The Political Situation in Korea during the Period of Military Operations

[Stamp]: USSR MFA

SECRETARIAT of

Cde. GROMYKO

Incoming Nº 7556-ag

11 August 1950

USSR Embassy in       SECRET

Korea       Copy 1

18 July 1950

Nº 253

TO DEPUTY MINISTER OF THE USSR MINISTRY OF
FOREIGN AFFAIRS

[Stamp]:

Secretariat of Vyshinsky

SECRET

Incoming Nº 9334-v

11 August 1950

to Cde. A. A. GROMYKO

We are sending a memo "The Political Situation in Korea during the Period of Military Operations" with the following attachments:

Kim Il Sung's address of 26 June

Kim Il Sung's address of 8 July

Pak Heon-yeong [Pak Hon Yong]'s statement of 1 July

The 26 June appeal of the CC of the United Fatherland Front

ATTACHMENT: per the text in 64 pages,.

USSR AMBASSADOR IN KOREA

/signature/

T. SHTYKOV

[[Scrawled handwriting

partly off the page]:

Kurd[yukov?]…

to give a statement ]]

3 copies. mp

1^st to the address[ee]

3^rd to file

Drafted by Petukhov

[Handwritten]:

Statement of the CC…

in file N 725

(illegible signature)

Attachment […] Nº 1868s

of 12 August 1950

Secret

Copy Nº 3

The Political Situation in Korea During THE PERIOD OF Military Operations

On 25 June, an internecine war launched by the South Korean puppet regime of Syngman Rhee broke out in Korea. The South Korean authorities invaded the territory of North Korea but were repulsed by the People's Army, which then went over to a counteroffensive along the entire front and inflicted a crushing blow on the South Koreans.

The report of the start of military operations was greeted by the population of North Korea with complete calm, without any excesses or displays of panic. The calm of the people was demonstrated by its confidence in the forces of the People's Army and the strength of the people's democratic system. Large spontaneous demonstrations appeared everywhere at which the population protested the provocative attack of the South Koreans and demanded that the enemies of the people be answered blow for blow.

"The entire responsibility for the internecine war,” declared worker Hawn Un Gir [Han Eun-gil] at a demonstration of workers at a Pyongyang sugar mill, "rests with the traitorous clique of Syngman Rhee. We have every means of defending the successes of the democratic reforms achieved in the northern part of the republic."¹ At the demonstration, priest Pak Gi-hwan declared, "The Syngman Rhee clique has wrecked the peaceful unification of our Motherland, which is the desire of all the Korean people, for their personal interests and in the interests of their American imperialist masters and launched an internecine war. We should respond to this crime through combat and defend our Motherland. Those who believe in the republic will rise together with all the people to fight the Syngman Rhee clique."²

¹ The 26 June 1950 issue of the newspaper Rodong Sinmun

² The 7 July 1950 issue of the newspaper Minju Joseon

On the morning of 26 June, Kim Il Sung, Chairman of the DPRK Council of Ministers, addressed the people by radio. He gave a profound analysis of the situation, denounced Syngman Rhee and his clique as enemies of the Korean people and perpetrators of an internecine war in Korea, and exposed the anti-national goals of the military adventures of the South Koreans. Kim Il Sung gave the workers, peasants, partisans, and soldiers specific tasks resulting from the military situation. In conclusion, he called upon the people to rally around the DPRK Government in order to more rapidly defeat the armed forces of the puppet clique of Syngman Rhee and his police state and win a victory which would ensure the unification and independence of Korea.

The speech of Kim Il Sung roused the people and army even more to fight for the destruction of the Syngman Rhee regime. Confidence in victory characterized the mood of all sections of the working population of North Korea. The population has calmly continued its business in spite of the military situation. Efforts at new construction sites have not been halted and in Pyongyang and in other cities, workers have continued to rebuild streets and to prepare to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the liberation of Korea. Even the markets have not reacted to the change of the situation: prices have remained at the previous level.

With the start of military operations, the most dangerous reactionary elements were isolated and the rest of the reactionaries, subdued by the unexpected fact of the retreat and collapse of the South Korean army, did not exhibit any activity.

By a 26 June Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of Korea, a Military Council was created under the chairmanship of Kim Il Sung in whose hands all power in the country has been concentrated for the duration of military operations. The Military Council included Kim Il Sung, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, and his deputies Pak Heon-yeong, Hong Myeong-hui [Hong Myong Hui], and Kim Chaek [Kim Chaek]; Choe Yong-geon [Choe Yong Gon], Minister of National Defense; Pak Il-u [Pak Il U], Minister of Internal Affairs; and Jeong Jun-taek [Jong Jun Thaek], Chairman of Gosplan.

