Red Star Over Seoul Communist Plans For The Conquest of South Korea

1
Red Star Over Seoul: North Korean Plans for the Conquest of South Korea
By Nevin Gussack
A textbook case of actual war planning and occupational policies occurred during the
Korean War (1950-1953). Information gleaned before and after the Korean War also indicated
Soviet and Chinese-backed North Korea developed elaborate war planning and political
subversion strategies whose intentions was the collapse and subjugation of South Korea. The
North Koreans were initially successful in their invasion and occupation of the South in 1950.
They were encouraged by Secretary of State Dean Achesons remarks in a January 1950 speech
that excluded South Korea from the defensive perimeter of US military protection. 1 Stalin
already assisted the massive military build-up of the North Korean Armed Forces (also known as
the Korean Peoples Army) after the Japanese defeat in Asia in September 1945. It is not entirely
inconceivable to conclude that the Soviets and North Koreans were encouraged by this implicit
omission of South Korea from the protective umbrella of the US military.
Plans for the communist conquest and occupation of South Korea commenced soon after
the end of World War II in the Pacific theater in September 1945. The Korean Peninsula also had
a strategic position that was geographically close to Japan. Ultimately, the prize for the SovietChinese-North Korean bloc was always Japan. Japan had a large manufacturing base that was
slowly rebuilding, a US military presence, and an anti-American core that was first nurtured
under the rule of the Japanese militarist-fascists in the 1930s and early 1940s. Such an antiAmerican element in communist and extreme nationalist politics in Japan could have potentially
served Soviet, Chinese, and North Korean ambitions for the ultimate conquest of Japan. This was
confirmed by Richard Nixon, who recalled a conversation with the former covert American
Communist and NKVD spy Whittaker Chambers, who stated that What we must realize is that
for the communists the war is not about Korea but about Japan.2 Japanese POWs were to be
utilized to assist in the communist conquest of China and then Japan. In 1949, 60,000 to 70,000
ex-Imperial Japanese field grade officers and soldiers joined Maos communists after being
captured by the Soviets and their subsequent indoctrination by Moscow. Other Japanese soldiers
joined the international legion that fought on behalf of Mao Tse-tung in China. It consisted of
Russians, Japanese, and Koreans. These Japanese were reportedly refused repatriation by Mao
until the revolution in China and Japan is complete. Reports also indicated that some of these
former Japanese soldiers and officers were specially trained by the Soviets and Chinese to
become diplomats who would later serve in Japan. 3
U.S. Army intelligence officials knew that North Korea, China, and the USSR compiled
serious plans to attack Japan and Taiwan by air and submarine. The plan was for 500,000 Soviet
troops to attack northern Japan, 500,000 North Korean soldiers to invade central Japan and 1
million Chinese troops to invade southern Japan and Taiwan. These forces were to be aided by
native collaborationist forces of the Japanese Communist Party Youth Action Corps. 4
1
Acheson, Dean. Speech on the Far East January 12, 1950 Accessed From
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/speech-on-the-far-east/
2
Nixon, Richard. The Real War (Simon and Schuster 1980)
3
Parrott, Lindesay. Chinese Reds Said to Use Japanese New York Times August 28, 1949
page 6.
4
Hollingworth, William. Archives: Stalin, Kim, Mao plotted Japan invasion? Japan Times
Feb. 21, 2007 Accessed From: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20070221a1.html
A secret Chinese Communist Party document revealed that Mao wanted to communize
Japan in three stages through political warfare and internal demoralization. This document was
publicized by the Taiwanese press in 1972. According to the contents of this document, China
would establish diplomatic relations with Japan, engage in plots to split the Japanese political
parties and establish a democratic coalition which would then replace the Japanese
government with a Peoples Republic of Japan. Once diplomatic relations were established
between Beijing and Tokyo, the Chinese Reds would infiltrate 2,000 special agents to work
under the direction of the projected Chinese Communist embassy in Tokyo and will provide them
with tremendous funds that will be used for political activitiesThe third target is to convict the
Emperor of Japan as War Criminal No. 1, establish a complete Communist regime in Japan and
completely disband all Japanese political parties.
The document also noted that Once a Chinese Communist embassy is opened in Tokyo
to cajole the Japanese people to accept without dissent whatever happensSince rightist groups
have been weakened by the trend toward compromise with the Chinese Communists, they will
gradually become powerless. This will enable the Chinese Communists to carry out their plan to
poison the minds of the Japanese people by sponsoring cultural, educational and sports
activitiesTo use Japanese mass media as a tool for subversion. Mao Tse-tung once said:
Subversion should first make public opinion to sway the psychological reactions of the people.
In doing this, the Chinese Communists are trying hard to strengthen their control over some of
the leading Japanese newspapersthe Chinese Communist elements in Japan should try to
expand their infiltration to magazines, especially weekliesThe Chinese Communists have never
taken moral principles into consideration in their subversive work. They are using so-called sex
liberation to destroy the minds of the Japanese people, especially the youths. They promote in
every possible way sexual excitement in movies, television programs, music and other show
business. The Chinese Communists would then topple the existing Japanese government by
buying the support of some members of the Diet (Parliament) and use them to organize a socalled coalition governmentA majority of members of the Diet is able to elect the prime
minister of their choice. If the Chinese Communists control the majority, a Peiping-chosen
Japanese prime minister will be elected. Toward this end, the Chinese Communists have decided
to split the ruling Liberal-Democratic Party first, then the other political parties. 5
After the allegedly reformist Deng Xiaoping progressively achieved power in China by
the late 1970s, the secret plans for the conquest or subversion of Japan continued. Internal
Chinese documents still portrayed Japan as an enemy nation. In 1980, China issued a secret
report that characterized Japan as a country governed by a constitutional monarchy and
controlled by a despotic, monopolistic bourgeoisie. LDP intended to promote friendly ties with
Peking and resist the Soviet Unions moves in the Far East, but that the LDP did not have the
courage to confront the Soviets to the bitter end. Tanakas cabinet was highly regarded for
giving top priority to normalization of Japan-China diplomatic ties. Premiers Fukuda, Miki and
Sato were not appreciated very much because they had appeased the Soviet Union. The report
had some regard for the Japan Socialist Partys efforts to promote Tokyo-Peking relations, but
also noted the JSPs aim to maintain close contacts with Moscow. The Komeito Party received
high evaluation on close ties with China, but was termed petit bourgeois. The report drew
attention to the Democratic Socialist Partys South Korean connections. The Peking authorities
5
Peiping Conspiring to Communize Japan Taiwan Today September 24, 1972 Accessed From:
http://www.taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=152473&CtNode=451
severely criticized the collective revisionist leadership of the Japan Communist Party Chairman,
Kenji Miyamoto, saying that he and his followers had openly opposed the proletariat
dictatorship and the idea of violent revolution.6
Even in recent years, Japan was still portrayed by the post-Deng Chinese Communist
leadership as being a military enemy of Beijings Peoples Liberation Army. Jiang Zemin
identified Japan and Taiwan as enemies of China in 2005 to an audience of cadres and officers in
the artillery's bases in the Jinan and Nanjing Military Regions. Jiang allegedly stated that the
long-term and intermediate-term enemies of the whole army: He opined that hegemonism and
unilateralism are long-term strategic enemies, that Japanese militarism is an enemy to be faced
in the intermediate term, and Taiwan independence forces are an enemy which should be dealt
with immediately. 7
Along with elements of the Japanese Socialist Party and Communist Party, a powerful
group of ethnic Koreans could conceivably cooperate with a Soviet, Chinese, and/or North
Korean invasion and occupation of Japan. The pro-North Korean General Association for
Koreans in Japan (Chosen Soren) was controlled by the North Korean Foreign Security Bureau.
