SEOUL MAYOR OH SE-HOON'S VISION: A NEW SEOUL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SEOUL 003370 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/10/2014 TAGS: PGOV PREL KS SUBJECT: SEOUL MAYOR OH SE-HOON'S VISION: A NEW SEOUL Classified By: Ambassador Alexander Vershbow. Reasons 1.4 (b,d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Over a convivial lunch on September 29 with newly elected Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, the Ambassador and the Mayor discussed plans to improve Seoul, the issues regarding the relocation and redevelopment of the Yongsan Garrison, the 2007 presidential elections, the KORUS FTA and North Korea. The opposition GNP party Mayor Oh explained that he hoped to fill the big shoes former Mayor Lee Myung-bak left and outlined his vision to do so. END SUMMARY SEOUL IMPROVEMENT -------------- ¶2. (C) Mayor Oh Se-hoon said after less than three months in office, people already compare him frequently to former Mayor Lee Myung-bak, which he said was burdensome, but also a good challenge. He said he was determined to take responsibility to live up to the high expectations during his term as Mayor. He said he would work hard to continue to improve Seoul. ¶3. (C) The Ambassador noted he was very pleased to see all the Mayor's ideas to further develop the area around the Han River and asked the Mayor to explain the projects for the river area. The Mayor said there were many projects the city envisioned. He hoped the central government would not hinder the city from executing the projects that would bring the city closer together around the Han River that splits the capital city in two. ¶4. (C) On traffic congestion, the Mayor said in the future, Seoul could become a much more difficult city to drive in and a much easier city to bike and walk in because of the many reforms he had planned. He hinted at several of these plans but said they were still researching the right plan to make Seoul a better city, with fewer cars on the road. He credited his predecessor, former Mayor and current presidential hopeful Lee Myung-bak, for developing the mass transit system in Seoul to the point where he could now look to make further changes to the transportation system. ¶5. (C) The Mayor asked the Ambassador's opinion of the recently published plans to create green space in front of the Embassy. The Ambassador said he welcomed any new green space but hoped that the area in front of the Embassy would remain safe for employees coming in and going out of the Embassy. The two discussed the merits of the traffic congestion relief plan that London had instituted and the �00A;Mayor said a similar congestion charge would be impossible in Seoul because of public opposition. Although the various plans the Mayor had in mind would be effective in reducing the number of cars on the roads, he said even these plans are likely to generate opposition from Seoul citizens. He said the Clinton Foundation was likely to choose Seoul as a pilot city to develop a high-tech plan to deal with the extreme traffic congestion problems that Seoul faced. Working with the Clinton Foundation and Cisco Systems, the Mayor hoped that Seoul would become a truly modern city with a world-class transportation system. RELOCATION OF YONGSAN GARRISON -------------- ¶6. (C) The Mayor explained that he hoped after the relocation and redevelopment of the Yongsan Garrison that the area would be made into a green area and an ecological preserve. He said the central government had committed to the same plan to make a "Central Park" in Seoul where the Yongsan Garrison currently was situated, but he doubted the sincerity of the Roh government. The Roh government continued to search for ways to raise funds to relocate the troops to Pyeongtaek, and the sale of part of the land in the Yongsan Base could fund the move, the Mayor said. He assured the Ambassador that whatever form the land redevelopment took, the area set aside for the new U.S. Embassy would be preserved in Camp Coiner. ¶7. (C) The Mayor noted that the Seoul City Government had the legal right to redevelop the base, but said the Roh government had taken this right from the Seoul government. That explained the friction between the Seoul and national governments. The Ambassador suggested that since there was still time before the relocation to Pyeongtaek, perhaps the next government or National Assembly could determine how the Yongsan Garrison would be redeveloped. The Mayor said the Roh government wanted to push through legislation soon to decide on how the land would be used. Despite any problems with the central government, he said he would work closely with Gyeonggi Governor Kim Moon-soo to ensure a smooth transition of the base from Seoul to Pyeongtaek. DECEMBER 2007 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS -------------- ¶8. (C) The Ambassador asked Oh, as a member of the opposition Grand National Party (GNP),who he predicted would win the 2007 presidential elections. The Mayor said there was still too much time and Korean politics was too difficult to predict - he said it would take "magic" to predict correctly the