Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06SEOUL1529
2006-05-08 08:21:00
CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN
Embassy Seoul
Cable title:  

DPRK ECONOMY: INTER-KOREAN WORKING-LEVEL ECONOMIC

Tags:  ECON EINV PREL KS KN 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0001
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHUL #1529 1280821
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 080821Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY SEOUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7753
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 0598
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PRIORITY 7300
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 0677
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG PRIORITY 2890
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SEOUL 001529 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

MOSCOW PASS TO VLADIVOSTOK
STATE FOR EAP/K
NSC FOR CHA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/08/2016
TAGS: ECON EINV PREL KS KN
SUBJECT: DPRK ECONOMY: INTER-KOREAN WORKING-LEVEL ECONOMIC
MEETING ENDS QUIETLY


Classified By: EconMinCouns Kurt Tong, for reasons 1.4 (b,d)

SUMMARY
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SEOUL 001529

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

MOSCOW PASS TO VLADIVOSTOK
STATE FOR EAP/K
NSC FOR CHA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/08/2016
TAGS: ECON EINV PREL KS KN
SUBJECT: DPRK ECONOMY: INTER-KOREAN WORKING-LEVEL ECONOMIC
MEETING ENDS QUIETLY


Classified By: EconMinCouns Kurt Tong, for reasons 1.4 (b,d)

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


1. (C) The most recent round of regular working-level
(Director General-level) Inter-Korean Economic Talks ended
with not so much as a whimper. The meeting, held in Kaesong
on May 3-4, was to have focused on discussions on the
inter-Korean railroad and related projects. No progress was
made. South Korean government officials from MOU and MOFAT
were reluctant to provide further details of the talks. End
summary.

UNPRODUCTIVE DISCUSSION ON RAIL LINKS
--------------


2. (C) According to our contacts at the Ministry of
Unification (MOU),the two sides spent most of the time at
the May 3-4 talks reiterating their respective positions.
Notably, the DPRK delegation continued to demand shipment and
delivery of raw materials to provide clothing, shoes and
other necessities of life -- in quantities sufficient to be
doled out to the entire North Korean population -- before
they would consider any ROK positions. The DPRK side made no
concessions other than to marginally reduce the amount of raw
materials demanded. In return, the North offered to let
South Korea extract undeveloped resources -- in other words,
finance new mining operations in North Korea.


3. (C) For its part, the South Korean government delegation
continued to press for a date to conduct a test run of the
inter-Korean railroad, a precondition to the possible use of
the rail line by former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung's
to travel to Pyongyang for a planned summit. Those efforts,
according to MOU officials, were fruitless.


4. (SBU) Surprisingly, these talks in Kaesong did not produce
even the one result normally associated with lackluster
rounds of inter-Korean talks -- an agreement on the next
round of talks. There was also no agreement on when to hold
the next vice-ministerial Economic Promotion Committee talks,
which had been anticipated for late May 2006. The South had
reportedly expected to discuss remaining DPRK requests for
rice and fertilizer assistance for 2006 at those
vice-ministerial talks.

COMMENT
--------------


5. (SBU) The working-level talks, and the failure to produce
any tangible results, garnered almost no attention in the
South Korean media -- perhaps because they were overshadowed
by the April 23-24 ministerial meeting in Pyongyang, or
perhaps because South-North meetings have become so routine
as to be considered not newsworthy. In fact, we had to point
out to one of our South Korean government interlocutors that
the meetings had in fact ended, as a way of explaining why we
were calling to ask about the results.
MINTON