US-ROK CONSULTATIONS ON DPRK HUMANITARIAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SEOUL 002000

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/09/2018
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KS KN
SUBJECT: US-ROK CONSULTATIONS ON DPRK HUMANITARIAN
ASSISTANCE AND REFUGEES

REF: A. SEOUL 01946

B. SEOUL 01947

Classified By: POL M/C Joseph Y. Yun. Reasons 1.4(b/d)


1. (C) Summary: At the second of three meetings between a
U.S. delegation led by DAS Alex Arvizu and a ROKG delegation
led by MOFAT DG for Korean Peninsula Peace Regime Huh Chul on
September 24, Huh said the ROK would consider additional
contributions of food aid or fertilizer to the DPRK only
after the DPRK responds to the ROK's May 2008 offer of
assistance. As of August, the ROKG had resettled 2,096 North
Korean refugees in South Korea during the year, a 34 percent
increase over the same period last year, and expects this
trend to continue. Huh regretted the ROK could not
immediately agree to the U.S. request to check the
fingerprints of North Korean refugees seeking resettlement in
the United States against the database of South Korean
citizens, but committed to work toward a resolution of the
issue. Huh agreed that it would be helpful to conduct a
trilateral U.S.-ROK-UNHCR meeting and a separate U.S.-ROK
bilateral meeting for more comprehensive discussions on North
Korean refugee issues; he suggested the possibility of
holding both meetings in Seoul in mid-November. End Summary.


2. (C) A U.S. delegation led by EAP DAS Alex Arvizu and a
ROKG delegation led by MOFAT DG for Korean Peninsula Peace
Regime Huh Chul met in Seoul on September 24-25 to discuss
(a) the Relationship between South and North Korea; (b)
Humanitarian Aid to North Korea and North Korean Refugees;
and (c) North Korean Human Rights Situation. This message
reports on the second of these two-hour sessions.

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Food Shortage, but No Crisis
--------------


3. (C) The ROKG believes North Korea's annual grain need is
5.4 million tons and expects North Korea to produce some 4
million tons this year. With expected aid shipments, the
ROKG estimates North Korea's grain shortage this year to be
730,000 tons. While noting the shortage, the ROKG sees no
signs of famine, starvation, or evidence that the military is
using its war reserves. North Koreans are coping with the
shortage by planting home gardens and developing local
markets. Since May 2008, the price of rice has fallen 40
percent, due largely to an infusion of aid, according to ROKG
assessments.

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ROKG Waiting to Hear from the DPRK on Food Needs
-------------- ---


4. (C) Huh was firm that before the ROKG makes further
commitments of food and fertilizer assistance to the DPRK,
the DPRK must respond to the ROKG's May 2008 offer of 50,000
tons of corn. The DPRK has yet to do so. The DPRK's
acceptance of the May offer would be the first step, Huh
said, to increased assistance and dialogue. Huh clarified
that the ROKG had recently renewed its offer and made clear
that it remains on the table.


5. (C) Assistant Secretary to the President for National
Security Strategy Lee Choong-myon said the DPRK has not
responded to the May offer because it is attempting to tame
the ROKG to provide aid on the DPRK's terms. But, Lee said,
the ROKG would offer assistance on its own terms and that
"beggars can't be choosers."


6. (C) Lee said the ROKG would not consider contributing to
the World Food Program (WFP) appeal for assistance to the
DPRK until the DPRK responds to the ROKG's May 2008 offer,
unless the ROKG deemed the food situation in North Korea to
be dire, which it does not now. Responding to DAS Arvizu,s
suggestion that the ROK provide fertilizer in order to assist
with next year,s harvest and complement U.S. food
assistance, DG Huh reported that the ROKG was not seriously
considering such assistance at this time.

--------------
No Pre-Conditions, but Expectations
--------------


7. (C) Huh said the ROKG's position is that humanitarian
assistance should be provided without pre-conditions or

political considerations. Huh added that when the ROKG does
provide assistance, it will expect increased transparency of
the distribution system. The ROKG would also expect the DPRK
to respond to other humanitarian issues like POWs and
separated families.

--------------
Refugees on the Rise
--------------


8. (C) Kim Sung-soo, Inter-Korean Policy Division First
Secretary, explained that the ROKG,s basic position on DPRK
refugees is: 1) accepting all who have a free will to
resettle in the ROK; 2) preventing their repatriation to the
DPRK; and 3) maintaining close cooperation with other
countries and international organizations. DG Huh elaborated
that the Lee Myung-bak administration was trying to be as
responsive as possible in implementing this policy.


9. (C) According to Kim, as of August, the ROKG had resettled
2,096 North Korean refugees in South Korea during 2008, a 34
percent increase over the same period last year. The
increase over last year comes despite a decline in refugees
prior to the Beijing Olympics because of China's stepped-up
enforcement of immigration laws. The ROKG has observed that
since the Olympics ended, the numbers have started to rise
again. There are 14,000 refugees already resettled in South
Korea.


