Record of a Conversation between Soviet Embassy Counsellor Lazarev and Ri Dong-yong

 Secret

Copy Nº 2

[blurred MFA stamp]

from the journal of

Counsellor of the Soviet

Embassy in the DPRK

S. P. Lazarev

Record of a conversation

with Ri Dong-yeong, Deputy DPRK

Minister of Foreign Affairs

2 January 1956

I visited Ri Dong-yeong and informed him of the following:

1. The Soviet government has decided to grant the request of the DPRK government about the acceptance of three Korean specialists in the first quarter of 1956 for up to three months for an internship needed for theater design in Pyongyang;

2. Kim [Hwang-il] might leave for the Soviet Union for treatment. It is desired that the Embassy be informed of the date of Kim's departure and the kind of transportation he is using.

Ri expressed gratitude for the information and promised to report the date of Kim Hwang-il’s departure as soon as it becomes known to the Ministry.

For his part Ri Dong-yeong reported that in connection with the illness of Jeong Il-yong, Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers, a decision had been made to send him to the USSR for treatment. A corresponding note regarding this issue will be sent to the Embassy today.

In further conversation Ri again touched on the issue of the transfer of Soviet Koreans to Korean citizenship. He said that in connection with the fact that the mistakes of some Soviet Koreans had been discussed at the last KWP CC Plenum the moment to pursue work on a transfer to Korean citizenship was not at all favorable since there are also Soviet Koreans who do not completely understand the issue of the mistakes of these comrades. In addition, among local Koreans there are people who wish to whip up this matter, accusing many other Soviet Koreans of incorrect acts without justification. He cited as an example a case when at a meeting of MFA Party activists where the results of the Plenum were being discussed an official of the KWP Pyongyang City Committee organization department called for a meeting to "crush" [razgrom] the Soviet Koreans working in the MFA without having grounds for this. Ri said, we rebuffed him, and reported to the CC about this. According to his information this official was removed from work in the City Committee by the Central Committee (Ri did not remember this official's surname).

Counsellor of Embassy

[signature]

(S. Lazarev)

Four copies printed

1 - to  Cde. Fedorenko

2 - to Cde. Kurdyukov

3 - to Cde. Solodovnikov

4 - to file

Drafted by Lazarev

Typed by Sarycheva

Nº 20

3 January 1956