Telegram, Chinese Embassy in North Korea, 'Transmittal of the Situation of the Soviet-Korean Talks' and the Discussion between Kim Il Sung and Kosygin

Received by: Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Level: Urgent

[North] Korea Desk Receiving Serial (65) No. 123

Transmittal of the Situation of the Korean-Soviet Talks

[To the] Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

One [North] Korean student who heard Premier Kim [Il Sung’s] transmitting report on the situation of the [North] Korean-Soviet talks on the 27th [of February] subsequently said to our [Chinese] student studying abroad [in Korea] that:

(1) The Premier had [lost his] temper this time, [which] has not happened when treating foreign guests over the past several years. Premier Kim and [Alexei] Kosygin quarreled over the question of supporting [North] Vietnam, [North] Korea, and Cuba. Premier Kim inquired to Kosygin, what kind of support have you [the Soviets] given to Vietnam! [He said that the Soviets] give only lip service to us [North Korea] and Cuba, no real action—what support have you given[?] You see with the Chinese [Communist] Party, thousands of people came out to the streets, the leaders came out, [but] what have you done[?]

(2) Kosygin inquired to Kim Il Sung, why do you always follow the Chinese Communist Party[?] Kim Il Sung said [that] we do not follow the Communist Party of the Soviet Union nor the Chinese Communist Party. [If you] want to say we follow something, we follow Marxism-Leninism. Our Party [the Korean Workers’ Party] adheres to the principle of independence, not to [the principle of] following the Communist Party of the Soviet Union or the Chinese Communist Party.

(3) Premier Kim said [that] when we adhere to the anti-imperialist struggle in any scenario, you laugh at us, saying that our clothes are worn out, [our] standing of living is low, [but] we adhere to the anti-imperialist struggle. It does not matter if our clothes are worn out. The original Seven-Year Plan meant to improve the peoples’ lives (now the Seven-Year Plan’s goal of improving peoples’ lives cannot be fully achieved because of the anti-imperialist struggle). Regardless, we wear worn out [clothes] and life is not as good, [but] we must persist in the anti-imperialist struggle and not abandon the banner of the anti-imperialist struggle.

(4) Premier Kim said [that] if you want to hold your conference on 1 March then hold [it], [but] we will not participate in your splittist meeting. [If] you want to hold [it] then that is up to you.

[Kim] also said that right now [though] Khrushchev has stepped down, it seems that the Soviet leadership has not changed [and] Khurshchev’s way is still carried out. It seems that Soviet revisionism is not the work of one man, Khrushchev, but of the entire leadership clique. The future of the anti-revisionist task is still very important. For anti-revisionism, domestically [North] Korea needs to do two things: one is to hold high the anti-imperialist banner; the other is to carry out the revolutionizing of education for intellectuals. The wages for intellectuals are too high, [they are] affluent, and pay no attention to ideological reform; they have gone bad. So [we] need to carry out the revolutionizing of education for intellectuals.

[Chinese] Embassy in [North] Korea

2 March 1965

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