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March 25, 1976

Message from the President of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Kim Il Sung, to the President of the [Socialist Federal] Republic [of Yugoslavia], Josip Broz Tito

This document was made possible with support from MacArthur Foundation

Belgrade

(Translation)

 

To the President of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,

Comrade Josip Broz Tito

 

Dear Comrade President,

 

Comrade Tito, I am sending you warm, brotherly regards via the government’s delegation headed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, that I sent to your country so that we can consult with our Yugoslav comrades about the upcoming Conference of the Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries.

 

We have already used many channels to consult about the preparations for the upcoming Non-Aligned Movement Summit.

 

I was deeply moved, Comrade Tito, by your show of deep understanding and your full support in a series of issues that I consulted on with you this January via my special deputy, and that you sent me your friendly letter as a reply.

 

Your personal letter from February 6 proved to be of great help in our preparations for participating in the Non-Aligned Movement Summit.

 

This letter also showed a complete mirroring of our views which brought as a lot of joy.

 

In today’s circumstances, when the attempts of imperialists, whose goal is a schism and decay within the Non-Aligned Movement itself, have become taken a form of the utmost seriousness, it is a given that we will need to find a way to strengthen the unity of non-aligned countries.

 

The unity of non-aligned countries depends on non-aligned countries finding that which is common and encouraging it while also strengthening the organization of the movement itself further.

 

I believe it necessary, as you noticed in your personal correspondence, Comrade Tito, to use the existing organs and organizations in their different forms effectively, in order to duly consider and timely resolve these issues that keep cropping up between non-aligned countries, in order to establish an even closer mutual cooperation and relations between these countries, and successfully take upon joint ventures.

 

It is also extremely important that anti-imperialist, independent, and progressive countries enter the Coordinating Bureau.

 

It is our thinking that our Yugoslav comrades need to play an even greater role within the Coordinating Bureau.

 

Some countries are of the opinion that it would be good that our country also starts participating in the work of the Coordinating Bureau that will be formed again, and we consider this an expression of trust towards us.

 

We are ready to actively participate in the work related to strengthening and developing the Non-Aligned Movement.

 

The current situation demands that non-aligned countries not only unite in a political sense, but that they form a unique front economically, that they never let the imperialists speculate at the expense of the third world countries’ economy, as well as that they help each other so that every non-aligned country can achieve economic independence.

 

We are ready to do everything in our power in order to completely economically liberate third world countries, and to actively advocate for this issue to be addressed on this Summit and to bear fruitful results.

 

Dear Comrade Tito,

 

During the recent assembly of the Coordinating Bureau, thanks to Yugoslavia’s and other countries’ active advocacy, the Korean question was included in the preliminary agenda of the Conference of Heads of State in Colombo.

 

This is why there is one more good resolution to be made, in regards to the Korean question, that would actively contribute to diminishing tensions, removing the dangers of a war outbreak in Korea, and accelerating the independent unification of Korea in a peaceful manner.

 

At the upcoming Conference of Heads of State, we believe it would be good that a resolution that would abolish the “United Nations Command troops”; withdraw of all American forces from south Korea, in accordance with the 30th Meeting of the General Assembly of the UN, while also stepping out against the attempts of the USA and Japan to fabricate “two Koreas”; achieve the democratization of the south Korean society; and include the Korean question to the political declaration.

 

We are sure that, thanks to your work and the work of other friends, Comrade Tito, the Fifth Summit Conference of Heads of State or Government of the Non-Aligned Movement will be of great help to the great cause of the Korean people with the aim to unify the homeland.

 

Lastly, I wish you with all my heart, Comrade Tito, good health and even greater success in your noble work.

 

With my deepest respect,

 

President of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

Kim Il Sung

Pyongyang

 

March 25, 1976

Kim shares his opinion with the preparations for the upcoming fifth Non-Aligned Movement summit in Colombo. Elsewhere, he discusses issues in Korea and problems related to South Korea.

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Document Information

Source

Archives of Yugoslavia (AJ), KPR I-1/654. Contributed by Martin Coles and translated by Anja Anđelković.

Original Archive

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Original Uploaded Date

2019-04-29

Type

Letter

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Record ID

208701

Donors

MacArthur Foundation and Kyungnam University