This organization was involved in trade of goods and hard currency into North Korea, espionage
in Japan, and smuggling agents and literature into South Korea. 8 The ruling Korean Workers
Party (KWP) Culture Department and the North Korean Ministry for Public Security also exerted
control over the activities of the Chosen Soren. 9 By 1982-1983, the Unification Front
Department also controlled the activities of the Chosen Soren. 10 Hence, Chosen Sorens trade
with North Korea helped strengthen its military power and its pro-communist propaganda helped
neutralize anti-communist opinion within the ethnic Korean community in Japan.
The North Koreans also sought to utilize ex-Imperial Japanese personnel to rebuild the
communist economy and military. This mirrored the example of East Germany and the
Vietnamese communists in using former Axis technicians and military officials to rebuild their
respective economies, military, and intelligence services. Soviet experts and former collaborators
with the Japanese rebuilt the North Korean industrial base in the 1940s. Chong il Yong was an
engineer under the Japanese who was dubbed the king of North Korean industry by the State
Department intelligence. The same was true for Chong Chun-taek who was another powerful
ex-Japanese collaborator who built up North Korean industry. The First Two Year Plan (19471949) was drawn up under the aegis of a former economics professor Keijo Imperial University
Kim Kwan-jin. Yi In-uk was another key figure in this effort that had 25 years in constructing
North Korean factories. Thirty five out of 93 Koreans on the Industry and Engineering
Federation of North Korea in 1950 had more than five years experience working under the
Japanese. In 1947, some Japanese technicians wrote glowing reports on increased industrial
production and North Korean labor eagerness for production.11
6
China and Japan; Pekings Confidential Report on Japan Japanese News Agency June 25,
1980
7
Chinas Jiang Zemin Identifies Japan, Taiwan Amongst Three Enemies Cheng Ming January
10,2005
8
Bermudez, Joseph. North Korean Special Forces (Naval Institute Press Annapolis MD 1998)
page 61.
9
Ibid, page 103.
10
Ibid, page 121.
11
Cumings, Bruce. Koreas Place in the Sun (W. W. Norton & Company 2005) page 430.
Soviet commander of the 25 th Army in North Korea Chistiakov threatened the Japanese
provincial governor and other Japanese leaders to cooperate with the Soviets. His orders were as
followed: If anyone, whether they are Japanese or Korean, leaves their post, they will
immediately be sentenced to death by hangingFor the time being, the Japanese police and
military police will maintain order and administrative functions will continue to be carried out
as before by the Japanese provincial governor and his subordinates. 12
In 1946, a group of former Japanese officers went to North Korea to assist in the
formation of the Korean Peoples Army. 13
The Japanese Imperial Army espionage training school that was nicknamed the Nakano
Army School was well-regarded in North Korea. The North Koreans were believed to have used
the Nakano Schools textbooks. Reportedly, Nakano Army School intelligence officers assisted
in the creation of the North Korean intelligence services. 14
One historian noted that the Korean Communists and the Soviet occupation forces kept a
number of features of Japanese colonial rule intact. For example it was noted that the peoples
committee did not abolish the state purchase of grains which the Japanese had forced on Korean
farmersIn sum the standard view that the land reform of 1946 marked the transition of the
North Korean agricultural system from feudalism or semi-feudalism to capitalism is misplaced;
a system of strict state control on farm land was established before August 15, 1945 and
continued thereafter. Japanese engineers also reportedly worked with the Soviets after August
1945. These engineers were even awarded the Work Hero medal by the ruling communists. 15
The Soviets and their Korean Communist allies saw the southern area of Korea as a
geographical area for immediate conquest through subversion and even military occupation.
Intelligence sources reported that a speech of a meeting of Korean Communists who fought for
Maos forces stated: Korea will soon be oursWhen the Americans and the Russians withdraw,
we will be able to liberate (South) Korea immediately. 16
In the American-occupied area of Korea, police raided the headquarters of the communist
southern Korean Labor Party and found orders from a Soviet education officer to foment anti12
Kim Ha-yong. The Formation of North Korean State Capitalism June 1, 2006 Part one: The
Soviet Occupation of northern Korea Originally published in Kukchejuui sigak eso pon
hanbando (The Korean Peninsula from an Internationalist Perspective Seoul, Chaekpolle, 2002.
Translation by Owen Miller) Accessed From: http://www.isj.org.uk/?id=205
13
Kim Young Sik. The left-right confrontation in Korea Its origin A short history of modern
Korea as seen from a Korean nationalists eye November 17, 2003 Association for Asian
Research Accessed From: http://www.asianresearch.org/articles/1636.html
14
Fumiko Halloran and Yoshio Omori, Nihon No Intelligence Kikan, (Japans Intelligence
Organizations), Bungei Shunju (Bunshun Shinsho), September 2005, 192 pages, 680 yen
Masaru Sato & Koh Young Choul, Kokka Joho Senryaku, (Strategy on Intelligence Activity
by the State), Kodansha Shinsho, July 2007, 204 pages, 800 yen
NBR Book Review Number 18, October 17, 2007 Accessed From:
http://www.nbr.org/foraui/message.aspx?LID=5&MID=30381
15
Kimura, Mitsuhiko. From Fascism to Communism The Economic History Review February
1999 Accessed From:
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2598532?uid=3739256&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=
4&sid=21103889042851
16
Cumings, Bruce. Koreas Place in the Sun (W. W. Norton & Company 2005) page 240.
US and anti-Rhee uprisings in the non-communist zone. Soviet officer Major Nikolai Gusunov
conveyed orders to Ho Hum of the South Korean Labor Party for uprisings to coincide with the
meeting of the Big Four powers in Moscow. The captured letter urged: the South Korea Labor
Party should raise a great revolution all over South Korea. The purpose of this revolution is to
wipe away the legislative body established by the United States Army Military Government in
Korea and to maintain closer connection in the coming battle of destruction in southern Korea.
