Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08SEOUL2390
2008-12-12 08:33:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Seoul
Cable title:  

NORTH KOREAN DEFECTOR UMBRELLA ORGANIZATION SEEKS

Tags:  PROP PREL KS KN 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0012
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHUL #2390/01 3470833
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 120833Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY SEOUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2612
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 5063
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PRIORITY 9123
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 5170
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG PRIORITY 3884
RHMFISS/COMUSKOREA J5 SEOUL KOR PRIORITY
RUACAAA/COMUSKOREA INTEL SEOUL KOR PRIORITY
RHMFISS/COMUSFK SEOUL KOR PRIORITY
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SEOUL 002390 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/12/2018
TAGS: PROP PREL KS KN
SUBJECT: NORTH KOREAN DEFECTOR UMBRELLA ORGANIZATION SEEKS
EMPOWERMENT AND CONSOLIDATION

REF: SEOUL 02285

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

C O N F I D E N T I A L SEOUL 002390

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/12/2018
TAGS: PROP PREL KS KN
SUBJECT: NORTH KOREAN DEFECTOR UMBRELLA ORGANIZATION SEEKS
EMPOWERMENT AND CONSOLIDATION

REF: SEOUL 02285

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


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Poloffs met with leaders of the
Association of North Korean Defector Organizations (ANKDO),
an umbrella organization representing 28 smaller NGOs that
support North Korean defectors. Chairman Han Chang-kweon
said it would be important to empower the defector community,
and stressed that defectors are best positioned to bring
about change in North Korea after unification. His
association and two of its member organizations have been
involved in sending leaflets to North Korea in the past, but
Han halted leaflet activity in October to abide by the
current South Korean administration's wishes, especially when
the wind direction was not favorable until the spring. Han
criticized continuing leaflet activity in the current
political atmosphere as counterproductive. END SUMMARY.

-------------- --------------
Founded to Coordinate and Strengthen Defector Community
-------------- --------------


2. (SBU) Han founded the Association of North Korean
Defector Organizations (ANKDO) in March 2008 to coordinate
activities of the North Korean defector community in South
Korea. The Association has 28 South Korea-based member
organizations, including the Association for Free North
Koreans established 10 years ago, and U.S. member NGOs.


3. (SBU) Han said it would be important to empower and seek
consensus from the defector community. Han also stressed
that defectors are best positioned to bring about change in
North Korea and should have a prominent voice in inter-Korean
policy issues. The Association had the long-term goal of
creating a grass roots democracy movement in North Korea and
worked to assist refugees in third countries like China. Han
believed his organization was beginning to gain momentum
among defectors and recognition from the South Korean
government.

-------------- --------------
Ultraconservatives' Push for Continued Leafleting?
-------------- --------------


4. (SBU) Han's association and two of its member
organizations have been involved in sending leaflets to North
Korea in the past. Han's association halted such activity in

October and decided to abide by the current South Korean
administration's wishes, for now, adding that the current
wind condition was not favorable for sending leaflets to the
North anyway. Even so, he offered a strong rationale for
leafleting.


5. (C) Han described the activities of Fighters For Free
North Korea, primarily responsible for all the leaflet
activities in North Korea after the ROKG October request to
stop, as counterproductive and self-serving. Han said he was
curious why Fighters For Free North Korea Chairman Park
Sang-hak sought so much media attention when leaflets can be
sent -- probably more effectively -- without publicity.


6. (C) While identifying ANKDO's political affiliation as
"conservative," in line with the current ruling party, the
Grand National Party (GNP),Han noted Park's close
affiliation with the more conservative Liberty Forward Party
(LFP) and several right wing groups. Han concluded
ultraconservatives were behind Park's continued efforts to
ignore the current administration's plea to stop leaflet
activities, despite the fact that the wind was blowing the
anti-Kim Jong-il, plastic leaflets to South Korean grain and
fish farmers. Not only was Park wasting the money donated
for leaflets intended for North Koreans, but he was also
littering South Korean soil, Han commented.

--------------
ANKDO Leaflet: Newspaper, Not a Flyer
--------------


7. (SBU) Han noted that ANKDO's leaflets have no targeted
audience in North Korea, but instead try to include content
that appeals to all segments of the population. The leaflets
originally concentrated on information regarding Kim Jong-il
and his leadership, but, starting in June 2008, expanded to

include defector testimonies and the names of people involved
in human rights abuses in North Korea. Han said that in the
past North Koreans have viewed leaflets as foreign
propaganda, but defector authorship in a familiar North
Korean tone was changing that perception. Han said his
Association would continue to draft the leaflets from a North
Korean viewpoint, drawing on their own experiences as
defectors.

--------------
Leaflets More Effective than DVD or Radio
--------------


8. (SBU) Han said that a minority of people in North Korea
have access to radios, DVDs, and DVD players, but that
leaflets are easily accessible. He said that leaflets are
difficult for the government to hide and information spreads
rapidly in North Korea by word of mouth. Military and
security services ordered by the government to collect the
leaflets may read them out of curiosity. Han added that
leaflets are less risky than radios and DVDs because citizens
with leaflets can claim they found them and were in the
process of turning them in to authorities.

--------------
Biographical Information
--------------


9. (C) ANKDO Chairman Han Chang-kweon completed his training
as a traditional medicine doctor and left North Korea in 1992
to work in the Soviet Union. He defected and arrived in
South Korea in 1994. Having been arrested several times in
the past ten years under liberal presidents for his
anti-North Korea activities, Han is looking forward to
expanding his influence and activities under the current,
conservative, Lee administration. Han also spent time in an
Arizona jail after having tried to claim asylum in the U.S.
He did not elaborate on his reasons for going to the U.S.


10. (C) Han's deputy, Son Jung-hun, defected in 1998,
following his older brother, Son Jong-nam, whose case was
mentioned in the Department's 2006 and 2007 Human Rights
Reports. Son Jong-nam was arrested by the Chinese
authorities for preaching to North Korean defectors and was
repatriated to North Korea in 2001. He was then sentenced to
a political prison camp in North Hamyeong province and is
rumored to have been executed. The younger Son arrived in
South Korea in 2002 and currently serves as the ANKDO
Secretary General.
STEPHENS