US embassy cable - 03OTTAWA1323

C O N F I D E N T I A L OTTAWA 001323 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/09/2013 
TAGS: PREL, KNNP, KN, CA 
SUBJECT: NORTH KOREAN REPROCESSING: CANADA WILL RAISE 
CONCERNS WITH DPRK 
 
REF: STATE 114597 
 
Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Brian Flora, 
Reasons 1.5 (b) and (d). 
 
1. (C) Canada shares our strong concerns about North Korean 
statements on reprocessing spent fuel (reftel), and plans to 
convey those concerns directly to DPRK officials at the UN 
and in Beijing.  Political Director Jim Wright told Political 
Minister Counselor on May 7 that he will also suggest that 
Foreign Minister Graham make a public statement about 
Canadian concerns in connection with the G-8 Foreign 
Ministers meeting in Paris later this month.  The South 
Korean Ambassador had met with Wright earlier that day, and 
asked how the G-8 meetings in Paris and Evian would deal with 
North Korea.  In preparation for the G-8, Wright asked if we 
could provide him readouts on the Roh and Koizumi visits to 
Washington as well as reactions to our demarche in other 
capitals. 
 
2. (C) Wright said that Canada has exactly the same objective 
as the U.S. for North Korea - a complete, verifiable, and 
irreversible termination of the nuclear program.  He worried 
that the verification regime put in place in the 1990s, which 
was the best we could do at the time, hadn't been sufficient. 
 Wright asked if we have seen any physical evidence yet that 
reprocessing has started back up.  He had seen intelligence 
reports on activity around the Yongbyon facility, but 
wondered if there was more. 
 
3. (C) Wright also said that Canada would continue to push in 
multilateral fora to bring pressure to bear on the DPRK.  He 
noted that the Canadian delegation to the NPT PrepCom was 
encouraging other delegations to be more vocal on North 
Korea.  The Canadian team had been asked by the Hungarian 
Chair to draft a factual summary of proceedings, which they 
were doing.  He noted that this was not ideal, but was 
probably the best outcome possible as divergent views on 
North Korea precluded a meaningful declaration. 
CELLUCCI