YUST PRESIDENT DISCUSSES PYONGYANG UNIVERSITY OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L SEOUL 001519 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/18/2015 TAGS: PREL KS KN SUBJECT: YUST PRESIDENT DISCUSSES PYONGYANG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY REF: A. SHENYANG 412 ¶B. SHENYANG 44 ¶C. 03 SEOUL 5444 ¶D. 03 SHENYANG 818 Classified By: POL M/C Joseph Y. Yun. Reasons 1.4 (b),(d). SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (C) On April 28, Dr. James Chin-kyung Kim, president of the Yanbian University of Science and Technology, updated us his efforts to launch the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, noting that he and two other prominent Amcits and a ROK lawmaker would be traveling to Pyongyang in June for discussions with DPRK authorities. Kim, who is based in Yanbian, but makes frequent trips to Pyongyang and Seoul, reported that the number of North Koreans illegally entering China had declined. He also claimed that about 400 Christians were killed in the DPRK each year for anti-regime activities. COMMENT: Dr. Kim appears to have continuing access to North Korea and is well-known within the ROK's North Korea policy community. We are aware of at least one ocassion on which he appears to misrepresented his role as an intermediary between Seoul and Pyongyang (REFS C, D). END COMMENT and SUMMARY. PYONGYANG UNIVERSITY UPDATE -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Amcit Dr. James Chin-kyung Kim, president of the Yanbian University of Science and Technology (YUST),briefed us April 28 on progress toward launching the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) (see reftels for earlier discussions with Dr. Kim). Kim stated he visited Pyongyang about twice a month to manage the PUST project, with his latest visit having taken place the week of April ¶17. Kim said that despite financing problems, construction of school facilities was now half-completed and the school's official launch would take place in April 2007. He reported that two other Amcits -- Malcolm Gillis, former president of Rice University, and Park Chan-mo, president of Pohang University of Science and Technology (Postech) -- had agreed to join him as co-chairmen of PUST. The three of them, along with Rep. Chae Suchan (Uri),planned to visit YUST on June 12 and then travel to Pyongyang June 13-15, Kim said. ¶3. (C) NOTE: Asked about the purported travel plans, Rep. Chae Suchan told us that Gillis was planning to visit, but that he himself had no plans to visit Pyongyang. Chae, a trusted advisor to Chung Dong-young (current leader of the ruling Uri Party and former Minister of Unification), characterized James Kim as "capable, mostly credible, but also controversial." Prior to being elected to the National Assembly in 2004, Chae was a professor of economics at Rice University for 19 years. Gillis, a colleague in the economics faculty, was president of Rice from 1993 to 2004. In 2002, Chae visited Pyongyang to establish a research exchange program between Rice and Kim Il-sung University. Park Chan-mo taught at various universities in the United States, including University of Maryland, Catholic University, and Georgetown University, from 1961 to 1989. He returned to the ROK in 1990 and has been president of Pohang University of Science and Technology since 2003. He has served as an adjunct professor at YUST since 1996. END NOTE. ¶4. (SBU) Kim recounted how most of the building materials, including bricks, had to be transported from China because North Korea lacked the facilities, worker know-how, and power to produce the required materials in country. As a result, he was importing bricks worth USD 0.20 at a cost of USD 0.70. Kim also complained about the DPRK authorities' failure to hold up their end of the bargain on the project in general. For example, he recounted how the North Koreans had agreed to supply sand for the building project, but has now reneged, merely providing Kim with a government document stamped "S-E-C-R-E-T" that gives PUST and the Foundation for Northeast Asia Education and Cultural Cooperation concessionary rights to develop and sell sand deposits from along the lower banks of the Imjin River. Kim provided us with copies of these documents. ¶5. (SBU) Nevertheless, Kim asserted, the PUST project continued to enjoy strong support from the DPRK leadership, stating that Kim Jong-il (KJI) had visited the PUST site twice, while Premier Pak Pong-ju and other senior DPRK officials visited more often. According to Kim, the DPRK leadership's desire to see the completion of PUST was such that Cabinet Councilor Kwon Ho-ung had raised the issue with Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok during the April 21-24 North-South ministerial, reportedly urging the ROKG to provide support necessary to finish construction. Asked by Lee whether ROK nationals would be able to teach at PUST, Kwon is reported to have assured Lee that the DPRK had granted Dr. Kim full authority to hire personnel as he saw fit. ¶6. (C) NOTE: There are credible indications that Kwon did in fact raise PUST during the recent ministerial meeting. For example, Lee Jae-joung, Executive Vice Chairperson of the National Unification Advisory Council (the Chairman is President Roh) happened to drop in on our meeting with Dr. Kim and mentioned that he understood that the DPRK had raised PUST during the inter-Korean ministerial. KBS-TV also reported that Kwon had pressed Lee Jong-seok for ROKG support for PUST. We were not, however, able to obtain further details on the details of the that exchange. Our contacts at the Unification Ministry told us PUST did not appear in their memcons of the ministerial plenary talks, suggesting that the exchange was kept off-the-record or came up in during a one-on-one between Kwon and Lee Jong-seok. END NOTE. DPRK REGIME STABILITY, SUCCESSION, HUMAN RIGHTS -------------- -- ¶7. (C) Kim reported that his observations during recent visits to Pyongyang indicated that USG efforts on illicit activities had produced a noticeable strain on the DPRK regime. He was in Pyongyang during the celebration of KJI's birthday on February 16 and noted that KJI had been unable to distribute gifts to the elite, as he had traditionally done. In past years, KJI's birthday was an opportunity to reward cadres with extravagant gifts, including Mercedes-Benz automobiles and high-end wine. Neither had there been any massive gift-giving on the April 15 celebration of Kim Il-sung's birthday, another traditional gift-giving date. James Kim speculated that the North Korean leadership from KJI down was afraid to access any accounts for fear that the USG would be able to identify more accounts to freeze. (NOTE: Kim said that from his dealings in the North, he estimated that the current exchange rate was around KPW 350 per USD, more than double the official exchange rate. END NOTE.) ¶8. (C) Kim speculated that KJI would be unable to transfer power to an heir because he did not seem to enjoy the same level of devotion and adulation that his father had commanded. The North Korean people had accepted KJI as their leader because it had been the will of the beloved Kim Il-sung. Since assuming power, however, KJI had not been able to attain the god-like status of his father and was honored only insofar as he was his father's son. KJI himself did not command enough authority on his own to be able to compel acceptance of a transfer of power to one of his sons, Kim believed. ¶9. (C) Asked the presence of North Koreans in Northeast China, Kim, who himself conducts humanitarian and missionary work in that region, reported that the number of North Koreans sneaking into China was declining. He attributed the lower numbers to the PRC's crackdowns on illegal migrants from North Korea. It also seemed that the North Koreans were getting word that life in China might not be any easier and that, even if they were to make it to the ROK, the safety net provided by the ROKG was significantly less generous than in the past. Kim said he continued his program of training and funding North Korean migrants to return to their home country in order to spread Christianity and begin to organize resistance against the KJI regime. He claimed that, based on reports by North Koreans involved in his Christian network, some 400 Christian leaders were executed in North Korea every year. MINTON