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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 SEOUL 002018 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV MARR ECON KPAO KS US
SUBJECT: SEOUL - PRESS BULLETIN; December 30, 2009 
 
TOP HEADLINES 
------------- 
 
Chosun Ilbo, Hankook Ilbo 
Chung-Ang University to Cut Departments by Half 
 
JoongAng Ilbo 
ROK Materials Likely Reused by North's Military; Diversion of 
Light-Water Reactor Site Equipment Breaks Prior Agreement 
 
Dong-a Ilbo 
ROKG to Grant Permanent Residence to Overseas Koreans who Hold Local 
Real Estate or Bank Deposits Worth More Than 500 Million Won 
 
Hankyoreh Shinmun, All TVs 
Former Samsung Chairman Lee Gets Presidential Pardon 
 
Segye Ilbo, Seoul Shinmun 
Kumho Industrial, Tire to Seek Debt Workout Program 
 
 
DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS 
---------------------- 
 
According to the Unification Ministry and other sources, North Korea 
took ROK equipment and materials left from the halted construction 
work on light-water reactors from the site in Kumho, South Hamgyong 
Province, breaking a prior agreement with the Korean Peninsula 
Energy Development Organization (KEDO) to leave materials at the 
site. (JoongAng) 
 
 
INTERNATIONAL NEWS 
------------------ 
 
According to the Dec. 27 issue of The Washington Post, Pakistani 
Scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan claimed that North Korea may have been 
enriching uranium on a small scale by 2002, with "maybe 3,000 or 
even more" centrifuges. He went on to say that during a visit to 
North Korea in 1999, North Korean hosts showed him boxes containing 
components of three finished nuclear warheads, which he was told 
could be attached to missiles within an hour. (Chosun, JoongAng, 
Hankyoreh, Segye) 
 
According to Daily NK, an online newspaper focusing on issues 
relating to North Korea, Pyongyang recently issued a decree banning 
its citizens from possessing or using foreign currencies. (JoongAng, 
Dong-a, Segye, Daily NK) 
 
 
MEDIA ANALYSIS 
-------------- 
 
-N. Korea 
--------- 
All ROK media covered yesterday's report by North Korea's official 
Korean Central News Agency that North Korea has detained an American 
citizen for illegally entering the country, in an apparent reference 
to a Christian missionary who reportedly crossed into the North 
recently to bring international attention to Pyongyang's human 
rights violations. 
 
According to media reports, the North did not give his name or other 
details, and said that he entered the North on Dec. 24, not Dec. 25 
as a fellow human rights activist had originally claimed. 
 
In a related development, State Department Spokesman Ian Kelly was 
widely quoted as telling reporters on Dec. 28: "We are concerned by 
these reports and we're looking into them.  We don't have any 
independent confirmation about either the reports that he crossed 
over or about his whereabouts, and so we're seeking further 
information." 
 
 
SEOUL 00002018  002 OF 003 
 
 
Conservative Chosun Ilbo conjectured that North Korea may use (the 
detained activist) as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the 
U.S., as it did when it detained two American journalists in March. 
 
Moderate Hankook Ilbo and SBS TV replayed a Dec. 28 report by 
Japan's Kyodo News Agency that North Korea conveyed to the U.S. that 
it gives priority to signing a peace treaty replacing the current 
armistice over normalizing bilateral ties.  According to the Kyodo 
News report, the North relayed the message to Special Representative 
for North Korea Policy Stephen Bosworth when he visited the country 
earlier this month. 
 
Right-of-center JoongAng Ilbo gave top front-page play to a report 
claiming that North Korea took ROK equipment and materials left from 
the halted construction work on light-water reactors, breaking a 
prior agreement with the Korean Peninsula Energy Development 
Organization (KEDO) to leave materials at the (construction) site. 
According to the report citing the Unification Ministry and other 
sources, North Korea has taken 190 vehicles from the site in Kumho, 
South Hamgyong Province, and 93 pieces of heavy equipment, including 
cranes and excavators, and is likely using them for military 
purposes. 
 
FEATURES 
--------- 
 
ROK MATERIALS LIKELY REUSED BY NORTH'S MILITARY 
(JoongAng Daily, December 30, Front page) 
 
By Reporter Lee Young-jong 
 
Diversion of light-water reactor site equipment breaks prior 
agreement 
 
North Korea has reused equipment and materials left from the halted 
construction work on light-water reactors, breaking a prior 
agreement with a multinational organization that oversaw the botched 
construction project. 
 
According to the Unification Ministry and other sources, North Korea 
has taken 190 vehicles from the site in Kumho, South Hamgyong 
Province, and 93 pieces of heavy equipment, including cranes and 
excavators, and is likely using them for military purposes. 
 
Sources said thousands of tons of steel bars and cement and 
communication devices are also being used by the North. 
 
In late 2005, the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, 
also known as KEDO, stopped construction of non-military nuclear 
reactors in the North.  The work had begun in August 1997 as part of 
the 1994 Agreed Framework between the United States and North Korea. 
 Under the terms of the agreement, Washington said it would build 
two reactors in the North in exchange for Pyongyang's agreement to 
freeze all nuclear weapons activities. 
 
But in October 2002, the United States said it had obtained 
intelligence that the North had been operating a clandestine program 
to produce highly enriched uranium to develop weapons and the U.S. 
State Department said North Korea admitted to doing so.  By January 
2003, the North withdrew from the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. 
KEDO suspended its construction in November 2003. 
 
Two years later, KEDO's board decided to terminate the construction 
project, which was about 30 percent complete.  In December 2005, 
North Korea asked KEDO workers to leave the country and said they 
would not be allowed to repatriate equipment and construction 
materials. 
 
At the time, KEDO and North Korea had agreed to leave materials at 
the site. Most belonged to ROK subcontractors, and they had planned 
to sell off some of it to make up for financial losses stemming from 
the halted work. 
 
In 2003, after KEDO first suspended construction, the North said it 
 
SEOUL 00002018  003 OF 003 
 
 
would not allow the transfer of equipment unless it received 
compensation.  A government official here said, "The North moved the 
equipment before we could even address the compensation issue, and 
that's clearly in violation of our agreement.  It can even be 
regarded as stealing." 
 
In January 2006, the Roh Moo-hyun Administration in Seoul said the 
North had pledged to store the materials and that it expected the 
North to honor its word.  Despite suspicions that the North had used 
some of the equipment in preparation for their second nuclear test 
this year, the current Lee Myung-bak Administration has also 
remained silent. 
 
But intelligence sources tell a different story. 
 
They said the North started using equipment almost immediately after 
KEDO's withdrawal and that the North Korean military was involved. 
 
"North Korea is trying to keep South Korean and KEDO officials from 
going near the construction base," one source said.  "Recent 
satellite photos of the site show that hundreds of the black covers 
that were used to conceal materials are mostly gone." 
 
Sources estimate equipment and materials are worth about 46 billion 
won ($39 million).  The ROK, one of the founding members of KEDO, 
spent $1.1 billion on the construction project. 
 
 
STEPHENS