Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08ULAANBAATAR159
2008-04-11 08:48:00
SECRET
Embassy Ulaanbaatar
Cable title:  

(C) MFA, GIA REPS SAY MONGOLIA WON'T DEPORT DPRK

Tags:  PREF SMIG PREL KMCA PHUM PINR MG 
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VZCZCXRO9611
PP RUEHGH
DE RUEHUM #0159/01 1020848
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P 110848Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY ULAANBAATAR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2040
INFO RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 1754
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 6077
RUEHML/AMEMBASSY MANILA 1686
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 2171
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 3274
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 2953
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 0089
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 0487
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0387
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0585
RHEHNSC/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 05 ULAANBAATAR 000159 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE DEPT FOR EAP/CM, PRM/ANE AND INR/EAP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/08/2018
TAGS: PREF SMIG PREL KMCA PHUM PINR MG
SUBJECT: (C) MFA, GIA REPS SAY MONGOLIA WON'T DEPORT DPRK

REFUGEES, BUT VOLUNTARY DEPARTURE OK; BOTH SUPPORT UN
REFUGEE CONVENTION ACCESSION

Classified By: Charge D'Affaires a.i. Brian L. Goldbeck for
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 05 ULAANBAATAR 000159

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE DEPT FOR EAP/CM, PRM/ANE AND INR/EAP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/08/2018
TAGS: PREF SMIG PREL KMCA PHUM PINR MG
SUBJECT: (C) MFA, GIA REPS SAY MONGOLIA WON'T DEPORT DPRK

REFUGEES, BUT VOLUNTARY DEPARTURE OK; BOTH SUPPORT UN
REFUGEE CONVENTION ACCESSION

Classified By: Charge D'Affaires a.i. Brian L. Goldbeck for
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (S) SUMMARY AND COMMENT: Senior officials of Mongolia's
General Intelligence Agency (GIA) and Ministry of Foreign
Affairs (MFA),in separate early-April meetings, offered
somewhat divergent views on a number of DPRK refugee-related
issues, but both denied that the Mongolian Government has
changed its policy toward refugees. GIA,s Chief of
Counterintelligence (CI) says Mongolia has "permanently
halted work" on a new shelter for DPRK refugees, while
MFA,s Treaties and Laws (TL) Director General says
construction work on the shelter has been "temporarily
suspended," to avoid having the shelter become an issue in
the June Parliamentary elections. Amid rumors that Mongolia
is considering "sending" DPRK refugees with protracted
cases back to China, the MFA rep said Mongolia has no such
plans, adding that Mongolia would "have no right to send
these people away." However, the GIA CI Chief told us that
Mongolia is considering allowing four refugees who have spent
long periods in Mongolia, and been rejected for resettlement
by the USG and the ROK, to voluntarily return to China.
Regarding the case of another DPRK refugee who was rejected
by the USG and ROK, the GIA has backed away from its earlier
commitment to allow her to stay in Mongolia. The MFA,s TL
DG said the GOM wants the ROKG to reconsider the
individual,s case. (The ROKG has reiterated that its
decision on the case is final.) A number of informed sources
say DPRK refugee arrivals have declined in recent months.
The reasons for the decline are unclear, but some link it to
a strengthening of border patrol activities by Chinese and
Mongolian authorities near a few main border crossing points
along their porous 4,677-km border.


2. (S) Senior officials from MFA and GIA confirmed, on April

10 and 7, respectively, that both of their organizations
support Mongolia,s accession to the 1951 UN Convention on
Refugees. The CI official also described a late-March
disturbance at a GIA shelter that involved some 70 DPRK
refugees and resulted in slight injuries to some guards. The
GIA and MFA officials said they both expected progress on the
DPRK-Mongolia labor agreement, which is intended to bring as
many as 5,000 DPRK construction workers to Mongolia, but the
Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Construction both say the
deal is stuck pending Parliamentary action to waive labor
fees. END SUMMARY AND COMMENT.

CLARIFICATION SOUGHT ON DPRK REFUGEE CONCERNS RUMORS
-------------- --------------


3. (S) In late March and early April, post picked up a number
of comments, tips and rumors that suggested Mongolia, or at
least some parts of its government, might be adjusting
Mongolia,s long-standing policy of &humanitarian
treatment8 of DPRK refugees. Based on this information and
the E/P Chief,s meetings with the local UNHCR rep, ROK
Embassy DCM, and others, the DCM on April 4 spoke with the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Acting Director General for the
Americas, Middle East and Africa Bureau Mounkhou to
underscore the USG,s appreciation for the GOM,s
humanitarian treatment of DPRK refugees, and to signal
concern about the issues described in paragraph one.
Mounkhou said he understood the USG,s concerns, adding he
would convey this to his superiors and to MFA,s Treaties and
Laws Bureau, which handles the DPRK refugee issue. Post
sought and gained separate meetings with senior officials in
Mongolia,s General Intelligence Agency (GIA) and the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). The officials said
Mongolia,s humanitarian refugee policy remains unchanged,
but the two agencies provided somewhat differing views of
specific issues related to DPRK refugees.

