WikiLeaks cable: NZ Ambassador heads to Pyongyang

Photo / Mark Mitchell

April 2, 2007
NZ Ambassador heads to Pyongyang

date:2007-04-02T05:00:00
source:Embassy Wellington
origin:07WELLINGTON272
destination:VZCZCXYZ0000 OO RUEHWEB DE RUEHWL #0272/01 0920500 ZNY
CCCCC ZZH O 020500Z APR 07 FM AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON TO RUEHC/SECSTATE
WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4107 INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING IMMEDIATE 0332
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA IMMEDIATE 4803 RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
IMMEDIATE 0160 RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL IMMEDIATE 0247 RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY
TOKYO IMMEDIATE 0622 RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHDC
IMMEDIATE
classification:CONFIDENTIAL
reference:
?C O N F I D E N T I A L WELLINGTON 000272

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/FO, EAP/K, AND EAP/ANP
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/02/2017
TAGS: P...
?C O N F I D E N T I A L WELLINGTON 000272

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/FO, EAP/K, AND EAP/ANP
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/02/2017
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, KNNP, KNAR, NZ
SUBJECT: NZ AMBASSADOR HEADS TO PYONGYANG

Classified By: DCM David J. Keegan, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

1. (C) Summary: During her April 3-7 trip to Pyongyang, NZ's Ambassador to North Korea, Jane Coombs, will carry a letter from Foreign Minister Peters urging the DPRK to comply with the Six Party Talks. She will also note the GNZ's willingness to contribute to the second tranche of energy assistance in support of the Six-Party process, but she will not provide any details about the timing or nature of the help to be provided. NZ officials tell us they will follow the recommendations of the Initial Action Agreement Energy Working Group in designing NZ's assistance package and would appreciate USG advice on what would be most beneficial. The GNZ has limited ability to offer aid in kind or implement programs on the ground, so its contributions are most likely to be financial. End Summary.

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NZ Message to DPRK: We'll Help, but Only if You Follow Through on Denuclearization

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2. (C) On April 2, Pol-Econ Couns discussed New Zealand's proposed energy assistance to the DPRK with Carolyn Schwalger, Senior Policy Officer in the North Asian Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT). Schwalger said the GNZ shares our desire to send a consistent, clear message to the DPRK. For this reason, in advance of her April 3-7 trip to Pyongyang, Ambassador Coombs consulted with Ambassador Vershbow and a range of South Korean officials in Seoul. Coombs will carry with her to Pyongyang a letter from Foreign Minister Peters to the Senior N. Korean Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs urging the DPRK's full compliance with the Six-Party Talks. Although Coombs will tell her DPRK interlocutors that New Zealand is willing to contribute to the second tranche of assistance under the Initial Action Agreement, she will offer no details about what will be on offer or when it will be provided. She will also tell all her DPRK interlocutors that no assistance will be provided absent N.Korea's implementation of its Initial Actions Agreement commitments. Schwalger said that one reason NZ wants to contribute to the second tranche and not the first is so that the GNZ can see evidence that the DPRK is truly on the path to denuclearization.

3. (C) Another reason that Coombs will provide no other details during her trip is that the GNZ has not decided what assistance it will offer. Ministers have agreed in principle to contribute, but as PM Clark noted during her recent trip to Washington, the GNZ will base its assistance package on the recommendations of the Initial Actions Agreement Working
Group. Schwalger says that the GNZ hope that U.S. officials in particular will give guidance on the most appropriate way for New Zealand to offer help. NZ officials will also speak with South Korean, Chinese, and other Six Party partners.

4. (C) Although the GNZ has not yet decided on its assistance package, for practical reasons it is most likely to provide financial assistance to a multilateral fund. Schwalger said the level of assistance is likely to be along the lines of what New Zealand donated to KEDO, about NZD 500,000 a year.

5. (C) Schwalger also noted that as has become the norm, it was very difficult for Ambassador Coombs to get final DPRK clearance for this annual visit. She only recently learned that she could travel to Pyongyang from April 3-7, and although she is already on the road she still has not received confirmation about whom she will see. As there is
currently no Foreign Minister, Coombs has requested meetings
with both Vice Ministers of Foreign Affairs, as well as officials in Foreign Ministry's Asian Affairs, Human Rights, and Policy Planning Bureaus. She has also asked to see officials at the Trade Ministry, the Korean Workers Party, and the City Government. Schwalger said that MFAT will provide us with a read-out from the trip once Coombs returns to Seoul.

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Background: NZ's Ties to North Korea

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6. (C) New Zealand established formal diplomatic relations with North Korea in 2001. Official relations are carried out through New Zealand's Ambassador in Seoul, who is cross-accredited and travels to Pyongyang a few times a year. (FYI: NZ's current Ambassador in Washington, Roy Ferguson, was the NZ's first Ambassador to Seoul to travel to Pyongyang.) Until recently, New Zealand contributed between USD 517,000 - 690,000 in humanitarian aid to North Korea annually, administered mostly through the World Food Program and UNICEF. It has stopped all but minimal aid due to what the GNZ calls the DPRK regime's ambivalence about receiving assistance. Trade between the two countries is virtually non-existent. New Zealand has three officers serving in the UN Command Military Armistice Commission (UNCMAC) and the NZ Defense Attache serves as an advisor and liaison to UNMAC as well. The GNZ contributed about USD 3 million to the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Corporation (KEDO) light water reactor project before the project was terminated in November 2005.

McCormick