Report from Etre Sándor, 'The visit of Korean first secretary Kim Yun-gil'

Record

Subject: The visit of Korean first secretary Kim Yun-gil

Kim Yun-gil, the first secretary of the DPRK’s embassy in Budapest visited me on May 17 at my request. I informed him of the following issues:

1) Comrade Bencsik István, the chief secretary of the National Council of the People's Patriotic Front, sent an invitation by mail to Comrade Kang Ryang-uk, the president of the Central Comittee of the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland. He is inviting a two-member delegation of the sister organization for a ten-day visit to observe the activities of the People's Patriotic Front in June or September of 1972. If the delegation is arriving in June, they will have the opportunity to participate in the Hungarian events of the "Korean Fighting Month".

At the same time, the National Council of the People's Patriotic Front would like to send a two-member delegation to the DPRK in the second half of the year.

I said that the original letter, which also discusses other fields of collaboration between the two sister organizations, will be handed over to Comrade Kang Ryang-uk by our embassy in Pyongyang.

2) I informed him about the request made by the DPRK's International Travel to our Pyongyang embassy about Korean tourists travelling to Hungary, and pointed out that we are trying to reach a positive solution with IBUSZ.

3) I informed the Korean diplomat about the letter sent to Comrade Rostás by the chief secretary of the South Korean Red Cross. I pointed out that the Hungarian comrades are well aware that the Red Cross negotiations between North and South Korea would not have been possible if not for the efforts of the DPRK, and if the preparatory discussions yield results, that is above all the fruit of the consistent efforts of the Korean comrades.

I stated that according to our standpoint well known by the Korean comrades themselves as well, we do not have any relations with South Korea and as such, do not intend to reply to the South Korean letter.

Comrade Kim Yun-gil welcomed the information and promised to report home the contents of the first and third points. He added the following remark to the third point: He knows that the Hungarian People's Republic consistently supports the DPRK's fight for reunification and only upholds relations with the DPRK. He expressed his utmost gratitude for informing him about the contents of the letter, and noted that this letter clearly shows that the South Korean regime wants to claim the results of the Red Cross negotiations as their own in front of international public opinion. He thanked my remark, and agreed that the letter should not be answered.

The cordial conversation that was also attended by a colleague of the embassy lasted for 40 minutes.

Budapest, 1972, May 17.