VZCZCXRO1560
RR RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHLMC
DE RUEHUM #0073/01 0380923
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 070923Z FEB 08
FM AMEMBASSY ULAANBAATAR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1900
INFO RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 1710
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 5991
RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI 0112
RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA 0235
RUEHKL/AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR 0246
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 2098
RUEHPF/AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH 0075
RUEHGO/AMEMBASSY RANGOON 0027
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 3183
RUEHGP/AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE 0394
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 2879
RUEHVN/AMEMBASSY VIENTIANE 0051
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 0056
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0860
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 0080
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 0462
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0373
RHEHNSC/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0565
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP WASHINGTON DC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ULAANBAATAR 000073 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE DEPT FOR EAP/CM, PRM/ANE, EAP/K AND INR/EAP 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/07/2018 
TAGS: PREL PGOV KREF EAID SOCI MG
SUBJECT: NEW MONGOLIAN SHELTER FOR DPRK REFUGEES UP AND 
RUNNING 
 
REF: ULAANBAATAR 33 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Harold Zappia for Reason 1.4 (d). 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY: North Korean refugees at a new Mongolian 
Border Force shelter are receiving adequate treatment while 
being processed for resettlement.  On February 5 we visited 
the Nalaikh shelter, which opened in late October 2007 and is 
located one hour outside Ulaanbaatar.  We were joined by 
Mongolia's UNHCR representative and escorted by two Border 
Force officials.  The 83 DPRK refugees at the shelter, a 
former Army barracks, were well clothed, fed and treated, 
although there were only 70 bunk beds to go around.  We were 
not permitted to speak with the refugees, most of whom passed 
time by watching TV, playing games or reading books.  A 
Border Force official asked UNHCR and Post for 
Korean-language training for BF guards.  He added that 18 
DPRK refugees had recently arrived in Mongolia and were being 
held at one of the Border Force's two outlying shelters.  He 
said new arrivals are increasingly in possession of 
substantial sums of Chinese currency.  END SUMMARY. 
 
 
¶2. (C) North Korean refugees at a new Mongolian Border Force 
(BF) shelter located outside of the capital are receiving 
adequate treatment while being processed for resettlement. 
Econ/Pol chief visited the Nalaikh shelter on February 5 with 
a UNHCR official and two Border Force officials, one of whom 
did not say a word.  We found the 83 DPRK refugees there to 
be well cared for, although with only 70 bunk beds to go 
around, 13 slept on futon-style bedding on the ground.  The 
shelter, a single-story, brick former Army barracks, is 
located just off a windswept highway that links Ulaanbaatar 
with a national forest.  The building is heated and has 
adequate plumbing, a large mess hall, a kitchen and a living 
room, as well as five large, communal bedrooms, each packed 
with Red Cross bunk beds.  We were not permitted to speak 
with the refugees, but they were well fed and adequately 
clothed.  Most watched TV, chatted, played dominoes or read 
books while a kitchen crew prepared a meal of potatoes, 
cabbage and garlic.  A ping pong table stood idle.  BF 
officials said there had been no disturbances at the facility 
since its opening in late October 2007.  They said the 
shelter had occasional problems with electrical supply and a 
shortage of clothes-washing facilities, but that there were 
no language problems that sometimes created tensions between 
guards and DPRK refugees at the two outlying BF shelters (in 
the eastern city of Choibalsan and the southern city of Zamyn 
Uud).  (Note/reftel: UNHCR plans to set up two new shelters 
in eastern Mongolia for DPRK refugees, in the towns of 
Halhgol and Erdenetsagaan.  End Note.) 
 
¶3. (SBU) A BF official said 18 North Koreans seeking 
resettlement had recently arrived in Mongolia and were being 
held at an outlying BF shelter.  He added that new DPRK 
arrivals were more likely to be in possession of cash - 
"four, five, six thousand (Chinese) yuan" - than previous 
arrivals.  The BF official added that refugees at the Nalaikh 
shelter were receiving daily, or near-daily, visits from the 
ROK Embassy staff. 
 
¶4. (C) The BF official, who UNHCR Rep Och said had personally 
interviewed more than 2,000 DPRK refugees, asked UNHCR and 
Econ/Pol chief for Korean-language training for BF guards. 
The BF official said the South Korean Government had stopped 
 
ULAANBAATA 00000073  002 OF 002 
 
 
a program in which it had provided 45 days of Korean-language 
training to guards.  He said communication is important in 
order to prevent misunderstandings between BF guards and DPRK 
refugees from erupting into disputes, adding that hunger 
strikes occasionally resulted from such misunderstandings. 
(Post is discussing the request with EAP/CM, EAP/K, PRM and 
Embassy Seoul). 
 
¶5. (U) The BF officials did not offer any information about 
the recently signed Mongolia-DPRK labor agreement, which is 
intended to bring more than 5,000 DPRK laborers to Mongolia 
between 2008 and 2012. 
 
¶6. (SBU) UNHCR Rep Och said a planned BF/General Intelligence 
Agency shelter near Ulaanbaatar remains on track for a 
mid-October opening.  The facility will have between 100 and 
120 beds. 
ZAPPIA