`SK mulled economic incentives to China for reunification`

WikiLeaks released Sunday 252,287 diplomatic telegram messages that the U.S. State Department exchanged with 270 foreign missions worldwide over the past three years, including those in South Korea.

The messages were generally classified as confidential for decades, and with their exposure en masse, they will likely deal a major blow to U.S. foreign policy. The documents released include a number of materials about the Korean Peninsula.

In a diplomatic telegram sent to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing on Nov. 3, 2007, the State Department expressed worry over North Korean missile parts set for shipment to Iran via China, and urged the Chinese government to curb the transfer.

Signed by then U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the telegram urged Beijing to block the transfer of missile parts to Pyongyang that could be used to make nuclear weapons.

The telegram also said the North and Iran had been regularly trading at least 10 types of parts, including “jet vein,” a missile steering device, through airliners such as Air Tokyo and Iran Air for an extended time. It said the U.S. recognized Shahid Bagheri Industrial Group as the trader of the deals.

In a telegram message dated Feb. 24 this year, Washington learned that Tehran introduced 19 BM-25 missiles from Pyongyang. The high-tech missiles can strike not only Moscow but also the capitals of most major European nations.

In a telegram sent to Washington in February, U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Kathleen Stephens said Seoul was considering offering incentives to Beijing to dispel the latter’s fears in preparation for a reunified Korean Peninsula.

“North Korea could collapse due to economic hardship and political uncertainty,” the message said. “South Korea is considering offering China economic incentives under the condition that Beijing accepts a reunified Korea once the North Korean regime collapses.”

In July, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent a “classified order” to missions to U.N. offices in New York, Geneva and Rome and 33 embassies and consular offices abroad to gather communication information, including passwords and encryption codes of networks used for official duty by top U.N. officials, including Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Information the State Department requested included credit card numbers, e-mail addresses, telephone and fax numbers, beeper and airline mileage numbers, and DNA, fingerprint and iris recognition data.

Washington also requested missions to gather information on how Ban operates his organization, how he makes decisions, and his influence at the U.N. secretariat.

yhchoi65@donga.com