� � � � � KOREA HERALD 21/08/2001 � 1) S. Korean, U.S. troops launch war games�� 2) Activists to face legal punishment for activities in N. Korea: NSC� 3) FAO director-general to visit South, North Korea�� 4) American planes strafed civilians in Nogun-ri: U.S. documents�� 5) Delegates agree to hold joint Liberation Day celebrations in Seoul, Pyongyang in 2002�� 6) 3-way talks proposed for rail link�� � � 1) S. Korean, U.S. troops launch war games � � South Korea and the United States began a 12-day joint military exercise yesterday to test their preparedness in the event of war with North Korea. The exercise, Ulchi Focus Lens, is largely a computer-simulated war game that has been conducted annually since 1976. The joint operation involves 10,000 U.S. soldiers including experts in computer simulation games from Japan, Guam and the United States. The exercise usually requires South Korean government officials and army headquarters officers of the two allies based in Seoul to work around the clock in simulated war conditions. The two Koreas never technically ended the 1950-53 Korean War with a full peace treaty and Ulchi Focus is one of three main joint drills conducted every year under the mutual U.S.-South Korea defense pact. South Korea and the United States have said past exercises were defensive, but North Korea has denounced them as rehearsals for a northward invasion. Hwang Eui-don, a spokesman for Seoul's Defense Ministry, said this year's exercise will be conducted without any cuts in its programs. "It is designed to evaluate and improve combined and joint coordination, procedures, plans and systems for the conduct of contingency operations by U.S. and South Korean forces," a U.S. military spokesman said. Following the inter-Korean summit in June 2000, South Korea scaled back that year's Ulchi Focus Lens two months later in a gesture aimed at further easing tension with North Korea. Seoul has shunned publicity in a bid to avoid the collapse of its reconciliation process with the communist North. It refused to disclose the number of South Korean soldiers mobilized for this year's exercise. The North has generally eased its propaganda war against the South since the meeting between their leaders last year. But the North halted inter-Korean talks in March, after U.S. President George W. Bush ordered a review of policy toward Pyongyang. The United States has said it would like talks on the North's nuclear and missile programs and its huge army on the border with South Korea. The North's official Rodong Sinmun warned on Saturday that it would not resume talks with the United States unless Washington dropped its "hostile" policy" and removed U.S.-imposed conditions for dialogue. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il resumed calls for the withdrawal of U.S. troops in the South during his recent trip to Moscow. He called the troop withdrawal a "pressing problem" for peace in the region. Seoul is becoming increasingly exasperated over the impasse, which deepened last week over the participation of South Korean labor, religious and civic group activists in a reunification festival in Pyongyang. Some radical members of the 337-strong South Korean delegation went to the festival, despite having signed a pledge before leaving they would not get involved in political activities. Top security officials in Seoul were to hold the National Security Council meeting in Seoul Monday to discuss the festival while the delegation faces a criminal investigation when it returns on Tuesday. (AP, AFP � 2001.08.21 � 2) Activists to face legal punishment for activities in N. Korea: NSC � � The Seoul government yesterday decided to take stern action on some of the South Korean civic delegates who were allegedly involved in pro-Pyongyang activities in North Korea last week, officials said. In a National Security Council (NSC) meeting, presided over by Unification Minister Lim Dong-won, participants discussed how to deal with the snowballing controversy without adversely affecting inter-Korean relations, they said. Some of the 337-member Southern delegation participated in Liberation Day ceremonies held at a North Korean ideological monument last week. They also wrote messages that opposition lawmakers claim praise Pyongyang's unification policy. Their activities, which officials said could have violated the anti-communist National Security Law, sparked political and ideological disputes in the South. During the NSC session, Seoul's security-related ministers agreed that the delegates should be put under questioning by the prosecution upon their return home today and face criminal charges if necessary, Unification Ministry officials said. They decided, however, to try to minimize the negative effects the punitive actions could have on the stalled inter-Korean relations and the ongoing civilian exchanges between the two Koreas, the officials added. North Korea already expressed displeasure with the calls made by the South's opposition Grand National Party (GNP) for the punishment on the progressive Southern activists. It warned Sunday that the GNP's moves will only escalate tension on the Korean Peninsula. "Some anti-unification forces in the GNP are intentionally misleading the public, thus accelerating North-South confrontations," the North Korean state-run Radio Pyongyang said in a report. "They are demonstrating that they are not our partners for either dialogue or contact," it said. Despite the warning, South Korean prosecutors reaffirmed yesterday that they would question the controversial delegates when they return from a weeklong inter-Korean joint celebration in Pyongyang today. They include about 150 civic and labor group leaders who attended an event held at a monument symbolizing North Korea's unification policy. Prosecution officials said that they were examining if a message made by one delegate, identified only as "K," violates the National Security Law. During a tour of "Mangyongdae," a memorial place where the late North Korean President Kim Il-sung was born, he left a message saying, "Let's achieve unification by inheriting the Mangyongdae spirit." In the NSC meeting, the participants agreed that the government should prevent the recurrence of such incidents in the future by paying more attention to private-level inter-Korean exchanges, according to officials. The participants included Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Han Seung-soo, Defense Minister Kim Dong-shin, and National Intelligence Service Director Shin Kuhn. ([EMAIL PROTECTED] By Kim Ji-ho Staff reporter � 2001.08.21 3) FAO director-general to visit South, North Korea � � Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-General Jacques Diouf will visit to South and North Korea