On 26 June, a plenum of the CC of the United Democratic Fatherland Front was held, which discussed the situation which had been created in the country as a result of the outbreak of war. The plenum approved the measures taken by the DPRK Government in connection with the war and adopted an appeal to all political parties and public organizations and the entire Korean people to rise up to the defense of the Korean People's Democratic Republic and help the People's Army defeat the Syngman Rhee regime.

Having repelled the attack of the South Koreans, the People's Army had moved 20-25 km south of the 38^th parallel by the morning of 26 June and liberated the cities of [Ongjin], Gaeseong, [Baekcheon], and others. After a fierce battle on 27 June, the troops of the People's Army seized the city of Uijeongbu, a strongly fortified position on the approaches to Seoul, and on the same day, engaged in battles on the outskirts of the capital. Seoul was completely liberated on the morning of 28 June. Kim Il Sung congratulated the Korean people on the liberation of the capital of the Motherland by radio and expressed gratitude to the soldiers of the People's Army.

The successful offensive of the People's Army and especially the liberation of the capital of Seoul caused an unprecedented political upsurge and general rejoicing of the people. At numerous rallies on the occasion of the liberation of Seoul, the population of North Korea greeted the People's Army and expressed confidence in the rapid completion of the country's unification. It was clear to the people that the South Korean army had been defeated, the South Korean government administrative apparatus had crumbled, and that the South Koreans had fled in panic. The people saw that the Syngman Rhee regime was collapsing and that the war launched by this regime would soon end in the complete victory of the people's democratic system.

The American armed intervention sharply changed the situation, bringing the Korean people new and difficult tests.

On 27 June, President Truman announced that American armed forces were being sent to Korea to support the South Korean army. On the same day, at the bidding of the Americans, the Security Council approved the aggressive actions of the United States and called upon UN members to give armed assistance to the Syngman Rhee regime. A broad campaign of slander and threats was unleashed against the Korean People's Democratic Republic. Japanese and American radio stations were switched over to molding Korean public opinion, trying to intimidate the Korean people and stifle their ability to resist the invaders.

On 29 June, American aircrafts made the first air raid on Pyongyang after which raids on undefended cities of North Korea became systematic. A large raid on Pyongyang was made on 4 July. The city of Nampo was subjected to strong bombardment on 7 and 8 July. And an even stronger air strike was launched on the city of Wonsan as a result of a series of raids on 8, 11, 13, and 14 July. There are many casualties among the civilian population in all the cities, which were bombed.

Statements of the Security Council in support of the Syngman Rhee regime, radio propaganda of the United States and countries dependent on it, the American intervention, and especially the American air raids had a serious effect on the morale of the Korean people.

The residents of the cities that were bombed (Pyongyang, Wonsan, Nampo, and [Hamheung]) began to leave en masse for the mountains or to the countryside. The normal operation of enterprises in these cities has been disrupted. During the first days of the bombing, at several enterprises in Nampo and Wonsan, just 30-40% of the workers remained. In succeeding days, many workers returned to the plant. The enterprises continue to function although their productivity has been sharply reduced. Industry is basically operating normally in areas not hit by American raids.

After the first raids of American aircrafts, fear spread among the population that Korea would not cope with the American invaders without the armed assistance of the Soviet Union and China.

Such sentiments also affected part of the senior DPRK officials. Some of them began to cautiously express uncertainty in victory and dissatisfaction that North Korea had found itself with few aircrafts for protection from American air raids. Succeeding events - the successful advance of the People's Army, the growth of the Korean people's hatred of the American invaders, the statements of the Soviet Government and the international movement of protest against the American intervention in Korea - exerted a beneficial effect on the mood of the DPRK leadership, which had soberly assessed the situation and increased its activity to mobilize the people to defeat the American interventionists.

The American intervention inspired Korean reactionaries. The South Koreans began to rally together, defeat units, and increase resistance to the People's Army. Hostile elements also began to stir in North Korea. Without deciding to act openly, they primarily engaged in spreading false rumors. For example, a rumor was launched that the Americans would drop atomic bombs on North Korea in the event that the People's Army did not halt the offensive. A provocative rumor was spread on 4 and 5 July that the Soviet Government had issued an ultimatum to halt the intervention in Korea by 7 July. Reactionaries from the Protestant community became more active, and Protestant clerics called upon the people to seek refuge in Protestant churches, which they said the Americans would not bomb. Many merchants stopped trading and paralyzed the private market. The DPRK government took repressive measures against part of the private merchants, but this did not produce a marked improvement in the condition of the private market. Valuable manufactured goods have disappeared from the market, and a majority of food products have doubled or tripled in price.

