VZCZCXRO1560
PP RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHSH #0142/01 2250406
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 130406Z AUG 09
FM AMCONSUL SHENYANG
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8797
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEHVK/AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK 0738
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC 0201
RHMFISS/COMUSKOREA J2 SEOUL KOR
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC 0146
RUCGEVC/JOINT STAFF WASHDC 0106
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC 0161

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SHENYANG 000142 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/K, EAP/CM, INR 
MOSCOW PASS TO VLADIVOSTOK 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: TEN YEARS AFTER KOREAN UNIFICATION 
TAGS: CH ECON KN KS PGOV PREF PREL RS
SUBJECT: PRC-DPRK BORDER: HARDLY ANY NEW REFUGEES AT ALL 
 
REF: A. SHENYANG 90 
     ¶B. SHENYANG 119 
     ¶C. SHENYANG 56 
 
Classified By: Consul General Stephen B. Wickman.  Reasons 1.4(b)/(d). 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Contacts in the PRC-DPRK borderlands 
indicate that as of August 2009, there are virtually no new 
DPRK refugees crossing the Tumen River with the goal of 
settling in China (Ref A) but that the area is home to many 
refugees from the late 1990s, not a few of whom have 
integrated into Sino-Korean society.  The Chinese government 
may turn a blind eye to North Korean refugees in their 
territory but remains on the alert for foreign journalists 
and others who seek to cover these stories in a negative 
light.  Back in Shenyang, all of the refugees currently at 
the South Korean Consulate made it there with the help of 
paid brokers.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (U) ConGenOff traveled to the Yanbian Korean Autonomous 
Prefecture August 2-9 to discuss various issues, including 
North Korean refugees crossing the Tumen River into China. 
 
UNDERGROUND RAILWAY: FEWER AND FEWER PASSENGERS 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
¶3. (C) On August 6, ConGenOff met with Zhao Guangxe 
(protect), the Catholic priest responsible for the Longjing 
City and Helong City parishes.  Zhao, a Sino-Korean from 
Longjing, ran the Hunchun City parish in the early 2000s 
when he said he constantly helped North Korean refugees. 
Zhao said that to his knowledge there were almost no 
refugees coming across the border these days and that if 
they were still coming, they were not staying in Yanbian. 
He contrasted this observation with his experiences in 
Hunchun during the first part of the decade, when he 
regularly housed and fed North Korean refugees. 
 
¶4. (C) Zhao said that various Catholic orders were free to 
operate in Yanbian, offering social services when the 
official state system was unable to provide them.  Zhao said 
that the Salesians of Don Bosco were able to pursue their 
order's goal of adolescent rehabilitation and education, as 
a "house of last resort," for troubled and disadvantaged 
youth.  Foreign priests hailing from Italy, South Korea, and 
Canada had been able to accomplish their missions.  When 
asked what kind of support the Chinese government offered to 
these groups, Zhao laughed, and said that he would love to 
see the day when the Chinese government could offer 
financial support to religious groups. 
 
¶5. (C) On August 8, ConGenOff met with a Sino-Korean pastor 
from Longjing who tends to a poor, mostly Han Chinese 
congregation on the eastern outskirts of Yanji City.  As 
recently as 2006, this individual had helped run refugee 
safe houses in Yanbian and traveled to North Korea to 
administer aid.  However, he said that the last couple of 
years had been marked by a sharp dropoff in North Korean 
refugees seeking shelter in Yanbian.  The pastor joked that 
the dropoff was followed by the appearance of PRC citizens 
posing as DPRK refugees in an effort to obtain aid. 
 
¶6. (C) A Sino-Korean businessman working in Tumen City and a 
frequent traveler to North Korea (Ref B) said on August 8 
that there were virtually no recent North Korean refugees. 
He said there were many North Korean refugees left over from 
the late 1990s and early 2000s who had long since integrated 
into Chinese society but who still took pains to keep a low 
profile, working in restaurants and menial jobs.  He said 
that, in order to send more money to relatives in North 
Korea, some of these refugee women resident in China had 
taken to engaging in "escort" services.  Women would seek 
long-term relationships by targeting well-to-do Chinese 
businessmen and government officials.  Zhao said that these 
women had directly contacted some of his acquaintances, 
asking for USD 2500-3000 up front in cash to "sponsor" them 
as long-term companions. 
 
