09-151.pdf

photographical and physical evidence such as firearms and invited his
KPA/CPV counterpart to view the evidence, but in vain. The former
referred to a notebook from one of the sunk boats and described it as
“by far the most damaging evidence” against the North’s denials. The
notebook contained references to Kim Il Sung “revolutionizing” the
Republic of Korea through anti-South operations. Later, at the 472nd
MAC secretary meeting held on September 27, the South claimed that
its investigation of the North’s protests against the introduction of
automatic weapons into the DMZ had concluded that they were
groundless.
On October 9, a North Korean assassination attempt on South
Korean President Chun Doo Hwan took place at the Burmese Martyrs’
Mausoleum. The Rangoon Bombing killed four South Korean cabinet
ministers and 13 other high-ranking dignitaries. Subsequently, the
422nd MAC plenary meeting was held on October 31 (cf. p. 197-9).
Since conclusive evidence proving North Korea’s guilt was not yet
available and there was no precedent for MAC involvement in an
incident outside the peninsula, the KPA/CPV proposed the meeting.
They claimed to call the meeting “to straighten out the situation
created in Korea by the South Korean military fascist element that
contrived the Rangoon explosion in an attempt to extricate itself from
the crisis - to divert elsewhere people’s resentment and resistance.”
The North Koreans complained that South Korean forces were put on
alert and the South Koreans openly talked about retaliation. In
contrast, after North Korea had raised the incident three times, the
South claimed that all available evidence indicated that the North was
involved in it. The UNC/MAC Senior Member pointed out that the
methods of operation and the equipment used by the “assassins”
Continued Tension but Renewed Dialogue during the 1980s
347