Journal of Soviet Ambassador to the DPRK A.M. Puzanov for 9 August 1957

Nº 482

1 August 1957

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SOVIET EMBASSY IN THE DPRK

Nº 182

16/17 August 1957

[faded image of a stamp:

[[TOP SECRET]]

Incoming 02277-ss;

28 August 1957]

TOP SECRET

Copy Nº 1

[handwritten: 010097ss]

[handwritten: AVPRF F.0102. O.13 D.72 Delo 5]

The Journal of Soviet Ambassador to the DPRK A. M. PUZANOV

for the period 1 through 15 August 1957

Pyongyang

[…]

9 August 1957

I visited Nam Il at his invitation.

Nam Il shared impressions from a meeting with voters: the meetings and conversations went warmly and cordially; the voters talked much about the work at the enterprises and in the agricultural cooperatives and made many valuable suggestions; it was pleasant to hear from conversations with war widows that the leadership of the province attentively and solicitously provides the families of soldiers who died in the war of liberation with work and the family are given food rations. The crop harvest prospects in the province are good. The peasants reported that this year they are fully settled up with the state and that they had enough food left for themselves, whereas in the last three years in this province the harvests were poor and a considerable number of peasants had not settled with the state about [their] commitments and they even had to be give help by the government.

The conversation touched on the latest information of the materials of the investigation about the case of the anti-Party group of Choe Chang-ik, Pak Chang-ok, and others (I know these materials sufficiently well from other sources). I cautiously told Nam Il about the advisability and need to inform PRC Ambassador Qiao Xiaoguang concerning those issues about which Kim Il Sung had informed me in a conversation on 1 August. Nam Il Said that evidently Kim Il will be charged with doing this during a trip to the PRC in the immediate future for consultation about the draft five-year plan.

In reply to my comment that it is inadvisable to delay such information and that it ought to be done more rapidly via the Ambassador, Nam Il said that PRC Ambassador Qiao Xiaoguang meets with the leadership very little and the impression is created that he avoids such meetings; he shares very little, and our attempts in this regard have not produced notable results.

I noted for my part that it seems to me that this is explained by the Ambassador's insufficient experience and his shyness. However, the maintenance and strengthening of close friendly relations between all countries of the socialist camp, especially between the DPRK and the PRC and the DPRK and the Soviet Union, is most important and should not depend on a particular official or ambassador.

Nam Il agreed with this comment and said that probably Kim Il Sung will also familiarize the Chinese ambassador with preliminary materials of the investigation in the next few days.

[…]