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
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