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

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. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
NZ Message to DPRK: We'll Help, but Only if You Follow 
Through on Denuclearization 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶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. 
 
------------------------------------ 
Background: NZ's Ties to North Korea 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶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