for five days to study the North's food shortages and discuss the provision of aid with Seoul officials. The FAO head will visit North Korea Aug. 28-29 to ascertain damage from recent floods and a drought. Diouf will arrive in Seoul Saturday and stay three days. A government official said he will meet with Unification Minister Lim Dong-won and other senior officials to discuss sending food to the North. Diouf go to Pyongyang and other regions to see food conditions in person before issuing a report on international humanitarian aid, the official said. The FAO predicted last month in a joint report with the World Food Program (WFP) that North Korea's agricultural industry would fall of its original forecast by 564,000 tons, to only 2.5 million tons. Meanwhile, WFP Executive Director Catherine Bertini is currently visiting the North to check on food supplies and will arrive in Seoul on Sunday to present her findings to the government � 2001.08.21 4) American planes strafed civilians in Nogun-ri: U.S. documents � � Declassified U.S. documents show that American air force planes strafed South Korean civilians on three occasions in and around Nogun-ri, a hamlet some 250km south of Seoul, during the early days of the Korean War (1950-53). The U.S. military documents proving the three aerial attacks were made public through the Web site of the U.S. publication firm, Henry Holt. An after-mission report, posted on the Nogun-ri home page of Henry Holt (www.henryholt.com/nogunri), showed that between "50 to 100 troops were killed or wounded by U.S. air force planes three miles south of Yongam-ri (misspelled as Yonsan-ni) July 26, 1950," when Nogun-ri survivors estimate 100 refugees were killed by strafing planes four and one half miles southeast of Yongsan-ni. "The initial attack on the refugees occurred around mid-day; this mission flew in early evening. But some survivors say they were strafed again later that day, or the next day, or both," the report said. Another after-mission report also said that U.S. planes were ordered to strafe an "unidentified object" one mile west of Hwanggan July 27, 1950. The Nogun-ri trestle, which some survivors say was strafed that day, is a mile and a half west-southwest of Hwanggan. The results of the attack on the "unidentified" target were recorded as "good." The documents show that the U.S. side omitted crucial information during a joint inquiry with South Korean officials, the outcome of which was announced in a report earlier this year. The U.S. side has consistently denied strafing by U.S. air force planes on Koreans near Nogun-ri July 26. It said there was only one air raid the following day. The report, which was released Jan. 12 after 15 months of joint probes and consultations between the two sides, ended inconclusively on the strafing case. It said: "Strafing may have been occurred near Nogun-ri the last week of July 1950 and could have injured or killed Korean civilians but that any such air strikes were not deliberate attacks on Korean civilians." The U.S. report, however, acknowledged for the first time that U.S. soldiers killed or injured an unconfirmed number of South Korean refugees at Nogun-ri. Then-U.S. President Bill Clinton issued a written statement of regret over the civilian deaths and promised to offer a scholarship fund and build a memorial to Nogun-ri victims and other innocent Korean civilians killed during the war. But the U.S. side refused to admit its responsibility for the incident, saying their commanders did not issue oral or written orders to shoot and kill Korean civilians. Nogun-ri survivors and local civic groups claim that about 300 to 400 South Korean civilians were killed by retreating U.S. troops and U.S. air force planes at Nogun-ri. In September 1999, a team of Associated Press (AP) investigative reporters broke the story that U.S. troops had killed a large number of South Korean refugees, including women and children, early in the war. The Nogun-ri story made headlines around the world and sparked an official investigation by the Pentagon that confirmed the allegations the U.S. military had previously dismissed. Henry Holt plans to publish a book on the incident, titled "The Bridge at No Gun Ri," Sept. 6. The authors of the book are Charles J. Hanley, Choe Sang-hun and Martha Mendoza, all AP writers, who were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. ([EMAIL PROTECTED] By Kang Seok-jae Staff reporter � 2001.08.21 5) Delegates agree to hold joint Liberation Day celebrations in Seoul, Pyongyang in 2002 � � PYONGYANG - South and North Korean delegates to joint Liberation Day celebrations agreed yesterday to hold next year's anniversary events in both Seoul and Pyongyang. Winding up the weeklong event in the North Korean capital, the South Korean visitors also agreed with their North Korean counterparts that they arrange gift exchanges between separated family members this fall. The 337-member South Korean delegation, composed of civic, religious and labor activists, return to Seoul today. They attended events marking Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule 56 years ago. The South Koreans wanted to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, who returned from a 24-day trip to Russia Saturday. But the delegates said chances for the meeting still appeared slim. "We kept on urging them to arrange a meeting with Chairman Kim Jong-il, but we have yet to receive a clear answer," a delegation leader said. On Sunday, the South Korean civic activists held various forums with their Northern counterparts. During the meetings, an association of North Korean artists agreed to consider sending an acrobat troupe to Seoul in October 2002 to celebrate the completion of the construction of a huge art center. Farmers from the two Koreas also agreed to increase their exchanges, according to Southern delegates. ([EMAIL PROTECTED] By Joint press corps � 2001.08.21 6) 3-way talks proposed for rail link � � South Korean National Assembly Speaker Lee Ma-sup yesterday proposed parliamentary talks with Russia and North Korea to discuss the proposal to link the Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR) with an inter-Korean railroad. Lee sent a letter to his Russian counterpart, Gennadi Seleznev, Lee's spokesman said. "Parliamentary talks among the three countries should be held early in order to support the railroad project effectively," Lee was quoted as saying. Lee also said the same proposal will be delivered to North Korea when South Korean lawmakers attend an Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) meeting in Burkina Faso, western Africa, early next month � _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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