VZCZCXRO5646
RR RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHSH #0163 2580253
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 150253Z SEP 09
FM AMCONSUL SHENYANG
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8838
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC 0214
RHMFISS/COMUSKOREA J2 SEOUL KOR
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC 0157
RUCGEVC/JOINT STAFF WASHDC 0113
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC 0172

C O N F I D E N T I A L SHENYANG 000163 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/K, EAP/CM, INR 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: TEN YEARS AFTER KOREAN UNIFICATION 
TAGS: CH ECON KN KS PREL SCUL
SUBJECT: DPRK: PYONGYANG UNIVERSITY CEREMONY "TUG OF WAR" 
 
REF: SHENYANG 143 
 
Classified By: Consul General Stephen B. Wickman.  Reasons 1.4 (b)/(d). 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY: The DPRK has apparently retracted 
invitations to Western media to cover the opening ceremony 
of the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) 
while welcoming PUST's supporters, including South Korean 
citizens and the ROK media.  The ROKG, however, has 
reportedly barred many of its citizens and all media from 
attending.  The PUST president said he recently received 
high-level DPRK visitors who expressed concerns about 
succession issues in North Korea.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) PUST President and Amcit James Chinkyung Kim met 
briefly with the Consul General and ConGenOff on September 
15 prior to leaving for Pyongyang to attend the Pyongyang 
University of Science and Technology (PUST) opening 
ceremony, to be held in the DPRK capital on September 16. 
 
¶3. (C) President Kim told us that about two weeks ago, the 
DPRK authorities unexpectedly refused visas for all the 
Western media correspondents invited to the event although 
the DPRK left in place its invitation for South Korean media 
to attend the opening.  This was a surprise to President Kim 
since he had the impression that the DPRK was eager to 
publicize the event when PUST extended its initial 
invitations (reftel).  President Kim expressed disappointment 
that the ROK Unification Ministry ultimately declined to 
approve the participation of any South Korean media or, for 
that matter, many prominent South Koreans.  Kim said that 
over 100 South Koreans had hoped to make the trip, but the 
ROKG had pared down the number to roughly 25 individuals. 
 
¶4. (C) President Kim theorized that the Imjin River dam 
incident had made it politically impossible for the ROKG to 
authorize the travel despite the DPRK's expectation that, at 
a time of increased North-South activities, the South 
Koreans would indeed attend.  He also reported that the ROKG 
had pulled the plug on a PUST shipment of desks and other 
furniture from Incheon to Nampo.  Despite the DPRK's 
apparent desire for South Korean attention, President Kim 
noted once again that the DPRK preferred that professors 
taking up residence at PUST be non-South Korean or, 
preferably, of non-Korean ancestry. 
 
¶5. (C) President Kim's delegation is taking a USD 50,000 Air 
Koryo charter from Shenyang to Pyongyang on September 15 and 
will return to Shenyang on September 17.  After the opening 
ceremony, PUST plans to send a team of professors to settle 
in at the university by November in hopes of beginning 
instruction by spring 2010.  Two Korean-American professors 
who used to work for Bechtel are already resident in 
Pyongyang and are working in earnest on a curriculum for a 
just-approved MBA course as well as other offerings. 
 
¶6. (C) While President Kim has been known to get somewhat 
carried away with his embellishments, he claimed to us that 
three high-level DPRK officials had recently visited him at 
his offices in Yanji on three separate occasions to make 
similar points about their concerns on succession issues. 
First, they said Kim Jong-il's third son, Kim Jong-woon, has 
clearly been chosen as the successor.  Second, because Kim 
Jong-woon had spent most of his life overseas, many in the 
North Korean leadership questioned how a foreign-raised and 
-educated person could lead North Korea.  Third, though Kim 
Jong-woon was the nominal successor, these individuals and 
many in Pyongyang's elite were worried about how the actual 
succession events would play out in the event of Kim Jong- 
il's death.  Finally, they expressed their support for PUST 
as a possible bridge to the elite segment of the society. 
In a similar vein, President Kim claimed to have helped in 
the process of persuading the DPRK to release the two 
captured American journalists. 
 
WICKMAN