VZCZCXRO2394
RR RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHSH #0220/01 3552336
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 212336Z DEC 09
FM AMCONSUL SHENYANG
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8941
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 0548
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC 0238
RHMFISS/COMUSKOREA J2 SEOUL KOR
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC 0187
RHHJJAA/JICPAC PEARL HARBOR HI 0088
RUCGEVC/JOINT STAFF WASHDC 0133
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC 0191
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0575

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SHENYANG 000220 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/K, EAP/CM, INR, PRM, DRL 
BANGKOK FOR REFCOORD 
MOSCOW PASS TO VLADIVOSTOK 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: TEN YEARS AFTER KOREAN UNIFICATION 
TAGS: CH KN KS PGOV PHUM PREF PREL RS SOCI
SUBJECT: PRC-DPRK BORDER: BRIBES SOFTEN LAWS ON REFUGEES, 
ORPHAN SCHOOLING 
 
REF: A. SEOUL 1170 
     ¶B. SHENYANG 142 
     ¶C. SHENYANG 119 
 
Classified By: Consul General Stephen B. Wickman.  Reasons 1.4(b/d). 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY: A new consulate contact with family ties to 
one of South Korea's more conservative and recognized DPRK 
defector NGOs reports that Chinese government and security 
officials are willing to turn a blind eye to their 
operations to shelter-in-place undocumented North Koreans 
who want to stay in China, requiring only modest bribes. 
Among other benefits, he says this allows "stateless 
orphans" and children of North Korean refugees to legally 
obtain Chinese residency rights and schooling.  Our contact 
said that the "underground railroad" of helping DPRK 
refugees escape to third countries was controlled by for- 
profit brokers, who could be severely punished if caught. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (U) ConGenOff traveled to Jilin Province's Yanbian Korean 
Autonomous Prefecture and Mudanjiang City in Heilongjiang 
Province December 6-15 to meet local contacts. 
 
CHINESE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS: MONEY TALKS 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (C) Tai Zhongyuen, a Yanji-based Sino-Korean pastor who 
is the brother-in-law of Seoul-based Free North Korea Radio 
founder and DPRK defector Kim Seong-min (Ref A) said that, 
in general, he no longer feared Chinese government or Public 
Security Bureau (PSB) interference in his work to help North 
Koreans.  He said the era when ideology reigned was long 
gone and Chinese bureaucrats were so money-huQry that now 
he could avoid penalties by paying "fines" or other fees, 
which some might view as bribes, to maintain safe operations. 
Tai said that he had been dealing with PSB officials since 
the late 1980s, when he first practiced Christianity in China, 
and that the change had occurred long ago. 
 
¶4. (C) Tai claimed that most Chinese laws dealing with 
assistance to North Koreans and religious outreach fell 
under public security nuisance laws and were punishable by 
fines.  This is a clear contrast to some financial crimes, 
fraud, and crimes against the state, which are covered by 
state security laws and punished via prison time.  He said 
that the penalties are only RMB 500-5000 for people merely 
helping and sheltering illegal North Korean aliens. 
However, if a local Chinese is arrested for assisting North 
Koreans with the ultimate goal of defection to a third 
country, prison time was probable and that refoulement was 
possible. 
 
"STATELESS ORPHANS" ATTEND SCHOOL AFTER SMALL BRIBES 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶5. (C) As for obtaining a "hukou," or residency permit, for 
a North Korean "stateless orphan," usually the child of a 
North Korean mother and a deceased or disabled Chinese 
father (Ref B), Tai said that it was a very easy and regular 
procedure.  During the week of December 7, one of Tai's 
church employees moved an 8-year old "stateless orphan" onto 
a Chinese hukou with a small bribe of RMB 200 (USD 35).  He 
said that the PSB did not take any money at all but that the 
Prefectural Education Department's Educational and Life 
Division asked for the payment of a "fine" for "late 
reporting of the child's birth/family adoption." 
 
¶6. (C) The Educational and Life Division first asked for a 
RMB 7000 fine, but the church employee coolly responded that 
there was no way on earth he could come up with that sum. 
Then the Department asked for RMB 1000, to which the church 
employee retorted that he could just drop the child on the 
steps of the Civil Affairs Bureau and declare the child a 
"ward of the state."  Then the officials lowered their 
asking fee to RMB 200, which the employee gladly paid.  The 
child is now attending school.  Tai said that money solved 
everything in China and that officials knew that it was in 
 
SHENYANG 00000220  002 OF 002 
 
 
their best interests to ask for and receive small bribes, 
rather than turn in people that they would not get credit for. 
 
BROKER NETWORK SHUTTLES NEW ARRIVALS 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶7. (C) Tai said that the defector network was firmly in the 
hands of "professionals" (Ref C) and that he rarely knew 
about or heard about new arrivals, saying that "the North 
Korean refugees know more than we do before even crossing 
the Tumen."  He said that the North Koreans he assisted 
were those who legally exited North Korea and were now 
violating the terms of their North Korean exit visa. 
He cited one example in which his church is working with 
a North Korean student who is a year overdue in returning 
home from Yanbian University.  He said that the penalties 
for returning late under such circumstances were not onerous. 
The worst penalty was time in a light labor camp.  Many 
get off with political reeducation, so he was trying to 
persuade this student to consider returning.  However, if 
the DPRK government alleges contact with South Koreans or 
third-country nationals other than Chinese, the penalties 
are harsher, Tai concluded. 
 
WICKMAN