AMBASSADOR MEETING WITH DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SEOUL 002281 E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/26/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL AMGT KS SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR MEETING WITH DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER LEE YONG-JOON: CAMP RETURNS, OPCON, NEC Classified By: Ambassador Kathleen Stephens. Reasons 1.4(b/d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: In a November 24 luncheon meeting with the Ambassador, Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Yong-joon said with SMA negotiations concluded, he looked forward to making progress on USFK camp returns. Lee lamented that his goal of completing the return of nine facilities before the end of this year seemed out of reach, and faulted U.S. inflexibility; still, he asked that both sides work toward rapid progress. On the transfer of wartime OPCON, Lee said that the ROKG "completely accepted" the need to stick to the agreement, although some in the Ministry of National Defense remained opposed because of lack of confidence rather than shortage of any war fighting capabilities. At most, the ROKG would negotiate for a short postponement of the OPCON transfer date, if there was such a need, according to DFM Lee. On the New Embassy Complex, Lee urged rapid action so that construction could begin as soon as possible. Lee was not optimistic that the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) would agree to our request to build an access road, because the SMG did not want to give up any of its land, nor did it see a need for such a road. The Ambassador assured Lee that camp returns and NEC issues were on top of her "to do" list; making progress on these issues will greatly strengthen the US-ROK relationship. END SUMMARY. -------------- Camp Returns -------------- ¶2. (C) DFM Lee said that he was delighted to get the news that special measures agreement (SMA) negotiations had gone well the previous week. The two sides had reached a good "ad ref" agreement. Now we both must defend the agreement, especially against criticisms from opposition legislators. ¶3. (C) Turning to camp returns, Lee said he was quite concerned at the lack of progress. He had thought that the nine facilities, which were already closed, could be returned by the end of this year. The ROK side had worked hard to meet this goal, but the U.S. side had shown very little flexibility. This was a shame, because the "political window" would shut soon. For example, several NGOs, always wanting strict environmental remediation on returned camps, had been severely weakened by the change in government and by their own financial scandals. The Ministry of Environment was quite cooperative, a big change from last year. Lee also said that Busan city authorities were putting enormous pressure on him to get Camp Hialeah back. ¶4. (C) The Ambassador said that our side was just as frustrated as MOFAT, if anything more so, at the lack of progress on camp returns. This was among the highest priority issue for USFK and Embassy. Busan's concerns were also well justified, she said. Busan residents had to look at an enormous plot of land, in the middle of the city, which had been vacant for two years. POL M/C said that some progress had been made during the last round of negotiations on the Joint Environment Assessment Procedures (JEAP). However, the JEAP had to clarify that commander had final authority. After a substantive agreement on the JEAP, the US side would agree to an extension of Hialeah's environmental survey, the next step toward returning the nine USFK facilities. The Ambassador and DFM agreed to consult closely in the coming week so that the nine facilities could be returned in very near future. -------------- OPCON -------------- ¶5. (C) Asked about the planned return of wartime operational control (OPCON) to the ROK in 2012, DFM Lee was adamant that President Lee Myung-bak had no desire to renege on this commitment. MOFAT and the Blue House completely accepted the need for Korea to assume wartime OPCON. However, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) remained skeptical, Lee said. MND opposition was not based on any rational capability considerations. Rather, Korean armed forces were not used to having such a responsibility; they did not feel confident that they could cope with wartime OPCON. Perhaps, they will need to make additional expenditures to make themselves more comfortable, but in the end, Lee said, it was a question of lack of confidence. It was, therefore, possible that the Korean side could ask for a short extension on the transfer timing, especially if there were unexpected developments; but it was not conceivable that President Lee would seek to annul the OPCON transfer agreement. --- NEC --- ¶6. (SBU) The Ambassador said that she never thought she would be back at the same chancery as Ambassador when she took the Foreign Service Exam in 1975, because even at that time Embassy officials were talking about an imminent move. Certainly, we have missed a number of opportunities. We now faced no other viable option but Camp Coiner -- which was an excellent site. There were several issues we still had to resolve urgently so that the site was truly unencumbered. The first task was to free the site from any cultural heritage restriction; thereafter, we must have an exchange agreement to make the site permanently "ours." Ambassador thanked the efforts of FM Yu and DFM Lee for the progress of the past few months, especially MOFAT's efforts in accommodating our concerns with the Seoul Municipal Government (SMG) and the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA). Showing the architectural drawings of the buildings, the Ambassador said we would all be proud to be associated with the project. The new Embassy would complement the dramatic mountains to the north and the surrounding park; it would be a worthy representation of the US-ROK relationship. ¶7. (SBU) DFM Lee said that he was the desk officer in charge of Embassy property issues two decades ago when the agreement was struck to build on Kyunggi Girls' School; FM Yu was his office director. Burdened with an unfinished project, Lee and Yu were, therefore, determined this time find a permanent home for the US Embassy. Similar to camp returns, Lee said, the political window of opportunity would not stay open for long. There would be regional elections in 2010; there was no guarantee that Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who was a strong supporter of the project, would be re-elected. More immediately, Lee said the Embassy had to take advantage of his and FM Yu's tenure at MOFAT, the two strongest supporters of the United States. ¶8. (SBU) Asked whether we could build a new access road on the south side of the site, Lee said it was up to the SMG, but that MOFAT's discussions had revealed it was highly unlikely. Simply put, the SMG did not want to give up any of its land; they also did not see the need for a new access road, because the main gate could be placed on the north side. The Ambassador said that we should have discussion among experts soonest on all technical issues so that we could make irreversible progress. She said she would request an early visit from our OBO experts, which Lee warmly welcomed. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶9. (U) Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Yong-joon is MOFAT's leading expert on all things American. He has served three tours in the North America Bureau, two tours in the United States, and his last position in the Ministry was director-general in charge of the Six Party Talks, reporting to then-6PT envoy, Song Min-soon. Now deputy foreign minister in charge of bilateral affairs, Lee handles most of our day-to-day political issues. Lee reminded the Ambassador that he had frequent phone contacts with her more than twenty years ago when he was a MOFAT desk officer and she dealt with domestic political issues at the Embassy. Thanking the Ambassador for the luncheon invitation, Lee was happy to note that he had been to the Residence on many occasions but that this was the first time as guest of honor. DFM Lee was accompanied by Director General for North American Affairs Chang Ho-jin and Director for North American Division Moon Seung-hyun. Ambassador was accompanied by DCM and POL M/C. STEPHENS