April 20, 1956
Ciphered telegram, excerpt from cable from Soviet Ambassador to the PRC P. Yudin re meeting with Mao Zedong
CIPHERED TELEGRAM
Strictly Secret
From BEIJING
31 March I visited Comrade Mao Zedong.
...The important moments that apparently somewhat strengthened Stalin's trust in the CCP were your (my) information about the trip to China and the Korean War—the performance of the Chinese People's Volunteers, although in this question, said Mao Zedong, we were not sufficiently consulted. On the Korean question, when I (Mao Zedong) was in Moscow [in December 1949-January 1950] we came to an understanding about everything, the issue was not about the seizure of South Korea, but about the significant strengthening of North Korea. But subsequently Kim Il Sung was in Moscow, where some kind of agreement was reached, about which no one considered it necessary to consult with us beforehand. It should be noted, said Mao Zedong, that there was a serious miscalculation in the Korean war about the supposed impossibility of intervention of international forces on the side of South Korea...
P. YUDIN
Excerpt of telegram from P. Yudin, Soviet Ambassador to the PRC, reporting to Moscow on a conversation he had with Mao Zedong. Mao allegedly stated that there had been miscalculations prior to the commencement of the Korean War that international actors would not intervene on behalf of South Korea.
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