AMBASSADOR MEETS WITH GNP LEADER PARK GEUN-HYE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SEOUL 002203

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/22/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR KN KS
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR MEETS WITH GNP LEADER PARK GEUN-HYE

Classified By: Amb. Kathleen Stephens. Reasons 1.4 (b,d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: In a wide-ranging conversation on Nov. 6,
the Ambassador and GNP legislator Park Geun-hye discussed
North Korea, the future of the U.S.-ROK relationship,
domestic political trends in Korea, the FTA, and camp
returns. Exchanges on policy issues were interwoven with
historical anecdotes and personal recollections. The
Ambassador recalled the days when Park served as first lady
after her mother was killed, and Park noted that the
Ambassador's excellent Korean and understanding of Korea
would help the relationship between our two countries. They
agreed that our two countries were closer now than they had
ever been but that there were still some difficult issues for
us to address such as ratifying the FTA, camp returns,
burden-sharing, and ensuring North Korea gives up its nuclear
weapons. END SUMMARY

NORTH KOREA


2. (C) Over a lunch at the Ambassador's residence on
November 6, GNP Legislator and former Party Chair Park
Geun-hye said that she had traveled to Pyongyang and met DPRK
leader Kim Jong-il in May 2002, finally accepting one of the
North Korean leaders many invitations. Kim told her that he
wanted to uphold the July 4 Communique signed by their
fathers (Kim Il-sung and Park Chung-hee) pledging a
commitment to a peaceful, unified Korean Peninsula. Since
Kim and Park were both children of great leaders, KJI said,
it was up to them to realize the goals of their fathers. KJI
even suggested that Park and he promise to work together on
this goal. This all happened before DPRK's HEU program was
discovered. Park said she gave Kim a list of issues that
should be discussed including POWs, separated families, and a
possible joint dam project at Mt. Kumgang, and KJI agreed
that the two countries should make progress on these issues.
She said she met him one-on-one for one hour and then had a
two-hour dinner with him and his aides.


3. (C) Park said that KJI seemed very concerned about the
state of the North Korean economy and had just been to
Shanghai before he met with Park. He was surprised at the
economic growth he had witnessed in Pudong. Asking Kim why
he thought China had developed so much, Park suggested it was
because the PRC showed it was a nation that could be trusted,
enabling the flow of FDI from overseas Chinese, Taiwan and
others. She told him the best way to help the DPRK economy
was to show that the DPRK was trustworthy. Otherwise, no one
would want to invest in the North. In July of 2002, Kim
announced that he would start opening up the economy. It
looked like he wanted to make real change, Park speculated,
but then in the fall of 2002, the DPRK's nuclear programs
were discovered and stalled the chance for a significant
economic opening.


4. (C) Park said that to make progress on denuclearization

of North Korea, it was very important that all the members of
the 6PT spoke with one voice. Park noted that it was a
positive step that at the Yongbyon nuclear facility
disablement was continuing but wondered what would be done
about other nuclear facilities in North Korea. The
Ambassador said that the United States was committed to full
denuclearization of all North Korean nuclear programs. Many
experts regarded the plutonium production as being the most
serious immediate threat. However, the U.S. was intent on
the abandonment of all North Korean nuclear programs.


5. (C) Defense Committee Chair Kim Hak-song asked what the
latest information was on Kim Jong-il's health. The
Ambassador said that experts appeared in agreement that Kim
may have had a stroke but seemed to have recovered. They also
believed the recently released photos of Kim were probably
genuine. Park noted that some pundits and journalists
assessed that since Kim was still recovering, his
brother-in-law, Jang Song-taek, seemed to be carrying out
some management responsibilities.

DOMESTIC POLITICS


6. (C) Park said that the Lee Administration wanted to
reform the country's local government structure in 2009 ahead
of the 2010 local elections, but it would be very hard to
reach consensus on what changes were needed. In principle, a
reform of local governments could make better services
available to people, reduce regional inequities, and allow
for more efficient economic development throughout the
country. Realistically, these reforms would be difficult,
however, because there were many critics in both political
parties and each town, county or other local district would
fight to keep its current political power.


7. (C) Since the country was struggling economically, Park
said the biggest task for the ruling GNP, working with the
Lee government, was to help people find work and to secure
basic services and housing.


8. (C) Noting that the ROKG had recently announced a plan to
relax regulations limiting the construction of factories in
the metro Seoul area, Park said she had come out publicly
against this plan because it should be enacted only after
measures were taken to develop the rest of the country. Only
after areas outside of Seoul, which were much poorer than the
capital area, had been helped, should the capital area's
construction regulations be eased. If the government was not
careful, a new divide, Seoul versus the provinces, could
develop.

CARS


9. (C) Representative Kim asked what the Ambassador thought
President-elect Obama's position was on the KORUS FTA,
especially after Obama had noted, in a televised debate the
inequity in the trade balance cars between our countries.
The Ambassador said that she expected the new Administration
will deliberate and explore how to move forward on the KORUS
FTA. She noted that in the past all signal FTAs had
eventually been ratified by the U.S. Congress, though clearly
we were in a difficult economic environment. Park thought
that if Korea passed the FTA and then the U.S. did not, it
would make Korea look foolish. The GNP legislators all
agreed that almost all GNP lawmakers supported the agreement.

MILITARY ISSUES


10. (C) Kim said that figuring out how to pay for the
relocation of the military bases was a contentious issue, as
was camp returns. Park noted that dealing with these
military alliance issues simply according to past treaties or
laws might not be the best way since it could lead to
resistance and bad feelings from the Korean public.

COMMENT


11. (C) Park Geun-hye remains a very popular figure in her
native Gyeongsang province and among conservatives, and some
say she is arguably the most potentially powerful politician
in Korea today. She has chosen to stay quiet and criticize
President Lee only on very specific policy-related issues.
In 2009, she or one of her supporters will likely take
control of the GNP, putting her in a good position to expand
her base in the local elections in 2010. Beyond that, she is
clearly looking at another run for the Blue House in 2012.
The Joongang Ilbo ran a story on the lunch clearly drawn from
Park's staff's debriefing.
STEPHENS