Record of Conversation between Chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR A. S. Dzasokhov with the DPRK Ambassador Son Seong-pil

Record of Conversation between Chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR A. S. Dzasokhov with the DPRK Ambassador Son Seong-pil [Son Seong-pil]

October 9, 1991

Son Seong-pil: […] After this year’s August events [attempted coup d’etat in the USSR] the Soviet Union witnessed great changes. They can be appraised in different ways but, as the leadership of the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] stressed repeatedly, these changes are an internal affair of the Soviet Union. And although relations between our countries recently experienced certain problems, the leadership of the DPRK and its entire people wish the Soviet people to overcome crisis as soon as possible and [to achieve] new successes. […] It will of great significance for the solution of many problems that the DPRK together with the ROK will be admitted to the UN. However, in this question, the main goal remains as before – one place in the UN for both Korean states.

The Ambassador stressed that admittance to the UN will allow Pyongyang to use additional levers for counteracting US efforts aimed at establishing its dominance in the region. Washington is trying to apply direct pressure on the DPRK with the aim of forcing North Korea to unconditionally sign the safeguards agreement with the IAEA. However, our position is that this question should be decided in close connection with the withdrawal of American nuclear weapons from the territory of the ROK. Pyongyang will closely watch how the American side will implement the initiatives advanced by US President G[eorge] Bush. Inspection of nuclear sites of the North is only possible on the condition of analogous inspection of the territory of the Republic of Korea. In the final count the DPRK stands for the declaration of the Korean peninsula a nuclear-free zone. […]