ROK WILL BACK BURMA AND DPRK RESOLUTIONS, BUT NOT

UNCLAS SEOUL 001806 SENSITIVE SIPDIS C O R R E C T E D COPY (SENSITIVE CAPTION ADDED) DEPARTMENT FOR: DRL-MLGA AND IO-RHS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PHUM PGOV UN KS KN UNGA SUBJECT: ROK WILL BACK BURMA AND DPRK RESOLUTIONS, BUT NOT IRAN ¶1. (SBU) PolOff delivered reftel demarche on 11/13 to Cho Tae-ick, Director of MOFAT's Human Rights and Social Affairs Division, expressing the USG's gratitude for the ROK's principled opposition to non-action motions and support on the DPRK and Burma resolutions. PolOff also urged the ROKG to support the Iran resolution and provided him with the reftel non-paper on the human rights situation in Iran. ¶2. (SBU) Director Cho said he expected the ROK's voting pattern to remain the same: the ROK would, as a matter of principle, oppose no-action motions and would again support the Burma and North Korea resolutions. He stressed, however, that it would be "extremely difficult" for the ROK to alter its position on the Iran resolution; he related that, as has been the case since 2006, the ROK would likely abstain. Acknowledging the importance of the Iran resolution to the USG, Cho promised to immediately pass the human rights non-paper to the ROK UN Missions in Geneva and New York as well as to the ROK embassy in Tehran. STEPHENS