Journal of Soviet Ambassador to the DPRK A.M. Puzanov for 21 June 1957

[Handwritten: 2^nd copy send to

Cde. P. F. Yudin for [[his]] information

S. [[illegible surname]]

19 July]

[faded USSR MFA Stamp:

…30 July 1957]

The Journal of Soviet Ambassador to the DPRK A. M. PUZANOV

for the period 19 June through 8 July 1957

Pyongyang

TOP SECRET

Copy Nº 1

…

21 June 1957

I visited Kim Il Sung together with the head of the USSR Supreme Soviet delegation, Cde. M. P. Tarasov.

M. P. Tarasov told of his impressions about the visit to the DPRK, about the meetings and conversations with representatives of all strata of the population, saying that the USSR Supreme Soviet delegation's visit took on the form of a powerful demonstration of the unbreakable fraternal friendship between the Korean and Soviet peoples. The delegation was given the warmest, most cordial reception everywhere they visited. Cde. Tarasov warmly thanked the KWP CC leadership for the efficient and good organization of the visit and the delegation's familarization with the achievements of the DPRK in the revival and recovery of the economy, culture, and science. Cde. Tarasov also make a number of comments, in particular:

he directed attention to the insufficient use of production areas at several enterprises;

the poor mechanization of many labor-intensive projects;

insufficient attention on the part of enterprise managers to everyday issues, to the creation of normal working conditions in the workplace and to the use of the capabilities of the enterprises themselves for these purposes;

he noted that at the industrial and agricultural exhibition which they inspected nothing is being said that an entire series of enterprises were repaired and built with the aid of the Soviet Union, the PRC, and other socialist countries (during a visit to the exhibition I directed Cde. Tarasov's attention to this aspect and by agreement he also told Kim Il Sung about this).

Kim Il Sung completely agreed with Cde. Tarasov's comments, admitted that they were correct, and said that the KWP CC and DPRK government will take the necessary steps.

At Cde. Tarasov's request, I expressed several of my observations and views to Kim Il Sung with respect to the incomplete use of the food and feed possibilities of corn. The problem is that the planted areas of corn occupy a large share of the total crops (more than 700,000 hectares in all have been planted, which is 70% of the crops on waterless land) and are producing a low harvest for the time being (the 1956 harvest was an average of 12.6 centners per hectare); when the climate conditions are favorable and the care is good, [we] can get an average corn harvest of no less than 25-30 centners per hectare. But to do this it is necessary to devote attention so that the corn crops get more organic and mineral fertilizers to deliver high-yielding varieties. In addition, agricultural bodies do not know how to use corn more correctly in order to get the highest harvests. In these same planted areas, by increasing the yield one can ensure getting up to 1 million tons in dry land and a considerable quantity of corn crops (approximately 250-300 tons per hectare) to harvest in milk-wax ripeness in order to have a large quantity of rich and concentrated feed in the form of silage. At this point I briefly presented some estimates to Kim Il Sung.

Kim Il Sung agreed with the views I expressed, noting that they have been harvesting all the crops for grain because they were needed in food grain; now, in connection with the expansion of the production of mineral fertilizers the government will be able to also provide fertilizers to be added to corn, which will provide an opportunity to sharply increase the harvest, consequently get food grain in necessary amounts with considerably less area, and get feed from the remaining corn plants.

The conversation occurred in a good, warm atmosphere. Deputy Chairmen of the KWP CC Kim Chang-man and Pak Kim [Cher] and Minister of Foreign Affairs Nam Il were present at the conversation…