The letter further ordered Ho Hum to launch strikes against schools and the US Army Military
Government as a revolutionary movement.17
A defecting head of the Pyongyang Peace Preservation Corps Yoon Chang Sun revealed
in 1947 communist plans to attack the southern, American Zone of Korea once US troops depart.
Yoon stated: The Soviets has made North Korea a military base. It wants to conquer all Korea
through Kim Il Sung and the Peoples Committee. Once US troops are withdrawn, communist
Korean forces were expected to invade South Korea and totally defeat their constabulary forces.
National traitors as well as American reactionaries would be immediately executed after
South Korea was fully occupied by the communists. These details were provided to Yoon and
other security forces commanders at a meeting of the Peoples Committee in Pyongyang. The
chief of the Department of Internal Affairs Pak Il Oo stated in this meeting that: You will go to
south Korea following the setting up of the Korean democratic provisional government.
Following its establishment our mission is to take over all South Korean police organizations.
The Korean problem at present is the conflict between capitalism and democracy. It will not be
settled by our own power. America is in a crisis because of a highly developed state of
imperialism while the Soviet Union is developing according to socialistic principles which never
result in economic crises. The United Nations commission will demand the disarming of North
Korea armed forces when the American delegation accepts the Shtikov withdrawal proposal.
This is a plot of the American reactionaries. Therefore we must start a revolution at the moment
when the United Nations commission is about to issue such an order. Yoon stated that: We
were told to prepare for a democratic national revolution. Then we must fight for progressive
democracy, but not for the so called nation. Pak also spoke on the necessity of the Korean
communists to be brutal and liquidate reactionaries and foreign enemies. 18
Another real world model of a temporarily successful communist occupation of a
defeated non-communist country took place during the early stages of the Korean War (19501953). North Korean forces and their South Korean communist allies invaded and captured most
of the country by mid to late 1950. The North Koreans issued strict orders providing for a
curfew, severe punishments for violators, and called for oaths of cooperation for Korean
civilians. Adherents and officials of former dictatorial president Syngman Rhee and his Liberal
Party were tried in kangaroo courts and executed on the spot by the North Koreans and their
collaborators. For example, a judge of one of the Peoples Courts set up by the North Koreans
was a South Korean communist, Chung Paik of the National Guidance Alliance. The occupation
mayor for Taejon was Lee Joong, a former South Korean communist who fled north with the
assistance of North Korean intelligence before the war. He was brought back by the North
Koreans after the war broke out in 1950. The Peoples Committee governing wartime, occupied
17
Soviet Order to Foment Uprisings in Southern Korea Found in Raid New York Times
February 14, 1947 page 13.
18
Johnston, Richard J.H. Fugitive Charges North Korea Plot New York Times October 25,
1947 page 9.
Seoul initially decreed that all firearms and explosives be turned into authorities; individuals
harboring reactionaries would be severely punished; violators of the curfew and blackout
would be dealt with; and destruction of state-owned property would also be punished. 19
Tons of leaflets, posters, and propaganda materials were printed, stored in freight cars
and held at the 38th Parallel awaiting word of the occupation of Seoul. Files of complete dossiers
were brought into South Korea that contained information on prominent South Koreans. Lowerlevel South Korean administrative and police officials were trained in Pyongyang for at least 3
years to assume office in an occupied South Korea. North Korean-style labor legislation, land
reforms, taxation, and puppet mayors were all drawn up or appointed before the actual invasion.
Local Communist Party secretaries were also handpicked before the invasion. Propaganda
blasted the South Korean and US governments and praised Kim Il-sung and the USSR. The
North Koreans estimated that South Korea would be defeated by July 1950; in early August 1950
that the government would be moved from Pyongyang to Seoul; and elections would be held in
mid-August 1950. The USSR was referred to as the fatherland and this proved to be very
unpopular with the South Koreans. They were viewed as Koreas greatest friend and
liberator of the working class. The Womens Alliance and the Youth Alliance in South Korea
organized the women and children on totalitarian lines. Local administrations in South Korea
were organized into Peoples Committees that were controlled by the Communist Party. The
South Korean Home Ministry was reorganized by the Communists into a thought police and
border intelligence. Statistical analysis of population movements and rationing requirements
were also compiled by the communist occupation forces. The Home Ministry controlled the fire
department, police, border guards, railway guards, and the office in charge of the re-education of
political prisoners. The Communists also confiscated personal homes under threats to their
owners and a Volunteer Corps of South Korean Labor Party, ex-leftist prisoners, and leftwing
extremists was formed. Voluntary recruitment of leftists and communists were used first to build
this puppet communist South Korea militia. Impressments by force and arrest were used after the
first step to build this militia force. The Communists also confiscated pianos, sewing machines,
furniture, and equipment from South Koreans and shipped them as booty to North Korea. The
Womens Alliance also collected precious metals and sent them to the fatherland i.e. the
USSR.
Next, the Communists then demanded a massive amount of South Korean resources
which included slave labor, bean sauce, pepper sauce, spoons, chopsticks, and luxury items from
civilians living under the occupation. This feature of the occupation of South Korea was very
similar to Soviet practices in Eastern and Central Europe in the mid-1940s. South Korean
communist and leftwing collaborators received special rations of food and were not affected by
high food prices. Female members of the privileged class of collaborators bought gold, precious
metals, silk for dresses, and rice in straw bags. Schramm and Riley noted that Masking behind a
classless society these communists are the real exploiters and enemies of the people. Professing
to be for the people they confront the people with dictatorship and tyranny and their own social
order. Technicians, engineers, and physicians from the old order were retained to assist in
reconstruction. Anti-communists in all professions and in the old government were arrested and
executed immediately. When Seoul was occupied by the North Koreans, the occupation forces
brought in 3,000-7,000 officials that were pre-picked years in advance. Some of these officials
were South Koreans who fled to North Korea, such as the puppet South Korean Minister of
19
Seoul is Reported Under Stiff Rule New York Times July 1, 1950 page 2.
Education during the communist occupation. This Minister originally fled to the North in 1947.