GIA: &WILLING8 REFUGEES MIGHT GO BACK TO CHINA...
-------------- --------------


3. (S) In an April 7 meeting with Econ/Pol Chief, GIA First

ULAANBAATA 00000159 002 OF 005


Counterintelligence Division Chief Tsogtbaatar said Mongolia
has no plans to force North Korean refugees to return to
China, where they resided after leaving the DPRK and before
reaching Mongolia. (Rumors to this effect were circulated by
UNHCR,s Country Rep and the ROK Embassy,s DCM ) please
protect both sources.) Tsogtbaatar did, however, say that
Mongolia is considering allowing four refugees who have spent
long periods in Mongolia and been rejected for resettlement
by the USG and the ROK to voluntarily return to China. "We
have to respect their wishes," Tsogtbaatar said. He said
the Government of Mongolia (GOM) has four such refugees in
mind, adding that they would not be "officially" returned,
but that they would "go back the same way they came" (meaning
crossing the border by foot). Tsogtbaatar said the ROK
Government had refused to resettle the four because each had
lived in China for more than 10 years.

... AND MFA SAYS, "WE HAVE NO RIGHT TO SEND THEM BACK"
--------------


4. (S) MFA Treaties and Laws Bureau Director General
Altangerel told us on April 10 that Mongolia has no plans
whatsoever to send DPRK refugees back to China. "These
people don,t have documents, so China wouldn,t take them.
And at any rate, we don,t have a right to send these people
back," he said. "Mongolia is a party to many conventions,
including the UN Convention on Torture. We have obligations,
and we have no right to send these people away, and
especially not to North Korea." Altangerel, who heads to
Britain in mid-May to serve as Mongolia,s Ambassador,
acknowledged that the GIA "might have another position" on
this issue. We asked who would resolve a disagreement
between the MFA and GIA on whether DPRK refugees should
return, or be returned, to China. Altangerel evaded the
question, stating merely that perhaps UNHCR could provide a
solution.

STRONG SUPPORT FOR REFUGEE CONVENTION
--------------


5. (SBU/NF) Tsogtbaatar and Altangerel both stated that the
GIA and MFA are in agreement that Mongolia should accede to
the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees. Altangerel said the
Justice Ministry also supported the proposal. He added:
"We're waiting for a National Security Council decision on
this matter, but we don,t yet have a date for that
meeting." (Note: At least two of the NSC,s three members
are currently overseas. Prime Minister Bayar flew to Moscow
on April 10. President Enkhbayar departed on April 9 for
China and Hong Kong. End Note.)


JOINT-SHELTER PAUSE: TEMPORARY OR PERMANENT?
--------------


6. (S) The GIA confirmed to post on March 28, and again in
the April 7 meeting with GIA,s Tsogtbaatar, that the GOM had
decided to "permanently halt" construction of a joint
GIA/Mongolian Border Force shelter for DPRK refugees. The
USG had provided partial funding, through UNHCR, for the
shelter, which was intended to have between 100 and 120 beds,
as well as a space for USG personnel to interview DPRK
refugees seeking resettlement in the U.S. At the March 28
meeting, a senior GIA official said the decision to
permanently halt the project had been made by the Cabinet, in
the form of a resolution. On April 7, however, Tsogtbaatar
said the decision had been made by Mongolia's NSC, which had
issued &specific guidance8 to the GIA on this matter.
MFA,s Altangerel, however, stated that work on the joint
shelter has been stopped only temporarily, and only for
political reasons. "The Government asked us to discontinue
construction work on the shelter until after the (June 29
Parliamentary) elections," he said, adding that it is
probable that this work will be resumed thereafter.
Altangerel said leaders of a certain political party
(presumably the ruling Mongolian People,s Revolutionary

ULAANBAATA 00000159 003 OF 005


Party) are &very concerned8 that another political party
might try to make the shelter an election issue, adding that
the Government is "very sensitive" to this concern. "Many
Mongolians fear a big influx of refugees from China," he
said. "They might think shelters are a first step toward
setting up refugee camps in Mongolia (for Chinese
refugees)."

