S Korea braces for new atomic test
　

BITING SANCTIONS: US intelligence officials said they believed that pending UN Security Council measures against North Korea would lead to a third nuclear test

AFP , SEOUL
Saturday, Jun 13, 2009, Page 1

South Korea has sent hundreds more Marines to its tense border with North Korea, military officials said yesterday as world powers prepared to punish the communist state for its nuclear test.

US intelligence officials believe Pyongyang will respond to the UN Security Council resolution with a third atomic test, sources quoted by US TV networks said.

More Marines were sent last week to two islands along the disputed Yellow Sea border, the scene of bloody naval battles in 1999 and 2002, a Marine Corps source said.

He gave no figures but Yonhap news agency said more than 600 had been sent to Yeonpyeong and Baekryeong islands to reinforce the present garrisons.

The North followed up its second nuclear test on May 25 by launching short-range missiles, renouncing the armistice on the Korean peninsula and threatening possible attacks on its neighbor.

It is also pressuring South Korean firms at the Kaesong joint industrial estate north of the border — the last reconciliation project between the two nations — by demanding huge rent and wage increases.

Fox News said US intelligence officials had warned US President Barack Obama that the North would respond to the UN resolution with a nuclear test. South Korea’s defense ministry said this was a possibility.

The Security Council was to meet yesterday for a likely vote on a draft sanctions resolution agreed by its five permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the US — plus Japan and South Korea.

The text calls on UN member states to slap biting sanctions on North Korea.

They include tougher inspections of cargo suspected of containing banned missile or nuclear-related items, a tighter arms embargo with the exception of light weapons and new financial restrictions.

Also See: Japan TV mistakes S Korean for son of N Korean leader

Civic groups want rally rights protected
　

ASSEMBLY AND PARADE ACT: A Judicial Reform Foundation official said the KMT caucus was wrong when it claimed that activists had accepted the Cabinet’s revisison

By Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Jun 13, 2009, Page 3

Several civic groups demonstrated outside the Legislative Yuan yesterday, calling on legislators to pass a law that protects, rather than restricts, the right to assembly and parade.

Following a promise last year to the relax restrictions on demonstrations, the Executive Yuan submitted amendments to the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) earlier this year. However, most civic groups that have been campaigning for the law to be changed are not happy with the proposed amendments.

Instead of removing the clauses that give the police the power to break-up rallies, designate restricted areas and require protest organizers to apply for permits, the Cabinet’s proposal would allow the police to retain the power to break up demonstrations and replaces the phrase “restricted areas” with “safe distances” around certain government offices. It also requires organizers to give prior notice to the police and gives the police the power to end a demonstration without prior “notification if the police commander on the scene believes that a demonstration is blocking traffic or “violates social order.”

“The Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] caucus said that after negotiations, activists are willing to accept the Cabinet’s version, and that no one was opposed to it,” Judicial Reform Foundation executive director Lin Feng-jeng (林峰正) said. “But we are here today to tell them that we won’t accept the Cabinet version, and we are here to voice our opposition.”

Dozens of Alliance of Referendum for Taiwan members arrived on scene after the rally started to show their support for the activists.

“The Assembly and Parade Act is unconstitutional! Our rights have disappeared!” they shouted.

“The objective of the Assembly and Parade Act should be to protect the people’s right to assembly as stipulated in the Constitution,” foundation chairman Huang Jui-ming (黃瑞明) said. “Yet the Cabinet amendments retain the police’s power to break-up an assembly.”

“Some may think it’s reasonable for the police to make the decision to dismantle a demonstration when demonstrators are threatening social order,” Huang said. “But it’s totally wrong, since we have other laws such as the Criminal Code that would take care of such problems.”

“It’s wrong for the police to take over the job of the courts,” he said.

“The right of the public to peacefully voice their opinion should not be restricted — it’ stated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that the legislature ratified in April and President Ma Ying-jeou [馬英九] signed into law last month,” Taiwan Association for Human Rights chairman Lin Chia-fan (林佳範) said.

“They ratified it and signed it, they should follow it,” Lin said.

DPP has no ‘rescue’ plan
　

By Jenny W. Hsu and Shelley Huang
STAFF REPORTERS
Saturday, Jun 13, 2009, Page 3

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) dismissed a newspaper story yesterday that said the party has a plan to “rescue” former president Chen Shui-bian.

