US embassy cable - 03HANOI2617

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 002617 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR L/EAP JIM HERGEN, EAP/K, EAP/RSP AND EAP/BCLTV 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, PREF, VM, KO, HUMANR, DPRK 
SUBJECT:  DPRK REFUGEE INCIDENTS IN VIETNAM 
 
 
1.  (U)  Summary: Vietnam remains a link in the overland 
route taken by North Korean refugees on the way to Cambodia 
and Bangkok, as shown by two recent DPRK refugee-related 
incidents at USCG Ho Chi Minh City (septels).  End summary. 
 
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US MISSION ENCOUNTERS WITH DPRK "REFUGEES" 
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2. (SBU) A group of seven North Korean refugees recently 
contacted an AMCIT couple in Ho Chi Minh City, who spoke 
with visiting Hanoi Poloff on October 10.  The couple, along 
with a South Korean tourist they had "met by chance" in 
their guest house, said they had already visited the South 
Korean consulate to see about getting the reportedly 
destitute and lost North Koreans some assistance.  They were 
told by ROK officials the North Koreans would "have to wait" 
because there were "many" North Koreans in Ho Chi Minh City 
looking for assistance already. 
 
3.  (SBU) Poloff advised the AMCIT couple and their South 
Korean companion that the only representative of the UNHCR 
in Vietnam was located in Hanoi, and that the GVN had in the 
past deported undocumented migrants claiming to be North 
Koreans who attempted to seek refugee status in Hanoi, or 
who had invaded third-country Embassies trying to claim 
asylum there.  Poloff also warned the couple that 
participating in any illegal activity by or on behalf of the 
North Koreans would put them at risk of arrest by the 
Vietnamese police.  The three travelers left the Consulate 
General with the declared intention of trying to find a 
Korean business, church, or charity that could provide 
assistance. 
 
4. (SBU) In another incident, at 0130 on October 14, a man 
claiming to be a North Korean national attempted to scale 
the fence at ConGen HCMC.  The attempt was unsuccessful and 
the subject was led away by police.  It is not known if 
there was any relationship between the attempt and the visit 
to ConGen HCMC by the AMCIT couple above. (Details to be 
provided SEPTEL from HCMC.) 
 
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VIETNAM ONLY A TRANSIT STOP FOR NORTH KOREANS? 
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5. (SBU) South Korean and Japanese Embassy officials, 
representatives from the International Organization for 
Migration, and major western news outlets such as the 
Washington Post confirm that Vietnam is on the overland 
route often taken by North Korean refugees fleeing south. 
According to the Washington Post, the North Koreans pass 
illegally through Vietnam en route to Cambodia or Thailand. 
From there, according to ROK Pol/C Baek, they can often 
connect with an international refugee organization or a 
Korean charity and get to South Korea or Japan.  Baek and 
IOM stated that the Vietnamese government generally does not 
take much note of North Korean refugees unless they cause a 
disturbance or generate "political difficulty" by attempting 
to apply for refugee status or asylum while in Vietnam.  In 
that case, they said, the North Koreans would be returned to 
the country from which they entered Vietnam, meaning China. 
 
6. (SBU) Vietnamese border officials in Mong Cai, a crossing 
point into China, confirmed the GVN's policy to Poloff 
during a visit there October 2.  When asked what they would 
do if they encountered North Korean refugees at the border, 
the police said they would return them to China "in 
accordance with Vietnamese laws."  The office of UNHCR in 
Hanoi noted that North Koreans who come to UNHCR in Hanoi to 
seek refugee status would receive the same treatment from 
UNHCR as any other nationality, but would have to contend 
with the fact that the GVN will allow them to stay in 
Vietnam only if they have proper and current immigration 
documents. 
 
7. (SBU) The reality is less harsh than the law, noted Baek. 
If the refugees do not stop or draw attention to themselves, 
he said, they can pass through Vietnam and into Cambodia 
without being molested.  "Korean church groups" and 
"charities" helped the refugees along the way to UNHCR 
offices in Phnom Penh and Bangkok, he said. 
 
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BUT ARE THEY REALLY NORTH KOREANS? 
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8. (SBU) Baek noted that there is one other dimension to the 
issue of North Koreans in Vietnam.  The reception given to 
successful refugees, particularly in South Korea and Japan, 
has motivated ethnic Koreans of Chinese nationality to 
pretend to be North Koreans in order to procure the benefits 
they perceive the actual DPRK refugees as receiving, he 
said.  The actual trip from North Korea to Vietnam is so 
difficult and expensive, he added, that it was virtually 
impossible to accomplish without assistance and almost never 
attempted alone.  As a result, genuine North Korean refugees 
were well aware of the dangers of coming to the "official 
attention" of the GVN and therefore did not attempt to 
contact UNHCR or third-country Embassies.  He said that the 
ROK Embassy in Hanoi had concluded that individuals and 
groups that attempted to request asylum while in Vietnam 
were not, in fact, North Korean, but rather ethnically 
Korean citizens of the PRC from northeastern border regions 
who were only claiming to be from North Korea.  On hearing 
about the incident at CG HCMC in the early morning of 
October 14, he said he felt strongly that this was a Chinese 
national pretending to be North Korean. 
 
9. (SBU) Mission intends to handle any potential DPRK asylum 
seekers the way it would handle asylum-seekers from any 
other country, by referring them to the UNHCR office in 
Hanoi.  We are aware, however, that individuals seeking 
asylum in Vietnam are rarely using legal documentation, and 
therefore are at high risk of deportation back to their 
point of entry - in the case of DPRK asylum seekers, China. 
BURGHARDT