Journal of Soviet Ambassador to the DPRK A.M. Puzanov for 6 September 1960

SOVIET EMBASSY IN THE DPRK TOP SECRET

Nº 163   Copy Nº 3

19 September 1960

JOURNAL

of Soviet Ambassador in the DPRK A. M. Puzanov for the period

24 August through 9 September 1960

Pyongyang

[…]

6 September 1960

At the invitation of Ri Jeong-sik I visited him in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Present at the meeting were: Deputy Chief of the First Department Kwon Jun-uk Embassy Third Secretary D. A. Priyemsky.

Ri Jeong-sik said that the wishes that I had expressed in the 1 September conversation with him about the preliminary program of the visit of Cde. N. S. Khrushchev had been taken into consideration. Ri Jeong-sik then passed me the program of the visit of Cde. N. S. Khrushchev to the DPRK to be reported to Moscow and asked about any comments or wishes for the program which the leadership of the Soviet government expressed be reported to the DPRK MFA.

I thanked Ri Jeong-sik and said that the program of the visit of Cde. N. S. Khrushchev to the DPRK would be sent to Moscow today.

With regard to the issue which is to be discussed at the session of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly Ri Jeong-sik said that the Embassy would be informed about this later.

I expressed surprised at such an answer by the Deputy Minister since during a meeting with Kim Il Sung on 24 July the latter reported that the issue of the reunification of Korea would be discussed at the session of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly. I asked Ri Jeong-sik, if possible, to clarify this issue today and inform the Embassy since this is necessary for a report to Moscow when sending the program of Cde. N. S. Khrushchev's visit.

Ri Jeong-sik promised to do this. (At the end of the day at the instruction of Ri Jeong-sik Deputy Chief of the First Department Kwon Jun-uk reported that the issue of the reunification of Korea would be discussed at the session of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly).

xxx

At my request as acting dean of the diplomatic corps the DPRK MFA Protocol Department organized an excursion for ambassadors, chargés d'affaires, and other Embassy officials to structures newly-built for the 15^th anniversary of the liberation of Korea: a stadium, a restaurant, and a bridge over the Taedong River.

The stadium held up to 30,000 spectators before restoration, afterwards 70,000 spectators. The stadium has been rebuilt. The construction was done over five months by the precast method (reinforced concrete). Several thousand residents of Pyongyang were enlisted in the construction of the stadium, especially in the beautification of the large area in front of the entrance.

In reply to a question about the cost of the construction the deputy chairman of the city people's committee reported that the total cost of construction was 1,350,000 won. The stadium was well-built.

The Okryugwan Restaurant The total area is 5,109 m². The banquet hall seats 600 people, and the remaining spaces, 700. The construction continued over six-seven months.

The bridge over the Taedong River The length of the bridge is 682 meters, the width 28.5 meters, including the width of the road surface of 21 meters. The cost of the construction was 3,572,000 won. Twenty thousand m³ of concrete were poured and 3,300 tons of metal were [used] in the construction of the bridge. The total period of the construction was half a year.

The usual depth of the river under the bridge at the deepest point is six meters; the supports were sunk to a depth of eight meters and the height of the bridge over the water is 12 meters. The water level during flooding rises two meters.

Three strings of pipes have already been laid under the bridge to feed water to the city, but there will be a total of five; there are also channels for electrical and telephone wires.

The bridge was built of good quality and makes a good impression. According to a report of city leaders the construction of another two bridges across the Taedong is planned during the upcoming seven-year plan.

[…]

SOVIET AMBASSADOR IN THE DPRK [signature] (A. Puzanov)

Five copies printed

1 - Cde. A. A. Gromyko

2 - Cde. Yu. V. Andropov

3 - Cde. V. I. Tugarinov

4 - UVPI MID SSSR

5 - to file

Nº 448, re

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