Journal of Soviet Ambassador in the DPRK A. M. Puzanov for 3 July 1958

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Copy Nº 3

[faded USSR MFA stamp:

Incoming Nº 01894s

27 July 1958]

USSR EMBASSY IN THE DPRK

Nº 145

11 July 1958

[handwriting: "copy to Samsonov

Examine Cde. Kim Il Sung's requests about

machines for irrigation work;

deliveries of timber need to be monitored (with

GUEhS [[Main Directorate for Economic Relations]]) - also

22 July 1958"]

[followed by two illegible addressees]

JOURNAL

of USSR AMBASSADOR IN THE DPRK A. I. PUZANOV during the period

3 to 5 July 1958

Pyongyang

3 July 1958

I and a delegation of the USSR Ministry of Higher Education in the DPRK were received by Deputy Chairmen of the KWP CC Cdes. Pak Geum-cheol [Pak Kum Chol] and Kim Chang-man.

In the course of the conversation Cde. Mordinov, Rector of Yakutsk State University and leader of the delegation, and all the remaining delegation members told of their impressions about [their] visit to the DPRK and expressed a number of comments and ideas about the training of personnel for the republic's economy.

Mordinov said the delegation's plan of work was drawn up with the expectation that it would be familiarized in advance with the progress of the development of the industry, agriculture, and culture of the DPRK in order to find out for themselves these sectors' needs for highly-skilled personnel and the resulting problems for the republic's higher educational system in organizing teaching, educational, and scientific research work. The full delegation visited the metallurgical plant in Hwanghae, the Hungnam plant, the Pyongyang textile works, and the Pyongyang concrete products plant. It visited construction projects in the cities of Pyongyang, Hamhung, Wonsan, and Kaesong; familiarized itself with the Anju irrigation system; visited a number of agricultural cooperatives, an industrial and agricultural exhibition, museums, and cultural monuments. Familiarization with the progress of socialist development made the opportunity for the delegation to correctly approach the study of the operation of the country's system of higher education easier.

The full delegation also visited and held general conversations with the teaching staff of eight higher educational institutions.

During the week delegation members dealt with one of the higher educational institutions in accordance with their specialty and work experience. Consultations were held in higher educational institutions about the planning and organization of scientific research work; conversations were held about the organization of teaching and educational work in higher educational institutions and technical schools; an exchange of work experience was conducted about the training of scholars, about the organization of independent work by students, and about the organization of the ideological and political work of the teaching staff and students.

Several lectures were given for instructors and students which were warmly greeted by the audience.

Delegation members expressed the following wishes in the course of the conversation:

In order to further improve the quality of the training of specialists and raise the level of scientific research work of higher educational institutions steps need to be taken to considerably strengthen their educational laboratory resources. In particular, for this purpose it is advisable to make broader use of the school workshops at a number of institutes.

It is advisable to solve the problem of training scholars through correspondence graduate courses.

Kim Chang-man noted that the problem of correspondence graduate courses is already being decided.

Pay special attention to increasing the economic training of graduates of higher educational institutions and technical schools.

Scientific and engineering personnel need to be trained in communal services in connection with the broad expansion of urban and rural construction and in order to more successfully solve the problems of public health amenities.

It is advisable to solve the problem of training specialists with a secondary and higher education in the specialties of production automation and instruments in the near future.

in order to improve the practical training of specialists with a secondary technical education it is advisable to take steps to strengthen the training workshops in technical schools.

A further increase in aid to improve the skills of instructors in social sciences is advisable, providing them with even more favorable conditions to create works about still-unexplored issues of Korean history, and the history of philosophical and social thought[,] and on issues of language and literature. Higher educational institutions in the Soviet Union also need these works.

Professor Mordinov, the leader of the delegation, expressed gratitude for the warm reception and the cordial meetings during the delegation's stay in the DPRK,

Noting the usefulness and need for such an exchange of experience between higher education officials, Kim Chang-man completely agreed with the comments and suggestions expressed by delegation members.

The leader of the delegation and I also thanked Cdes. Kim Chang-man and Pak Geum-cheol for the attention they showed our delegation.

At the end of the conversation I told Kim Chang-man that I am taking advantage of the occasion to find out when I could count on receiving an article from the KWP CC leadership for our journal, "Partiynaya Zhizn'". I also said that it would be advisable to time the publication of this and also a number of other articles to the celebration of the 10^th anniversary of the formation of the DPRK.

Kim Chang-man replied that an article would be ready by the end of July.

Present at the conversation were Ri Dong-yong, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs; Ha Ang-cheon, Chief of the KWP CC Science Department; Tyan Ik Hwan [sic], Deputy Minister of Culture and Education; and V. L. Rozanov, Embassy interpreter.

[…]

USSR AMBASSADOR IN THE DPRK

(A. PUZANOV)

[Distribution list follows; the first few words of

each line off the page]:

Five copies Authenticated: [illegible signature]

Cde. A. A. Gromyko

Cde. Yu. V. Andropov

Cde. M. V. Zimyanin

Cde. I. I. Tugarinov

to file

7 July 1958

Puzanov

Akulicheva