TODAY'S REFUGEES USING BROKERS AND FOLLOWING FAMILY MEMBERS 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
¶7. (C) Shenyang ROK Consul Kwon Tae-han said on July 22 that 
the ROK Consulate in Shenyang was now home to 19 North 
Korean refugees, including a 14-month old baby, down from 
 
SHENYANG 00000142  002 OF 002 
 
 
previous highs but still a burden.  Kwon is a fluent Chinese 
speaker and a former police officer, having worked for the 
Korean National Police Agency, specializing in counter- 
narcotics and Sino-Korean and DPRK refugee crime rings. 
 
¶8. (C) Kwon said that today's refugee profile is markedly 
different from that of the past, largely because of the 
central role that money and brokers play in facilitating 
movement across the PRC-DPRK border (Ref B).  All of the 
North Koreans at the ROK Consulate had made it to Shenyang 
with the assistance of a broker.  Kwon also cited that the 
majority of the 19 North Koreans were not new refugees 
escaping from hunger or other systemic shocks, but were the 
relatives of earlier refugees resident in Seoul who arranged 
for their exit.  These refugees often expected a hero's 
welcome and a land of opportunity upon arrival in South 
Korea, but were dismayed to find how difficult it would be 
to pay their broker's fees - in excess of the official South 
Korean government's payout now given to such refugees. 
 
¶9. (C) Wu Jianhua (protect), a government specialist on 
North Korea and PRC-DPRK issues at the Liaoning Academy of 
Social Sciences, said on July 21 that the main reason that 
North Koreans who may be willing to defect did not do so was 
because they feared that their family members left behind 
would be subjected to undue hardship.  When pressed, Wu said 
that the punishments were not severe or life-threatening, 
but that the remaining family members would be marked as 
"unreliable," thus hampering future opportunities. 
 
¶10. (C) For those who had chosen to leave North Korea in the 
earlier part of the decade, Wu said that it was quite easy 
for the children of PRC national fathers and North Korean 
women to obtain a hukou (residence permits) and that he knew 
of several from border villages who were now studying in 
Yanji.  An NGO worker in Tumen City said that he also knew 
of a few children of PRC national fathers and North Korean 
women born in border villages who had received hukous 
without too much trouble; the parents were working at 
restaurants or engaged in manual labor in Yanji City. 
 
CHINESE PSB STILL WARY OF FOREIGNERS, NEGATIVE REPORTING 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
¶11. (C) ConGenOff met with Mr. Lee Gyeong-hee (protect) on 
August 7 to discuss expatriate life in Yanbian.  Lee is a 
Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) investigative journalist 
with over 20 years of experience studying Chinese at the 
Yanbian University of Science and Technology (YUST) in 
advance of his upcoming assignment as the KBS Beijing 
foreign correspondent.  Lee was impressed by the 
Public Security Bureau's (PSB) ability to track and stop 
potential problems, citing an example which involved two 
Seoul-based KBS reporters in June. 
 
¶12. (C) Lee said that KBS had recently tried to send two 
reporters to Yanbian to cover DPRK refugee issues and that 
the reporters, first-time travelers to China, successfully 
obtained tourist visas at the Chinese Embassy in Seoul.  As 
soon as the two reporters arrived in Yanji on the direct 
flight from Seoul, however, they were greeted by PSB 
personnel and escorted to a room, where they were informed 
that while they would not be deported the two would be 
watched closely and were advised to refrain from any non- 
tourist activity.  The reporters left the next day en route 
to Mongolia.  Lee deplored the fact that his editorial staff 
did not prevent this kind of unnecessary encounter, 
especially in the wake of the incident involving the two 
American journalists (Ref C). 
 
¶13. (C) Lee said that in a recent dinner with the Yanbian 
Prefectural PSB Deputy Director, the Director said he "would 
like nothing more than to close YUST as soon as possible," 
adding that the presence of so many South Korean and other 
foreign nationals engaged in DPRK-related and religious work 
was an unwelcome irritant. 
 
WICKMAN