UNHCR COMPLETES INTERVIEWS OF NORTH KOREANS

S E C R E T MOSCOW 000584

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/08/2017
TAGS: PREF PREL PHUM PGOV RS KN
SUBJECT: UNHCR COMPLETES INTERVIEWS OF NORTH KOREANS

REF: MOSCOW 211

Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Alice Wells.
Reasons 1.4 (b and d).


1. (S) UNHCR has completed its interviews of the North
Koreans asylum seekers that arrived in Moscow in January and
is finalizing its assessments of their cases (reftel). UNHCR
Senior Protection Officer Gang Li said that all of them had
indicated they had wanted to be resettled to the United
States.


2. (S) Li said the most pressing issue would be how to
approach the GOR about these cases. UNHCR Moscow and UNHCR
headquarters were discussing next steps, and acting UNHCR
Moscow Representative Wolfgang Mizlow would seek guidance
during consultations in Geneva, Li said. He added that he
had advocated that the GOR should be notified quickly in the
interest of transparency. We agreed that having UNHCR
initially approach the GOR would be less likely to raise
Russian sensitivities, in that this would follow the standard
operating procedures UNHCR and the GOR used in dealing with
North Koreans.


3. (S) Li added that he had spoken to the ROK Embassy about
these cases, telling ROK diplomats that the North Koreans
wished to go to the U.S. The South Koreans had expressed no
further interest, he said.


4. (S) COMMENT: The introduction of the U.S. as a
destination country for North Koreans will likely raise GOR
suspicions. Overcoming them will require a transparent and
patient approach. The GOR has had an excellent working
relationship with UNHCR in resettling North Koreans to South
Korea. The more we consistently we follow that model, the
better our chances of getting GOR cooperation.
BURNS