The fighting spirit of the population, which was shaken by the U.S. intervention and especially by the aerial bombing, was again bolstered after an attack by the People's Army, which had been held up by the water barrier of the The Han River, developed with new force and after the first attack, was launched against American units south of Suwon (5 July). On 11 July, the People's Army launched a new serious attack on American troops at the approaches to the [Geum] River, destroying an infantry regiment and 15 enemy tanks. This victory inspired the Koreans, convinced that the vaunted American technology is not able to contain the offensive of the People's Army. In the first battles, the American troops exhibited poor combat readiness and low morale, in spite of their level of technical equipment. The American soldiers surrendered in groups without offering serious resistance. This all strengthened the Koreans' confidence in achieving victory.

The American armed intervention and the bombing of peaceful cities and villages by American aircrafts further intensified the Korean hatred of Americans. On 1 July, Pak Heon-yeong, DPRK Minister of Internal Foreign Affairs, vigorously protested the U.S. intervention in the name of the DPRK Government and the entire Korean people and expressed confidence that it would be indignantly condemned by all the peoples of the world.

On 14 July, a Commission of the CC of the United Democratic Fatherland Front was created to investigate the atrocities of the American interventionists and the South Koreans and to ascertain the damage that they had caused. The commission included representatives of political parties and organizations, prominent public figures, and officials of Korean science, culture, and the arts.

Protest demonstrations against the American intervention and the barbarity of the American air pirates are occurring throughout all of Korea. The people are expressing determination to take revenge against the American interventionists and completely expel them from Korea. At a demonstration at the industrial institute in Pyongyang, student Kim Dae-hun [De Hun], expressing the common opinion of the students, declared "We are deeply indignant at the American armed intervention and are ready to launch a crushing blow on the overseas invaders, who are infringing on the liberty and independence of our motherland."³ An Seon-un [An Sen On] a worker at the Pyongyang electric light bulb plant, declared at a workers' demonstration, "No one can deprive us of happiness and liberty. We will give all our efforts to the defense of our motherland and our rights³".

³ The 7 July 1950 issue of the newspaper Minju Joseon

On 1 July, a mobilization into the army of all citizens born between 1914 and 1932 was announced throughout the entire territory of the DPRK.

On 4 July, Kim Il Sung was appointed Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the DPRK People's Army by a Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly. This appointment was greeted by the people as being appropriate: the leader of the government had become the head of the armed forces at a dangerous moment for Korea. On 8 July, Kim Il Sung gave an address to the people and the army via radio in which he unmasked the imperialist goals of the American armed intervention in Korea and called upon the people to defend the Motherland. Kim Il Sung summed up the results of the offensive of the People's Army and gave a high appraisal of the combat operations of individual troop arms. He noted that the Korean people and its army have everything necessary to completely defeat the interventionists and outlined the ways to achieve victory, pointing out that winning the freedom and independence of Korea is the cause of the Korean people themselves. Kim Il Sung's speech promoted a lift in the fighting spirit of the population and an increase in the aggressive spirit of the People's Army.

A volunteer movement has developed broadly throughout the entire country, both in the North and in the South: workers, peasants, students, and the intelligentsia are making collective statements about going to the front. On 6 July, the number of volunteers was 400,000; on 8 July, 665,000; and as of 11 July, already 745,000 (513,270 of them men and 231,730 women). The formation of volunteer units has begun.

The patriotic upsurge is giving rise to mass examples of labor heroism, especially among rail transport workers. For example, during the depot's bombardment by American aircrafts, engineers of the [Sophenyang] Depot dispersed four locomotives located next to one another, as a result of which two locomotives were saved and the two others were damaged but quickly repaired. Efforts to restore the Hamheung railroad bridge destroyed by American aircrafts have been conducted continuously for three days, and this very important bridge was repaired in record time thanks to the selfless labor of the workers.

The population is gradually becoming accustomed to and adapting to wartime conditions. The flight from the cities hit by air raids has dropped. Discipline has increased on the factory floor. The workers are guarding production sites and population centers, keeping an eye on blackout measures, and organizing the rapid extinction of fires and the repair of facilities, which have been destroyed.

