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81616 10/12/2006 15:12 06BUCHAREST1573 Embassy Bucharest CONFIDENTIAL 06BUCHAREST1544|06STATE153860|06STATE169418 VZCZCXRO7141 RR RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR DE RUEHBM #1573/01 2851512 ZNY CCCCC ZZH R 121512Z OCT 06 FM AMEMBASSY BUCHAREST TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5336 INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BUCHAREST 001573

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DEPT FOR EUR/NCE AARON JENSEN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/11/2016 TAGS: MNUC, PREL, PARM, KNNP, KN, RO SUBJECT: ROMANIA: DEMARCHE DELIVERED ON NORTH KOREA NUCLEAR ANNOUNCEMENT

REF: A) STATE 169418 B) BUCHAREST 1544 C) STATE 153860

Classified By: Political Counselor Ted Tanoue for Reasons 1.4 (b) and ( d).

1. (C) In the absence of FM Ungureanu, Ambassador and Polcouns delivered ref A demarche to MFA State Secretary Adrian Vierita October 11. Vierita prefaced his remarks by noting that the Romanian government had responded to Ambassador's previous demarche (ref B) by issuing a strong official statement on October 9 that condemned the DPRK nuclear test; aligned Romania with the international community in calling for firm measures to guarantee regional and global peace and stability; and urged Pyongyang to engage sincerely and actively in the six-party talks. In response to demarche request for support for a Chapter VII UNSC resolution, Vierita responded that he would like to see a "strong and robust" UNSC resolution adopted and implemented by member states. He said that the MFA had also sent instructions to Romanian diplomatic missions worldwide instructing diplomats to be alert on the issue and reminding them of the official Romanian position regarding the DPRK nuclear test. Vierita said that he expected the issue to come up at the upcoming GAERC in Brussels, and said that the Romanian delegation in Brussels would work closely with EU partners on the issue. He added that he had just spoken with the Romanian Ambassador to Brussels, who had reported on a meeting with EU CFSP High Representative Javier Solana. Solana reportedly counseled a "firm but calm" response to the DPRK provocation. Ambassador thanked Vierita for the helpful GOR statement. In closing, Vierita asked whether the USG could share any independent confirmation (e.g. such as radiological data) that the North Koreans had actually detonated a nuclear device.

2. (C) DCM and Polcouns also raised the issue with Senior Presidential Office Advisor Sergiu Medar October 11. Medar said that President Basescu had been kept informed of developments on the Korean peninsula, and said that he would pass on the substance of the demarche to the President. Medar without prompting also raised the issue of Romanian shipping companies flying DPRK flags of convenience (ref C), noting that the North Korean nuclear test provided impetus for resolving the issue. Medar said that Romanian authorities had been dealing with the issue up to now on a case-by-case basis, focusing on neighborhood administrative scrutiny of individual ships flying the DPRK flag. He suggested that Romanian authorities might be open to more far-reaching legislative remedies, and requested additional guidance from the USG side on model legislation and government regulations that the Romanians might usefully emulate. He shared that, from his perspective, the political setting was now favorable for legislative steps in the wake of the nuclear test.

3. (C) In an October 11 meeting with the MFA Director for Non-Proliferation, Arms Control and Counter-Terrorism Dan Neculaescu, Polmiloff delivered the same demarche and urged Romania to review the full range of its relationship with North Korea and take actions to increase dramatically economic and diplomatic pressure. Neculaescu said he understood the point (i.e., the issue of DPRK flagged vessels in Constanta).

4. (U) The text of the MFA statement of October 9 follows:

Begin Statement.

Romania takes note with deep concern of the news about the nuclear test carried out by the Democractic Peoples Republic of Korea in the morning of October 9, 2006, and considers this gesture an unacceptable act.

Romania firmly condemns the declarations of the Pyongyang authorities regarding the conducting out of the test, considering that this new serious provocation against the international non-proliferation region requires firm measures on the part of the international community to guarantee regional and global peace and stability.

Romania considers the decision by the DPRK to exercise force, to include testing nuclear weapons, blatantly contradicts the commitments undertaken by Pyongyang authorities on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, while at the same time defying repeated calls by the international community for a peaceful solution to regional security issues.

In conformity to its international commitments, to the

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provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 1695, and to its own principles and norms of conduct in the area of non-proliferation, Romania urges the Pyongyang authorities to put an immediate end to the measures and actions of proliferation and to engage sincerely and actively in the Bejing six-party negotiations, in the spirit of the Joint Declaration of September 19, 2005.

Romania expresses its complete availability to act together with other international actors, principally from the European Union, for a solution to the proliferation issues of the DPR Korea. End Statement. Taubman