SEOUL - PRESS BULLETIN; November 27, 2009

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 SEOUL 001869 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV MARR ECON KPAO KS US SUBJECT: SEOUL - PRESS BULLETIN; November 27, 2009 TOP HEADLINES -------------- Chosun Ilbo Top U.S. Intelligence Official S-e-c-r-e-t-l-y Visits ROK JoongAng Ilbo, Dong-a Ilbo, Segye Ilbo, Seoul Shinmun Law Barring Sex under Pretense of Marriage Ruled Unconstitutional Hankook Ilbo Proposal Reduces Foreign Language High School Status; Choice is between Abolition or Cut in Size Hankyoreh Shinmun Shortly before Launch of Lee Myung-bak Administration, Ruling GNP Rep. Chung Doo-un Allegedly Demanded Tax Probe Files on President Lee from Then Head of National Tax Service DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS -------------- According to an ROKG source, U.S. National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair made a s-e-c-r-e-t visit to the ROK from Nov. 22-24 to discuss Seoul's deployment of troops to Afghanistan. The top U.S. intelligence official is also said to have met President Lee Myung-bak. (Chosun) An ROKG official, meanwhile, said that Seoul is considering sending about 300 police and military personnel to protect civilian workers in Afghanistan but that the number could increase, depending on security conditions in the war-torn country. (Chosun, Hankyoreh) A senior ROKG official yesterday indicated the possibility of Seoul's cash payments for tours to Mt. Kumgang violating UN Resolution 1874 against North Korea. This is the first time that an ROKG official has taken issue with Seoul's cash payments for cross-border tours. (All) Unification Ministry Spokesman Chun Hae-sung, in a related development, said that the ROKG could consider changing the payment method if necessary when the two Koreas begin talks about resuming the tours. (Chosun, Dong-a) According to the Unification Ministry, the two Koreas will take a joint tour through industrial complexes in China and Vietnam next month to seek ways to improve the Kaesong Industrial Complex north of the border. (All) MEDIA ANALYSIS -------------- -Aid for Afghanistan -------------- Conservative Chosun Ilbo gave above-the-fold, front-page play to a report claiming that U.S. National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair made a s-e-c-r-e-t visit to the ROK to discuss Seoul's deployment of troops to Afghanistan. The report quoted an ROKG source, saying: "Blair visited Seoul from Nov. 22-24 and met all key foreign affairs and security officials. ... He briefed them on a U.S. plan to send reinforcements to Afghanistan and the situation there, and discussed how many Korean troops should be sent there and when." Another (ROKG) source was also quoted: "Blair also shared information about the North Korean nuclear issue, but the main purpose of his visit was to talk about Afghanistan." -Chinese Currency -------------- SEOUL 00001869 002 OF 003 An editorial in right-of-center JoongAng Ilbo hailed China's Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun's recent press remark, "China will increase the flexibility of the RMB exchange rate at a controllable level in the future," as a step in the right direction. It went on to say: "China's long-standing 'weak yuan' policy, along with the overconsumption in the U.S., has been criticized for disrupting the world economy. In order to resolve the global financial crisis and to remove the imbalance in the world economy, the appreciation of the Chinese currency is becoming inevitable." OPINIONS/EDITORIALS -------------- BOSWORTH'S VISIT TO N. KOREA AND INTER-KOREAN RELATIONS (Kyunghyang Shinmun, November 27, Page 31) By Yan Moo-jin, Professor at the University of North Korean Studies U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy Stephen Bosworth visits Pyongyang on December 8. His visit to North Korea seems to have a two-fold meaning. First, it is the first official meeting between the two countries since the launch of the Obama Administration, i.e. a special U.S. envoy goes to Pyongyang for high-level talks at the North's official invitation. Second, this heralds the start of U.S.-North Korea talks. This visit is being made after sufficient prior coordination between the participants of the Six-Party Talks excluding North Korea; accordingly, it can be said that official talks have begun to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue. Current Administration's Approach to North Korea Is Too Passive The core issues of concern are who Ambassador Bosworth will meet and what he will talk about during his stay in Pyongyang. Ambassador Bosworth is expected to meet with Kang Sok-ju, the North's First Vice Foreign Minister; Kim Yang-gon, Director of the United Front Department of the North's Workers' Party; Kim Yong-nam, President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly; and North Korean military leaders. Whether he will meet North Korean leader Kim Jongil is also an issue of great attention. The fact that Pyongyang invited Ambassador Bosworth for a visit increases the possibility of his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Under the current situation, their meeting is needed for both the U.S. and North Korea. The U.S. needs to ascertain the North Korean leader's will to return to the Six-Party Talks and to denuclearize. