Journal of Soviet Ambassador in the DPRK A.M. Puzanov for 29 March 1960

USSR EMBASSY IN THE DPRK [faded USSR   TOP SECRET

MFA stamp:                     Copy Nº 3

Nº 70 0832s

2[0] April 1960 22 April 1960]

[Handwritten notations:

to [[illegible name] and

G. Ye. Samsonov]

JOURNAL

of Soviet Ambassador in the DPRK A. M. Puzanov for the period

25 March through 11 April 1960

Pyongyang

[…]

29 March 1960

I received Hungarian Ambassador Karoly Prat at his request.

Karoly Prat provided information that during the trade talks about mutual deliveries of goods for 1960 the Korean friends persistently sought the delivery of 50,000 tons of flour from the VNR to the DPRK. Karoly Prat said, our delegation replied that there is no grain in Hungary for export. The needs of the population of our own country are just met by our own production. However, in connection with the persistent request of the Korean side our government agreed to the delivery of 20,000 tons of wheat flour to the DPRK by July through reexport from capitalist countries. At the insistence of our side the Korean side agreed to deliver [the following] for these 20,000 tons of flour: 200 tons of copper, 100 tons of copper wire, 5,000 tons of steel blooms, 6,000 tons of ammonium nitrate, one ton of silver, and 500 kg of gold.

In turn, I told the Ambassador that the Soviet Union is supplying the DPRK with 140,000 tons of bread grain this year at the request of the Korean friends. It is known that they have conduced the purchase of bread grain in China, Vietnam, and other countries. This is evidently explained by the fact that last year the gross grain harvest plan was considerably underfulfilled and the gross grain harvest was actually somewhat less than in 1958. In addition, last year the officially-listed average number of manual laborers and office workers rose by more than 40%. These circumstances have evidently forced the Korean friends to make purchases of bread grain in considerably larger quantities than in past years.

Then Karoly Prat provided information that the Korean side has in the meantime made requests for the delivery of 38,000,000 rubles of equipment for the mining industry, including 18 hoists for mines, compressors, fans, turbines, diesels, etc. against the credit of 50-100,000,000 rubles offered by Hungary at their request.

I thanked the Ambassador for the information.

xxx

I visited deputy KWP CC Chairman Pak Jeong-ae [Pak Jong Ae] (Kim Il Sung has not worked since 25 March [because] of the flu and an aggravation of kidney disease) and at the instruction of Moscow informed [her] of the conversation held between the Soviet ambassador in Belgrade and SKYu CC members Vukmanovic and Vlahovic.

Pak Jeong-ae thanked the CPSU CC for the information.

In the conversation which took place Pak Jeong-ae briefly provided information about the state of preparations or the spring planting and the progress of the restructuring of the methods of leadership and Party political work of district Party committee in connection with Kim Il Sung's instructions which were given them at the plenum of the Kangso district Party committee.

For my part I said that the deliveries of Korean goods to the Soviet Union is going slowly in the first quarter. In connection with this our Trade Representative, I. A. Gladkov, has decided to visit First Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers Kim Il and talk to him in detail about the progress of deliveries and also ask Kim Il to take the necessary steps to speed up the deliveries.

[…]

USSR AMBASSADOR IN THE DPRK

[signature]

(A. PUZANOV0

Five copies printed

1st - to Cde. A. A. Gromyko

2^nd - to Cde. Yu. V. Andropov

3^rd - to the USSR MFA DVO

4^th - to Cde. I. I. Tugarinov

5^th - to file

Nº 241 12 April 1960

Drafted by Puzanov

Typed. at.