ROKG REQUEST FOR CHANGES TO CWC/HCA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SEOUL 001268 SIPDIS SIPDIS ISN/CB FOR HANLINE E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/17/2016 TAGS: PREL PARM MARR KTIA CWC KS SUBJECT: ROKG REQUEST FOR CHANGES TO CWC/HCA REF: A. SEOUL - OSD & ISN/CB EMAILS ¶B. SEOUL 00728 Classified By: POL-MIL Chief Sung Y. Kim. Reasons 1.4 (b,d). ¶1. (U) This is an action request, see paragraph 3. ¶2. (C) On April 6, MOFAT Disarmament and Nonproliferation Director Kwon Hee-seog informed poloff of the ROKG's request to amend the proposed Host Country Agreement (HCA) on the conduct of Chemical Weapons (CWC) challenge inspections (Ref A). Although MOFAT had expressed a preference to make the agreement "politically binding" (Ref B),Kwon noted that upon further review by relevant sections, the ROKG decided that this agreement would require National Assembly ratification and therefore should be in a "legally-binding" format. ¶3. (C) In light of the ROKG's requirement for National Assembly approval, Post requests appropriate adjustments to the outstanding CWC/HCA. VERSHBOW