Other South Koreans were embedded in the police and waited at the 38 th Parallel to join with the
invading North Korean troops. Others, such as the chief engineer of the Seoul radio station were
trained in the USSR and the chief of the Seoul police was a major in the Soviet Army. North
Korean forces also had dossiers on South Korean communists who were underground. They
often came from the middle and upper classes and occupied respectable positions as business
executives, doctors, lawyers, and public officials. South Koreans arrested by the North Koreans
and their collaborators included National Assembly members of the old South Korean
government, officials of the political parties, South Korean armed forces and National Police
officers, judges, professors, journalists, members of the South Korean government youth
organization, artists, authors, Home Guards, and other elements of the old order. All seven of the
old Seoul newspapers were suppressed and the South Korean leftist and communist papers were
reinstated: Peoples Daily News and Liberation Daily News. All foreign news services were
banned, except for TASS. These two leftist newspapers in South Korean were suppressed by the
Rhee government. During the communist occupation, these newspapers were nationalized and
employed South Korean communist editors. Movies and other entertainment were controlled by
the Cultural Bureau of the Home Ministry. British and American movies were banned by the
North Koreans and their collaborators in the South. Movies from the USSR, China, and other
non-capitalist countries were shown during the occupation. Communists also took control of
the South Korean labor unions and business and professional associations. The North Koreans
and their puppet South Korean communists nationalized a few big industries and major
communications and transportation facilities. Small and medium-sized businesses were allowed
to exist. New factories were approved by the communists and they even provided materials to
build these plants at first. These factories were then taxed heavily after they were built and the
businessmen slowly lost their assets through taxation and confiscation of plants. Private stores
were forced to compete on an unequal playing field with state-owned stores. A North Korean
refugee reported that a high-level North Korean Workers Party official noted that the North
Koreans did not move against small business because of the fear that such a measure would
alienate the middle class and farmers and harm the progress of the revolution. This Workers
Party official also noted that small and medium sized privately owned factories would eventually
disappear through unfair competition with state-owned national factories, who received
preferential resources from the government. 20
After the Korean War ended in 1953, North Korea redoubled its efforts to conquer South
Korea. Pyongyang, in cooperation with its communist allies, undertook the following measures
to make a re-conquest and occupation of South Korea possible. These measures were very
similar to the Norths war planning and subversion strategies in the pre-1950 period. They
included the following:
1) Enhance training in the production and usage of nuclear, chemical, and biological
weapons.
2) Continue war planning based on the Soviet/Chinese models of sabotage, followed by a
blitzkrieg using weapons of mass destruction.
3) Cultivating a support network of leftist sympathizers in the South.
4) Continued coordination with the Soviets, Chinese, and other communist allies.
20
Riley, Jr., John W. and Schramm, Wilbur. The Reds Take a City (Greenwood Press, 1973)
However, it is important to note that the North Koreans learned from the outcome of the Korean
War that the United States would intervene to protect South Korea. Pyongyang needed to
implement aggressive programs to foment dissension and ostensibly native-led revolution in
South Korea. This was to be accomplished through political warfare and other forms of
subversion that were managed by various departments of the ruling Workers Party of North
Korea. North Korea continued its military buildup and war planning in respect to its industrial
base, society, and armed forces. The North also redoubled increased its efforts to divide South
Korea society through the encouragement of leftist and liberal political forces in Seoul to
separate the people from the governments in power. Such psychological warfare would serve to
weaken South Koreas will to resist a potential invasion from the North and neutralize efforts to
build up the non-communist military to defend itself against attack. Covert efforts were also
undertaken to repeal various controls on domestic subversion, travel and trade with the North,
and activities of the South Korean internal intelligence services. All of these North Korean
propaganda and psychological warfare programs would arguably pave the way for a takeover
from the North and/or indigenous pro-communist forces.
Soon after the conclusion of the armistice in 1953, North Korea expanded its efforts to
build up its biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons research and development programs. Such
weapons were to be used to intimidate South Korea and perhaps even Japan. Weapons of mass
destruction also would serve to annihilate the South Korean armed forces and their war-related
industries, thus hastening a North Korean military victory in the event of another war. In 1954,
the Korean Peoples Army (KPA) created regular chemical/biological units. In the 1950s, North
Korea received sarin gas from the USSR. North Korea also built chemical weapons plants with
technical assistance from the Soviet Union. In the period of 1957-1961, the First Five Year Plan
called for the expansion of the North Korean offensive, chemical weapons production capability.
In 1961, Kim Il-sung announced the Declaration for Chemicalization which led to the building
of research and production facilities for chemical weapons production. In 1961, North Korea
created the chemical bureau. In 1966, the Soviets sent North Korea mustard and nerve gases.
In the late 1970s, North Korea also received from East Germany received technical know-how
for the production of chemical weapons. This was based on the knowledge of a defecting Korean
Peoples Army officer Kim Jung Chan, who served as military attach in the North Korean
Embassy in East Germany. In 1991, the North Korean military manual Offensive Warfare was
published at the Kim Il-sung Military University. The manual called for the usage of nuclear and
chemical defense units during offensive and wartime conditions. 21
In early 1960s, Kim Il Sung ordered the concentrated development of biological
weapons and remarked that biological warfare would be most effective in war in the future.
The DIA reported that the Soviet Union sent North Korea smallpox viruses to in the late 1980s
or early 1990s. 22 In January 1958, the Soviet Union assisted North Korea in the developed of the
21
Nuclear Threat Initiative of James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey
Institute of International Studies. North Korea: Chemical March 2014 Accessed From:
http://www.nti.org/country-profiles/north-korea/chemical/
22
Institute of International Studies. North Korea Biological Chronology August 2012 Accessed
From: http://www.nti.org/media/pdfs/north_korea_biological_1.pdf?_=1344293752
Atomic Weapons Training Center. According to a North Korean defector, Kim il-sung ordered
the development of nuclear warheads for missiles in the period 1966-1967.23
The armistice of 1953 did not deter the North Koreans from their long-term goal of the
imposition of communism in South Korea. While on a visit to North Korea in 1972, journalist
Mark Gayn was told by a high-ranking Korean Peoples Army officer that he forecasted a
Peoples Democratic Republic in the South coming to power in Seoul and replacing the anticommunist military regime.24 The North Koreans also indicated that they would intervene with
troops in the event of a leftist, anti-military revolution in the South. North Korean dictator Kim
II-Song noted in late April 1975 that If revolution takes place in South Korea, we, as one and
the same nation, will not just look at it with folded arms but will strongly support the South
Korean people. If the enemy ignites war recklessly, we shall resolutely answer it with war and
completely destroy the aggressors. In this war we will only lose the military demarcation line
and will gain the countrys reunification.25
The North Koreans counted on the fact that the next Korean War will be waged with
atomic weapons that will be pointed on South Korean and Japanese targets. It was also clear that
the North Koreans also prepared their infrastructure to withstand a nuclear counter-attack. A
February 1976 memorandum of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry noted that In their opinion,
Korea cannot be unified in a peaceful way. They are prepared for war. If a war occurs in Korea,
it will be waged by nuclear weapons, rather than by conventional ones. The DPRK is prepared
for such a contingency as well, the country has been turned into a system of fortifications,
important factories have been moved underground (for instance, recently they relocated the
steelworks in Kangson), and airfields, harbors, and other military facilities were established in
the subterranean cave networks. The Pyongyang subway is connected with several branch
tunnels, which are currently closed but in case of emergency they are able to place the
population of Pyongyang there. By now the DPRK also has nuclear warheads and carrier
missiles, which are targeted on the big cities of South Korea and Japan, such as Seoul, Tokyo,
and Nagasaki, as well as on the local military bases, such as Okinawa. 26
Even after the collapse of the USSR and the Warsaw Pact in 1991, the North Koreans
continued their war planning activities against the South. Pyongyangs plans stipulated that the
West Coast Command of the Korean Peoples Army was to supervise the invasion of the South
Korean west coast, while the East Coast Command would supervise operations on the east coast.
