Go to contents

Kim Il Sung’s Remarks Released

Posted July. 05, 2008 08:28,   

한국어

The late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung’s extended remarks, which substantiate the fact that high-ranking officials of North Korea, the former Soviet Union and China held a meeting to prepare for a war in May 1950 before the Korean War, have been released.

So Jin-cheol, 78, visiting professor of Wonkwang University, said that he found the remarks containing the conversation between eight Japanese Communist Party representatives including General Secretary Kenji Miyamoto and Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang in March 1966.

So discovered the former communist leader’s remarks in the “Japanese Communist Party Dictionary” published by the Japanese Thoughts Institute in 1978. The remarks were released recently under the title “The 1966 Remarks by North Korea’s Kim Il Sung” in the summer edition of “Diplomacy,” the quarterly magazine published by the Korean Council on Foreign Relations.

According to the remarks, Kim Il Sung said regarding the Korean War, “The parties of North Korea, China, and the Soviet Union held a meeting in Shenyang in Manchuria and decided to fight back and move southward if the United States provokes. China decided to help us with military and the Soviet Union with weapons.”

The remarks also said, “(Kim Il Sung said that) there was provocation by the U.S. such as (U.S.) Secretary of State Dulles’ visit (to South Korea) but partly they (North Korea) began the war.”

“The meeting among high-ranking party members from the three countries was immediately before the war began,” said Kim Yeong-ho, Sungshin Women’s University professor, who studied the origin of the Korean War. “As the party decision is the most influential in communist countries, it can be interpreted that party leaders’ discussion of war meant the three countries officially began the war.”

The remarks also include that Mao Zedong encouraged Kim Il Sung to provoke a guerilla uprising in South Korea. Mao said to Choi Yong Gon, vice chairman of the central committee under the North Korean Workers’ Party, sent by Kim Il Sung in March 1965, “I hope that you lead South Koreans to begin a guerilla struggle.” Upon receiving the message, Kim said, “It is difficult to begin guerilla activities because South Korea has long coastal lines, bald mountains, a developed transportation system, and a U.S. military presence. Instead, we should begin a public movement by creating a secret organization among the people.”

“Kim Il Sung said he was against the armed uprising but given the influence of Mao Zedong at that time, he was not able to ignore China’s pressure,” said Professor Kim. “Scholars have failed to pinpoint why North Korea’s provocation in South Korea, which was rare until 1965, increased dramatically from 33 in 1966, 195 in 1967, and 574 in 1968, but the remarks have helped us guess the reason.”



gold@donga.com