DISTURBANCE AT GIA SHELTER
--------------


7. (S) Counterintelligence Chief Tsogtbaatar revealed that in
late March, at an unidentified GIA shelter for DPRK refugees,
there was a disturbance of some sort. Seventy or so
refugees, some armed with knives, allegedly took part.
Tsogotbaatar did not elaborate on the causes of the incident

SIPDIS
but surmised that its aim was to injure the shelter's guards,
and that some guards in fact suffered slight injuries. He
did not provide further details. In our meeting with MFA,s
Altangerel, we did not ask about this incident, and he did
not refer to it.

BORDER TIGHTENED, FEWER DPRK ARRIVALS
--------------


8. (S) According to UNHCR, ROK Embassy, GIA and MFA sources,
the number of new DPRK arrivals to Mongolia, for purposes of
resettlement elsewhere, has declined in recent months. These
sources provided differing statistics, but all cited a
decrease. A senior Border Force official, quoted by a UNHCR
source on March 28, said that on both sides of the
Mongolia/China border, from the southeastern Mongolian city
of Zamyn Uud to the easternmost tip of Mongolia, "the
protection force is reinforced, and that is why fewer (DPRK)
refugees are arriving." (Note: The Nalaikh Border Force
shelter had 83 refugees when Post visited on February 5. By
March 28, it had 60. End Note.)


9. (S) MFA,s Altangerel said on April 10 that although the
numbers of DPRK arrivals were down, &personally, I think
they will go back up.8 He said he was recently told by
Border Force officials in the easternmost province of Dornod
that they had "greatly improved border measures" there, and
that as a result, "DPRK refugees are moving west." He said
Dornod used to be the preferred point of entry, but that its
adjacent neighbor to the west, Sukhbaatar province, has
become more popular. He added that Mongolia was starting to
see more arrivals in Dornogovi province, to the southwest of
Sukhbaatar, and even in Govi-Altai province, far to the west.
(Note: It is unclear exactly what is meant by a
"tightening" or "reinforcing" of the Border Forces, given
the thinness and limited capabilities of these forces along
its 4,677-km border with China. End Note.)


10. (S) COMMENT: Post surmises that, beyond any
"tightening" along Mongolia,s porous borders, there might
be other explanations for the short-term decline in DPRK
refugee arrivals, possibly including fewer DPRK refugees
managing to leave the DPRK; fewer opting to uproot from China
where they,ve lived in recent years; tighter movement
controls and checks within China, making it more difficult to
reach the Mongolian border; and a wait-and-see attitude
regarding the new ROKG's attitudes toward refugees, to name
a few. END COMMENT.

GIA WALKS BACK DPRK REFUGEE PROMISE
--------------


11. (S) For years, the GOM has provided quality care to DPRK
refugees seeking resettlement elsewhere (overwhelmingly in
the ROK). In the case of DPRK refugee Kim Mi Ok (A97 052
982),the GIA informed the USG in late 2007 that Mongolia
would allow her to stay, in the event that she was rejected
by the USG. Kim, who had spent many years in China and was
rejected by the ROK, was refused in March by DHS. In our
March 28 meeting with the GIA, we reminded the GIA of the

ULAANBAATA 00000159 004 OF 005


assurance it had given in her case, but the GIA said merely
that no North Korean refugee would be allowed to stay
permanently in Mongolia. (Note: Another possible
interpretation is that the GIA official initially misspoke,
making a precedent and new policy which was subsequently more
carefully considered and then reversed. In any case, Kim has
formally requested a DHS review of its refusal decision, and
DHS has agreed to re-interview her. End Note.) Altangerel
said on April 10 that he was familiar with Kim,s case,
adding that the GOM was continuing to assess it. He said he
could not understand why the ROK Government refused to accept
Kim, given that Koreans from the North are considered
citizens of the South.

CONCERNS FOR MS. KIM'S SAFETY
--------------


12. (S) The GIA recently informed the USG that it was
planning to move Kim, for safety reasons, from her modest
hotel in central Ulaanbaatar to another facility outside of
the capital. After we informed the GIA about DHS, plan to
re-interview Kim, the agency indicated it would keep her at
the hotel for the time being. GIA said its safety concerns
stemmed from the fact that Kim's presence, as a North Korean
woman, has become widely known in the neighborhood around the
hotel. The GIA linked this threat to possible retaliatory
action by DPRK authorities. In addition, Tsogtbaatar said
the GIA is afraid that the DPRK Embassy might obtain
documents or photos showing Mongolia helping North Koreans be
resettled in other countries. He added that this could be
considered a violation of the (Mongolia-DPRK) friendship
agreement.