This would come into effect when Seoul is surrounded by North Korean forces. 27
In an invasion of the South, it was believed that North Korean forces would commence
their attack through the Kaesong-Munsan and the Chorwan-Uijongbu corridors. The North
23
Institute of International Studies. North Korea: Nuclear Chronology Accessed From:
http://archive.today/DiLHq
24
Gayn, Mark. The Cult of Kim New York Times October 1, 1972 page SM16.
25
Bodansky, Yossef. 1994 Report 2: North Koreas Preparations for War; DPRK Intel., Special
Forces Change Defense & Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy May 31, 1994 Accessed From:
http://128.121.186.47/ISSA/reports/DPRK/Nov1902.htm
26
The History of North Korean Attitudes Toward Nuclear Weapons and Efforts to Acquire
Nuclear Capability Cold War International History Project Princeton University May 17, 2005
Accessed From: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/edossier141.pdf
27
Bermudez, Joseph. The Armed Forces of North Korea (I.B. Tauris, 2001) pages 44-46.
10
Koreans were also believed to use the method of surprise attack against South Korea. Artillery
guns and multiple-rocket launcher would be fired from cave-like bunkers along the DMZ. The
purpose of this strategy was to destroy South Korean anti-tank and artillery defense positions.
The North Koreans also wanted a rapid capture of Seoul and a destruction of the South Korean
Army forces along with the western sector of the DMZ. North Korean infantry and commando
units planned to attack the rear of the South Korean defenders, utilizing mortars, heavy
machineguns, grenade launchers, Soviet-made Sagger antitank missiles, and B-10 recoilless
guns. These commandos were to be dropped from Soviet-made AN-2 light transport planes.
North Korean commandos were also tasked to attack enemy command centers, roads,
communications networks, airfields, air defense missile sites, and logistics centers. The second
wave of the North Korean attack would involve a barrage of tanks, self-propelled artillery,
vehicle-mounted rocket launchers, and infantry through the DMZ. Amphibious vehicles and
engineering units with river-crossing equipment would be tasked to cross the Imjin River
northwest of Seoul. The North also planned to encircle and defeat the thirteen South Korean
divisions north of Seoul. 28
In an attack on South Korea, the North Korean Navy was believed to be delegated with
the task of landing special operations troops on each coast, the northern islands, and on the
Kimpo Peninsula across the Han River near Seoul. The North Koreans also allegedly would
launch SCUD and FROG ballistic missiles to rear areas. By 1989, North Korea reportedly
stockpiled 990,000 tons of ammunition for wartime purposes. The main objective of a North
Korean invasion of the South was the conquest of the entire Korean Peninsula in 30 days. The
North Korean attack on the South would comprise three stages: destroy South Korean defense
positions on the DMZ; isolate Seoul and consolidate conquests; and to pursue and defeat all
remaining South Korean forces and occupy the defeated Republic of Korea. The SCUD and
FROG missiles were to be tipped with chemical weapons and high explosive warheads. The
North Korean special operations forces would wear South Korean army uniforms and disrupt the
rear areas.29
The North Koreans had four targets for their ballistic missiles tipped with nuclear,
biological, and chemical warheads. The first target were US soldiers and military bases in South
Korea and Japan; the second target was the destruction of defense industries and bases in Japan;
and the third target would be the United States itself, including Alaska; and the fourth target
were major South Korean cities such as Seoul, Inchon, Taejon, and Ulasn. These cities were to
be attacked by North Korean jet fighters and IRBMs. 30 KPA Nuclear and Chemical Defense
Bureau defector Sgt. Yi Chong-kok noted that North Korean SCUD missiles were targeted at
Okinawa and Guam. 31
The above-mentioned North Korean military strategy for the conquest of South Korea
was confirmed by defectors from Pyongyang. In May 1996, North Korean air force pilot Captain
28
Gabriel, Richard A. Nonaligned, Third World, and other ground armies: a combat assessment
(Greenwood Press, 1983) pages 114-123.
29
Federation of Atomic Scientists. DPRK: Doctrine March 3, 2000 Accessed From:
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/dprk/doctrine/index.html
30
Choi Ju-hwal. An Inside Perspective: North Koreas Unalterable Stance East Asian Review,
Volume 11, Number 4, 1999 pages 87-102.
31
Defector on Chemical Warfare Capability, Leadership and Food Shortage Kyodo News
Service April 29, 1994
11
Yi Chol-su noted that Around April 1995, we heard that a war would start. Kim Chong-il is
doing everything to prepare for a war. Not only the Peoples Army, but the North Korean society
in general are more vigorously than ever carrying out an ideological indoctrination campaign to
arm themselves with Kim Chong-ils view on achieving reunification with forceThere is an
underground airstrip in our Onchon airfield. Our pilots have finished night-time landing and
takeoff exercises designed to launch pre-emptive strikes. The air force has mapped out a plan on
how it will prepare for night-time fighting and carry out actual fighting in order to report it to
Kim Chong-il. North Korea has also built fake airfields, planes and transport routes and made
all preparations for a war. Chol-su also noted that According to the operational plan, North
Korea intends to occupy the area south of the Han River, including Seoul, within 24 hours in the
first stage; the area down to Taejon in the second stage; and then the entire South Korean
territory, including Pusan and Cheju Island. The North Korean army conducts strict training in
conformity with this operational plan.32
In January 1996, a Korean Peoples Army staff sergeant Choe Kwang-hyok noted that he
heard from a superior last November that there would be a war in 1996. He was told North
Korean soldiers would win such a war because the North is superior to the South in the
development of nuclear and chemical weapons technologies. 33
The defecting Secretary of the Korean Workers Party and high-level communist official
Hwang Jang-yop noted that the North will commence its offensive after fabricating an invasion
north by its commando units in ROK uniforms. Artillery bombardment will leave Seoul in ruins
in five or six minutes, and then armored forces will launch a general offensive along the DMZ,
occupying Pusan and the entire southern half of the peninsula before reinforcement by US
Pacific forcesUS intervention will be countered by threats of missile attacks on several
Japanese cities, including Tokyo, thus stalling reinforcement by US forces until occupation is
completeNorth Korea sees political chaos in South Korea as the best window of opportunity,
though US and Chinese reactions to the attack remain important variables. The North will
attempt to instigate turmoil in the south through its underground espionage network, and strike
when turmoil combines with an international incident that necessitates large-scale dispatch of
US troops elsewhere. Hwang also noted that North Korea prepared to initiate kamikaze and
kaiten-style attack on US warships. North Korea is confident the sinking of major US warships,
including carriers, by suicide attacks will ignite anti-war demonstrations in the United States.
