TELEGRAM 066.705 from the Romanian Embassy in Pyongyang to the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

TELEGRAM 066.705

To: the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (First Directorate - Liaison)

From: the Romanian Embassy in Pyongyang

Date: May 27^th, 1978

On May 26^th, 1978, in a conversation with Victor Nanu, B. Pimenov, Minister-counselor of the Soviet Embassy in Pyongyang, said that on May 17^th, 1978, the USSR Ambassador to the DPRK, during an audience at the Director of the First Liaison Directorate within the DPRK Ministry of Foreign Affairs, complained against the fact that the May 13^th issue of the Nodong Sinmun newspaper published the Chinese protest note regarding the recent incidents on the Sino-Soviet border (reftel 066.683).

Moreover, the Korean Ambassador in Moscow was invited to the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs where he received a similar complaint.

The Soviet diplomat added, from his own initiative, that the Koreans justify publishing the note as a reply to the critical article about the PRC published in Pravda on May 11^th, in which, among other things, it was pointed out that the recent visits of certain Chinese officials to Asian countries seek to attract the leadership of those countries in question in the anti-Soviet campaign.

The Soviet diplomat pointed out that the Korean authorities received an explanation in which they were told [the article in question] was not referring to the DPRK.

Signed

Dumitru Popa