DPRK-MONGOLIA LABOR AGREEMENT
--------------


13. (S) The senior MFA and GIA officials both commented
separately on the joint labor agreement signed in Pyongyang
on February 2; the deal is intended to bring as many as 5,000
DPRK construction workers (and perhaps 300 road and
agricultural laborers) to Mongolia between 2008 and 2012.
Altangerel said the MFA had long supported the agreement,
which he said was good because it would reduce Mongolia,s
reliance on Chinese labor. He said there had been some
wrangling within the GOM over how to approve the agreement;
Labor Minister Demberel, he said, didn,t understand that the
agreement requires Parliamentary ratification. Once he
understood that, Altangerel said, the agreement was submitted
to Parliament. Although some &technical details8 of the
agreement will have to be worked out, Altangerel said he was
confident that the deal will move forward. (Note:
Construction Minister Tsolmon informed the DCM on February 3
that the arrival of the DPRK laborers was on hold, pending
Parliament's passage of legislation exempting them from the
monthly labor fee. Tsolmon felt that this legislation was
unlikely to be passed before late May or June, given the
closeness of Parliamentary elections on June 29. End Note.)


14. (S) The GIA,s Tsogtbaatar said he believes that the
labor deal will ultimately move forward, but noted that
Mongolian law limits the number of foreign residents allowed
in Mongolia at any given time, and said this might result in
fewer than 5,000 DPRK laborers being allowed to enter
Mongolia for work. (Note: Our reading of the Law on the
Legal Status of Foreign Citizens, Article 24.1, suggests that
there would have to be 8,250 DPRK citizens in Mongolia before
further arrivals from North Korea would be turned away. End
Note.)

COMMENT
--------------


15. (S) The GIA,s policy of "we might let them leave for
China voluntarily" articulates a new dimension to
Mongolia,s long-standing policy voiced by MFA that Mongolia
has & no right to send these people back to China.8

ULAANBAATA 00000159 005 OF 005


Basically, the GIA says we can,t make refugees stay; MFA
says we can,t and won,t make refugees go. The GIA,s
approach recognizes the refugees, right to choose whether to
remain in Mongolia or depart (for China, the DPRK, or Sweden,
for that matter, if they wish); UNHCR and the USG would
caveat this to add provided their decision is freely made
without influence or coercion. MFA,s approach says the GOM
will not/not deport or compel the refugees to leave, and
specifically not to China or the DPRK to an uncertain fate.


16. (S) We understand the GIA,s apparent frustration at not
being able to place overseas a small number of DPRK refugees
who have been rejected for resettlement, as well as its
organizational frustration at being saddled with a difficult,
thankless task with little in the way of recognition or
rewards. Adding to that frustration is an often contentious
and difficult DPRK refugee workload and now one willing to
lash out in violence against its GIA protectors/guards. It
is probable that some of the GIA,s angst is related to the
dust-up at the shelter. Some of these refugees may see no
hope of ever reaching the ROK or U.S. and conclude that a
return to China would be better than languishing indefinitely
at a Mongolian shelter. But that is a question for the
refugees themselves to answer, and not the GIA on their
behalf nor the GIA alone on behalf of the GOM. (We will
encourage the UNHCR's UB office to identify the four in
question and to ascertain their intentions.) It is unclear
to us whether the MFA's apparent opposition to any such
return, voluntary or otherwise, would prevent the GIA from
acting independently. While the MFA has more pull with
Mongolia,s top leadership, the GIA apparently has physical
custody of the refugees in question, and as they say,
possession is nine-tenths of the law.


17. (S) One thing that is not in doubt is that post has made
the GOM keenly aware of USG,s continued interest and concern
over the treatment of DPRK refugees. Since March 28, post
has held talks on four occasions with GOM officials: On March
28, April 7 and April 10, Econ/Pol Chief met with
(respectively) Deputy Chief Enkhsukh of the GIA,s First
Counterintelligence Division; Enkhsukh,s superior,
Tsogtbaatar; and MFA's Altangerel. On April 4, the DCM

SIPDIS
spoke with MFA,s Acting DG for the Americas, Mideast and
Africa Bureau DG R. Mounkhou. We expect to apprise the
Foreign Policy Advisors to the President and Prime Minister
when they return to Mongolia next week. END COMMENT.
GOLDBECK