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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIJING 000769 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/01/2027 
TAGS: PREL PGOV CMGT CH KS KN
SUBJECT: ROK FOREIGN MINISTER SONG VISIT TO EIJING 
 
Classified By: Classified by Political Section External Unit Chief Edga 
rd D. Kagan.  Reasons 1.4 (b/d) 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (C) Foreign Minister Song Min-soon discussed bilateral 
relations with high-level Chinese officials and raised 
growing concerns about the treatment of North Koreans in 
China in a day-long series of meetings with ROK consular 
officers in the PRC on his recent visit to Beijing.  Our PRC 
and ROK Embassy contacts express optimism about progressively 
improving bilateral relations.  Increased exchanges between 
the two nations and growing trade and investment demonstrate 
the significant changes that have come about in the fifteen 
years since they established diplomatic relations.  Moving 
forward, Beijing and Seoul seek to sign a consular agreement 
to solidify normalization of relations and to sign a Free 
Trade Agreement, though that may be several years in the 
future.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (C) ROK Foreign Minister Song Min-soon split his recent 
visit to Beijing between meeting with Chinese officials and 
meeting with the heads of the ROK's six Consulates in the 
PRC, ROK Embassy political officer Kim Gunn told Poloff 
January 29.  Song had extended meetings with Foreign Minister 
Li Zhaoxing and head of the International Department of the 
Central Committee (CCID) of the Communist Party Wang Jiarui 
and paid courtesy calls on State Councilor Tang and Premier 
Wen Jiabao.  In a day-long series of meetings with the 
consular officials, Song discussed both the issue of North 
Koreans in China and general "management issues," Kim said. 
 
North Koreans in China 
---------------------- 
 
¶3. (C) ROK Foreign Minister Song Min-soon's visit to Beijing 
January 25-27 was in large part designed to address growing 
domestic concerns about treatment of North Koreans in China, 
Kimtold Poloff.  Because ROK Six-Party Talks negotiator Chun 
Young-woo had very comprehensive discussions during his 
January 23 visit to Beijing, Song only briefly discussed the 
North Korean nuclear issue, Kim added.  Instead, Kim 
highlighted the recent incident in which an ROK official was 
recorded responding to relatives of South Koreans who had 
been held as POWs in North Korea and were seeking assistance 
by asking how they had gotten his phone number.  While this 
issue was receiving tremendous public attention in South 
Korea, the media reported a separate incident, which had 
happened a year before, in which a South Korean fisherman who 
had been abducted by the North received a similarly brusque 
response when he approached an ROK official. 
 
¶4. (C) While Kim said that Song called on PRC officials to 
work more closely with the ROK and not to return individuals 
to North Korea, MFA Office of Korean Affairs Director Chen 
Hai told Poloffs January 30 that Song raised this issue but 
avoided strong criticism of the PRC.  Noting that ROK 
Ambassador Kim had complained in stronger terms immediately 
before FM Song's visit, Chen said that Song had expressed 
appreciation for PRC cooperation to date in "managing" the 
issue of North Koreans in China while stressing the need for 
even greater cooperation.  Kim did not discuss the content of 
the "internal meetings" Song had with ROK consular officers, 
the media reported that Song told the consuls that their 
behavior could be factored into performance evaluations. 
 
Diplomatic Relations 
-------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) Song discussed general PRC-ROK relations and the 
planned visit of Premier Wen Jiabao to the ROK this April in 
his meetings with FM Li Zhaoxing and Central Committee 
International Department (CCID) Director Wang Jiarui.  During 
this visit, Wen hopes to initiate a broad strategic dialogue. 
 Seoul hopes to supplement this strategic dialogue with broad 
policy dialogue at the Vice Ministerial level, Kim told 
Poloff.  Both sides are please with the generally positive 
trend in bilateral relations, as evidenced by the 2007 
Exchange Year to commemorate the fifteen years of diplomatic 
relations. 
 
Trade Relations 
--------------- 
 
¶6. (C) Beijing and Seoul are seriously studying a Free Trade 
Agreement and have established a panel of academics, 
government officials and industry experts to further examine 
the specifics, both Chen and Kim said.  Chen noted that both 
China and Japan are carefully watching Seoul's ongoing FTA 
negotiations with Washington to better understand Seoul's 
willingness to negotiate.  In particular, Chen noted that 
Seoul must decide whether it is willing to trade off 
 
BEIJING 00000769  002 OF 002 
 
 
protection of its agricultural sector for greater market 
access for its increasingly important high-tech exports to 
its three largest trading partners.  Speaking personally, 
Chen (who attended Kim Il Sung University and has served at 
the PRC Embassy in Seoul) said that the ROK "must" move in 
this direction eventually, but that the process will not be 
easy and will be made worse because of the upcoming election. 
 He commented that the PRC is studying an "early harvest" to 
eliminate tariffs and trade barriers in less politically 
sensitive areas, as it has done with some Southeast Asian 
neighbors. However, moving forward will require the ROK to 
address some key PRC concerns on investment issues as well as 
China's USD 40 billion trade deficit with South Korea. 
 
¶7. (C) Song also discussed a joint "cooperation development 
vision," Kim told poloff, and PRC officials asked for 
increased cooperation in energy, environment, 
telecommunications, and a proposed "train-ferry" between 
China and South Korea.  While Seoul and Beijing had 
previously discussed expanding bilateral trade to USD 200 
billion by 2012, they agreed on this visit to try to achieve 
this goal within the next couple of years.  Chinese officials 
also asked Song to encourage South Korean companies to invest 
in China's midwest and northeast. 
 
Consular Relations 
------------------ 
 
¶8. (C) Song asked PRC officials to support the drafting of a 
formal consular agreement between the two nations, to which 
they "responded favorably," Kim told Poloff.  Working-level 
Chinese officials are in Seoul during the week of January 29 
for a second round of meetings to discuss the details of this 
agreement.  Song also asked for permission to send more 
officers to work at the ROK Consulate in Shenyang than the 
current limit of sixteen, which Beijing said they would 
consider.  PRC officials asked for Song's support of an MOU 
to allow Chinese workers permission to legally work in South 
Korea, which Song told them he would "study further," Kim 
said.  Chen confirmed that the two countries are holding 
further discussions on a formal consular agreement and said 
the PRC understands ROK concerns on this issue.  However, 
Chen stated that Seoul needed to be "realistic" in its goals, 
saying that it would be "difficult" for the PRC to give more 
to the ROK than it has in consular agreements with other 
countries. 
 
Other Issues 
------------ 
 
¶9. (C) PRC officials raised the "usual issues" with Song, 
such as Taiwan and Falun Gong, Kim said.  They also inquired 
about the possibility of allowing shuttle flights between 
Seoul's Gimpo airport and Shanghai's Hongqiao airport.  Song 
asked for PRC support of ROK bids to host the 2012 Expo and 
the 2014 Winter Olympics. 
RANDT