"Mostly Propaganda in Nature:" Kim Il Sung, the Juche Ideology, and ...

Mitchell Lerner
NKIDP Working Paper #3 December 2010
Demilitarized Zone at the North, and they assert that incidents on the territory of South
Korea are the result of the growing struggle of South Korean patriots for national
liberation. Contrary to that, Americans and South Koreans accuse the DPRK of continuously
and increasingly infiltrating the South and of supplying new kinds of weapons.
In a memorandum from October last year on the situation in Korea, submitted to
members of the political committee of the UN, the DPRK government pointed out the
danger of a new Korean war flaring up as a consequence of American provocations and the
necessity to withdraw U.S. troops immediately from South Korea. A letter from the Minister
of Foreign Affairs of the South Korean regime, containing a number of attacks against the
DPRK and its policy (especially in connection with an “infiltration from the North”), was
distributed amongst the committee as well.
According to the opinion of the Czechoslovak delegation with the Supervisory
Commission of the Non‐Aligned States, as well as to the opinion of our Embassy in
Pyongyang, a number of circumstances indicate that the incidents in the Demilitarized Zone
and to the south of it are intentionally and purposefully provoked mostly by the DPRK,
although it is difficult to judge which side is to blame in such cases. However, increasing
tensions on the 38th parallel of latitude and the growing number of incidents corresponds
with the [North] Korean concept of the fight against imperialism and with the support of
the revolutionary struggle of the people of South Korea. Officials of the DPRK strive to
attract the world’s attention to the Korean problem and try to gain support from socialist
countries for their policies.
The rapidly deteriorating situation in the Demilitarized Zone and the danger of a
possible new conflict was reflected in the negotiations of the Military Commission for Truce
in Panmunjeom. At the Commission’s meetings, both sides accused each other of violating
the treaty, and the negotiations lead to nowhere. For the [North] Korean side, the Military
Commission for Truce is a place where they can confront Americans face to face, and they
take full advantage of this opportunity. Speeches of a [North] Korean delegate are mostly
propaganda in nature and are used namely in the internal propaganda of the DPRK.
Consistently, the negative attitude towards participating in joint investigations of the
discussed incidents, as stipulated in the Truce Treaty, is a shortcoming of [North] Korean
comrades in their dealing with the Commission.
The DPRK authorities are pressuring the Czechoslovak and Polish delegations with
the Supervisory Commission of the Non‐Aligned States into making the SCNAS a platform
for the anti‐imperialistic struggle in the [North] Korean style, without regard to the
mandate of the Commission given by the Truce Treaty. At the same time, the [North]
Korean comrades only inform the Czechoslovak and Polish delegations about the problems
in the Demilitarized Zone sporadically and inaccurately. The Czechoslovak delegation with
the SCN AS conducts its activities in agreement with the directive currently in force with the
Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The situation in Korea lately underwent a very dangerous development. On January
23rd this year, patrol boats of the DPRK detained an American spy ship Pueblo with 83 men
and escorted it to the North Korean port Wonsan. According to the DPRK’s information, the
American ship was captured 10 miles away from Wonsan and 7.6 miles from the Jodo
Island. The ship was collecting data about water depth, location of troops, and defenses of
the DPRK coast.
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