SYG BAN TALKS TO DPRK KIM YONG-NAM AT NAM SUMMIT

C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 000704 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/17/2019 TAGS: CASC PGOV PHUM PREL KN SUBJECT: SYG BAN TALKS TO DPRK KIM YONG-NAM AT NAM SUMMIT Classified By: Ambassador Wolff for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) On July 17, UN Secretary-General Ban's Chef de Cabinet Kim Won-soo provided Ambassador Wolff a readout of Ban's brief conversation with President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly in North Korea Kim Yong-nam, on the margins of the Non-aligned Movement Summit in Sharm el-Sheikh. Ban noted that Kim Yong-nam, who was accompanied by former DPRK Permanent Representative to the UN Pak and new PermRep Sin, was "not forthcoming at first, but eventually engaged." Ban noted that Kim Yong-nam treated Ban as a "fellow Korean," and he had to remind him Ban was speaking as the Secretary-General. ¶2. (C) Ban raised with Kim Yong-nam the two American journalists sentenced to twelve years of hard labor, Laura Ling and Euna Lee. He encouraged him to "seize the opportunity" to send a positive message to the United States and the international community by granting the journalists clemency on humanitarian grounds. Ban reported that Kim Yong-nam maintained the journalists broke the law and regarding humanitarian clemency, said only "let's see." ¶3. (C) According to Ban, Kim Yong-nam complained about the Security Council's May statement condemning the launch of what he characterized as his country's "satellite launch." He explained to Ban that North Korea had "no option but to respond" to the statement. Ban challenged him to abide by international agreements and encouraged the DPRK to continue with Six-Party Talks. Kim Yong-nam responded by blaming the United States for the death of the Six-Party Talks. Ban said he asked that the DPRK reconsider and underscored to Kim Yong-nam the positive signal the release of the journalists would send, pointing to "the changes" in U.S. engagement in Asia and elsewhere that the DPRK should consider. RICE