Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09WARSAW1198
2009-12-07 18:31:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Warsaw
Cable title:
POLES WELCOME U.S. APPROACH ON NORTH KOREA
how-toVZCZCXRO9718 OO RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSL RUEHSR DE RUEHWR #1198 3411831 ZNY CCCCC ZZH O 071831Z DEC 09 FM AMEMBASSY WARSAW TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9229 INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0776 RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 0641 RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0475 RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0873 RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1472
C O N F I D E N T I A L WARSAW 001198
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR EUR/CE (GLANTZ),EAP, IO/UNP, AND S/NKP
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/07/2019
TAGS: PHUM AORC SOCI UNGA KN PL
SUBJECT: POLES WELCOME U.S. APPROACH ON NORTH KOREA
REF: STATE 123209
Classified By: Political Counselor F. Daniel Sainz for Reasons 1.4 (b)
and (d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L WARSAW 001198
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR EUR/CE (GLANTZ),EAP, IO/UNP, AND S/NKP
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/07/2019
TAGS: PHUM AORC SOCI UNGA KN PL
SUBJECT: POLES WELCOME U.S. APPROACH ON NORTH KOREA
REF: STATE 123209
Classified By: Political Counselor F. Daniel Sainz for Reasons 1.4 (b)
and (d)
1. (C) The GOP appreciates the U.S. approach to the December
7 meeting of the UN Human Rights Council, per reftel, as well
as Washington's broader engagement strategy with North Korea.
Urszula Rasnowiecka of the MFA's Asia-Pacific Department
said she hoped that such recent developments would stimulate
reciprocal goodwill on the part of Pyongyang, but she was
skeptical that the North Koreans were genuinely interested in
broadly opening up to the outside world.
2. (C) UN and Human Rights Department Deputy Director
Krystyna Zurek similarly welcomed the U.S. approach,
especially the news that Special Envoy King would personally
deliver the U.S. questions and recommendations. Zurek said
Poland planned to raise concerns about the exercise of
religious freedom and recommend that the DPRK lift
restrictions imposed on religious practices, cease
"persecution and rigid control" over those who profess
religious beliefs, and ensure that North Korea's domestic
legislation and practice is in full compliance with Article
18 of the International Covenant of Civil and Political
Rights (ICCPR). Poland also plans to raise concerns about
prison camps, forced labor, and harsh conditions imposed by
the criminal justice system. Poland will recommend the DPRK
ratify the UN Convention against Torture and its Optional
Protocol and ensure that all persons deprived of liberty are
treated with humanity and dignity.
3. (C) Zurek expressed concern that states were limited to
two-to-three minute oral pronouncements and with procedural
loopholes that could cause like-minded states to be left off
the speakers' list. Under the current arrangement, only oral
statements are entered into the official record, even though
Poland and others had proposed that states be allowed to
enter longer written statements into the record. Zurek also
expressed concern that states have the right to accept or
reject recommendations, noting that Cuba had rejected the
majority of states' recommendations on the grounds that they
were "politically motivated."
4. (SBU) BIO NOTE: Edward Pietrzyk will be Poland's new
ambassador to North Korea and will take up his duties there
in January. He will be in Washington this week for
consultations with U.S. and Polish Embassy officials.
Pietrzyk is a retired military officer (Commander of Polish
Land Forces was his final position) and former ambassador to
Iraq (April 2007-August 2008). In October 2007 he was
seriously wounded in a terrorist attack in Baghdad, receiving
burns over 20 percent of his body. Born 3 November 1949 in
Rawa Mazowiecka, Pietrzyk is a graduate of the Military
University of Technology in Warsaw (1971),the Russian
Military Academy of Artillery (1978),the General Staff
Academy of the USSR (1990),and the U.S. Military Academy
(2000). He speaks fluent English.
FEINSTEIN
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR EUR/CE (GLANTZ),EAP, IO/UNP, AND S/NKP
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/07/2019
TAGS: PHUM AORC SOCI UNGA KN PL
SUBJECT: POLES WELCOME U.S. APPROACH ON NORTH KOREA
REF: STATE 123209
Classified By: Political Counselor F. Daniel Sainz for Reasons 1.4 (b)
and (d)
1. (C) The GOP appreciates the U.S. approach to the December
7 meeting of the UN Human Rights Council, per reftel, as well
as Washington's broader engagement strategy with North Korea.
Urszula Rasnowiecka of the MFA's Asia-Pacific Department
said she hoped that such recent developments would stimulate
reciprocal goodwill on the part of Pyongyang, but she was
skeptical that the North Koreans were genuinely interested in
broadly opening up to the outside world.
2. (C) UN and Human Rights Department Deputy Director
Krystyna Zurek similarly welcomed the U.S. approach,
especially the news that Special Envoy King would personally
deliver the U.S. questions and recommendations. Zurek said
Poland planned to raise concerns about the exercise of
religious freedom and recommend that the DPRK lift
restrictions imposed on religious practices, cease
"persecution and rigid control" over those who profess
religious beliefs, and ensure that North Korea's domestic
legislation and practice is in full compliance with Article
18 of the International Covenant of Civil and Political
Rights (ICCPR). Poland also plans to raise concerns about
prison camps, forced labor, and harsh conditions imposed by
the criminal justice system. Poland will recommend the DPRK
ratify the UN Convention against Torture and its Optional
Protocol and ensure that all persons deprived of liberty are
treated with humanity and dignity.
3. (C) Zurek expressed concern that states were limited to
two-to-three minute oral pronouncements and with procedural
loopholes that could cause like-minded states to be left off
the speakers' list. Under the current arrangement, only oral
statements are entered into the official record, even though
Poland and others had proposed that states be allowed to
enter longer written statements into the record. Zurek also
expressed concern that states have the right to accept or
reject recommendations, noting that Cuba had rejected the
majority of states' recommendations on the grounds that they
were "politically motivated."
4. (SBU) BIO NOTE: Edward Pietrzyk will be Poland's new
ambassador to North Korea and will take up his duties there
in January. He will be in Washington this week for
consultations with U.S. and Polish Embassy officials.
Pietrzyk is a retired military officer (Commander of Polish
Land Forces was his final position) and former ambassador to
Iraq (April 2007-August 2008). In October 2007 he was
seriously wounded in a terrorist attack in Baghdad, receiving
burns over 20 percent of his body. Born 3 November 1949 in
Rawa Mazowiecka, Pietrzyk is a graduate of the Military
University of Technology in Warsaw (1971),the Russian
Military Academy of Artillery (1978),the General Staff
Academy of the USSR (1990),and the U.S. Military Academy
(2000). He speaks fluent English.
FEINSTEIN