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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 SEOUL 001869 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV MARR ECON KPAO KS US
SUBJECT: SEOUL - PRESS BULLETIN; November 27, 2009 
 
TOP HEADLINES 
------------- 
 
 
Chosun Ilbo 
Top U.S. Intelligence Official S-e-c-r-e-t-l-y Visits ROK 
 
JoongAng Ilbo, Dong-a Ilbo, Segye Ilbo, Seoul Shinmun 
Law Barring Sex under Pretense of Marriage 
Ruled Unconstitutional 
 
Hankook Ilbo 
Proposal Reduces Foreign Language High School Status; 
Choice is between Abolition or Cut in Size 
 
Hankyoreh Shinmun 
Shortly before Launch of Lee Myung-bak Administration, Ruling GNP 
Rep. Chung Doo-un Allegedly Demanded Tax Probe Files on President 
Lee from Then Head of National Tax Service 
 
 
DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS 
---------------------- 
 
According to an ROKG source, U.S. National Intelligence Director 
Dennis Blair made a s-e-c-r-e-t visit to the ROK from Nov. 22-24 to 
discuss Seoul's deployment of troops to Afghanistan. The top U.S. 
intelligence official is also said to have met President Lee 
Myung-bak. (Chosun) 
 
An ROKG official, meanwhile, said that Seoul is considering sending 
about 300 police and military personnel to protect civilian workers 
in Afghanistan but that the number could increase, depending on 
security conditions in the war-torn country. (Chosun, Hankyoreh) 
 
A senior ROKG official yesterday indicated the possibility of 
Seoul's cash payments for tours to Mt. Kumgang violating UN 
Resolution 1874 against North Korea. This is the first time that an 
ROKG official has taken issue with Seoul's cash payments for 
cross-border tours. (All) 
 
Unification Ministry Spokesman Chun Hae-sung, in a related 
development, said that the ROKG could consider changing the payment 
method if necessary when the two Koreas begin talks about resuming 
the tours. (Chosun, Dong-a) 
 
According to the Unification Ministry, the two Koreas will take a 
joint tour through industrial complexes in China and Vietnam next 
month to seek ways to improve the Kaesong Industrial Complex north 
of the border. (All) 
 
 
MEDIA ANALYSIS 
-------------- 
 
-Aid for Afghanistan 
--------------------- 
Conservative Chosun Ilbo gave above-the-fold, front-page play to a 
report claiming that U.S. National Intelligence Director Dennis 
Blair made a s-e-c-r-e-t visit to the ROK to discuss Seoul's 
deployment of troops to Afghanistan.  The report quoted an ROKG 
source, saying: "Blair visited Seoul from Nov. 22-24 and met all key 
foreign affairs and security officials. ... He briefed them on a 
U.S. plan to send reinforcements to Afghanistan and the situation 
there, and discussed how many Korean troops should be sent there and 
when." 
 
Another (ROKG) source was also quoted: "Blair also shared 
information about the North Korean nuclear issue, but the main 
purpose of his visit was to talk about Afghanistan." 
 
-Chinese Currency 
----------------- 
 
SEOUL 00001869  002 OF 003 
 
 
An editorial in right-of-center JoongAng Ilbo hailed China's Vice 
Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun's recent press remark, "China will 
increase the flexibility of the RMB exchange rate at a controllable 
level in the future," as a step in the right direction.  It went on 
to say: "China's long-standing 'weak yuan' policy, along with the 
overconsumption in the U.S., has been criticized for disrupting the 
world economy.  In order to resolve the global financial crisis and 
to remove the imbalance in the world economy, the appreciation of 
the Chinese currency is becoming inevitable." 
 
 
 
OPINIONS/EDITORIALS 
------------------- 
 
BOSWORTH'S VISIT TO N. KOREA AND INTER-KOREAN RELATIONS 
(Kyunghyang Shinmun, November 27, Page 31) 
 
By Yan Moo-jin, Professor at the University of North Korean Studies 
 
U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy Stephen Bosworth 
visits Pyongyang on December 8.  His visit to North Korea seems to 
have a two-fold meaning.  First, it is the first official meeting 
between the two countries since the launch of the Obama 
Administration, i.e. a special U.S. envoy goes to Pyongyang for 
high-level talks at the North's official invitation.  Second, this 
heralds the start of U.S.-North Korea talks.  This visit is being 
made after sufficient prior coordination between the participants of 
the Six-Party Talks excluding North Korea; accordingly, it can be 
said that official talks have begun to resolve the North Korean 
nuclear issue. 
 
