Today's headlines_Jan. 5

- The wife of Choi Uk-il who escaped North Korea 13 years after he had been kidnapped by the regime will visit the MOFAT today in protest against government’s lack of support to save her husband.

- America’s ABC quoted a US defense official as saying North Korea seemed to have finished preparations for another nuclear test. The official said the ministry thought the North completed its preparation to conduct a test without showing any sign or giving out warnings

- Japanese Asahi Sinbun reported today the Japanese government predicted 0.1-0.15m refugees would flow into Japan in the case of emergency on the Korean peninsula

- Singapore’s custom office said on its website the government has banned since January 1, 2007 exports of 14 luxury items including cigar, wine, perfume, plasma TV, portable MP3, and musical instruction to North Korea in line with the UN resolution 1718.

- It is reported that Russia wrote off 80 per cent of $8 bn debt of North Korea.

- The North’s Committee for Peaceful Unification of the Fatherland claimed yesterday “GNP’s maneuver to regain the power is not only an internal issue for South Korea but also an issue on which the nation’s peace, unification, and the life or death of people on the peninsula hang.” “Nobody can turn a blind eye on such a plot by the GNP which will bring disaster onto this land,” suggesting the North would wield influence in some way in the upcoming presidential election.