DPRK DEFECTOR FILES: THE UNTAPPED SOURCE

S E C R E T SEOUL 002044 SIPDIS SIPDIS DNI FOR SYD SEILER E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/14/2014 TAGS: CH ECON ELAB KDEM KIRF KN KS KWMN PGOV PHUM PINR, PREF, PREL, PROP, SENV, SMIG, SNAR, SOCI SUBJECT: DPRK DEFECTOR FILES: THE UNTAPPED SOURCE INTRODUCTION AND ACTION REQUEST -------------- ¶1. (S) The USG possesses an enormous trove of information about the DPRK that has been almost entirely untapped. The files contain over 9,180 Korean-language debriefs, spanning 1997 to the present, of North Korean citizens who escaped from the DPRK and were accepted by the ROKG for resettlement and processed at the Combined Military Interrogation Center (CMIC). The files are collected by the National Intelligence Service and related ROKG agencies and turned over to the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)'s Field Operating Base-Korea (FOB-K) on a regular and continuing basis. ¶2. (S) This massive collection of contemporaneous, first-hand testimony would be directly relevant to assessing DPRK regime stability, planning for collapse or other contingencies, and building a record of accountability for human rights violations. FOB-K has already participated in some of the initial interviews and has screened all of the reports for defense-related information. Our proposal envisages using the completed files to extract much more information about the DPRK. For example, in just four randomly selected files, we found testimony about the: -- distribution of bibles, electronic equipment, and Christian recordings in Chongjin and Pyongyang; -- inducement of abortions among pregnant North Koreans returning from China; -- nonconsensual "extraction" of an elderly North Korean woman by her husband in the ROK; -- torture by electric shock of North Koreans caught in China; -- trafficking of four North Korean women to a Chinese farmer for USD 26; -- altering of vehicle license plates to disguise the diversion of aid for military purposes; -- dissatisfaction of workers with the 2002 economic reforms; -- imposition of forced labor in a coal mine; -- sale of antiquities pillaged from royal tombs near Pyongyang and Kaesong; and -- Knowledge of ROK society through overseas radio broadcasting. ¶3. (S) Turning these files into a usable reference would require resources beyond anything the U.S. Mission in Seoul could manage. One approach could be for interested USG agencies to hire contractors, with sufficient Korean language skill and the appropriate security clearances, to undertake translating and cataloging this material, perhaps as a database similar to the "Harmony" database used for Al Qaida documents. Post believes that this is a project very much worth pursuing. We are, therefore, seeking the Department's assessment of available USG resources, financial and otherwise, that could be used to fully e