Report, Embassy of Hungary in North Korea to the Hungarian Foreign Ministry

On 24 April of this year, Soviet Ambassador [Nikolay Georgievich] Sudarikov invited the Mongolian, GDR, Czechoslovak, Polish and Hungarian ambassadors as well as the Bulgarian chargé d’affaires to a working luncheon, and provided them with the following information about [Zhou Enlai’s visit in the DPRK]:

On his request, on April 16th Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Jae-bong [Kim Jae Bong] received him (Sudarikov), and on the basis of a pre-prepared, written document, provided him with the following official information, [asking him] to forward it to the Soviet government (Comrade Sudarikov noted it down and told it word for word to the persons present at the luncheon):

The issue of a high-ranking Chinese delegation visiting Korea in 1970 was first raised during Choe Yong-geon’s visit in Beijing last fall. As early as that time, the Chinese side stated that the Chinese delegation invited [by the North Koreans] would be headed by Zhou Enlai, but [they added] that the date [of the visit] was to be discussed later. In late March 1970, the Chinese side said that Zhou Enlai was ready to visit Pyongyang, but, due to his extensive occupation with domestic affairs, only for a short time, that is, for 3 days.

[…] Since the visit was brief, they had no time to discuss many issues. They focused their attention to the relationship of the two countries, particularly to the following four issues:

1) the joint utilization of border rivers;

2) the work of the Joint Council that had been established for the joint operation and utilization of the hydropower plants built on the border rivers;

3) the necessity of [signing] a long-term trade agreement;

4) the question of the citizenship of the Korean and Chinese national minorities living on each other’s territory.

(Concerning the first issue, Cde. Sudarikov interjected the remark that Kim Jae-bong had referred to the “dikes and shipping,” by which he meant the following: some of the dikes which the Chinese side recently built on the border rivers deprive Korea of the natural water output of the rivers and thus hinder the utilization of the latter, while the other dikes, during heavy raining, expose the Korean villages and areas to flooding and inundation; at the same time, both types of the Chinese dike systems hinder shipping on the border rivers.)

[…]

During the talks they also discussed the situation in Indochina, namely, the situation that American imperialism had created in Cambodia. Discussing this issue did not take a long time during the negotiations [emphasis in the original]. “Since the DPRK is far from Cambodia and we (Koreans) are not wholly familiar with the situation there, we listened to what the Chinese told us about this question. During the talks and in the joint communiqué, we (Koreans) acknowledged that the Cambodian coup d’état, which had been carried out by American imperialism, constituted a serious threat to the real interests of the Cambodian people.” The two sides assured of their support for the Cambodian people’s struggle for security and independence, and they also assured of their support for [Head of State of Cambodia] Prince Sihanouk’s declaration of March 23.

[…]                

Jenő Sebestyén      

(ambassador)