Thursday, OCT 06, 2011, (KST)North Korea will use its nuclear weapons as a final card in exchange for the normalization of ties with the United States.This is according to US cables leaked by Wikileaks.The leaked cables reveal remarks made during talks in 2008 by North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan who was then chief nuclear envoy for six-party talks to his South Korean counterpart Kim Suk in Beijing.According to the cables Pyeongyang intended to keep its nuclear weapons until the final stages of the denuclearization negotiations when it would use that card in exchange for normalization of diplomatic ties between Pyeongyang and Washington.The six-party nuclear talks which aims for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula have not been held for three years.The talks, which involve the US, Russia, China, Japan and the two Koreas last took place in Beijing in 2008.Kim Nari, Arirang News.Viewing cable 08SEOUL1172, AMBASSADOR'S MEETING WITH KIM SOOK: A NUMBER OFIf you are new to these pages, please read an introduction on the structure of a cable as well as how to discuss them with others. See also the FAQsReference ID Created Released Classification Origin08SEOUL1172 2008-06-11 07:06 2011-08-30 01:44 CONFIDENTIAL Embassy SeoulVZCZCXYZ0000PP RUEHWEBDE RUEHUL #1172/01 1630706ZNY CCCCC ZZHP 110706Z JUN 08FM AMEMBASSY SEOULTO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0377INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 4389RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 8778RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 4529RHMFISS/COMUSFK SEOUL KORRHMFISS/COMUSKOREA J5 SEOUL KORRUACAAA/COMUSKOREA INTEL SEOUL KORRHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DCRHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HIRUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC//OSD/ISA/EAP//C O N F I D E N T I A L SEOUL 001172SIPDISE.O. 12958: DECL: AFTER KOREAN REUNIFICATIONTAGS: PGOV PREL KS KNSUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S MEETING WITH KIM SOOK: A NUMBER OFFIRSTSClassified By: Amb. Alexander Vershbow. Reasons 1.4(b/d)쨋1. (C) Summary: In a June 9 meeting, Kim Sook, the newlyappointed ROK representative to the Six-party Talks, told theAmbassador that he had been treated with respect during hisfirst meeting with his North Korean counterpart, Deputy FMKim Kye-gwan (KKG), and that KKG had listened intently whenKim explained President Lee's North Korea policy. Similarly,Kim said that officials from the North and South had a goodbilateral discussion at Panmunjeom on June 5 to discussenergy assistance as part of the Six-Party Talks--the firstmeeting between officials from both sides since Lee Myung-baktook office in February. Kim said that he expected the nextround of Six-Party Talks to be held shortly after the Energyand Economic Cooperation Working Group meeting on June 11 inthe DMZ. On North-South relations, Kim said that he did notexpect the North to accept the South's recent offer of 50,000tons of food aid because of reports that Kim Jong-il hadissued instructions that the DPRK was neither to ask for noraccept any food aid from the South at this time. Commentingon the looming changes within the ROKG cabinet resulting fromperceived mishandling of the U.S. beef negotiations, Kim saidhe thought that Foreign Minister Yu was not in danger ofbeing dismissed as he was not involved in the causes of theproblem, only in efforts to resolve the issue. End Summary.----------------------------------FIRST MEETING BETWEEN THE TWO KIMS----------------------------------쨋2. (C) Ambassador-at-large for the Six Party Talks, Kim Sook,told the Ambassador on June 9 that he was somewhat surprisedthat the DPRK allowed DFM Kim Kye-gwan to meet with him inBeijing on May 30. Ambassador Kim was traveling in Moscow onthe suggested date for the meeting, but KKG agreed to stay anextra day in Beijing in order to meet with Ambassador Kim(Note: This was the first time the two had met in personafter Kim Sook took over as the chief negotiator for theSix-Party Talks in April. End Note.). Ambassador Kim saidthat his North Korean counterpart was "calm and gentle"during their meeting and treated him with respect.쨋3. (C) Ambassador Kim said that he took the opportunity toraise the broader issue of North-South relations andexplained that the South did not have a hostile policy towardthe North. He told KKG that if the DPRK gave up its nuclearweapons and material, the South was ready to help the Northin five areas: economy, finance, education, infrastructureand general quality of life for North Koreans. Kim said thathe also asked the North to stop slandering President LeeMyung-bak because, in the end, the North and the South wouldeventually need to sit down and work with each other on anumber of issues. Kim said that KKG listened intently butcould not offer any response to these points as he said itwas not his area of responsibility.--------------------------------------------- -----FIRST NORTH-SOUTH MEETING UNDER NEW ADMINISTRATION--------------------------------------------- -----쨋4. (C) Kim said that the first official meeting betweenofficials from the North and South under the Lee Myung-bakAdministration on June 5 went well. Kim said that the DPRKofficials who attended the bilateral discussion, held atPanmunjeom in the DMZ to discuss energy cooperation as partof the Six-Party Talks, had "listened well" to the sametalking points on North-South relations that Kim had usedwith KKG, and wrote feverishly despite their opening positionthat they could not accept the South's points. Althoughthere had not been any dialogue under the South's newadministration, Kim said that he expected this to change asthe Six-Party Talks made new progress in the coming weeks.