LAO GOVERNMENT MEETING ON NORTH KOREAN CHILDREN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 VIENTIANE 000323

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

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C O R R E C T E D - C O P Y CHANGE TO PAR 1 AND 5

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/19/2017
TAGS: PREF PREL PHUM PGOV LA KN KS JA
SUBJECT: LAO GOVERNMENT MEETING ON NORTH KOREAN CHILDREN
SCHEDULED; GOL OPPOSES RESETTLEMENT IN U.S.

REF: VIENTIANE 296

VIENTIANE 00000323 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: Ambassador Patricia Haslach. Reason: 1.4 b and d.


1. (C) Summary: South Korean Embassy Counsellor Miyon Lee
told us on April 19 that senior Lao government officials
would soon meet to decide on the fate of three North Korean
children who have been detained in Laos since November 2006.
She said that the Lao have made it a condition of the
children's release that they be resettled in South Korea
rather than in the United States. A Japanese diplomat
described the Japanese NGO that has publicized the
children's plight as well-established, although he, like us,
did not consider the group's high-profile approach constructive.
The extensive publicity the children's situation has recently
attracted has further complicated a situation that North Korean
involvement had already made more difficult. End summary.


2. (C) DCM called South Korean Embassy Counsellor Miyon Lee
on April 19 regarding the three North Korean children who
have been detained in Laos since November 2006. Ms. Lee said
that her embassy had tried unsuccessfully throughout the Lao
New Year holiday (April 14-18) to get a meeting with Lao
officials. However, Lao officials did tell them by phone
that there would soon be a meeting by "higher level"
officials (probably the Politburo) to decide on what to do
with the children. She expected to hear the outcome within a
day or so. Ms. Lee said that the Lao government is making it
a condition of the children's release that they be resettled
in South Korea (i.e., rather than in the United States, where
they have reportedly said that they want to go).


3. (C) As noted in Reftel, the South Koreans believed they
were on the brink of a quietly negotiated solution in early
April, but a communication on the issue that the Lao
government misdirected to the North Korean Embassy led to
demands by the North Koreans that the children be returned to
North Korea. According to press reports, a North Korean
Embassy official visited the Vientiane detention facility
where the children are being held and demanded their release.
Further complicating matters was a sudden flurry of
publicity generated by a Japanese NGO, Life Funds for North
Korean Refugees, a representative of which reportedly visited
the children in prison. The story was picked up first by the
Japanese and Korean media and later by media outlets
worldwide, including the Washington Post and International
Herald Tribune.


4. (C) The South Korean Ambassador approached the
Ambassador at an April 12 Lao New Year event hosted by the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He said that he had not been
instructed to demarche the Lao government about the issue but
asked for advice on which officials might be most helpful.
The Ambassador suggested that he contact Vice Foreign
Minister Bounkeut, who handles relations with Asia. VFM
Bounkeut was helpful in resolving the situation of a North
Korean asylum seeker who took refuge in this Embassy in 2005.
The South Korean Ambassador said that, in the meantime, the
embassy's consular chief was discussing the issue with Lao
immigration officials. It is not clear where in the Lao
government the official who told Ms. Lee about the "higher
level" meeting works, or how senior this official is.


5. (C) Acting Japanese DCM Akihiko Fuji met with the DCM
and Pol/Econ Chief April 19 at his request to discuss the
North Korean children. DCM and Pol/Econ Chief told him that
the USG's primary objective is to see the children safely
resettled. Any Lao perception of USG involvement would be
counterproductive to this goal. As a result, our approach is
one of carefully monitoring the situation but refraining from
official intervention. The USG considers the intensive press
coverage detrimental to a resolution. Mr. Fuji agreed. Mr.
Fuji asked about the possibility of the children resettling
in the U.S. The DCM and Pol/Econ Chief said that the Embassy
had no role in this; any resettlement request would, as
usual, be handled by the office of the UN High Commissioner
on Refugees. Mr. Fuji said that Life Fund is a
well-established Japanese NGO that has worked on behalf of
North Korean refugees since 1998. Its representatives are
not brokers. However, he did not consider the group's
high-profile approach constructive. Asked whether the
Japanese Embassy has been approached by asylum seekers, Mr.
Fuji said that it has not. (Comment: In contrast to our
very forthright South Korean counterparts, our Japanese
colleagues may be withholding information on this issue. As
noted reftel, the Japanese DCM urgently requested a meeting
with us to ask how we handled the asylum seeker in 2005. At
the April 5 meeting, he told the DCM that this was just for
contingency planning purposes. However, Ms. Lee of the South

VIENTIANE 00000323 002.2 OF 002


Korean Embassy later told us that a Japanese citizen who had
escaped from North Korea after voluntarily resettling there
had approached the Japanese Embassy for assistance in
resettling in Japan. Likewise, there could have been an
unstated reason for Mr. Fuji's visit. End comment.)


6. (C) Comment: We are not surprised that the GOL is
making it a condition of the children's release that they not
be resettled in the United States. In addition to being
consistent with their general hostility to anything they
regard as part of the U.S.'s human rights agenda, this is a
way for them to avoid embarrassing the North Koreans.
(Maintaining good relations with both Koreas is an important
policy priority for the Lao.) We have thought all along that
the children's reported request to resettle in the U.S. is
what led to their prolonged detention, in contrast with the
relatively rapid release of another group detained at around
the same time (not to mention the dozens of North Koreans who
have successfully made their way from China to Thailand
through Laos in the past year). Of course, the children, if
they are in fact released, may have the opportunity to seek
resettlement in the U.S. regardless of their initial
destination. End comment.
HASLACH