Report from Szüts Pál, 'The visit of Korean first secretary Kim Yun-gil'

Record

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

On 1972 September 6 I received Comrade Kim Yun-gil, the first secretary of the Korean embassy. The meeting was arranged upon our request.

I told Comrade Kim that Comrade Li Yun-kyeong, the head of department at the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, asked our delegation in Warsaw for assistance so that Rossides, the ambassador of Cyprus in New York, could visit Pyongyang upon invitation of the DPRK. They invited the ambassador through the Bulgarian UN mission. Our delegation promised support and thus we asked our mission in New York to act according to this. Our mission said that Rossides had not returned to New York yet. The Bulgarian charge d'affaires said that it is unlikely that Rossides could accept the invitation, which had already been repeated twice.

Comrade Kim acknowledged the above and promised to inform their foreign affairs ministry about our actions.

I inquired about the first phase of the Red Cross negotiations, but Comrade Kim listed only the facts already known from the media, and noted that he deems the meeting successful. Concerning the second session that will be held on September 13 in Seoul, he said that the South Korean organs will invite journalists from socialist countries as well. The Korean comrades, however, are hoping that we will decline the invitation.

Comrade Kim thanked us again for the help that we provided so that the UN mission leaders could visit the DPRK.

The Embassy's interpreter had also attended the roughly 50-minute meeting.

Budapest, 1972 September 6.

[Handwritten note]: Comrade Marjai’s copy has been sent to Pyongyang.