The heads of the socialist embassies evaluate President Zia’s visit in the DPRK as follows:

1. Having been invited by Kim Il Sung in 1977, President Zia, accompanied by an entourage of about 100 persons, arrived in Pyongyang on October 23^rd , after his 6-day visit in China, for a 3-day friendly visit. He originally wanted to fulfill his invitation to Korea in May 1980, but at that time [his visit] was canceled because of the death of Tito.

2. Under the label of describing the international situation, Zia raised the same issues—Afghanistan, the Middle East, Cambodia, and the Iraq-Iran War—which he had raised in Beijing. However, his Korean negotiating partners did not support to the standpoint he adopted on the Afghan question [emphasis in the original]. They let President Zia know that good and close cooperation had been established between Afghanistan and the DPRK. Korea highly appreciates the Afghan standpoint on the issue of South Korea. The DPRK would like to prevent the elevation of the level of the South Korean consulate-general in Islamabad [to the ambassadorial level].

3. In the field of bilateral relations, the signing of an agreement on economic, scientific-technical, and cultural cooperation constitutes a new element. No substantial change can be expected in the sphere of economic and commercial cooperation, whose volume is meager. One cannot exclude the possibility of [the conclusion of] an agreement about the supply of Korean light arms. According to news received from various sources, Korean arms are transported to Iran via Pakistan [handwritten note on the margin of the document: and via China!]. On the whole, the visit was of a demonstrative nature, as it was aimed at popularizing the non-aligned policies of the two countries at the international level.

90 – F.