Telegram from Pyongyang to Bucharest, TOP SECRET, No. 76.054, Urgent

On March 1, a diplomat from the Hungarian Embassy in Pyongyang, S. Erte, told A. Lazar that during a recent conversation between the Hungarian Ambassador and Kim Changbong, the Minister of Defense of the DPRK, the Korean official asked the Hungarian authorities to approve his visit to Budapest with a Korean military delegation (which was supposed to take place in May—our note) at the beginning of April. The Korean official explained that this date is imposed on him by the situation in Korea and by the fact that after April 20 it would be impossible for him to travel abroad. Kim Changbong’s statement, linked with the fact that only four or five days ago all diplomatic missions in Pyongyang were urged to build anti-air bunkers, leads us to conclude that for a period of at least two months from now, the situation in Korea will not aggravate beyond the current point.

On a different topic, the Hungarian diplomat showed that he possessed information according to which two weeks ago Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai had sent a personal message to Kim Il Sung through which he had proposed to jointly normalize Sino-Korean relations and to leave past quarrels behind. In the same message, Zhou Enlai mentioned the traditional friendship between the Chinese and the Korean people and reassured Kim Il Sung of the candor with which the Chinese people would be ready at any given point in time to give its full support to the Korean people.

Asked about the source for this information, the Hungarian diplomat said that he had obtained it from the Chinese and that the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked its diplomatic mission in Pyongyang to verify it, if possible.

Signed: N. Popa