PRC-DPRK BORDER: HARDLY ANY NEW REFUGEES AT ALL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SHENYANG 000142

SIPDIS


DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/K, EAP/CM, INR
MOSCOW PASS TO VLADIVOSTOK

E.O. 12958: DECL: TEN YEARS AFTER KOREAN UNIFICATION
TAGS: CH ECON KN KS PGOV PREF PREL RS
SUBJECT: PRC-DPRK BORDER: HARDLY ANY NEW REFUGEES AT ALL

REF: A. SHENYANG 90

B. SHENYANG 119

C. SHENYANG 56

Classified By: Consul General Stephen B. Wickman. Reasons 1.4(b)/(d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: Contacts in the PRC-DPRK borderlands
indicate that as of August 2009, there are virtually no new
DPRK refugees crossing the Tumen River with the goal of
settling in China (Ref A) but that the area is home to many
refugees from the late 1990s, not a few of whom have
integrated into Sino-Korean society. The Chinese government
may turn a blind eye to North Korean refugees in their
territory but remains on the alert for foreign journalists
and others who seek to cover these stories in a negative
light. Back in Shenyang, all of the refugees currently at
the South Korean Consulate made it there with the help of
paid brokers. END SUMMARY.


2. (U) ConGenOff traveled to the Yanbian Korean Autonomous
Prefecture August 2-9 to discuss various issues, including
North Korean refugees crossing the Tumen River into China.

UNDERGROUND RAILWAY: FEWER AND FEWER PASSENGERS
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3. (C) On August 6, ConGenOff met with Zhao Guangxe
(protect),the Catholic priest responsible for the Longjing
City and Helong City parishes. Zhao, a Sino-Korean from
Longjing, ran the Hunchun City parish in the early 2000s
when he said he constantly helped North Korean refugees.
Zhao said that to his knowledge there were almost no
refugees coming across the border these days and that if
they were still coming, they were not staying in Yanbian.
He contrasted this observation with his experiences in
Hunchun during the first part of the decade, when he
regularly housed and fed North Korean refugees.


4. (C) Zhao said that various Catholic orders were free to
operate in Yanbian, offering social services when the
official state system was unable to provide them. Zhao said
that the Salesians of Don Bosco were able to pursue their
order's goal of adolescent rehabilitation and education, as
a "house of last resort," for troubled and disadvantaged
youth. Foreign priests hailing from Italy, South Korea, and
Canada had been able to accomplish their missions. When
asked what kind of support the Chinese government offered to
these groups, Zhao laughed, and said that he would love to
see the day when the Chinese government could offer
financial support to religious groups.


5. (C) On August 8, ConGenOff met with a Sino-Korean pastor
from Longjing who tends to a poor, mostly Han Chinese
congregation on the eastern outskirts of Yanji City. As
recently as 2006, this individual had helped run refugee
safe houses in Yanbian and traveled to North Korea to
administer aid. However, he said that the last couple of
years had been marked by a sharp dropoff in North Korean
refugees seeking shelter in Yanbian. The pastor joked that
the dropoff was followed by the appearance of PRC citizens
posing as DPRK refugees in an effort to obtain aid.


6. (C) A Sino-Korean businessman working in Tumen City and a
frequent traveler to North Korea (Ref B) said on August 8
that there were virtually no recent North Korean refugees.
He said there were many North Korean refugees left over from
the late 1990s and early 2000s who had long since integrated
into Chinese society but who still took pains to keep a low
profile, working in restaurants and menial jobs. He said
that, in order to send more money to relatives in North
Korea, some of these refugee women resident in China had
taken to engaging in "escort" services. Women would seek
long-term relationships by targeting well-to-do Chinese
businessmen and government officials. Zhao said that these
women had directly contacted some of his acquaintances,
asking for USD 2500-3000 up front in cash to "sponsor" them
as long-term companions.

TODAY'S REFUGEES USING BROKERS AND FOLLOWING FAMILY MEMBERS
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7. (C) Shenyang ROK Consul Kwon Tae-han said on July 22 that
the ROK Consulate in Shenyang was now home to 19 North
Korean refugees, including a 14-month old baby, down from

SHENYANG 00000142 002 OF 002


previous highs but still a burden. Kwon is a fluent Chinese
speaker and a former police officer, having worked for the
Korean National Police Agency, specializing in counter-
narcotics and Sino-Korean and DPRK refugee crime rings.


8. (C) Kwon said that today's refugee profile is markedly
different from that of the past, largely because of the
central role that money and brokers play in facilitating
movement across the PRC-DPRK border (Ref B). All of the
North Koreans at the ROK Consulate had made it to Shenyang
with the assistance of a broker. Kwon also cited that the
majority of the 19 North Koreans were not new refugees
escaping from hunger or other systemic shocks, but were the
relatives of earlier refugees resident in Seoul who arranged
for their exit. These refugees often expected a hero's
welcome and a land of opportunity upon arrival in South
Korea, but were dismayed to find how difficult it would be
to pay their broker's fees - in excess of the official South
Korean government's payout now given to such refugees.


9. (C) Wu Jianhua (protect),a government specialist on
North Korea and PRC-DPRK issues at the Liaoning Academy of
Social Sciences, said on July 21 that the main reason that
North Koreans who may be willing to defect did not do so was
because they feared that their family members left behind
would be subjected to undue hardship. When pressed, Wu said
that the punishments were not severe or life-threatening,
but that the remaining family members would be marked as
"unreliable," thus hampering future opportunities.


10. (C) For those who had chosen to leave North Korea in the
earlier part of the decade, Wu said that it was quite easy
for the children of PRC national fathers and North Korean
women to obtain a hukou (residence permits) and that he knew
of several from border villages who were now studying in
Yanji. An NGO worker in Tumen City said that he also knew
of a few children of PRC national fathers and North Korean
women born in border villages who had received hukous
without too much trouble; the parents were working at
restaurants or engaged in manual labor in Yanji City.

CHINESE PSB STILL WARY OF FOREIGNERS, NEGATIVE REPORTING
-------------- --------------

11. (C) ConGenOff met with Mr. Lee Gyeong-hee (protect) on
August 7 to discuss expatriate life in Yanbian. Lee is a
Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) investigative journalist
with over 20 years of experience studying Chinese at the
Yanbian University of Science and Technology (YUST) in
advance of his upcoming assignment as the KBS Beijing
foreign correspondent. Lee was impressed by the
Public Security Bureau's (PSB) ability to track and stop
potential problems, citing an example which involved two
Seoul-based KBS reporters in June.


12. (C) Lee said that KBS had recently tried to send two
reporters to Yanbian to cover DPRK refugee issues and that
the reporters, first-time travelers to China, successfully
obtained tourist visas at the Chinese Embassy in Seoul. As
soon as the two reporters arrived in Yanji on the direct
flight from Seoul, however, they were greeted by PSB
personnel and escorted to a room, where they were informed
that while they would not be deported the two would be
watched closely and were advised to refrain from any non-
tourist activity. The reporters left the next day en route
to Mongolia. Lee deplored the fact that his editorial staff
did not prevent this kind of unnecessary encounter,
especially in the wake of the incident involving the two
American journalists (Ref C).


13. (C) Lee said that in a recent dinner with the Yanbian
Prefectural PSB Deputy Director, the Director said he "would
like nothing more than to close YUST as soon as possible,"
adding that the presence of so many South Korean and other
foreign nationals engaged in DPRK-related and religious work
was an unwelcome irritant.

WICKMAN