The democratic press of Korea plays an important role in the matter of mobilizing the masses to defeat the American interventionists and their South Korean agents: Minju Joseon, the organ of the DPRK government; Rodong Sinmun, the organ of the Labor Party CC; Joseon Minbo, the organ of the Democratic Party, and newspapers and magazines of various patriotic parties and public organizations. With the outbreak of war, all the press has been completely turned into performing wartime tasks (exposing the true goals and nature of the American intervention, propagandizing the liberation mission of the People's Army, instilling militant patriotism, mobilizing the masses to aid the front and to reorganize the economy in accordance with military needs, and popularizing the labor and military deeds of the people). Correspondents of national newspapers and a number of writers and poets have been sent to the front and the liberated areas in order to more fully describe the situation.

However, it ought to be noted that the Korean press is not yet coping with the tasks which have been given it in connection with the war. Its insufficient political maturity, the poor degree of training of its personnel, and the lack of experience in working in military conditions are reflected in the work of the press. The newspapers have not still taken on the military tone required by the war. The question of the mobilization of material resources to pursue the war is being insufficiently, widely, and clearly raised. Easily understandable, stirring forms of presenting materials are not being sought, which call for an inflammation of hatred of the American invaders. Writers and poets are not very attracted to working in newspapers. Some important topics are tardily and poorly covered (for example, the situation in the liberated areas, land reform in the South, etc.). All this reduces the mobilizing value of the press.

The DPRK government and the CC of the Labor Party are taking energetic measures to organize economic and political life in the liberated area of South Korea.

As individual areas are liberated senior personnel are being sent there to organize government and establish public order: the leaders of local People’s Committees and Committees of the Labor Party, the chiefs of the local police, authorized representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and others. These personnel are being selected from among South Korean Labor Party officials, who were in North Korea for training and also from among Labor party activists and People’s Committees of North Korea.

Local government bodies are being created in liberated areas partly by appointment, partly by elections at meetings of the population. A statute is being developed about holding an indirect system of elections to local, district, and city People’s Committees with open voting in all liberated areas. Such a system will be temporarily introduced by virtue of the special conditions, which had developed in South Korea.

The People’s Committees of the liberated areas are organizing economic and political life at the local level, mobilizing local resources for the needs of the front, aiding the People’s Army, and assisting preparations to carry out land reform.

Besides senior officials, more than 1,900 agitprop workers were sent to the liberated areas through Labor Party channels, pursuing work among the population to expose the goals of the American intervention in Korea, propagandizing the people’s democratic system, and explaining the tasks of the population in connection with the war.

According to a decision of the Labor Party CC, provincial and district Party committees are being restored in the liberated areas. Besides officials sent by the Labor Party CC, they include local Party officials coopted after coming out from the underground, released from prison, or having returned from partisan detachments. Party members are being registered, and local Party organizations are being reconstituted.

It ought to be noted that representatives of the DPRK Government and the Labor Party in the liberated areas have encountered great difficulties, which developed as a result of the lengthy police terrorism activity of the Syngman Rhee regime and its malicious and slanderous propaganda against the DPRK.

The South Koreans have managed to intimidate and deceive the people to a considerable degree. In many places, when units of the People’s Army approached, the population fled south from the population centers, fearing the atrocities about which South Korean propaganda had shouted. For example, [Chan Che], the Labor Party CC Representative in the city of [Chuncheon], reported on 6 July that villages on the way to [Chuncheon] were completely deserted and that only a few people were left in [Chuncheon] itself. The remaining population are acting cautiously, except for workers and the working peasantry. However, as the People’s Army advances and order is established in liberated territories, this cautiousness of the intimidated sectors of the population gives way to sentiments of active support for the measures of the DPRK Government.

In spite of the ferocious terror against democratic elements and the insidious means of South Korean propaganda against the DPRK and the Labor Party, the South Koreans have not managed to kill the sympathies for the people’s democratic system among the most steadfast part of the South Korean public - industrial workers, the democratic intelligentsia, and the working peasantry. For example, in Seoul, the city population, guided by democratic elements, organized a grand welcome for the units of the People’s Army, which had liberated the capital. The festive receptions for units of the People’s Army also occurred in a number of other places in South Korea.

Thanks to the active support of workers and the progressive intelligentsia in the liberated cities, normal life is being quickly restored, local bodies of people’s power are being created, and local resources are being mobilized to help the front.

