February 16, 1977
Memorandum, Hungarian Foreign Ministry
This document was made possible with support from ROK Ministry of Unification
On February 14, at his request, I received Czechoslovak First Secretary Lehocky. Referring to instructions received from his center [the Czechoslovak Foreign Ministry], he informed me that in the view of their embassy in Pyongyang, the declaration made by the DPRK on January 25 and its four-point proposal had an extremely threatening tone. For example, it describes the situation on the Korean peninsula as if it might directly lead to the outbreak of a global nuclear war. The declaration also includes a veiled reference to the fact that the DPRK is equipping itself with nuclear weapons.
The government of the DPRK launched an international campaign to gain support for its proposals. In the opinion of the Czechoslovaks, the Korean side will ask the [governments of the] socialist countries to make official statements supporting the four-point declaration.
The Czechoslovak side could hardly fulfill a request of such nature.
Comrade Lehocky inquired about the Hungarian standpoint and the steps that we had taken, or planned to take, with regard to this issue.
I said that we had not noticed any fundamentally new element in the tone and contents of the declaration. The DPRK's initiative was motivated by the intention to respond to the newest “proposal” of the South Korean regime (that the two Koreas should conclude a non-aggression pact, in tandem with which the American troops would be withdrawn) and sound out the Carter administration's plans for Korea.
I informed him that Comrade Deputy [Foreign] Minister Házi had already received the DPRK ambassador in Budapest. During their conversation, he informed him [the ambassador] that the declaration had been described in detail in the Hungarian press, with positive comments, right after its publication. He repeatedly assured him that we support their struggle for the peaceful and democratic unification of Korea. The DPRK ambassador did not ask [the Hungarian government] to make an official statement.
András Forgács
2월 14일, 체코슬로바키아 1등 서기관 레호키의 요청으로 그를 만났다. 그는 체코슬로바키아 외교부 방침을 언급하며, 평양 주재 대사관에 따르면 조선민주주의인민공화국의 1월 25일 선언과 4대 강령이 매우 위협적인 어조라는 말을 했다. 마치 한반도의 상황으로 인해 세계 핵전쟁이 발발할 수 도 있다는 듯이 말하며, 조선민주주의인민공화국이 핵무기를 준비 중이라는 것을 암시했다.
조선민주주의인민공화국 정부는 이 제안에 대한 지지를 얻고자 국제적인 운동을 개시했다. 체코슬로바키아의 관점에 조선이 사회주의 국가들에게 4대 강령을 지원한다는 공식적인 발표를 요구할 것 같다고 한다.
체코슬로바키아는 이러한 요구를 들어주기 어려울 것이다.
로호키 동지는 이 문제에 대한 헝가리의 입장과 앞으로의 계획에 대해 문의했다.
나는 이 선언에서 근본적으로는 새로운 어조나 내용이 없는 것으로 보인다고 말했다. 조선민주주의인민공화국은 남한정부의 새로운 “제안”(남북이 미군철수와 함께 불가침협정을 체결)과 카터 정부의 대 한국 정책에 대한 반응을 보인 것이다.
나는 하찌 외무부 차관동지가 이미 부다페스트의 조선대사를 만났다는 것을 말했다. 이때 하찌 동지는 대사에게 이 선언이 헝가리 신문에 긍정적인 주석이 달려서 상술되어 있다는 정보를 주었다. 그는 대사에게 조선의 평화적, 민주적 통일을 위한 투쟁을 지원한다는 것을 반복적으로 확신시켜주었다. 조선대사는 이를 공식발표로 해달라는 부탁을 하지는 않았다.
András Forgács
The DPRK reaches out to other socialist nations to gain support for its 4-point proposals. They include references to the DPRK developing nuclear power and the possibility of nuclear war on the Korean peninsula.
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