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, for his part, needs to demonstrate to the U.S. that he is in direct control of the North Korean nuclear issue and U.S.-North Korea relations. Especially, he needs to show that he is in good health and runs the country without difficulty. Experts have various viewpoints on U.S.-North Korea talks (which will be held during Bosworth's visit to the North.) It seems that the U.S. wants the bilateral talks to be contact limited to bringing the North back to the Six-Party Talks. Meanwhile, North Korea is attaching weight to the one-on-one bilateral talks themselves. However, the bilateral talks are likely to be a forum of communication where both sides talk frankly by putting all agenda items on the table. We may expect good results from U.S.-North Korea talks. Given the past record, when North Korea invited a special envoy (to talks),the two sides achieved tangible results. The North is expected to agree to return to the Six-Party Talks and to observe the September 19 Joint Statement and the February 13 Agreement. The U.S. is expected to allow North Korea's State Symphony Orchestra to perform in New York again and consider easing sanctions against the North in a forward-looking way. What matters are relations between the two Koreas. The ROKG's proposal to send 10,000 tons of corn to North Korea has met with derision from North Korea. Controversies over the corn aid result from: 1) mistrust between the two Koreas; 2) North Korea' pride; and 3) the ROKG's lack of strategy. Since North Korea requested the ROK to provide even humanitarian support, it seems that (a mere) 10,000 SEOUL 00001869 003 OF 003 tons of corn aid hurt the North's pride. If the ROKG had demanded that the North monitor where the corn aid will go, it would have been more humiliating. Moreover, the exchange of gunfire near Daechong Island and the ROKG's lack of strategy cast a gloomy shadow over the ROKG's corn aid proposal. Many experts believe that the ROKG takes too passive an approach to North Korea. If the U.S. moves to improve its relations with the North, some ROK people will call for caution. When a civilian (Hyundai Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun) reached an agreement with North Korea (on resumption of Mt. Kumgang tour project),some people disregarded the agreement, questioning the nature of a deal signed by a civilian. This negative attitude does not contribute to coexistence and prosperity of the two Koreas and greater peace on the Korean Peninsula. The ROKG should realize that a civilian may be able to undertake a job it cannot (fulfill) and (that) better inter-Korean relations will lead to improvements in negotiations over the North Korean (nuclear) issue. Without any change in its attitude, even if Bosworth's visit brings about good results, the Lee Myung-bak Administration will remain sidelined (when it comes to the) Korean Peninsula issue. FEATURES -------------- U.S. INTELLIGENCE CHIEF PAYS S-E-C-R-E-T VISIT TO SEOUL (Chosun Ilbo, November 27, Front page) By Reporter Lim Min-hyuk (Dennis Blair,) the U.S. national intelligence director, paid a s-e-c-r-e-t visit to Seoul early this week to discuss Korea's dispatch of troops to Afghanistan, it emerged on Thursday. Blair oversees 16 intelligence agencies including the CIA. "Blair visited Seoul from Nov. 22 to 24 and met key foreign affairs and security officials, including Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan, Defense Minister Kim Tae-young, National Intelligence Service Director Won Sei-hoon, and Cheong Wa Dae staff," a government source said. "He briefed them on a U.S. plan to send reinforcements to Afghanistan and the situation there, and he also discussed how many Korean troops should be sent there and when." Another source said Blair also shared information about the North Korean nuclear issue, but the main purpose of his visit was to talk about Afghanistan. Blair reportedly paid a visit to President Lee Myung-bak but a Cheong Wa Dae official refused to confirm this. Director Blair regularly participates in the strategic meetings on Afghanistan that are presided over by President Obama. Foreign affairs and security-related Cabinet members met to discuss matters raised in the meetings with Blair as well as (issues) from a recent report compiled by a government fact-finding mission to Afghanistan. The meeting's participants also talked about dispatching troops to Afghanistan and establishing a Provincial Reconstruction Team there. Another government official said the meeting covered sending some 300 troops as security guards, though the number "could increase a little depending on the security situation there." (This is a translation prepared by the newspaper. We have compared the English version on the website with the Korean version and added some sentences to make them identical.) STEPHENS