The Chinese-language United Daily News reported the DPP was mulling organizing a team of legal experts and DPP heavyweights, including former premiers Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), to exonerate Chen, who has been detained since December on alleged corruption and embezzlement charges.

Tsai said Chen’s case has been thoroughly discussed, but the party had not reached a consensus. The DPP was not planning to take such action and the report was completely unfounded, she said.

“We strongly protest against any unverified news reports regarding the DPP,” she said, panning the media as “irresponsible.”

Tsai made the comment at the launch of The Movement, a new political magazine published by former DPP lawmaker Luo Wen-chia (羅文嘉).

Tsai praised Luo’s goal of rallying public awareness for the democratic movement in Taiwan. She said the DPP needs to gain more support from the people to push the movement along.

“After losing two major elections, it would be impossible for the DPP, which is still in the process of recovery, to bear the torch of Taiwan’s democratic movement alone. The DPP needs a joint effort with the people to foster a more complete democracy,” she said.

The DPP was a product of the first phase of the democratic movement, she said. Although it tried its best to turn its ideals into policies, a lack of leadership meant the party had a very arduous eight years of governance, she said. She urged members to interact more with the public to create more “political energy”.

Luo said The Movement was not a media outlet but a means to raise awareness on the imminent danger Taiwan faces as it tilts toward China. The publication will hold periodical forums and publish blogs on current events, he said.

Meanwhile, prosecutors have reportedly set a date for questioning Chen’s daughter, Chen Hsing-yu (陳幸妤), on perjury charges. Local media outlets reported that prosecutors will call Chen Hsing-yu, her brother Chen Chih-chung (陳致中) and her husband Chao Chien-ming (趙建銘) to appear in court on June 22 to question them on perjury charges.

However, Taipei District Prosecutors Office spokesman Lin Jinn-tsun (林錦村) declined to comment, citing a gag order on cases that are still under investigation.

However, if Chen Hsing-yu is called to appear in court, prosecutors will arrange for a police guard, as she is often accompanied by large groups of people who act as her “bodyguards” to prevent her from being hassled.

The Special Investigation Panel (SIP) of the Supreme Prosecutors Office said Chen Hsing-yu, Chen Chih-chung and Chao had contradicted their testimony during questioning.

Lawmakers vote to increase supervision of Public TV
　

INTERFERENCE: DPP legislators said yesterday’s vote would allow the KMT to interfere in the running of the Public Television Service and dilute oversight
　

By Flora Wang
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Jun 13, 2009, Page 3
　

The legislature passed an amendment to the Public Television Act (公共電視法) yesterday to increase the number of Public Television Service (PTS) board members and supervisors.

The 77 legislators present during the plenary session voted 53 to 24 in favor of an amendment proposed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) that stipulates the PTS’ board of directors be composed of 17 to 21 members, compared with 11 to 15 people in the original regulation.

The legislature will recommend 11 to 15 nominees while the Executive Yuan recommends the others, the amendment says.

The number of board members affiliated with any political party is still capped at 25 percent, while all board members are barred from participating in any activities held by political parties.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators say the KMT is trying to interfere in the running of PTS.

“The purpose of this bill is very clear. The KMT is trying to gain full control of PTS by increasing the number of board members and supervisors,” DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said on the legislative floor.

Kuan said the amendment would “dilute” the authority of PTS’ current board members.

“Seeing a new authoritarian regime in the making and a president becoming an emperor, the DPP is deeply worried,” Kuan said, adding that the KMT was trying to infringe upon the independence and impartiality of the PTS.

KMT caucus secretary-general Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔), however, said the party was trying to give the public more opportunity to participate in the running of PTS.

“We hope to ensure the independence and impartiality of the media and prevent any political influence from interfering with PTS,” Yang told a press conference.

Lin said he did not understand the DPP’s concerns, adding that he believed every nominee for the board would be qualified for the job.

Meanwhile, legislators passed an amendment to the Act Governing the Establishment and Management of Free Trade Ports (自由貿易港區設置及管理條例), lowering the job quota for Aborigines in companies operating in free trade ports from 5 percent to 3 percent. But they also passed a resolution obliging the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to inspect the companies’ employment records on Aborigines every three months.

Also approved was a bill granting village and borough chiefs subsidies for health checkups and insurance, which the DPP alleges is a KMT effort to bribe officials before the year-end elections.