--------------------------------------PROSPECTS FOR SIX-PARTY TALKS PROGRESS--------------------------------------쨋5. (C) Kim said that it had been difficult trying to find anagreeable date for the next Heads of Delegation meeting underthe Six-Party Talks. The Chinese proposed dates of June15-17 were agreeable to the ROKG but Japan had voiced concerngiven a conflict on those dates with the ROK-Japan-Chinatrilateral Ministerial meeting being hosted in Japan. As analternative, Japan had recommended June 17-19.쨋6. (C) Kim said that during the June 5 meeting in the DMZ,the DPRK side had reiterated the importance of more timelydelivery of the promised energy assistance. Before aSix-Party Heads of Delegation meeting could be convened, theNorth wanted to hold an Energy and Economic CooperationWorking Group (EECWG) meeting in hopes of getting a fixedschedule of the final shipments of heavy fuel oil andequivalent assistance. If the DPRK was satisfied with theresults of this meeting, they would then commit to a date forthe Heads of Delegation meeting. If Japan remained adamantthat it would not contribute to HFO shipments, KKG hadsuggested the other four parties should agree to coverJapan's portion of the agreement. Although the Chinese andRussians strongly opposed the idea, Kim said that the ROK was"willing to be generous" and help cover Japan's portion.------------------------------DISPOSITION OF FRESH FUEL RODS------------------------------쨋7. (C) According to Amb. Kim, North Korea preferred to make adecision on disposal of the fresh fuel rods as the last stepin the disablement process. Although the North hadpreviously stated its intent to sell the rods, a formaldecision had not yet been made. Kim said that KKG had toldhim that he wanted to first talk to the U.S. side aboutimplementing the various steps involved in the disablementprocess. Kim Sook said that he saw no grounds for discussionbetween the U.S. and DPRK on the issue as the fuel rods inquestion could only be used in the ROK, and this was onlyafter additional preparation tasks costing USD 10 million.North Korea was sure to agree to sell the rods to the ROK asit would provide them with additional compensation, whereasbending the rods would not.----------------------PHASE THREE AND BEYOND----------------------쨋8. (C) Kim said that he asked KKG about the prospect of NorthKorea declaring its nuclear weapons as part of theirforthcoming nuclear declaration. The response was that ifthe South had concerns about dismantlement, it should reviewthe September 2005 Agreement in which the North promised togive up all of its nuclear weapons. The weapons would beabandoned in the final phase of the process, not in the nearterm, Kim said. The final phase would be an exchange ofnuclear weapons for normalization of relations with the U.S.Kim added that the North would want to verify that the U.S.had removed all nuclear weapons from South Korea andsuggested the North would be interested in seeing records tocorroborate the South's claimed denuclearization.----------------------FOOD AID FOR THE NORTH----------------------쨋9. (C) When asked about the prospects of North Korea agreeingto accept the South's offer of 50,000 tons of food aid, Kimresponded that he had seen intelligence reports that claimKim Jong-il had issued a memo that the North was not toaccept or ask for aid from the South this year. Kim saidthat the ROKG was considering the option of providing someaid to the World Food Program that could be then passed on tothe North, but the current preoccupation with the U.S. beefissue had required everyone's full attention and therefore adecision had not yet been made.------------------------NORTH KOREA-JAPAN BILATS------------------------쨋10. (C) Kim said that he did not have any detailedinformation about the Japan-North Korea bilateral discussionsthat were held on June 7-8 in Beijing. On the positive side,at least the two parties had agreed to meet again on June11-12 unlike the previous meeting that ended after tenminutes, Kim noted. When asked if there was anything topress reports that the DPRK was likely to return a relativeof one of the Japanese abductees to break the currentimpasse, Kim responded that it was more likely that theformer members of the Red Army would be repatriated to Japan,even though this is technically an unrelated issue.-------------------------------------------NORTHEAST ASIA PEACE AND SECURITY MECHANISM-------------------------------------------쨋11. (C) Kim said that he did not raise NEAPSM during hismeeting with KKG but noted that the Russians needed more timebefore they would be ready to discuss the issue. TheJapanese side still had some reservations, but the ROKGwelcomed NEAPSM, as long as it supported North Korea'sdenuclearization and remained separate from any peace regimediscussions. Kim said that Deputy Secretary Negroponte'srecent visit to Korea to discuss the issue was quite helpfulin providing the ROKG with a clearer understanding of U.S.views on NEAPSM.------------------------POSSIBLE CABINET CHANGES------------------------쨋12. (C) According to Kim, public opinion in Korea remainedvery fragile and it was still not clear where it was headedin regard to the U.S. beef issue. Kim said that the loomingcabinet reshuffle was likely to take place later this weekand could have some impact on North Korea policy. As keypersonnel changed, possibly including the Prime Minister andBlue House Chief of Staff, some "minor" policy changes werealso possible. Kim said that he was confident that ForeignMinister Yu would be spared from the reshuffle as he was seenmore as a "firefighter" and not an "arsonist," working toresolve the issue rather than having been involved in theoriginal beef negotiations. Although the troubles in Korearepresented a political struggle, Koreans also had concernsabout U.S. beef that should not be ignored.VERSHBOW