The US will face further challenges from North Korea against its involvement in the form of
threats of attacks on Japanese cities with long-range missiles. 34
Choe Chu-hwal, a former colonel of the North Korean Peoples Army noted in October
1995 that North Korea insists on a peace agreement in place of the Armistice Agreement. It
intends to seek the withdrawal of the US Forces in Korea USFK under a peace system, then
attack the ROK by taking advantage of its weakness. Also, Pyongyang believes that if the United
States and other Western countries attack North Korea, then Pyongyang will boldly respond by
waging warHigh-ranking generals as well as officers and men of the North Korean army
32
Defector From North Gives Hunger and War Preparations as Reasons for Defection KBS
Television May 29, 1996
33
Defectors From North Describe Hardships in Military, Prison Life Yonhap News Agency
January 26, 1996
34
Federation of Atomic Scientists. Hwang Jang-yop Speaks Accessed From:
http://www.fas.org/irp/world/rok/nis-docs/hwang1.htm
12
believe that if they focus their attacks on US troops first, and if as a result, several thousand
American soldiers are killed or wounded, this will lead to an anti-war sentiment among US
citizens and to the withdrawal of US forces from the Korean Peninsula, breaking up the military
alliance between the United States and the ROK and paralyzing the joint military command
structure. They also believe thatif war does break out then the wealthy, lawmakers and
generals may flee to foreign countries for fear of their lives, plunging the country into chaos and
paralyzing the military. Only then can North Korea easily achieve victory over the ROK... 35 It is
significant to note that the North Koreans appreciated the role the antiwar Left in the US could
play in neutralizing the war efforts of the American government and armed forces. After all, the
manipulation and coopting of the antiwar Left worked to the advantage of North Vietnam in the
1960s and early 1970s.
Yossef Bodansky also revealed that North Korean special operations forces also utilized
Soviet and Eastern European-style mock-up training facilities of South Korean cities: The main
intelligence school now has an 8km long South Korean city with restaurant, coffee shop,
supermarket, stationary shop, etc. Despite the ideological threat, the school has a constant
supply of the latest South Korean newspapers and movies. An Myong-Chin observed that the
subway station and bus terminal, as well as some other key buildings are identical to those of
Seoul.36 These mock-ups of South Korean cities were training tools for the North Korean
commandos and secret agents. Furthermore, these mock-ups would allow these North Korean
special commandoes and agents to familiarize themselves with the intricacies of South Korean
society, culture, and infrastructure. It allows them to train effectively in efforts to sabotage South
Korean targets undetected.
The KPA also had three airborne brigades and added an airborne sniper brigade in the
mid-1980s. They would utilize Soviet-made Li-2 and An-2 light transport planes and Mi-2 and
US-made Hughes MD-500 helicopters smuggled from West Germany. These Hughes helicopters
were painted with South Korean markings. Military exercises were conducted by the KPA with
these US made helicopters near the DMZ and they even entered ROK airspace. 37 KPA light
infantry units were also equipped with ROK uniforms and Western made weapons such as
Browning pistols, M-16s with the serial numbers removed, M-3 rifles, US and South Koreanmade explosives and currencies. 38 North Korean airborne units also utilized M-16s in their
training exercises. 39 South Korean army personnel that were either kidnapped by North Korean
operatives or who had defected to the North were trained by 907th Army Unit of the KPA based
in Tae-dong.40 Personnel of the Light Infantry Training Guidance Bureau received assimilation
training from defectors from the South Korean army. These KPA forces were equipped and
taught to act like South Korean soldiers to the very finest detail. 41
35
Defector Says North Korea Will Focus Any Attack on US ForcesKBS Television October
16, 1995
36
Bodansky, Yossef North Koreas Preparations for War; DPRK Intel., Special Forces
Change Defense & Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy May 31, 1994 Accessed from
http://128.121.186.47/ISSA/reports/DPRK/Nov1902.htm
37
38
Ibid, page 175.
39
Ibid, page 152.
40
Ibid, page 105
41
Ibid, page 234.
