May 12, 1961
Cable from the Chinese Embassy in North Korea, 'Illegal Crossings of the International Border by Chinese Koreans'
This document was made possible with support from Henry Luce Foundation
Priority: Urgent
From the Korea Desk
No. Chen- 8/35
May 12, 1961
Foreign Ministry Received Chen-593
Distribution: Premier’s Office (2), Foreign Affairs Office (5), Ministry of Public Security, Nationalities Commission, Chen, Zhang, Hui, Zeng, General Office (3), Ministry of Foreign Affairs Second Asian Department and Consular Department (2), XX (1). Total of 19 copies
Illegal Crossings of the International Border by Chinese Koreans [woguo Chaoxian zu]
To the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Public Security:
[North] Korean Foreign Minister Pak Seong-cheol [Pak Song Chol] called in Ambassador Qiao [Xiaoguang] to tell him that recently many people of China’s Korean national minority have been crossing the international border illegally. Between January and the first third of May, 3,500 of them crossed the border. He stressed repeatedly that apart from strongly recommending that they return to China, the [North] Korean government could not force them to return under armed guard. He asked that the Chinese government take measures to avoid large numbers of border crossings in the future in order to reduce the difficulties that the [North] Korean government is having in resettling an unexpectedly large number of people.
Ambassador Qiao again expressed China’s viewpoint according to the cable of April 24. Pak said that he agrees.
Our view is that China is once again taking measures to strengthen control over the border areas in order to reduce the risk that large numbers of people will illegally cross the international border.
Chinese Embassy in [North] Korea
May 12, 1961
Received: May 12 at 1700 Proofread: May 13 at 0920
Transcribed: May 13 at 1600 Copied: May 13 at 21:35
People’s Republic of China Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Pak Seong-cheol and Qiao Xiaoguang discuss the refugee crisis between Northeast China and North Korea.
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