Journal of Soviet Ambassador to the DPRK A.M. Puzanov for 26 November 1957

from the journal [faded stamp:

of A. M. PUZANOV 15555-gs        

13 November 1957]

[faded stamp: Nº 15555gs

27 [[December]] 1957]

USSR EMBASSY IN THE DPRK         TOP SECRET

Nº 302   Copy Nº 1  7 December 1957

[faded stamp:

03217s

28-29 December 1957]

JOURNAL

of Soviet Ambassador to the DPRK A. M. PUZANOV

for the period 26 November through 13 December 1957

[handwritten: to Cdes. Samsonov, Surkov, and Nikitin

for familiarization

N. Tor[benkov]

30 December]

[illegible signature;

30 December 1957]

Pyongyang

26 November 1957

I received GDR Ambassador Fischer at his request and had a conversation with him.

At the beginning of the conversation Cde. Fischer asked my opinion about a meeting of ambassadors concerning the issue of contacts not only among ambassadors but also among other embassy officials.

Supporting the need to expand contacts among other embassy officials I expressed doubt about convening of a special meeting of ambassadors to discuss this issue. I suggested exchanging opinions with the ambassadors without calling a special meeting on this issue.

Cde. Fischer completely agreed with the opinion I expressed.

At Cde. Fischer's request I told about the Soviet Union's fulfillment of its obligations to give free economic aid to the DPRK as of 1 October 1957.

Responding to Cde. Fischer's question, I told about the terms of the Soviet-Korean agreement about the Korean side's purchase of wood in the area of Komsomol'sk.

Then Cde. Fischer asked if there is any agreement about the Soviet Union giving aid to the DPRK in the organization of catching fish in the winter with the aid of Soviet ships.

I replied that no such agreement had been concluded between the two countries.

At the end of the conversation Cde. Fischer said that during the visit to Cde. N. S. Khrushchev Cde. Kim Il Sung had declared the intention of the Korean Worker's Party and the Korean government to bring the production of cotton and silk fiber to 17 meters per capita by the end of the five-year plan. Special importance is being attached to increasing the production of rayon fabric. I asked Cde. Fischer in passing if he knew anything about the results of the visit to the GDR by the Korean specialist in the area of rayon production equipment.

Cde. Fischer replied that he did not yet know of any results from this trip  and that he only knows that three such specialists were in the GDR, including two this year and one as part of a Korean government delegation. Cde. Fischer promised to clear up this question with his trade representative and report at the next meeting. At the same time Cde. Fischer reported that at the present time talks are being held between the leader of a group of GDR specialists in the city of Hamhung and the Korean side about further construction plans of the city of Hamhung. The ambassador promised to inform me of the results of the talks.

The conversation was translated by GDR Embassy interpreter Richard [Binert].

Embassy Attaché M. Kurbatsky was present at the conversation.

[…]

I participated in a reception at the Czechoslovak Embassy on the occasion of the visit of a parliamentary delegation and a delegation of the city of Prague.

Nam Il reported that today he received a Japanese delegation of representatives of the Japanese-Korean Friendship Society. Then Nam Il reported that he had received a collection of articles, "The October Revolution and the National Liberation Movement in the Countries of Asia and the Orient", published for the 40^th anniversary of Great October by the CPSU CC Academy of Social Sciences. An article by Kim Seung-hwa, "The October Revolution and the National Liberation Movement in Korea" was published in this collection. Nam Il said, we do not understand why the article of Kim Seung-hwa was published inasmuch as he is a participant of the anti-Party group which acted [vystupivshaya] last year on the eve of the August CC Plenum.

I told Nam Il that I knew nothing about the collection and that I am hearing about the collection from him for the first time. However, it is not completely clear, why does the appearance of an article by Kim Seung-hwa surprise you? Kim Seung-hwa was sent to study at the Academy of Social Sciences by the KWP CC, he is a member of the KWP CC, and no KWP CC decisions about his anti-Party activity are yet known.

Nam Il replied to this question that, as far as he knows, the secretary of the Embassy Party organization in Moscow was at the secretary of the Party organization of the Academy and told about the undesirability of the appearance of an article by Kim Seung-hwa in this collection.

