VZCZCXRO9612
RR RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHSH #0216/01 3230758
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 190758Z NOV 07
FM AMCONSUL SHENYANG
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8252
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 1769
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC 0052
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SHENYANG 000216 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/CM, EAP/K, PRM 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10 YEARS AFTER KOREAN UNIFICATION 
TAGS: PREF PREL PINR KWMN KN KS CH SPILL
SUBJECT: PYONGYANG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 
VIEWS APRIL 2008 OPENING 
 
REF: (A) SHENYANG 115 (B) SHENYANG 79 (C) 06 SHENYANG 
     74 (D) 06 SEOUL 1519 
 
Classified By: CONSUL GENERAL STEPHEN B. WICKMAN. REASONS: 1.4(b)/(d). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: Yanbian University of Science and Technology 
(YUST) President and Pyongyang University of Science and 
Technology (PUST) founding President Dr. Kim Chin Kyong, PUST 
Executive Vice President David Kim, and YUST Director Norma 
Nichols provided updates on PUST construction progress and 
its planned opening date in several late-October, early 
November 2007 meetings with CG and Conoffs, in Yanji and most 
recently, in Shenyang  President Kim also discussed his 
assistance to orphanages in North Korea, his support for 
North Korean refugees in China, and his efforts to help North 
Korean refugees willing to repatriate.  End Summary. 
 
PUST planning to open for business in April 2008 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶2. (C) Freshly returned from multiple trips to Pyongyang to 
inspect the final phase of construction of the PUST core 
campus buildings and to meet with North Korean leader Kim 
Jong-il (Kim, Chong-il), PUST President Kim was eager to 
share news of his plans to formally open his Pyongyang campus 
in April 2008.  According to Kim, construction of 14 PUST 
buildings, including the IT building, a student dormitory, 
guest house, cafeteria and the power-supply building would be 
complete by late-November 2007.  Kim expressed full 
confidence that from early December 2007 to the anticipated 
opening of PUST in April 2008, North Korean technicians and 
construction workers could outfit existing campus facilities 
with the necessary equipment, the North Korean government 
would select North Korean students and local staffing for 
PUST, and Kim and his staff would finalize pro-bono contracts 
with international instructors and find financial support to 
cover operating expenses for the first semester and beyond. 
 
¶3. (C) Dr. Kim presented a photo display of the various 
construction projects, which Econoff had a chance to look at 
more closely.  Dr. Kim pointed out that, while the design of 
the buildings and grounds is modern enough, construction 
methods are quite primitive, and all of the labor is being 
done by North Korean soldiers.  The photos indicated that 
manual equipment was being used to mix cement and to pave 
roads within the campus.  The photo also showed a makeshift 
bakery that produces bread to feed the workers, whom Dr. Kim 
said were issued two large cakes of bread each day. 
 
¶4. (C) While the photos indicated that the construction was 
moving along well, quality problems were readily visible. 
Windows, doors and walls were out of plumb and many floors 
appeared to slope randomly.  Most scaffolding was constructed 
using unfinished poles and rope.  The only exception seemed 
to be the modern steel scaffolding being used in the 
construction of the monument outside the Administration 
Building's main entrance. 
 
PUST Curriculum, Enrollment and Staffing 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) Dr. Kim told us that, while in the long-term PUST 
planned to evolve into a graduate and undergraduate 
institution, initially PUST would offer only graduate-level 
courses that, per Kim Jong-ilQ,s direction, must be taught 
exclusively in English.  The programs of study available in 
April 2008 will be Business Administration, Agriculture, Food 
Engineering, Health (Nursing) and Architecture.  Enrollment 
will be strictly limited to graduate-level North Korean 
students being groomed as future government leaders.  Dr. Kim 
expected the ratio of international to local staff would be 
1:1 and claimed that Kim Jong-il had agreed contractually 
that Dr. Kim could select whatever staff he wanted, granting 
the PUST President wide control over the lecture content 
along with other concessions, such as full internet access 
for all of PUSTQ,s North Korean students.  In a late October 
meeting, however, Dr. Kim said Kim Jong-il had indicated 
that, while he and his inner circle were fully supportive of 
PUST, much of the DPRK government (namely, the military 
leadership) was very concerned about PUST and its strong 
South Korean bent.  As such, Kim Jong-il reportedly asked Dr. 
Kim to make a concerted effort to recruit primarily 
Q&western,Q8 vice South Korean, staff. 
 
