URUGUAY IN LINE WITH US ON PREVENTING POSSIBLE

C O N F I D E N T I A L MONTEVIDEO 000948

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT ALSO FOR ISN

E.O. 12958: DECL: AFTER KOREAN UNIFICATION
TAGS: PREL KN PARM KNNP UY
SUBJECT: URUGUAY IN LINE WITH US ON PREVENTING POSSIBLE
NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR TEST

REF: STATE 166404

Classified By: Charge D'Affaires James D. Nealon
for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D)


1. (C) On October 4, I delivered reftel demarche on possible
North Korean nuclear tests to Director General for Political
Affairs Alvaro Gallardo per instructions reftel. After
reviewing the talking points, he volunteered that he saw "no
problems" in supporting the demarche, qualifying only that
Uruguay was unlikely to express itself in a dramatic way.
Gallardo said that Uruguay's opposition to nuclear
proliferation was well known and he stressed that North Korea
was not talking about using nuclear energy for peaceful
purposes, but that it had actually "threatened to use nuclear
weapons." He said that he had served for five years in Japan
and knew first-hand of Japanese and Chinese "insecurity" over
North Korea's attempt to acquire nuclear weapons. At one
point he characterized the DPRK as an "auto-isolationist"
regime run by a "strange, E.T.-like leader."
Nealon