Skip to content

April 1, 1963

Memorandum of Conversation between Soviet Ambassador to North Korea Vasily Moskovsky and North Korean Foreign Ministry Official Pak Yeong-guk

1 April 1963

In connection with the departure for the motherland of the counselor-emissary comrade Kryukov M.E., the Embassy hosted a cocktail reception in the evening. […]

Comrade
Pak Yeong-guk (head of the 1st department) spoke on behalf of the MFA DPRK. […]

“The old diplomats understand us better” said comrade Pak Yeong-guk. It is difficult to say what he had in mind: perhaps he had the intention of causing a quarrel between the old ambassadors in the DPRK with the new ones, or perhaps he meant to thank the “old” diplomats of the Soviet Embassy for the fact that they worked for five years but stayed on the leash of the MFA DPRK and were not able to figure out that views and sentiments were being formed here that are far from compatible with the official assurances of eternal friendship.

A comment made by Pak Yeong-guk raises some suspicion that the North Koreans might be insincere in their official communications with the Soviets.


Document Information

Source

AVPRF, fond 0102, opis 19, papka 97, delo 4, list 169. Obtained and translated for NKIDP by Sergey Radchenko.

Rights

The History and Public Policy Program welcomes reuse of Digital Archive materials for research and educational purposes. Some documents may be subject to copyright, which is retained by the rights holders in accordance with US and international copyright laws. When possible, rights holders have been contacted for permission to reproduce their materials.

To enquire about this document's rights status or request permission for commercial use, please contact the History and Public Policy Program at HAPP@wilsoncenter.org.

Original Uploaded Date

2011-11-20

Type

Memorandum of Conversation

Language

Record ID

110493