Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06SEOUL102
2006-01-09 09:04:00
SECRET
Embassy Seoul
Cable title:  

THE ROK'S NEW MINISTER OF UNIFICATION: LEE

Tags:  PREL PINR KS KN 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0003
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHUL #0102/01 0090904
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
O 090904Z JAN 06
FM AMEMBASSY SEOUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5298
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 9845
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 7038
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 9923
RUEHUM/AMEMBASSY ULAANBAATAR 1009
RHMFISS/COMUSKOREA J5 SEOUL KOR
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RHMFISS/COMUSKOREA J2 SEOUL KOR
RHMFISS/COMUSKOREA SCJS SEOUL KOR
S E C R E T SEOUL 000102 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/18/2015
TAGS: PREL PINR KS KN
SUBJECT: THE ROK'S NEW MINISTER OF UNIFICATION: LEE
JONG-SEOK MOVES TO CENTER STAGE

REF: SEOUL 14

Classified By: POL M/C Joseph Y. Yun. Reasons 1.4 (b),(d).

SUMMARY
-------

S E C R E T SEOUL 000102

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/18/2015
TAGS: PREL PINR KS KN
SUBJECT: THE ROK'S NEW MINISTER OF UNIFICATION: LEE
JONG-SEOK MOVES TO CENTER STAGE

REF: SEOUL 14

Classified By: POL M/C Joseph Y. Yun. Reasons 1.4 (b),(d).

SUMMARY
--------------


1. (S) Incoming Minister of Unification (and Chairman of the
National Security Council Standing Committee) Lee Jong-seok
is a left-leaning nationalist who supports the ROK playing a
more active and independent role in the world, particularly
on issues involving North Korea. The Embassy has worked
closely with Lee during the past two years in his position as
Deputy Secretary General of the National Security Council,
and we have found that he recognizes that the relationship
with the United States is critical to the ROK's security and
international influence. Park Sun-won, one of Lee's closest
aides at the NSC, reiterated, to POL M/C on January 5 that
Lee remained firmly committed to maintaining the strength of
the bilateral alliance with the United States; Park added
that "time was running" out for the Roh Administration to
make progress on the DPRK nuclear issue and that Lee would
seek to improve coordination with the United States on the
issue. According to Park, Lee intends to undertake an active
campaign of public appearances to garner increased support
for the Roh Administration's foreign policy. COMMENT: Lee's
promotion does not signal any policy change, as he was
already the most influential foreign policy official in the
Roh Administration. Lee is unaccustomed to the limelight
and, at 48, is twelve or more years younger than ministers
such as Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon and Defense Minister
Yoon Kwang-ung, whom he will be supervising on the NSC; it
would not be surprising if these factors cause Lee to hit a
few bumps in the road in his early months in his new
position. END COMMENT AND SUMMARY.

FROM BEHIND THE CURTAIN TO A STARRING ROLE
--------------


2. (C) South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun on January 2
nominated National Security Council Deputy Executive
Secretary Lee Jong-seok to be the next Minister of

SIPDIS
Unification; Lee will also assume former Minister of
Unification Chung Dong-young's position as Chairman of the
National Security Council Standing Committee. With this

announcement, Lee moves from his position behind the scenes
as director of ROK foreign policy into a center stage,
starring role. The National Assembly will hold hearings on
Lee's nomination, but does not have the right to block the
appointment.


3. (C) Lee has long been President Roh Moo-hyun's most
important foreign policy adviser, more influential than
either Chung or Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, and certainly
more powerful than his nominal boss, outgoing National
Security Advisor Kwon Chin-ho. Although powerful, Lee has
stayed strictly behind the scenes until now; he is almost
never quoted in the media and we do not believe he had made a
single speech since entering government (although he has
occasionally appeared before the National Assembly).
According to our Blue House contacts, Roh and Lee share the
same world view, especially on North Korea. Also sharing
similar temperament, Roh has found Lee to be totally devoted
to presidential goals and objectives.

