December 5 - 18, 2013
The Korea Chair team takes a biweekly look back at events of interest in Washington, Seoul, and the region.
U.S.-KOREA RELATIONS ROK Vice Foreign Minister Visits the United States Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kyou-hyun of the Republic of Korea (ROK) arrived in Washington on December 16 for annual strategic defense talks with high-level U.S. officials. Vice Foreign Minister Kim met with Deputy Secretary of State William Burns on December 17 to discuss the evolving security situation with North Korea, China’s ex- panded air defense identification zone (ADIZ), and Japan’s pursuit of the right of collective self-defense.
Allies Conclude Ninth Round of SMA Negotiations The ninth round of negotiations for the Special Measures Agreement (SMA) to determine how the United States and South Korea will share the cost of maintaining U.S. troops on the peninsula began in Vice President Biden Meets with President Park Seoul on December 11 and ended without agreement on December Vice President Joe Biden concluded his week‐long 17. Senior Adviser for Security Negotiations and Agreements Eric tour of Asia with a visit to South Korea, where he met John was on hand to meet with Ambassador for Defense Burden- with President Park Geun‐hye on December 6 at sharing Hwang Joon-kook. The current SMA expires at the end of Cheong Wa Dae to discuss bilateral alliance issues, 2013 but officials have agreed to extend negotiations into 2014. geopoli cal concerns, and the current controversy
South Korea-U.S. Defense, Alliance Talks surrounding China’s recently expanded air defense The United States and South Korea held mid-December bilateral iden fica on zone (ADIZ). meetings in both Seoul and Washington to discuss issues pertinent to Photo credit: WhiteHouse.gov. the U.S.-ROK alliance. South Korea’s head of the Defense Ministry’s Policy Planning office, Lieutenant General Ryu Je-sung, arrived in Washington on December 11 for three days of talks with Under Sec- retary of Defense for Policy James Miller, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State of East Asian and Pacific Affairs James Zumwalt, and Direc- tor for Korea National Security Staff Sydney Seiler. Meanwhile, the United States and ROK held two days of working level talks from De- cember 12-13 in Seoul to discuss the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) from Washington to Seoul.
TRADE AND ECONOMICS ROK Becomes Top Exporter to China The ROK has overtaken Japan as the number one exporter of goods ROK‐Australia FTA Concluded to China. The Ministry of Trade announced on December 5 that ROK On December 5, the ROK announced that the bilateral exports to China for the first 10 months of 2013 totaled US$150 bil- free trade agreement with Australia had been conclud‐ lion, or 9.4 percent of total Chinese imports. For the first 10 months ed. Nego a ons began in 2009, and the agreement of 2013, Japan’s exports to China totaled US$133.2 billion. includes an investor‐state dispute se lement mecha‐ REGIONAL RELATIONS nism, as well as removal of import tariffs by the ROK on ROK Finalizes Arctic Plans 509 sensi ve items, including beef within the next 10 to The ROK Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the Cabinet an- 15 years. Bilateral trade between the two amounted to nounced on December 10 its approval of plans to increase the coun- US$29 billion in 2012. try’s presence in the Arctic, including 8 projects to preserve the Artic Photo credit: Ian Sanderson’s flickr photostream. and 10 research and development projects on climate change. KOREA CHAIR MONITOR | 2
ROK Announces Expanded Air-Defense Zone The Republic of Korea announced the expansion of the 62-year old Ko- rea air defense identification zone (KADIZ) on December 8. The expan- sion bolsters the ROK’s claims over Ieodo, Hongdo, and Marado by in- cluding them in its airspace and matching it with the ROK’s boarder flight information region. It adds 66,480 square kilometers of airspace to the ROK’s zone, overlapping with that of China and Japan. The new KADIZ went into effect on December 15.
INTER-KOREAN RELATIONS Two Koreas Discuss Kaesong Industrial Complex The two Koreas failed to make progress during working-level talks held on December 6 to set up Internet connectivity in the Kaesong Industrial Complex. North and South Korean technicians began working on the Kazakhstan Prime Minister visits Korea radio frequency identification system (RFID) on December 11, which Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov of Kazakhstan paid a will facilitate the movement of South Korean workers. state visit to the ROK on December 10. During his
mee ng with President Park Geun‐hye, they dis‐ NORTH KOREA cussed ways to promote bilateral rela ons and ex‐ North Korea Releases Detained American Veteran pand coopera on. President Park praised the pro‐ On December 7, North Korea released Merrill Newman, an 85-year-old American citizen and Korean War veteran. He was detained in Pyong- gress made in implemen ng the projects worth yang in late October. US$10 billion in energy, resources, and infrastructure for the Astana Expo 2017, which was agreed upon Jang Song-thaek Purged, Executed in North Korea earlier this September during the G‐20 mee ngs. Shortly after reports emerged that confidantes Ri Ryong-ha and Jang Su- Photo credit: Blue House. gil were executed in November, the South Korean National Intelligence Service announced on December 2 that Jang Song-thaek, vice Chairman of the National Defense Commission of North Korea and uncle to Kim Jong-un, had likely been purged, stripped of all official roles and titles. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) confirmed Jang’s purge on December 9. On December 13, KCNA released another statement con- demning Jang and confirming he was tried before a military tribunal Happy Holidays and Warmest Wishes for 2014! and summarily executed on December 12. Kim Kyong-hui, Jang’s wife The Korea Chair Monitor team will be taking the next and the late Kim Jong-il’s sister, has appeared in public since Jang’s exe- couple of weeks off as we celebrate. Watch for the cution alongside Kim Jong-un. next issue of the Monitor in mid‐January.
The Monitor team also wishes farewell to research interns Shinji Ryu and Dana D’Amelio as they depart for the semester. We thank them for their great cov‐ erage of trade, economics and US‐Korea rela ons.
Looking Ahead Our Friday morning preview of events to watch in the weeks ahead. December 18-19 | The ROK Ministry of Strategy and Finance and the Australian Department of Finance will co- host the G20 Seoul Conference. December 19 | A group of 30 foreign representatives from the G-20, the International Monetary Fund, and the Asian Development Bank will tour the Kaesong Industrial Complex. December 19 | The fourth meeting of the Seoul-Pyongyang joint management committee on the Kaesong Indus trial Complex will be held. December | Six ROK government ministries and 10 affiliated agencies will relocate from Seoul to the mini- capital of Sejong City over the course of the month.
KOREA CHAIR MONITOR CSIS Office of the Korea Chair contributors: Victor Cha, Senior Adviser and Chair Marie DuMond, Research Associate Dana D’Amelio, Research Intern Andy Lim, Research Intern
For more details on our programs and real‐ me updates from CSIS, follow the CSIS Office of the Korea Chair on: Facebook at h p://www.facebook.com/csiskoreachair. Twi er at @CSISKoreaChair. Our website at h p://csis.org/program/korea‐chair. iTunesU using your iPad or iPhone at h p://itunes.com/csis.
KoreaChair Monitor is a biweekly publica on of the CSIS Office of the Korea Chair, available online. CSIS is a private, nonprofit ins tu on headquartered in Washington, D.C., focusing on interna onal public policy issues. Its research is nonpar san and nonproprietary. CSIS does not take specific pol‐ icy posi ons; accordingly, all views expressed in this publica on should be understood to be solely those of the author(s).
© 2013 by the Center for Strategic and Interna onal Studies. All rights reserved.