13
By the 1990s, the North Koreans also recognized that the economies, governments, and
armed forces of the developed world were heavily reliant on computers. The North Koreans thus
developed a military-controlled hacking unit to sabotage the South. Lt. Gen. Song and other
South Korean defense officials reported that North Korea trained about 100 IT warriors per
year at IT colleges for Korean Peoples Army hacking units since as early as 1981. North Korea
had 500 to 600 hacking specialists. According to former Korean Peoples Army officer Kim
Chl-su, about 500 hackers were part of the KPA 121 stunit. The Pyongyang University of
Computer Technology was formed in 1986 with the support of ethnic Koreans in Japan. It
created several multilingual software programs for various operating systems. 42
Defector and available documentary evidence points to the fact that the North Koreans
fully supported and engaged in the psychological subversion of the South. Schisms between the
people and the government and the Americans were to be encouraged. Pyongyang supported a
native leftist revolution in South Korea that would later communize the peninsula. Such
subversion and revolution would preclude the necessity of an initial North Korean invasion. A
communist takeover would then have an indigenous face. The Liaison Department (after the
early 1990s) the Social Cultural Department was charged by Kim il-sung to establish
underground units of the Korean Workers Party in South Korea. The South-North Dialogue
Department (aka Unification Front Department) conducted anti-South Korea psychological and
propaganda operations. 43
The North Vietnamese Ambassador to North Korea reported to the Hungarian Embassy
that he had a conversation with the Red Chinese Ambassador in Pyongyang. He noted in July
1975 that Kim il-Sung wants to create the kind of military situation in South Korea that came
into being in South Vietnam before the victory. Taking advantage of the riots against the
dictatorial regime of Park Chung Hee, and invited by certain South Korean (political) forces, the
DPRK would have given military assistance if it had not been dissuaded from doing so in
timeif a revolution flared up in South Korea, the DPRK could not remain indifferent; it would
give active assistance to the South Korean people. And if the enemy started a war, it would be
met with a crushing repulse. In such a war the DPRK could lose only the cease-fire line, but it
might achieve the unification of the country.44
The Director of the Agency for National Security Planning Kwon Yong-hae noted in
1995 that North Korea embarked on a program to buy the influence of world opinion leaders in
a scheme to stir pro-Soviet, anti-US sentiments among the peoples of the world in the latter half
of the 1970s. These operations would be controlled by the Unification Propaganda Department
and Social Culture Departments through the front groups Committee for Peaceful Reunification
of the Fatherland and Korean Committee for Aiding Overseas Compatriots. Invitees to the
DPRK included famous people from South Korea, overseas Koreans, and even US personalities
such as President Jimmy Carter and a CNN broadcasting crew. 45
42
North Koreas Information Technology Advances and Asymmetric Warfare April 2006
Accessed From: http://wmdinsights.com/I4/EA1_NorthKoreaInfoTech.htm
43
44
Report, Embassy of Hungary in North Korea to the Hungarian Foreign Ministry 30 July 1975
Cold War International History Project Princeton University Accessed From:
http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/111468
45
North Engaged in Influence Buying Operations Yonhap October 11, 1995
14
In September 1985, the South Korean Agency for National Security Planning (ANSP)
and the Defense Security Command arrested 22 South Koreans who worked with the North
Koreans who tried to manipulate South Korean university students, to create violent anti-US
demonstrations, and to instigate a second Kwangju incident. Some of these agents were
trained in East Germany. One leftist South Korean who worked with the North, Kim Song-man
reportedly helped a group of South Korean students took over the USIA library in Seoul, where
he distributed leaflets supporting the seizure on campuses, in an effort to spread anti-US
feelings, according to the announcement. Kim also instigated student demonstrations by
circulating many copies of printed matter, titled Subjugation and Outcry, it said: In the
publications, Kim asserted that the North Korean communist regime is an independent national
force that succeeded in legitimizing Korea, and that South Korea's anti-communism is a scheme
to split the Korean race. Another South Korean student named Yang entered South Korea in
September 1984, he tried to indoctrinate radical students in the Kwangju area with anti-South
revolutionary strategies employed by North Korea. He also tried to interfere with the National
Assembly elections last February, to organize violent student demonstrations, and to create a
second Kwangju incident. Yang tried to blow up the US cultural centre in Kwangju last May,
after training 10 members of underground circles, including Chonnam University's Sammintu. In
an effort to provoke a second Kwangju incident, Yang made concrete plans to capture 500 M-16
rifles and a 2.5-ton truck load of ammunition46
According to a declassified secret document, Kim il-sung noted that at the present time
the situation in the South is quite favorable. Labor troubles, demonstrations, and strikes are
continuing there. It is especially important to note such a positive aspect as the creation of a
number of parties with a progressive orientation. These parties distinguish themselves by the
advancement of good slogans which are to our advantage, which demonstrate that the appeal of
the KWP CC to the South Korean people has completely achieved its goal. The truth is, there are
also some negative aspects in the platforms of these parties-anti-Communist slogans, calls to
cooperate with the UN, etc. Howeverthis is being done at our instructions so that these parties
are not disbanded. In the final analysis, the anti-Communist slogans are easy to remove. The
main thing is that the necessary grounds are being prepared for the creation of a Joint
Committee of Representatives of the North and South, for mutual consultations and contacts on
various issues. In this situation it is very important for us to quickly improve the lives of the
population of the DPRK in order that this constantly exerts an influence on the population of
South Korea. Then together with us the South Korean people will exert strong pressure on the
Americans, who up to now have clung to South Korea as a convenient military bridgehead. This
will eventually lead to desirable changes in the international position of our country-the
Americans will not be in South Korea forever.47
Another declassified secret document reported that Kim il-sung believed that possibly
up to 35 deputies from newly-organized parties who are associated with and under the influence
of the KWP CC will be elected to the new National Assembly. The largest newly-organized
46
South Korea Claims Arrest of North Korean Spy Ring Yonhap September 10, 1985
Journal of Soviet Ambassador in the DPRK A.M. Puzanov for 11 June 1960 Cold War
International History Project Princeton University Accessed From:
47
15
parties in the South of Korea are the Socialist Masses Party and the Socialist Party, which has
ties with and is under some influence of the KWP. 48
In December 1995, a captured North Korean Liaison Department agent Kim Tong-sik
reported that As for the selection process of figures we approached to win over, we selected
them in the North by reading magazines and newspapers published in the South. The South
Korean publications we read were Mal, Kil, and Hangyore Sinmun. We also read the data on
dissidents in the materials published in the North. We selected them partly on our own, and offering the list of proposals to our department, namely, the Social-Cultural Department-we
obtained final approval from the department. Therefore, the list of dissident figures for us to
contact was decided in the North before our infiltration. Kim noted that As regards North
Koreas operation on South Korea, as far as I know, there are four departments under the party
Central Committee, and there is the Reconnaissance Department under the Peoples Armed
Forces Ministry. The four departments under the party Central Committee are the SocialCultural Department, to which I belonged, the External Intelligence Research Department, the
Reunification Front Department and the Operations Department. I do not know about other
departments because I received separate training. The basic mission of the Social Department is
to establish an underground party organization in South Korea, and through the organization, to
arouse social disturbance and wage an all-out struggle, popular riot or armed uprising at a
decisive time. Unlike other sections, the Sixth Section, to which I belonged to, engages in direct
illegal infiltration into South Korea, and in winning South Korean figures over to the North
side.49
Hwang Jang-yop outlined the North Korean psychological warfare and subversion
strategy towards the South in a 1997 press conference with the South Korean press: One of the
basic North Korean policies on the Republic of Korea, which has not changed over the past 50
years, is to force the collapse of the South internally. The second is to unify the country by arms.