In Seoul, the South Koreans blew up bridges over the [Han] River and cut high-voltage lines during their retreat, as a consequence of which telephones, streetcars, and the water supply ceased to function. All the locomotives were taken south. A large part of the gold reserve and other valuables were taken from the bank. The South Koreans left a large number of spies, saboteurs, and terrorists in the city itself and armed bands in the outskirts of Seoul.

Labor Party activists released from prison restored the People’s Committee and Party organizations following the entry of the units of the People’s Army into Seoul. [Ri Seung-yeop], DPRK Minister of Justice, who had been appointed Chairman of the Provisional People’s Committee of the city of Seoul, arrived in Seoul on the same day, and on 29 June, a group of DPRK deputy ministers arrived to organize corresponding departments. On 30 June, a group of DPRK police officials [arrived]. Deputy Prime Minister Pak Heon-yeong left for Seoul on 10 June [Translator's note: SIC; the date was circled in the text].

The Provisional People’s Committee of the city of Seoul was formed mainly from Labor Party officials. Two deputy chairmen of the Provisional People’s Committee were appointed from the Popular Republican Party and Democratic Independence Party.

The Provisional People’s Committee has begun tireless activity to organize the political and economic life of the capital, combat hostile elements, and organize aid to the front.

Food is the most burning issue for Seoul as it is for the other liberated cities. There turned out to be no food reserves in the South. The Provisional People’s Committee introduced a food ration card system beginning 2 July for workers, specialists, and government employees, and also for members of their families.

Municipal services were restored within several days as a result of the energetic measures taken by the Provisional People’s Committee with the support of the working population of Seoul. The street cars began operating on 29 June and the water system on 30 June. The crossings over the [Han] River were quickly restored thanks to the labor heroism of the railroad workers.

The situation in Seoul has been completely normalized at the present time. Institutions and stores are operating and the textile and tobacco mills and a number of small enterprises have been started up. Mass protest demonstrations are going on in the city against the American intervention. The youth of Seoul are heading to the front voluntarily.

The Seoul radio station has operated normally from the first day of liberation. The Joseon [Tongsin] state agency created from three private agencies, which served the Syngman Rhee regime - [Hapdong Tongsin, Hanguk Tongsin, and Gonglip Tongsin] - oversees radio broadcasting. The agency is headed by a representative of the Korean Central Telegraph Agency.

The powerful Seoul radio station (50 kilowatts) is used to broadcast to areas of South Korea which have not been liberated and abroad. Statements have been organized on Seoul radio by leaders of right-wing political parties of South Korea and the members of the National Assembly of South Korea, who remained in liberated territory and who are declaring support for the DPRK government. The statements of Kim Gyu-sik, a prominent Korean figure and leader of the League of National Independence; [Jo So-ang], leader of the Socialist Party and member of the National Assembly; [An Jae-hong], former Chief of the Civil Administration of South Korea; [Eom Hang-seop], leader of the Independence Party (Kim Gu’s party), and others ought to be noted among these statements.

Statements by captured officers and soldiers of the American and South Korean armies, which condemn the intervention of American imperialism and their participation in it, are also being systematically transmitted over the radio. Besides radio, the texts of such statements are circulated among soldiers of the American and South Korean armies in the form of leaflets.

[The following] newspapers are being published in Seoul beginning on 2 July: [Haebang Ilbo], the organ of the Labor Party committee, and Joseon [Inminbo], the organ of the Provisional People’s Committee. The Constitution of the DPRK and the speeches of Kim Il Sung and Pak Heon-yeong were published in full in the first issues of these newspapers.

Seoul printing houses have been switched to the printing of agitprop materials: appeals from DPRK authorities, leaflets for the population of areas not yet liberated and soldiers of the American and South Korean armies, materials on land reform, etc. Portraits of Cdes. Stalin and Kim Il Sung are being duplicated and distributed.

Four theaters have been operating in the city since 4 July. The Soviet films “The Fall of Berlin”, “Meeting on the Elbe", “The Battle of Stalingrad”, “Aleksandr Matrosov”, “Young Guard”, “Konstantin Zaslonov”, “The Defeat of Japan”, and the Korean film “My Motherland” have been shown in them.

The rapid restoration of public order in Seoul is having a favorable influence on the mood of the Seoul population and increases the authority of the bodies of DPRK authority.

The successes of the People’s Army have promoted a revival of the partisan movement in South Korea. The partisan movement, which arose in 1948 in connection with the uprising on the island of [Jeju-do] and in the city of [Yeosu], gradually spread to many areas of South Korea and became the most widespread in the autumn of 1949. From the statements of those close to Syngman Rhee, who were arrested in liberated territory, the broad scale of the partisan movement prevented the government of Syngman Rhee from carrying out a prepared plan to attack North Korea in the summer of 1949.

