Stalin informs Kim Il Sung of the decision to approve of North Korean request of arms, equipment and specialist requests, per his March 4 message.
March 9, 1950
Telegram from Shtykov to Vyshinsky
Ciphered telegram Strictly Secret
Copying is prohibited
From Pyongyang.
To Vyshinsky.
I transmit the text of a note received from the chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the DPRK:
"The Cabinet of Ministers of the Korean People's Democratic Republic reports to you about the following:
In 1950 the Korean People's Democratic Republic, in order to strengthen the people's army and to fully equip it with arms, ammunition and technical equipment, asked the Soviet government to send to Korea military-technical equipment in the amount of 120-150 million rubles, in accordance with an application made earlier to the Government of the USSR.
The Korean People's Democratic Republic correspondingly will deliver to the Soviet Union this year:
9 tons of gold -- 53,662,900 rubles
40 tons of silver -- 1,887,600 rubles
15,000 tons of monazite concentrate -- 79,500,000 rubles
In all a sum of 133,050,500 rubles.
Korea is interested in the soonest possible receipt of the goods indicated in this application.
I ask you to inform the Soviet government of our request.
Kim Il Sung
Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Korean People's Democratic Republic."
9.III.50 SHTYKOV
In a telegram to Shytykov which he then relays to Vyshinsky, Kim Il Sung writes that North Korea requests of the Soviet Union military and technical support. In return, North Korea is sending the natural resources such as gold and silver to Soviet Union. Kim requests that a
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March 18, 1950 | Message, Stalin to Kim Il Sung (via Shtykov) |
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APRF, Listy 131-132, Fond and Opis not given; and AVPRF, Fond 059a, Opis 5a, Delo 4, Papka 11, Listy 149-150.
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Preparing for War: Soviet-North Korean Relations, 1947-1950
Kim Il Sung would have never dared to launch the Korean War on June 25 without the approval of Stalin. He also probably wouldn’t have done it without the arms, experts, and rubles that the Soviet Union provided.