DPRK: PYONGYANG UNIVERSITY CEREMONY "TUG OF WAR"

C O N F I D E N T I A L SHENYANG 000163

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/K, EAP/CM, INR

E.O. 12958: DECL: TEN YEARS AFTER KOREAN UNIFICATION
TAGS: CH ECON KN KS PREL SCUL
SUBJECT: DPRK: PYONGYANG UNIVERSITY CEREMONY "TUG OF WAR"

REF: SHENYANG 143

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


1. (C) SUMMARY: The DPRK has apparently retracted
invitations to Western media to cover the opening ceremony
of the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST)
while welcoming PUST's supporters, including South Korean
citizens and the ROK media. The ROKG, however, has
reportedly barred many of its citizens and all media from
attending. The PUST president said he recently received
high-level DPRK visitors who expressed concerns about
succession issues in North Korea. END SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) PUST President and Amcit James Chinkyung Kim met
briefly with the Consul General and ConGenOff on September
15 prior to leaving for Pyongyang to attend the Pyongyang
University of Science and Technology (PUST) opening
ceremony, to be held in the DPRK capital on September 16.


3. (C) President Kim told us that about two weeks ago, the
DPRK authorities unexpectedly refused visas for all the
Western media correspondents invited to the event although
the DPRK left in place its invitation for South Korean media
to attend the opening. This was a surprise to President Kim
since he had the impression that the DPRK was eager to
publicize the event when PUST extended its initial
invitations (reftel). President Kim expressed disappointment
that the ROK Unification Ministry ultimately declined to
approve the participation of any South Korean media or, for
that matter, many prominent South Koreans. Kim said that
over 100 South Koreans had hoped to make the trip, but the
ROKG had pared down the number to roughly 25 individuals.


4. (C) President Kim theorized that the Imjin River dam
incident had made it politically impossible for the ROKG to
authorize the travel despite the DPRK's expectation that, at
a time of increased North-South activities, the South
Koreans would indeed attend. He also reported that the ROKG
had pulled the plug on a PUST shipment of desks and other
furniture from Incheon to Nampo. Despite the DPRK's
apparent desire for South Korean attention, President Kim
noted once again that the DPRK preferred that professors
taking up residence at PUST be non-South Korean or,
preferably, of non-Korean ancestry.


5. (C) President Kim's delegation is taking a USD 50,000 Air
Koryo charter from Shenyang to Pyongyang on September 15 and
will return to Shenyang on September 17. After the opening
ceremony, PUST plans to send a team of professors to settle
in at the university by November in hopes of beginning
instruction by spring 2010. Two Korean-American professors
who used to work for Bechtel are already resident in
Pyongyang and are working in earnest on a curriculum for a
just-approved MBA course as well as other offerings.


6. (C) While President Kim has been known to get somewhat
carried away with his embellishments, he claimed to us that
three high-level DPRK officials had recently visited him at
his offices in Yanji on three separate occasions to make
similar points about their concerns on succession issues.
First, they said Kim Jong-il's third son, Kim Jong-woon, has
clearly been chosen as the successor. Second, because Kim
Jong-woon had spent most of his life overseas, many in the
North Korean leadership questioned how a foreign-raised and
-educated person could lead North Korea. Third, though Kim
Jong-woon was the nominal successor, these individuals and
many in Pyongyang's elite were worried about how the actual
succession events would play out in the event of Kim Jong-
il's death. Finally, they expressed their support for PUST
as a possible bridge to the elite segment of the society.
In a similar vein, President Kim claimed to have helped in
the process of persuading the DPRK to release the two
captured American journalists.

WICKMAN