Accordingly, on the advice and with the aid of the Americans the government of Syngman Rhee undertook several punitive expeditions in the winter and spring of 1950, forcibly resettled peasants from areas of partisan operations, and devastated these areas, trying to isolate the partisans from the population and to completely destroy them.

The South Koreans did not manage to eliminate the partisan movement in spite of the most savage measures taken against the partisans. However, the partisan movement was dealt a serious blow as a result of the punitive expeditions of regular troops and the main cadres of the partisans were killed and the population was terrorized and intimidated.

Amphibious assault groups were landed in the enemy rear at the start of military operations in coastal regions (in [Gangneung, Samcheok, Uljin] and in other places), which then linked up with local partisans and began operations in the rear of Syngman Rhee’s army. For example, on 28-29 June, members of the assault force and partisans in the area of [Gangneung-Samcheok] blocked the path of retreating South Korean units and dealt them a crushing blow: more than 600 were taken prisoner, more than 700 were killed and wounded, and much equipment was captured⁴.

⁴ A 1 July 1950 report of the High Command of the People’s Army.

The partisans again became active in a mainly partisan area, in the mountains of [Jiri] (the cities of [Geochang, Hamyang, Sancheong, Hapcheon, and Jinju]).

The partisans destroyed bridges and roads, paralyzing the enemy rear in the areas of the cities of [Sobaeksan, Chupunglyeong] and the outskirts of Taegu and in many other places.

It is impossible to reconstruct a complete picture of the struggle of the South Korean partisans for lack of information from areas of partisan operations. But even Japanese and American information sources note that the South Korean partisans represent a great force, which the American interventionists are forced to take into consideration.

There are a considerable number of hotbeds of partisan struggle in the provinces of North and South Gyeongsang and North and South Jeolla.  However, up to now, partisan detachments have limited themselves to attacking local police stations, destroying roads and bridges, and killing traitors to the nation, and not engaging in battle with South Korean or American military units. This is explained by the weakness of the partisan detachments, a majority of which are small, poorly-armed, and poorly connected to the local population. Partisan actions have not yet grown into a national movement in the rear of the South Korean or American armies.

The prestige of the Soviet Union has grown even further during the war days.

Never have the Korean people listened to the voice of the Soviet Union so avidly as in the war days. For them, the reports of the powerful actions [vystupleniya] of the Soviet people against the American intervention in Korea were invaluable moral and political support. The Korean public heartily welcomed the statement of Cde. Gromyko, which exposed the illegality of the decisions of the Security Council on the Korean issue and which condemned the armed intervention of the United States in Korean affairs as an act of imperialist aggression against the Korean people. The statement of the Soviet Government about non-recognition of the naval blockade of Korea was greeted by the Korean people with especial appreciation.

The Korean people are, on the whole, soberly assessing the situation and approve the position of the Soviet Union, which is trying to prevent the outbreak of a new world war. The Korean people are filled with gratitude to the Soviet Union for the enormous aid, which has helped them gain important successes in the struggle for the unification, independence, and democratic development of Korea. It is clear to the Korean people that without the aid of the Soviet Union the economy of the DPRK would not be able to support the People’s Army with everything needed for victory.

Hatred of Americans has increased in the broadest sectors of the Korean people as never before along with a growth in the prestige of the Soviet Union. Better than any other means, the ordeals of the war have convinced the Koreans that the American imperialists are the most evil enemies of Korea, striving to enslave the Korean people and not stopping at the most savage means of killing the civilian Korean population.

The American imperialists have not managed to intimidate the Korean people with open armed intervention. Hatred of the imperialist invaders is lifting the Korean people to an ever more vigorous struggle for their freedom and independence.

The continuing offensive of the People’s Army is sustaining a confidence in the people that the war will soon end with the complete expulsion of the interventionists from Korea and the victory of the Korean People’s Democratic Republic.

Counselor of the USSR Embassy in Korea

/signature/

(A. Ignat’yev)

First Secretary of the Embassy

/signature/

(V. Petukhov)

Pyongyang

17 July 1950

3 copies mp/lo

1^st - Cde. Gromyko

2^nd - Cde. Grigor’yan

3^rd - to file

[handwritten]:

AVP RF

f. 0102. op. 6, p. 21, d. 47, pp. 85-97, pp. 29-40

18 July 1950