CHINA APOLOGIZES FOR LONG-DELAYED NOTIFICATION OF KOREAN'S EXECUTION

China offered an official apology for its belated notification of the
execution of a South Korean drug trafficker and the death of his accomplice
in prison, a diplomatic source said yesterday.

Chinese Foreign Minster Tang Jiaxuan acknowledged that Beijing notified
South Korea of the cases when he met with his South Korean counterpart Han
Seung-soo in Brunei on Sunday.

The two ministers were in Brunei for the summit of the Association of South
East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its North East Asian partners - South Korea,
China and Japan.

China's highest court sentenced the Korean man, identified by his family
name of Shin, to death on Aug. 8 for manufacturing and smuggling narcotics.

China sent the court order to the Korean consulate office in Shenyang Sept.
25, the day he was shot to death. It notified the Korean Embassy in Beijing
of the execution Oct. 26.

One of Shin's three accomplices, identified by his surname Chung, died of
liver disease in prison Nov. 6 last year, but it was not until seven months
later that the Chinese government informed Korea of his death.

"The Chinese foreign minister told Minister Han that it is regrettable that
Beijing failed to give due notice. But the two ministers agreed not to make
public Beijing's apology," the source said.

Han and Tang vowed to settle the dispute smoothly and improve communication
links and cooperation in consular affairs so that similar incidents will
not happen again, according to the Korean Foreign Ministry.

South Korea lodged a complaint last week, saying that China violated the
spirit of the 1963 Vienna Convention of Consular Relations, which says when
a foreigner dies, a host government should immediately notify the
diplomatic mission of the relevant nation.

Seoul had to retract its protest later after it confirmed last Friday that
China sent a document on their trial in 1999 and a copy of the court ruling
Sept. 25 this year. The ministry said low-level Korean officials in Beijing
and Shenyang failed to report them to appropriate authorities. The second
message is believed to have been lost.

The ministry personnel affairs committee convened yesterday to discuss
disciplinary measures for those responsible for what opposition parties and
media criticized as a "diplomatic blunder."

Choi Byung-hyo, an in-house inspector at the ministry, reported to the
committee on his probe of the incident during his visit to China last week.

The ministry is considering summoning consul generals and officials in
charge of external cooperation in China this week. They will be referred to
a disciplinary committee next week, possibly along with some higher-level
officials, the ministry said.

The Board of Audit and Inspection is mulling conducting a special probe
into the incident in case it concludes the ministry's own investigation as
insufficient, officials said.

The ministry is expected to announce today the result of its inspection and
a package of measures meant to prevent such an incident.

The ministry said it is studying steps to increase budget and personnel in
its foreign missions, which it viewed as being well short of properly
handing ever increasing diplomatic affairs, especially in consular relations.

Despite the expanding relations with foreign nations, South Korea has cut
its Foreign Ministry staff from 1,730 in 1991 to 1,524 in 2001, the
ministry said.