A 7 May 1967 DVO Memo about Intergovernmental Relations between the DPRK and Romania, the DRV, and Cuba

The DPRK is developing active political, economic, and cultural ties with the DRV and vigorously supporting and helping fighting Vietnam. In January and September 1966 a Vietnamese government economic delegation headed by Le Thanh Nghi visited Pyongyang. He signed agreements about granting the DRV 12,300,000 [SIC] rubles of free aid in 1966. The DPRK will deliver small arms, ammunition, clothing, and also tractors and vehicles to the DRV free of charge. The DPRK government has sent the DRV about 100 Korean pilots. In 1966 several Korean military leaders visited the DRV to study the experience of the ground forces, air forces, and navy.

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Four hundred Vietnamese students are studying in Korean educational institutions at DPRK expense. Another 200 students will arrive from the DRV to study in the DPRK in 1967…

DPRK leaders have advocated coordinating the aid of the socialist countries to Vietnam and in confidential conversations has criticized the Chinese for their rejection of cooperation.

It should be taken into account that the Korean comrades view the Vietnamese events primarily from the point of view of their possible consequences for Korea. In their opinion, the security of the DPRK, an expansion of the aggression of the American imperialists in Asia, and the prospects for the revolutionary movement in South Korea depend to a large degree on the outcome of developments of the war in Vietnam. The DPRK leadership supports only a military solution of the Vietnamese issue and has a negative attitude toward the possibility of combining armed struggle and a political settlement in Vietnam.