(S) KAZAKHSTAN: ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON DPRK -

S E C R E T ASTANA 001348 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EAP, NEA, ISN, SCA, AND T E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/25/2018 TAGS: PARM PREL MNUC KNNP KZ SUBJECT: (S) KAZAKHSTAN: ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON DPRK - IRAN FLIGHT DELIVERED REF: A. STATE 80081 ¶B. ASTANA 1342 Classified By: PolEcon Chief Steve Fagin, for reasons 1.4 b and d (S) On July 25, we delivered ref. A points to Sergey Saveliev, the Deputy Director of Department of MFA's International Organizations and International Security Sergey Saveliyev. He thanked us for the prompt notification and clarified that Kazakhstan's denial of overflight clearance was still making its way through the MFA and has not yet been passed to the North Koreans. He said it is still possible that the flight is a non-proliferation risk, but expressed worry that denying a diplomatic flight would earn Kazakhstan significant criticism at the NAM meeting. Nevertheless, he said, Kazakhstan still intends to deny the overflight flight, citing technical reasons (the request did not list the purpose of travel). Saveliyev reiterated yesterday's request for the positions of other Central Asia states on DPRK overflights (ref. B). ORDWAY