TNAG-2669-FCO40-3866-Hong-Kong-Civil-Service-1993 — Page 304

mnmorris2804

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Reference

Mr Morris

Hong Kong Dept

HONG KONG AND NORTH KOREA

RECE

Ate

34811

*ISTRY

- 4 MAY 1993

telelett

EGISTRY Action Taken

10

Ja

IP

1. Please see Mr Reilly teleletter of 22 April to me, together with related papers attached for ease of reference. It concerns the possibility of Kim Chong-U, a North Korean Vice-Minister of External Economic Affairs, visiting Hong Kong to discuss with Hong Kong companies the possibility of reform-minded North Korean bureaucrats being sent there for management training and exposure to capitalist thinking. The British person involved in all this is a Seoul-based British consultant Mr Michell who is acting on behalf of several British companies in the expectation that commercial benefits will flow from cultivating the North in this way.

2. Our telno 155 of 22 February refers to an earlier possible visit by Hong Kong to Kim Chong-U. (Our file does not show whether anything further was forthcoming on this).

3. I should be grateful for advice on the visa point in para of TLUR. How should we best proceed?

4. At some point there will be opportunities for British and Hong Kong companies to do more business in North Korea, on the assumption that sooner or later the North will start to open up (or collapse). We would certainly wish to support anything that strengthened the hand of the liberals and reform-minded officials there. Kim Chong-un's visit to Hong Kong could help.

we

Warwick Morris

Far Eastern Department WH245

29 April 1993

270 3725

CC: Mrs Hay, RAD

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