UK, SWEDISH DIPLOMATS IN PYONGYANG: OFFERING

C O N F I D E N T I A L SEOUL 000661 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/24/2019 TAGS: PREL ECON KN UK SW SUBJECT: UK, SWEDISH DIPLOMATS IN PYONGYANG: OFFERING TRAINING AND USING CELLPHONES Classified By: POL M/C Joseph Y. Yun. Reasons 1.4(b/d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: UK and Swedish Embassy Pyongyang Deputy Heads of Mission Paul Scullion and Johan Eidman, visiting Seoul on April 22, described service in Pyongyang as professionally limited because of narrow access to DPRK officials and almost no contact with ordinary North Koreans; that said, the assignment was worthwhile overall. One bright spot was DPRK officials' interest in any overseas training opportunities. Egyptian company Orascom's cellphone service, launched in December 2008, has attracted about 20,000 subscribers, and the company is also working on the long-unfinished 105-story Ryugyong Hotel. END SUMMARY. -------------- Offering Training Helps -------------- ¶2. (C) UK DHM Paul Scullion, who has served in Pyongyang since April 2008, gave an informal talk to Embassy officers on April 22, stressing that diplomats there have only "stovepiped" access to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) desk officers assigned to their country. The UK Embassy had tried to meet North America officials to discuss the nuclear issue, but was rebuffed. Foreign missions in Pyongyang, especially those co-located on the western embassy compound, shared information daily. The Chinese and Russian Embassies were considered better plugged in, but are physically separate from western embassies and share information selectively. Scullion had made some inroads talking to DPRK officials over dinner or drinks. On his own time, Korean-speaking Scullion had been able to drive around much of North Korea without any escort, passing checkpoints or talking his way through them, and occasionally giving rides to hitchhiking Korean People's Army soldiers, who tended to be quite shy. Swedish DHM Eidman, who has served in Pyongyang since August 2008, later noted that sponsoring humanitarian assistance programs helped give his Embassy access to more DPRK agencies as well as officials outside Pyongyang. ¶3. (C) One bright spot in Pyongyang, Scullion said, was DPRK officials' interest in any overseas training opportunities. Swedish DHM Eidman later agreed and elaborated on this point at a dinner with officers from the UK, Swedish, Canadian, Italian, EC, Australian, New Zealand and U.S. Embassies in Seoul. The Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang sends about 40 DPRK officials from various agencies to Sweden each year for training programs ranging from legal studies to agriculture. The process starts with a request to the DPRK MFA to choose from a long list of available courses taught at Swedish universities as well as by private companies, such as accountancy firms. Eidman said DPRK officials are currently quite interested in any training that is mining-related, in line with the mention of mining in the 2009 New Year editorial, but will send officials to many kinds of technical or financial training. The Swedish Embassy vets the candidates, with English proficiency a main requirement (since the courses offered are taught in English rather than Swedish). Rather than reject unsuitable candidates, the Swedish Embassy tells them that the course they sought is full. The DPRK sends its officials for training in same-gender pairs. Virtually all are married, since single professionals in North Korea are a rarity. Eidman said Sweden sees benefit in not only the training provided but also in the officials' overall Swedish experience. Trainees spend hours on the internet, he has observed, looking at South Korean media sites, and are quite taken with movies and television. ¶4. (C) The UK saw considerable value in overseas training also, Scullion said, offering DPRK officials graduate school scholarships as well as shorter programs. Asked by the EC representative whether training in Pyongyang would be more cost-effective, Scullion said the immersion into a western society was key. For example, The UK offers two-month-long English courses in London that include observing a trial and visiting other civilian institutions. The Australian representative observed that his government had an active training program with the DPRK until a few years ago, when it was put on hold pending progress on denuclearization. The Italian representative said his government was pleased that after it offered several DPRK officials training in Italy on humanitarian law, that the DPRK government had established an office of humanitarian law in Pyongyang; he was not sure how active it was. The EC representative added that his mission wanted to cooperate with other governments on offering training, perhaps sending DPRK officials to nearby China, as some ROK NGOs have done. -------------- Cellphones since December -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Scullion and Eidman commented separately on Egyptian firm Orascom's December 2008 launch of 3G cellphone service in the DPRK. About 20,000 persons had subscribed so far, paying 200-300 Euros for the handsets (mostly Chinese) and 15 Euros and up for monthly service plans, with coverage for Pyongyang, Wonsan and a few other areas along main highways. A billboard, Pyongyang's first, advertised the phone service. There were separate networks for foreigners and North Koreans, meaning that foreigners could only call other foreigners. This was an inconvenience for Embassies, who had equipped key local staff with phones but were now seeking permission to be able to call them if needed -- such as an interpreter in a case of emergency. Scullion said a third network existed for senior officials, offering access to both foriegners' and locals' phones. There was no roaming for travelers, nor could the phones be used to call overseas, but there was a texting service. Eidman noted that there was a previous attempt to introduce cellphone service in North Korea that had failed, adding that his Embassy did not yet know whether Orascom would get the additional subscribers it needed. (Early press releases suggested a target of 100,000 subscribers.) ¶6. (SBU) Orascom had also made visible progress on the 105-story Ryugyong Hotel, begun in 1987 but left unfinished since 1992. The hotel was now almost completely covered in reflective glass, and plans were to build office space in the first few floors, Scullion said, while noting that Pyongyang's existing hotels were mostly empty. He and Eidman noted other construction underway in Pyongyang, including a restaurant row near the Koryo Hotel. -------------- Other Observations -------------- ¶7. (C) Scullion said that after the recent Supreme People's Assembly elections, which diplomats were invited to observe, he asked his staff interpreter, who he judged was from an elite family, to look through a published list of elected candidates for the names Kim Jong-nam or Kim Jong-uhn. Not finding the names, the interpreter seemed surprised when Scullion said they were Kim Jong-il's first and third sons, saying she had never heard of such a thing. ¶8. (C) He said foreigners were specifically prohibited from going to a North Korean's home, so he had not been inside one. Once when he and another UK diplomat were walking in an outer Pyongyang suburb, they saw what looked like an informal market in a square a few hundred yards ahead. As they continued walking, the people in the square picked up their goods and left, apparently out of concern that the foreigners' presence would bring unwanted attention. However, another informal market functioned without any problems just behind the western embassy compound. ¶9. (C) Asked about any evidence of civil disobedience, he said the closest he had seen were motorists arguing with traffic police. After the April 5 missile launch there was a "spontaneous" demonstration in Kim Il-sung square, but when he asked Embassy local staff the next day whether they had gone, they had answered that they were not invited. He said western diplomats in Pyongyang believed the DPRK had gone through with the missile launch as part of a premeditated plan to exit from the Six-Party Talks. STEPHENS