DPRK-INTERNAL: RASON TURBINES, MORE PUST DELAYS,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SHENYANG 000115

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR INR, EAP/CM, EAP/K

E.O. 12958: DECL: TEN YEARS AFTER KOREAN UNIFICATION
TAGS: PREL PINR PGOV KN KS CH
SUBJECT: DPRK-INTERNAL: RASON TURBINES, MORE PUST DELAYS,
SINUIJU AND PARK PONG JU GOSSIP

Classified By: ACTING CONSUL GENERAL DAVID BRIZZEE.
REASONS: 1.4 (b)/(d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: DPRK and ROK officials are expected to meet
soon in Shenyang to discuss a humanitarian group's proposal
to privately finance and install a 750 KW wind turbine in
Rason. The opening of Pyongyang's first private university
has been pushed back until 2008 as a result of export
licensing concerns and UNSCR 1718, which have also prompted
a recalibration of certain aspects of the project. Post
contacts have suggested that would-be Sinuiju governor Yang
Bin, imprisoned by the PRC in 2003, may have been released
from a Shenyang prison. Rumors about former DPRK Premier
Park Pong Ju's dismissal abound; one now circulating in
PRC-DPRK trade circles suggests that Park's fall stemmed,
in part, from a bribe from a Chinese businessman. END
SUMMARY.

TURBINES FOR RASON?
--------------

2. (C) North Korean and ROK Ministry of Unification (MOU)
officials are to meet this week in Shenyang to consult on a
private wind turbine project in Rason, a Yanbian-based
Amcit involved in the project's management told Poloff on
June 20. Proposed by a multinational NGO currently engaged
in a number of grass-roots humanitarian endeavors in Rason,
the project involves the construction of a privately
financed 750 KW wind turbine in Rason that would, after
scheduled completion in September, connect to the local
electricity grid and, ultimately, lay the groundwork for a
multi-turbine wind farm capable of powering an estimated
150,000-200,000 households in the area. Officials of the
windy North Korean locality are quite interested in the
turbine and its potential electrical payoff, according to
the Amcit. Pyongyang last year sanctioned the construction
of a measuring tower--completed in August 2006--for the
turbine.


3. (C) The current iteration of the project hinges, in good
part, on MOU approval because the group has proposed using
a South Korean-made turbine, which would be shipped to
Rason and trucked to the final destination, on top of a
ridge overlooking the area, the Amcit said. But should MOU
approval fall through, the group's fallback plan envisions
purchasing a Chinese-manufactured turbine that would then
be transported by land to Rason. Either way, the group
plans to help reinforce some of Rason's roads, which, at
present, will be unable to accommodate the weight of the
turbine and associated materials for the latter's
foundation.

PYONGYANG'S PRIVATE UNIVERSITY DELAYED, AGAIN
--------------

4. (C) The opening of Pyongyang's first private university,
the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST),
has been pushed back to spring 2008, another in a long
succession of delays. PUST's Yanji-based project manager,
David Kim, told Poloff on June 19 that although eighty
percent of the school's construction is now complete, the
critical next phase--installing a computer network and
importing laboratory and other technological equipment--has
stalled, primarily because of export licensing concerns.
Kim and his colleagues are currently waiting for more
progress in the Six-Party process before submitting the
necessary export license applications to the Department of
Commerce. In the meantime, the PUST team is adapting
previous plans for the school; the project's original plan
to supply each student with a laptop computer equipped with
wireless technology, for instance, has now been foregone as
a result of UNSCR 1718, which proscribes laptops. North
Korean officials at the Ministry of Education, Kim's
primary interlocutors in the DPRK, have remained mum on the
delays (and reasons therefor) during his trips to Pyongyang
over the past several months.

WOULD-BE SINUIJU GOVERNOR RELEASED?
--------------

5. (C) The Chinese-Dutch business magnate selected by
Pyongyang in 2002 to govern Sinuiju's special economic zone
may have been released from a Chinese prison in Shenyang,
where he had been sentenced in 2003 to nearly two decades

SHENYANG 00000115 002 OF 002


on fraud charges. (The PRC's move was interpreted by many
at the time as a signal of Chinese displeasure with
Pyongyang's selection.) Two North Korea scholars in
Shenyang and Yanbian told Poloff separately in recent weeks
that they believe Yang Bin has been released, presumably
thanks to his Dutch nationality and the passage of a decent
interval. One of the scholars--LU Chao, a DPRK expert at
the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences--told Poloff on May
31 that he believes he spotted Yang in Pyongyang during a
trip to North Korea in late May. According to Lu, the man
he is almost certain was Yang--whom he had previously known
from the latter's more heady Shenyang days--was staying at
Lu's hotel and was whisked around by four North Koreans.
Lu said Yang hurriedly turned his head and was whisked off
by his retinue when Lu tried to greet him.

PARK PONG-JU GOSSIP: MORE GRIST FOR THE MILL
--------------

6. (C) A rumor circulating in PRC-DPRK trade circles
speculates that former DPRK Premier Park Pong-ju may have
been dismissed, in part, because of corruption involving a
Chinese businessman. LIU Chensheng, a former Shenyang
trade official who facilitates PRC-DPRK trade/investment
and visits North Korea 1-2 times per month as part of the
Liaoning Civilian Entrepreneur Association's Korean Liaison
Office, told Poloff on May 31 that Park is rumored to have
taken a bribe from a Chinese businessman seeking to secure
an investment deal in the DPRK. According to the rumor,
Liu said, problems arose when the businessman suddenly
disappeared after the Central Committee of the Worker's
Party had approved the deal, resulting in an embarrassing
loss of several million dollars in potential revenue.
Park, according to this rumor, is said to have been removed
soon afterward as a warning to other cadres. (NOTE: Post
continues to hear a wide range of other rumors about Park's
dismissal and passes this along for what it is (or not)
worth. END NOTE.)
BRIZZEE