Inasmuch this was about Kim Seung-hwa I asked Nam Il, what are the facts of the traitorous activity of Kim Seung-hwa in construction inasmuch as he was given such a characterization in the report by Pak Geum-cheol, but no facts and evidence were cited?

Nam Il limited himself to a general argument, but also cited no facts.

I noted that I did not at all understand that on the one hand Kim Il Sung expresses an opinion that Kim Seung-hwa stay in the Soviet Union and not return to the DPRK, and on the other that both in the press and at the Plenum he is described as a vile traitor to the revolution.

Nam Il replied that evidently the issue of Kim Seung-hwa's not returning to the DPRK is being dropped.

Nam Il asked my opinion about the advisability of convening the ambassadors for information about the results of the KWP CC Plenum inasmuch as a report by Pak Geum-cheol about an improvement in capital construction was published in the newspapers.

I replied to Nam Il that only one report was published in the press but the decision about an improvement in capital construction has not been published. The Plenum's decision about organizational issues was also not published. In my opinion convening the ambassadors to [provide] information is advisable.

Nam Il agreed.

26 November 1957

I visited Nam Il at his invitation. Nam Il informed [me] that the KWP CC Presidium had heard Kim Il Sung's report about the trip of the Party-government delegation to Moscow for the celebration of the 40^th anniversary of Great October and had approved the work done by the delegation. All Presidium members were completely satisfied and very content with the results of the meetings of the delegation leadership, especially the meetings with Cdes. N. S. Khrushchev and Mao Zedong. The Presidium decided to convene a KWP CC Plenum on 5 December at which Kim Il Sung's report about the results of the trip, the results of the conferences held in Moscow, and the Declaration and the Peace Manifesto which were adopted will be heard. [The following] are being invited to the Plenum: ministers and other senior officials of national agencies, the chairmen of provincial and district Party committees and people's committees, and also all our ambassadors abroad. An expanded meeting of the YeDOF and a session of the Supreme People's Assembly will be held after the Plenum.

The issue of the time of arrival in the DPRK of a Chinese government delegation headed by Zhou Enlai is being tentatively examined. The Presidium came to the conclusion that the most convenient time will be April-May.

The Party conference will evidently be held in February of next year.

In reply to my question of when Kim Il Sung plans to visit China and North Vietnam, Nam Il said that it will apparently be in October-November 1958.

On behalf of Kim Il Sung Nam Il delivered a lunch invitation for 29 November to me, Counsellors Kryukov, and Shesterikov, Military Attaché D'yakonov, and MFA official Torbenkov in connection with the return of the Party-government delegation from Moscow. He then asked who else ought to be invited.

I advised inviting Deputy GKEhS Representative Botsin, and Nam Il agreed.

In the conversation with me Nam Il reported in strict confidence that during two meetings in Moscow between Kim Il Sung and Mao Zedong at which Kim Chang-man and he, Nam Il, were also present, much attention was devoted to Peng Dehuai's trip to the DPRK in September of last year (see my telegram Nº 655 of 27 November 1957).

During the second conversation with Mao Zedong Kim Il Sung said that Peng Dehuai had come to his dacha and had a long conversation. Mao Zedong replied: it is good that Peng Dehuai went to you. He has not yet managed to report to me about the conversation with you. But I have to tell you that Peng Dehuai does not always speak the truth, and therefore not everything that Peng Dehuai says is the opinion of the CC. What he, Mao Zedong, says is the opinion of the CPC CC.

Nam Il also reported that at the present time the MFA is preparing a letter about an invitation to a Soviet Party-government delegation to visit the DPRK in 1958. A letter is being prepared to the USSR Council of Ministers about the establishment of VCh communications. With regard to the annual delivery of 5,000 tons of cotton from the Soviet Union our delegation which is presently in Moscow has been charged with officially raising this issue in talks at the conclusion of the trade agreement.

In accordance with the advice which was given in a conversation [by] Cde. N. S. Khrushchev I recommended that Nam Il also prepare an official letter from the DPRK Council of Ministers to the USSR Council of Ministers.

Nam Il agreed.

USSR AMBASSADOR IN THE DPRK

[signature] (A. PUZANOV)

Five copies printed

1 - Gromyko

2 - Fedorenko

3 - Kurdyukov

4 - Solodovnik

5 - to file

Nº 728

28 November 1957

gk