth's visit to 
the North will produce, but the prospects are not that positive.  It 
seems that North Korea intends to decide whether to rejoin the 
Six-Party Talks or other multilateral negotiations depending on the 
outcome of bilateral talks with the U.S.  The North also claims that 
even if it returns to the Six-Party Talks, participants should first 
discuss nuclear disarmament talks on denuclearizing the Korean 
Peninsula and the world and a peace guarantee on the Korean 
Peninsula, instead of the North Korean nuclear issue. 
 
Therefore, without any prior guarantee from Ambassador Bosworth, 
North Korea would have no reason to be willing to rejoin the 
Six-Party Talks.  If the North expresses its intention to return to 
the Six-Party Talks during its dialogue with Ambassador Bosworth, it 
would be due to one of two reasons:  The North may have been 
promised considerable rewards from the U.S., or it probably intends 
to use the dialogue as an opportunity to raise its status as a 
nuclear-weapons state and make it a fait accompli. 
 
Whether or not the North returns to the Six-Party Talks, I am 
concerned that the U.S. or other Six-Party Talks member countries 
may once again dance to the North Korean tune at a bargaining table 
arranged on North Korea's terms.  Only when the ROK's independent 
deterrence against the North becomes tangible will the Six-Party 
Talks be successful.  Ambassador Bosworth's visit to the North on 
December 8 will be the touchstone of multilateral efforts to stop 
North Korea from playing nuclear games. 
 
 
 
STEPHENS