October 11, 1960
Report, Embassy of Hungary in North Korea to the Hungarian Foreign Ministry
[…] this spring, the Korean Workers' Party CC passed a resolution on the more intense implementation of the principle of the “policy of the mass line” in party work. The party organs also discussed the resolution.
The party resolution in question makes it clear that the party should not become isolated but must take into consideration the interests of the vast working masses to the highest degree, maintain a permanently close relationship with them, etc. […]
According to the information we received, the resolution analyzes the internal political situation of the country, qualifying it as complicated. The complicated nature of the situation is rooted in the 40-year Japanese rule, the subsequent division of the country, and the war of 1950-53. In this […] complicated internal situation, political work is impeded by further factors, namely:
1.) Almost all North Korean families have relatives living in the South, and in a number of cases, relatives who fled to the South;
2.) under the temporary American-South Korean occupation, many people–albeit under coercion–collaborated with the occupiers in various ways;
3.) a partial part of the former prisoners of war also constitutes a problem;
4.) there are still some petty bourgeois remnants in the DPRK, although not in a significant number.
Taking the aforementioned into consideration, in political work one must give evidence of great patience and caution, the method of re-education must be applied. In order to improve public feeling, the earlier policy of relocating people from Pyongyang came to an end. In cadre work, workers must be judged on the basis of the work they perform instead of on the basis of their origin. In accordance with the latter principle, in recent months—as far as we know—several nonparty men or persons of class-alien origin (members of former noble and landowner families) were given leading professional positions, and increased attention is turned to the appreciation of those representatives of the old bourgeois intelligentsia who are excellent in their profession.
With regard to the implementation of the policy of the “mass line” in party work, in September a theoretical conference for party education leaders of various ranks was held at the Korean party college.
Károly Fendler
Chargé d'Affaires ad interim
The party resolution in question makes it clear that the party should not become isolated but must take into consideration the interests of the vast working masses to the highest degree, maintain a permanently close relationship with them, etc. […]
According to the information we received, the resolution analyzes the internal political situation of the country, qualifying it as complicated. The complicated nature of the situation is rooted in the 40-year Japanese rule, the subsequent division of the country, and the war of 1950-53. In this […] complicated internal situation, political work is impeded by further factors, namely:
1.) Almost all North Korean families have relatives living in the South, and in a number of cases, relatives who fled to the South;
2.) under the temporary American-South Korean occupation, many people–albeit under coercion–collaborated with the occupiers in various ways;
3.) a partial part of the former prisoners of war also constitutes a problem;
4.) there are still some petty bourgeois remnants in the DPRK, although not in a significant number.
Taking the aforementioned into consideration, in political work one must give evidence of great patience and caution, the method of re-education must be applied. In order to improve public feeling, the earlier policy of relocating people from Pyongyang came to an end. In cadre work, workers must be judged on the basis of the work they perform instead of on the basis of their origin. In accordance with the latter principle, in recent months—as far as we know—several nonparty men or persons of class-alien origin (members of former noble and landowner families) were given leading professional positions, and increased attention is turned to the appreciation of those representatives of the old bourgeois intelligentsia who are excellent in their profession.
With regard to the implementation of the policy of the “mass line” in party work, in September a theoretical conference for party education leaders of various ranks was held at the Korean party college.
Károly Fendler
Chargé d'Affaires ad interim
Hungarian Chargé d’Affaires ad interim Károly Fendler reports on North Korea's "policy of the mass line."
Author(s):
Associated Places
Associated Topics
Subjects Discussed
- Education--Korea (North)
- Korean reunification question (1945- )
- Korean Worker’s Party
- Korean Worker's Party. Central Committee. Politburo
- Political purges--Korea (North)
- Korea (North)--Foreign relations--Korea (South)
- Korea (North)--Politics and government
- Korea (North)--Social conditions
- Korea (North)--Population
Document Information
Source
MOL, XIX-J-1-j Korea, 13. doboz, 27/a, 007686/1960. Translated for NKIDP by Balazs Szalontai.
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