outcome of the election, still 15 months away. He said the key to a GNP victory was maintaining unity within the party, and he said there would be many changes in the months to come within the GNP and in the Korean political scene in general. He added that as a sign of how quickly things can change in Korean politics, he did not even imagine running for mayor until February, just three months before the May 31, 2006 elections. ¶9. (C) The Ambassador asked if, after the 2002 elections had been decided by personality and emotion, perhaps in 2007 the elections would be more about policy. The Mayor did not seem hopeful but said it remained a goal that he and his party would continue to strive to achieve. Continuing on the discussion of domestic politics, the Mayor said that while a merger between the GNP and the Democratic Party (DP) would be beneficial to the GNP, it would be difficult and not happen soon. Any such alliances would occur much closer to the elections. ¶10. (C) Further on the 2007 election, the Ambassador asked if the surplus of presidential-caliber candidates in the GNP would be an advantage or a disadvantage for the main opposition party. The Mayor hoped that it would be an advantage, but again stressed that the elections were a long way in the future. The two discussed former Gyeonggi Governor Sohn Hak-kyu's chances and the Mayor said the former Governor had a long way to go to become a serious threat to win the GNP nomination. He said that Rep. Park Geun-hye and former Mayor Lee Myung-bak had a commanding lead in the GNP but if either of them made a mistake, Sohn could benefit. The Ambassador said that maybe in 2007 Korea could have two women as the main presidential candidates with Park and Uri Party Prime Minister and presidential hopeful Han Myung-suk. KORUS FTA -------------- ¶11. (C) The Mayor said he was a strong proponent of the KORUS FTA and that the Roh government's support for the FTA was the only policy stance by the Roh government that he supported. He said the FTA should go to the National Assembly as soon as possible since the closer the presidential elections were to any vote on the KORUS FTA, the harder it would be to obtain ratification. He said he was hopeful that the KORUS FTA would pass the Assembly, since the Roh government was pushing hard and the GNP supported the FTA. That said, there could be more resistance from the service sector in the coming months. The Ambassador said it was difficult for the Korean FTA negotiators to negotiate with the level of transparency the National Assembly demanded. He said that he hoped the Korean people and Assembly Members could appreciate the taste of the KORUS FTA "sausage" without worrying so much about how the "sausage" was made. The Mayor said he hoped the U.S. side would be flexible and a good agreement would be reached. ¶12. (C) The Mayor said he was worried about North Korea, just as the Ambassador did, and said the city of Seoul's view on North Korea was to provide humanitarian aid to the North and to invest in DPRK infrastructure. He said the humanitarian aid Seoul was now giving was focused on providing pharmaceuticals and medical equipment and never was in the form of cash aid. The Ambassador said it was difficult to help the North even though humanitarian aid was necessary after the floods in July because the North continued to behave in a provocative way. He thought the Seoul government's approach was wise and heartily agreed that cash support to the Kim Jong-il regime was not prudent. ¶13. (C) The Ambassador said North Koreans were learning more and more about the outside world through radio and smuggled tapes of Korean TV shows. He said he knew that South Koreans hoped for a gradual change over a long period of time in North Korea, but that the DPRK, if it did not embark on serious reforms, could collapse. The Mayor said Koreans were worried about possible PRC involvement in the case of a DPRK collapse and the Ambassador agreed that it was difficult to predict how the PRC would react in such a case. ¶14. (C) The Mayor said he was glad the Ambassador was in Seoul since he had experience with the process of change in the former Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. The Ambassador said he had hoped to see progress with North Korea when he arrived in Seoul in October 2005, just after the September 19 Joint Statement had been signed. Since then, however, the North's behavior was very discouraging. The Ambassador said the U.S. was working with the ROKG to find a method to restart the Six Party Talks, but worried the North would continue to choose isolation over engagement. He said if the North tested a nuclear device, the U.S. and ROK would have no choice but to impose harsher sanctions. ¶15. (C) The Mayor said the Ambassador must be a very patient man since he was dealing with North Korea. He also noted that younger Korean people thought first of the economic consequences of giving aid to the North and felt less sentimental attachment to the people of the North than the older generation. Therefore, he said in the future, unconditional aid from Korea might be more difficult to send north. VERSHBOW