PDAS DONOVAN'S MEETING WITH ROK DFM LEE YONG-JOON

C O N F I D E N T I A L SEOUL 001904

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/24/2029
TAGS: PREL PGOV ABLD MARR KS KN AF IR BM
SUBJECT: PDAS DONOVAN'S MEETING WITH ROK DFM LEE YONG-JOON

Classified By: EAP PDAS JOE DONOVAN. Reasons 1.4 (b/d).

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SUMMARY
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1. (C) In a December 2 meeting with visiting EAP PDAS Joe
Donovan, ROK Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Yong-joon requested
an appointment with SRAP Holbrooke in Washington later this
month to discuss preparations for establishment of a ROK PRT
in Parwan, Afghanistan and urged that the United States
maintain its PRT in Parwan. Lee expressed hope that next
year's planned 2 2 meeting (septel) be held in Seoul and
evinced concern about growing ties between Burma and North
Korea. He said the new American Embassy compound issue was
"almost solved" and expressed satisfaction that construction
for the Yongsan Relocation Project was "back on track."
Donovan warned against new energy deals with Iran, which
would undermine P5 1 efforts; Lee expressed support for
American policy toward Iran but asserted Seoul could not
force its companies to forego legal deals. END SUMMARY.

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AFGHANISTAN
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2. (C) EAP Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Joe Donovan
met with Republic of Korea (ROK) Deputy Foreign Minister Lee
Yong- joon on December 2 for 50 minutes. DFM Lee noted that
the continued improvement in US-ROK relations had provided
President Lee Myung-bak's administration with political
leeway to make two significant policy decisions this year:
joining the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) and
returning to Afghanistan. PDAS Donovan thanked the ROKG for
its planned contribution in Afghanistan and urged them to
move forward expeditiously with announcing and disbursing its
pledge to the Afghan National Army. DFM Lee said he would
travel to Brussels this week to attend NATO meetings on
Afghanistan.


3. (C) DFM Lee also intends to visit Washington later this
month and would like to meet with SRAP Holbrook to discuss US
and ROK joint participation in Parwan Province. Lee said he
understood that there were three potential scenarios for US
PRT participation in Parwan: 1) a joint US-ROK PRT; 2)
separate US and ROK PRTs; or 3) the US would quit Parwan and
move its PRT to another region. DFM Lee urged that the
solution be either a joint PRT or two PRTs in Parwan. He
argued that the joint PRT would make a good showcase for the
US-ROK "global strategic alliance." DFM Lee said the
national Assembly will consider the Afghan support bill early
next week.

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2 2 MINISTERIAL
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4. (C) DFM Lee said the ROKG welcomed agreement on the 2
plus 2 meeting of the Secretaries of State and Defense with
the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense, adding that the
ROK had pursued such a meeting since the early 1990's. Seoul
hoped to arrange the meeting as early as possible and would
prefer to host the meeting in Seoul. DFM Lee added that FM
Yu would like to have a "strategic dialogue" with Secretary
Clinton on the margins of the 2 plus 2 Ministerial.

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IRAN
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5. (C) PDAS Donovan told DFM Lee that now is not the time
for Korean companies to pursue "business as usual" with Iran.
New energy deals with Iran send the wrong message and
undermine the P5 1 proposal to offer enhanced engagement as
an inducement for Iranian compliance. DFM Lee said the ROKG
fully understands the position of the USG and the
international community. As President Lee recently told
President Obama, the ROK agrees with the US position on Iran
but Seoul was in a difficult position. The ROKG has met with
Korean companies to discourage them from pursuing contracts
with Iran and has cautioned them that they might face U.S. or
future international sanctions for dealing with Iran. But
Korea is a market-based economy and while the government
cannot persuade companies not to deal with Iran it cannot
enforce "non-sanctions." The response from the Korean
companies had been that they are not pursuing investments in
Iran like other countries' companies but are completing
turnkey construction projects. They claimed that Chinese,
French, Italian or Turkish companies would take these
contracts if the Korean companies did not.

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BURMA
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6. (C) DFM Lee said that the ROKG has had no high level
contact with Burma since UN sanctions were imposed. Earlier
this year, however, the ROKG had opened Deputy Foreign
Minister-level meetings to discuss the case of fifteen North
Korean refugees seeking asylum in Burma. Seoul was concerned
that the Burma-DPRK relationship was strengthening daily and
Burmese purchases of North Korean weapons continued to
increase. Also of concern were the growing military ties
between Burma and North Korea. PDAS Donovan said Washington
was also concerned about the Burma-North Korea relationship.

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BASE RELOCATION ISSUES
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7. (C) PDAS Donovan raised the Yongsan Relocation Project
(YRP) with DFM Lee and asked for his assessment of the
current delay in construction. DFM Lee said he was aware
that there were some sensitivities regarding construction of
SCIFs and other sensitive items at Camp Humphreys but that he
believed USFK Commanding GEN Walter Sharp and Minister of
Defense Kim Tae-young had the project back on track. Donovan
urged the ROKG to move forward as quickly as possible with
YRP.

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NEW EMBASSY CONSTRUCTION
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8. (C) Lee said the New Embassy Compound was "almost
solved." MOFAT was still trying to iron out some details
between the Seoul City Administration and the Ministry of
Construction but was confident that it would be resolved
soon. In order to avoid construction delays, DFM Lee
requested Donovan's assistance to speed up the State
Department's internal bureaucratic process once the agreement
is finalized.
STEPHENS