A LEFT-LEANING NATIONALIST . . .
--------------


4. (C) Lee Jong-seok is a left-leaning nationalist. He is
committed to seeing South Korea play a more active,
independent role in the world and is sensitive to perceived
slights to his nation. He can easily become emotional, for
example, on the subject of Japan and its attitudes toward
Korea. Prior to entering government, Lee was a little-known
academic whose work focused exclusively on North Korea and
reunification. He is passionately devoted to the Roh
Administration's "Peace and Prosperity Policy" of promoting
the slow, long-term reunification of the Korean Peninsula
through an extensive economic assistance program to the DPRK.
He is regarded by many as wary of American influence and
power and did not meet with an American official for the
first six months he was in office. In extensive interactions
over the past two years on a wide array of issues, however,
we have found Lee to be a pragmatic interlocutor who fully

understands that the American alliance is key to his
country's foreign policy. He frequently describes South
Korea as an outstanding example of the "American model" for
national development.

. . . WHO VALUES THE AMERICAN ALLIANCE
--------------


5. (C) During a January 5 meeting with POL M/C, Park
Sun-won, Senior Director for Strategy Planning at the NSC and
one of Lee's closest advisors, stressed that Lee wanted to
work closely with the United States. Park said Lee had
specifically asked him to emphasize to the Embassy that Lee
was pro-American and wanted to promote the mutual national
interests of the ROK and United States. During the past two
years, the United States and ROK had resolved or largely
resolved a number of difficult bilateral issues, including
the relocation of USFK, strategic flexibility, and the
relocation of our Embassy. Park stressed that many of the
difficulties in these negotiations had been the result of ROK
budget issues, rather than a lack of commitment to the
alliance on the part of the Roh Administration. Now that
these were behind us, the bilateral relationship was poised
to enter a new era of good feelings. Park added that Lee
recognized that "the United States is the only partner of the
ROK that goes on forever" and that the relationship with
Washington was a critical hedge against the rise of China.

LEE TO CAMPAIGN FOR ROH ADMINISTRATION FOREIGN POLICY
-------------- --------------


6. (C) As Minister of Unification, said Park, Lee Jong-seok
intended to take a much more public role than he had in the
past, and would be making speeches, publishing op-ed pieces
and appearing on television news shows. In his role as
Chairman of the NSC Standing Committee, Lee would
energetically promote the Roh Administration's entire foreign
policy, not merely its policy of engagement with the DPRK.

NORTH KOREA POLICY
--------------


7. (C) The number one foreign policy objective of the Roh
Administration, said Park, was to make progress on the DPRK
nuclear issue, and Lee would be looking for ways to enhance
policy coordination with the United States on North Korean
matters. Speaking with unusual candor, Park pointed out that
the Roh Administration was entering its fourth year and that
time was running out. It was important that the United
States and the ROK have "real policy coordination from A to
Z," including on denuclearization and the transformation of
North Korea. For example, said Park, the ROK accepted that
the United States had the right to take measures against
North Korean counterfeiting of American currency, but wanted
those measures to be coordinated with the Six Party Talks.


8. (C) Park said that another of Lee's priorities would be
the development of inter-Korean relations, in particular the
next round of ministerial talks in late March. Park claimed
that Lee would be a much tougher interlocutor for the North
Koreans than Chung Dong-young had been. Whereas Chung had
been searching for results that would bolster his upcoming
campaign for President, Lee would be working toward the
specific goals of denuclearization of North Korea and peace
on the Peninsula. Lee had no broader ambitions, was
intensely loyal to President Roh, and would focus solely on
advancing Roh's foreign policy agenda. More broadly, Lee
would not repeat Chung's "mistakes," especially Chung's need
to see his own name in every newspaper.

BIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
--------------


9. (U) Lee Jong-seok has been Deputy Secretary General of
the ROK National Security Council since March, 2003. Prior
to that, he had been a Senior Researcher at the prestigious
Sejong Institute from 1994. Lee also served as a member of
the Ministry of Unification Policy Advisory Committee from
1996-2002 and as a member of Presidential Advisory
Committee's Subcommittee on Foreign Relations and Security
from 2001-2003. He obtained his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D from
Sungkyunkwan University in 1984, 1989 and 1993, respectively.
He was born on May 11, 1958 in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province.

VERSHBOW