¶6. (C) Mr. Gary Alan Spanovich, an urban planning consultant 
from Canby, Oregon, who is traveling with the group, told 
Econoff that the Portland-based Wholistic Peace Institute, of 
 
SHENYANG 00000216  002 OF 003 
 
 
which he is Executive Director, would sponsor a Nobel 
Laureate Peace Chair at both YUST and PUST, as well as a 
similar Chair at the University of Portland.  He said the 
Institute plans to have former South Korean President Kim Dae 
Jung arrive at PUST to participate in the opening ceremonies 
and then to be the first Nobel Peace Laureate in Residence, 
remaining at PUST for a period of four weeks.  He said the 
Institute would host the former President Kim in Portland for 
the launch of his forthcoming book, just prior to his 
departure for North Korea.  Spanovich said the Institute is 
also having talks with the Dalai Lama to have the Dalai Lama 
occupy the Chair at the University of Portland. 
 
PUST funding woes 
----------------- 
 
¶7. (C) While Dr. Kim expressed little doubt that he could 
fulfill all of Kim Jong-ilQ,s requests, two close aides, Dr. 
David Kim and Norma Nichols, were less optimistic about 
meeting the letter all of the leader's demands.  First, they 
expressed their doubts about the ability of North Korean 
students to follow English-only, graduate-level lectures and 
to produce graduate-level, English-language research papers. 
Second, while Kim and Nichols were both confident they could 
enlist a full staff of primarily western, vice South Korean, 
staff for at least the first semester, they said they would 
face serious staffing difficulties beginning in the second 
semester if they could not recruit in greater numbers from 
South Korea, where many academics were willing to teach at 
PUST for free but are not comfortable teaching in English. 
Finally, both Kim and Nichols were very concerned that, 
without charging any tuition, room and board, and without 
financial support from Pyongyang for the foreseeable future, 
PUST would soon find itself in major financial difficulty. 
In an aside, Nichols stressed that although President Kim was 
quick to highlight PUSTQ,s partnership with Rice University, 
that institution provided no financial support; PUST was 
therefore desperately looking for new University partnerships 
and ways to finance PUSTQ,s operations over the longer term. 
 
Refugee assistance 
------------------ 
 
¶8. (C) President Kim also provided a thumbnail sketch of his 
efforts to provide assistance to approximately 23,000 orphans 
in the DPRK (mostly in the Najin-Sonbong or Nason area) and 
his ongoing support for elderly and infirm DPRK refugees in 
China.  The latter, he said, were cared for by his wife in 
apartments in Yanji.  He stated, however, that over the past 
seven years he focused his efforts almost exclusively on 
converting some 100-200 newly arrived refugees each month to 
Christianity and providing them financial support (usually 
RMB 800) if these refugees would return to North Korea. 
Opining that the RMB 800 amount was sufficient to feed a 
family of five for one year in North Korea, Kim added that, 
not only was the Yanji Public Security Bureau (YPSB) fully 
aware of his programs, both to assist infirm refugees and to 
repatriate the others, but the YPSB also posed no objections 
to either program and in fact appeared supportive.  He 
speculated that one reason the Yanji authorities were so 
willing to tolerate his activities was because their children 
often attended YUST, which has a stellar placement record for 
its graduates. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶9. (C)  As he has shown during past encounters over many 
years, Dr. Kim continues to be a disarming interlocutor whose 
deep convictions tend to color his direct personal 
experiences. (One measure of his idealism and naivetQ is that 
Dr. KimQ,s latest Shenyang visit was to promote a USD 
500-million world trade center project in Shenyang Q) 
together with the World Trade Center Association of New York 
Q) without knowing how much trade and investment occurred in 
Shenyang relative to the much more advanced Dalian.)  He is 
nonetheless a compelling leader who, by his own admission, 
survived torture and interrogation in Pyongyang and, with 
Chinese help, convinced Kim Jong-Il to endorse the PUST 
project.  Dr. Kim was coy about the number of meetings he has 
had with the North Korean leader, telling us at one point 
that his former captors threatened him with severe 
consequences if he told the outside world about his meetings 
with the dictator.  He implied, however, that he sees Kim 
Jong-il almost every time he visits Pyongyang, including 
during the just-completed visits in November.  He also 
repeated claims that Kim Jong-il suffers from a number of 
 
SHENYANG 00000216  003 OF 003 
 
 
physical ailments; that the leader garners very little of the 
respect accorded to his father, Kim Il Song; and that it will 
therefore be extremely difficult if not impossible for Kim 
Jong-il to transfer power to his heirs. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
WICKMAN