Current Administration's Approach to North Korea Is Too Passive 
 
The core issues of concern are who Ambassador Bosworth will meet and 
what he will talk about during his stay in Pyongyang.  Ambassador 
Bosworth is expected to meet with Kang Sok-ju, the North's First 
Vice Foreign Minister; Kim Yang-gon, Director of the United Front 
Department of the North's Workers' Party; Kim Yong-nam, President of 
the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly; and North Korean 
military leaders.  Whether he will meet North Korean leader Kim 
Jongil is also an issue of great attention.  The fact that Pyongyang 
invited Ambassador Bosworth for a visit increases the possibility of 
his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.  Under the current 
situation, their meeting is needed for both the U.S. and North 
Korea.  The U.S. needs to ascertain the North Korean leader's will 
to return to the Six-Party Talks and to denuclearize.  North Korean 
leader Kim Jong-il, for his part, needs to demonstrate to the U.S. 
that he is in direct control of the North Korean nuclear issue and 
U.S.-North Korea relations.  Especially, he needs to show that he is 
in good health and runs the country without difficulty. 
 
Experts have various viewpoints on U.S.-North Korea talks (which 
will be held during Bosworth's visit to the North.)  It seems that 
the U.S. wants the bilateral talks to be contact limited to bringing 
the North back to the Six-Party Talks.  Meanwhile, North Korea is 
attaching weight to the one-on-one bilateral talks themselves. 
However, the bilateral talks are likely to be a forum of 
communication where both sides talk frankly by putting all agenda 
items on the table.  We may expect good results from U.S.-North 
Korea talks.  Given the past record, when North Korea invited a 
special envoy (to talks), the two sides achieved tangible results. 
The North is expected to agree to return to the Six-Party Talks and 
to observe the September 19 Joint Statement and the February 13 
Agreement.  The U.S. is expected to allow North Korea's State 
Symphony Orchestra to perform in New York again and consider easing 
sanctions against the North in a forward-looking way. 
 
What matters are relations between the two Koreas.  The ROKG's 
proposal to send 10,000 tons of corn to North Korea has met with 
derision from North Korea.  Controversies over the corn aid result 
from: 1) mistrust between the two Koreas; 2) North Korea' pride; and 
3) the ROKG's lack of strategy.  Since North Korea requested the ROK 
to provide even humanitarian support, it seems that (a mere) 10,000 
 
SEOUL 00001869  003 OF 003 
 
 
tons of corn aid hurt the North's pride.  If the ROKG had demanded 
that the North monitor where the corn aid will go, it would have 
been more humiliating.  Moreover, the exchange of gunfire near 
Daechong Island and the ROKG's lack of strategy cast a gloomy shadow 
over the ROKG's corn aid proposal. 
 
Many experts believe that the ROKG takes too passive an approach to 
North Korea.  If the U.S. moves to improve its relations with the 
North, some ROK people will call for caution.  When a civilian 
(Hyundai Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun) reached an agreement with North 
Korea (on resumption of Mt. Kumgang tour project), some people 
disregarded the agreement, questioning the nature of a deal signed 
by a civilian.  This negative attitude does not contribute to 
coexistence and prosperity of the two Koreas and greater peace on 
the Korean Peninsula.  The ROKG should realize that a civilian may 
be able to undertake a job it cannot (fulfill) and (that) better 
inter-Korean relations will lead to improvements in negotiations 
over the North Korean (nuclear) issue.  Without any change in its 
attitude, even if Bosworth's visit brings about good results, the 
Lee Myung-bak Administration will remain sidelined (when it comes to 
the) Korean Peninsula issue. 
 
 
FEATURES 
-------- 
 
U.S. INTELLIGENCE CHIEF PAYS S-E-C-R-E-T VISIT TO SEOUL 
(Chosun Ilbo, November 27, Front page) 
 
By Reporter Lim Min-hyuk 
 
(Dennis Blair,) the U.S. national intelligence director, paid a 
s-e-c-r-e-t visit to Seoul early this week to discuss Korea's 
dispatch of troops to Afghanistan, it emerged on Thursday.   Blair 
oversees 16 intelligence agencies including the CIA. 
 
"Blair visited Seoul from Nov. 22 to 24 and met key foreign affairs 
and security officials, including Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan, 
Defense Minister Kim Tae-young, National Intelligence Service 
Director Won Sei-hoon, and Cheong Wa Dae staff," a government source 
said.  "He briefed them on a U.S. plan to send reinforcements to 
Afghanistan and the situation there, and he also discussed how many 
Korean troops should be sent there and when." 
 
Another source said Blair also shared information about the North 
Korean nuclear issue, but the main purpose of his visit was to talk 
about Afghanistan.  Blair reportedly paid a visit to President Lee 
Myung-bak but a Cheong Wa Dae official refused to confirm this. 
 
Director Blair regularly participates in the strategic meetings on 
Afghanistan that are presided over by President Obama. 
 
Foreign affairs and security-related Cabinet members met to discuss 
matters raised in the meetings with Blair as well as (issues) from a 
recent report compiled by a government fact-finding mission to 
Afghanistan.  The meeting's participants also talked about 
dispatching troops to Afghanistan and establishing a Provincial 
Reconstruction Team there. 
 
Another government official said the meeting covered sending some 
300 troops as security guards, though the number "could increase a 
little depending on the security situation there." 
 
(This is a translation prepared by the newspaper.  We have compared 
the English version on the website with the Korean version and added 
some sentences to make them identical.) 
 
 
STEPHENS