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November 22, 1956

Memorandum of Conversation with Bak Uiwan on 22 November 1956

This document was made possible with support from Leon Levy Foundation

22 November

 

After a meeting at the home of [Vice Premier and Minister of Light Industry] Bak Uiwan where we examined the suggestion of Soviet specialists, we had a discussion at his request.

 

He said that the situation in the KWP is still not completely defused, the atmosphere continues to be tense and under certain circumstances, there may emerge a situation similar to that prior to the KWP CC August Plenum.

 

He explained that after the visit of comrades Mikoyan and Peng Dehuai the Korean friends did not do what would have been the correct thing and in their work they poorly carry out the Leninist norms in party life. During one of the meetings of the Central Committee Standing Committee held after the departure of Comrades Mikoyan and Peng Dehuai, Kim Il Sung claimed that he agreed with their suggestions only because he did not desire to make the conditions of their visit difficult, and in essence, he could not agree that the decision of the Central Committee August Plenum was rash and erroneous. Bak Uiwan stressed that only after he and Nam Il emphatically demonstrated the need to carry out the decision of the September Plenum of the KWP CC did Kim Il Sung agree to do it.

Discussion with Bak Uiwan, who notes that the KWP's atmosphere is still tense following the August Plenum. Uiwan claimed Kim Il Sung agreed with the suggestions of the Sino-Soviet delegation (Mikoyan and Dehuai) in order to avoid tension in the meeting, but had no intention of following through.

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Document Information

Source

RGANI, Fond 5, Opis 28, Delo 412, List 295. Contributed and translated by James F. Person.

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Original Uploaded Date

2013-09-05

Type

Memorandum of Conversation

Language

Record ID

117764

Donors

Leon Levy Foundation