10. (C) With the increasing number of refugees, Ministry of
Unification (MOU) Director of the Policy Planning Division
Lee Jong-joo said the ROKG is under pressure to improve its
resettlement programs to ensure refugees are successfully
integrated into Korean society. Since 1999, the ROKG has run
a re-education center, Hanawon, where newly resettled
refugees receive 280 hours of instruction intended to provide
initial protection, including medical services, social
adaptation education, and basic vocational training. The
ROKG also provides financial assistance in the form of cash
allowances, medical insurance, tuition assistance, and rent
subsidies.


11. (C) The ROKG has recently begun revising its support
package to focus on employment opportunities as the key to
successful resettlement. The MOU plans to offer more
vocational training, continue to subsidize employers who hire
North Korean refugees by paying 50 percent of the refugee,s
wages for two years, open employment promotion offices around
the country, and create more internships leading to
employment.

--------------
Fingerprint Roadblock
--------------


12. (C) Describing it as "one of the severest headaches" he
had encountered in his current position, Huh said the ROKG is
working to resolve privacy concerns that are blocking
implementation of a system for checking fingerprints of North
Koreans seeking refugee status in the U.S. to ensure that
applicants for U.S. resettlement have not previously been
resettled in the ROK. Huh said the ROKG had decided that the
ROKG could continue to cooperate with the U.S. if the
fingerprints were provided consensually and the use of the
information derived from the fingerprints was limited to
confirming whether the individual was or was not an ROK
citizen. The ROKG had suspended its cooperation on
fingerprints until it developed a mechanism to address
privacy concerns by ensuring individuals consent, as well as
certain unspecified technical issues. Huh intimated that it
would take some time to resolve the ROKG's concerns.
Moreover, Huh said the ROKG had similar issues to resolve
with the UK and that the ROKG had decided to resolve the UK
issues before addressing the U.S. request for fingerprint
checks.


13. (C) In response to a U.S. request that the ROKG
expeditiously process the pending cases of five refugees (one
in Laos and four in the Czech Republic) according to the
previously agreed process that included a fingerprint check,
Huh replied he would consider it, but made no promise. "We
note your hope," he said. (Subsequent progress on this issue
will be reported septel.)

--------------

Agreed Need for Closer Cooperation
--------------


14. PRM Admissions Director Terry Rusch highlighted the
important role that U.S.-ROK cooperation had played in the
United States, effort to resettle North Korean refugees. Huh
concurred that a U.S.-ROK-UNHCR trilateral meeting and a
U.S.-ROK bilateral meeting focused on refugees would be
helpful and suggested holding both meetings in Seoul,
possibly in mid-November.


15. (C) Rusch explained that the &Thailand Model,8 in which
U.S.-bound North Korean refugees from Thailand transit
Seoul,s Incheon International Airport on ROK travel
documents en route to the United States has helped move
refugees more quickly. In response to Rusch,s proposal to
extend this model to refugees departing from other countries,
Huh agreed to extend this model as appropriate and necessary.

-------------- --------------
Limited Coordination on Assistance and Protection
-------------- --------------


16. (C) PRM Asia Near East Program Officer Meghann Curtis
said the U.S. hoped to achieve better coordination on
humanitarian assistance programs for North Korean refugees as
they transit throughout the region. Curtis provided an
overview of U.S. assistance efforts, and said the U.S. hoped
to look to the ROKG for guidance on how to best direct
expanded efforts. The ROKG did not provide input on its
assistance efforts in third countries.


17. (C) Curtis reminded the ROKG of the strategy to combat
sexual abuse and extortion of North Korean refugees that the
U.S. had presented last year. Lee Eon-joung, Inter-Korean
Policy Division Third Secretary, said the ROKG wanted to
cooperate on combating sexual exploitation, but noted the
difficulty in identifying and punishing those responsible for
the abuse.

--------------
Participants
--------------


18. (U) ROKG:
Huh Chul, Director General for the Korean Peninsula Peace
Regime Bureau, MOFAT
Jin Gi-hoon, Director, Inter-Korean Policy Division, MOFAT
Lee Won-ik, Director, Korean Peninsula Peace Regime Division,
MOFAT
Lee Choong-myon, Assistant Secretary to the President for
National Security Strategy, Blue House
Lee Dong-yeol, First Secretary, North America Division 1,
MOFAT
Lee Jong-joo, Deputy Director, Policy Planning Division, MOU
Yoo Chang-ho, First Secretary, Korean Embassy to the U.S.
Song Yong-min, Second Secretary, Inter-Korean Policy
Division, MOFAT
Lim, Hyo-sun, Second Secretary, Inter-Korean Policy Division,
MOFAT
Notetakers

U.S.:
Alex Arvizu, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Japan
and Korea
Terry Rusch, Director of Admissions, Bureau of Population,
Refugees and Migration
Mary Comfort, Attorney-Advisor, Office of the Legal Adviser
Meghann Curtis, Asia Near East Program Officer, Bureau of
Population, Refugees and Migration
Michael Orona, Deputy Director, Office of Asia and the
Western Hemisphere, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and
Labor
Laura Rosenberger, Foreign Affairs Officer, Korea Office,
Bureau of East Asia and the Pacific
Amy Patel, Desk Officer, Korea Office, Bureau of East Asia
and the Pacific
Allison Hooker, East Asia Analyst, Bureau of Intelligence and
Research
Embassy notetakers
STEPHENS