In the Workers Party alone, there are many departments that handle affairs of the South, such as
the United Front Department and the Social and Cultural Department which are working openly
and other departments that manage underground organizations. In addition, there is the
operations department in charge of infiltration and a department that collects information. There
are many departments.50
North Koreas propaganda and military strategies appeared to have at least some effect
on South Korean morale, according to the intelligence gleaned from declassified communist
documents. A Soviet document that recounted a conversation between Gorbachev and Kim il
Sung was most revealing and frank in its analysis of the decay of South Korean society. Kim il
Sung bragged that: There is a big movement in favor of socialism in the South, and work is
underway to create a national front. One third of South Korean parliamentarians support the
48
Journal of Soviet Ambassador in the DPRK A.M. Puzanov for 25 July 1960 Cold War
49
North Korean Agent Kim Tong-sik Holds Press Conference KBS Television December 10,
1995
50
Federation of Atomic Scientists. Press Conference of Hwang Jang-yop, July 10, 1997
Accessed From http://www.fas.org/news/dprk/1997/bg152.html
16
North. Unlike the recent past when Americans were perceived as liberators and supporters, now
many, not to mention the students, speak against the American presence. 51
In a meeting with East German leader Erich Honecker, Kim il-Sung noted that As to the
situation in South Korea, the anti-American mood has grown even more among the population
and in religious circles. But no rapid change in relations among the powers is to be expected. 52
Kim il-sung noted that his government was responsible for the students uprising against
President Rhee in 1960. Kim also noted that the South Korean students supported the North and
they have not demonstrated against us even a single time, although they had demonstrated
constantly against the puppet regime. Kim also observed that after a withdrawal of US troops,
the South Korean people would then choose the way of socialism. Kim also wanted to isolate
the government of President Park in South Korea and encourage the student-Left opposition to
him.53
In 1960, the East German Embassy in Pyongyang noted in a report on North Korean
policy to the South:In addition, Comrade Puzanov told me the Korean comrades have close ties
with the Socialist Mass Party in South Korea, certain trade unions, some independent politicians
and local student organizations in Seoul, Busan, and Masan. He said that all those receive
political and material support from the North Korean comrades. During celebrations for the
15th anniversary (of Koreas liberation from Japan), representatives of these organizations were
illegally present (in Pyongyang) and subsequently had a meeting with members of the KWP
Presidium. In order to make policy towards the South more operational and effective, a special
office for dealing with South Korea was established with the Presidium of the (KWP) Central
Committee. It has the following departments: Direct Ties with the South, Agitation and
Propaganda, and Japanese-South Korean Ties. The head of the office is a Deputy Chairman of
the Presidium of the KWP Central Committee. During our discussion, Comrade Puzanov
explained the Korean comrades primarily make efforts to find an organized base in the working
class and among the youth (in South Korea). 54
The East German Embassy reported that a conversation in June 1975 between Bulgarian
communist ruler Todor Zhivkov and Kim il-sung discussed the subversion of South Korea.
According to the East German report, Kim il-sung stated that The movement for
democratization of the society and the unification of the fatherland is growing in South Korea
and very active. A deficit is the lacking active participation of workers and peasants in this
51
Oberdorfer, Don. Two Koreas: A Contemporary History (Basic Books 2002) page 159.
Excerpt from the Report on the Visit by Erich Honecker to the DPRK Cold War
http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1409&fuseaction=va2.document&identifier=7
5767440-CF9A-E1661D48B169CB53BFC9&sort=Subject&item=Korea,%20DPRK,%20Relations%20with%20the%
20GDR
53
Oberdorfer, Don. Two Koreas: A Contemporary History (Basic Books 2002) pages 95-98 and
158-159.
54
New East German and Soviet Evidence on North Korean Support to South Korean Political
Parties and Labor Unions Cold War International History Project Princeton University June
2012 Accessed From:
http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/NKIDP_eDossier_8_North_Korean_Policy_towa
rd_South_Korea_in_1960.pdf
52
17
movement. The intelligentsia is unable to deeply penetrate the village and the working class and
exert respective influence. This is a result of the heavy repression in South Korea. The struggle
for democratization of South Korean society is still active on a high level. In the past, as well as
in the current year, the students were uprising for mass struggle. Educational institutions were
closed down, a major part of students were drafted into the army, and another part ended up in
prisons. That is the situation in South KoreaComrade Kim Il Sung stated, after the U.S. defeat
in Indochina, attention of the world is now focusing on the Korean question. Western news
agencies would relentlessly report the DPRK will attack South Korea inspired by the Vietnamese
victory. This is directed by the Americans and the South Korean puppets to increase repression
against patriotic and democratic forces that fight for the democratization of society (in South
Korea) and the unification of the fatherlandKim stated the DPRK maintains relations with the
New Democratic Party. It forms together with the Party of Democratic Unification and the
Social-Democratic Party the Peoples Front for the Unification of Korea. Religious leaders are
also members of the Peoples Front advocating a democratization of society and Korean
unification. Yet mostly representatives of the middle class are part of the Peoples Front. Their
relation with workers and peasants, as well as their influence among them, is still weak. The
Marxist party in South Korea, the Revolutionary Unification Party, is weak in numbers. It has
about 3,000 members. They have a central leadership and leadership structures in the provinces.
They have representatives in several factories but they are illegal and their activities are much
impaired. Making active efforts among workers and peasants, and fighting openly against Park
Chung Hee, would result in the liquidation of its leaders. This is why we have instructed the
members of the Revolutionary Party to join the ranks of the legal opposition parties and increase
their influence from there under the workers and peasants. An important force in the struggle of
the South Korean people for the democratization of society and Korean unification are the
students that organize mass demonstrations against Park Chung Hee. All these forces are
fighting an active struggle.55
There were also efforts to tie aspects of the South Korean economy into that of the North.
The plan mirrored, in some respects, the post-1970s practices of Red Chinese operations directed
against Taiwan. The Red Chinese sought to use trade as a weapon to bind the economy of
Taiwan with that of the mainland. The subsequent economic hegemony by Beijing would
translate to strong control over Taiwan via economic interests who are dependent on commerce
with Beijing. The North Koreans apparently explored similar tactics. According to a report by
the Political Department of the East German Embassy in North Korea, Kim il-Sung noted in a
conversation with Pimenov, Counselor at USSR Embassy, various measures that would allow
North Korea to gain influence in the South. They included Sending unemployed South Koreans
to the DPRK and not to West Germany; export of iron ore so that South Korea does not have to
import it from Australia; sending irrigation specialists to South Korea to alleviate the situation
55
Letter From GDR Ambassador Wenning to Bulgarian Member of the Politburo and Secretary
of SED Central Committee Comrade Hermann Axen June 18 1975 Cold War International
History Project Princeton University Accessed From:
18
of the peasants; permission for South Korean fishermen to fish in DPRK territorial waters as
elsewhere the Japanese competitors are too strong; and financial assistance by the DPRK. 56
After the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War, North Korea maintained strong
military relations with the Soviet Union, China, Eastern European bloc nations, and Third World
communist and leftist states. This even extended into the realm of war planning. Soviet dictator
and former KGB Chairman Yuri Andropov secretly requested that North Korea launch an
invasion of South Korea. North Korea conducted the terrorist bombing in Burma in October
1983 to provide an excuse for invading South Korea. 57
After 1985, the North Koreans sent many officers to the USSR and East Germany for
training in military modernization. The Soviets also helped the North Koreans establish the
Mirim Military Academy to train military operation commanders. 58 In 1985, the Soviet Union
assisted North Korea in the establishment of a big SIGINT and ELINT. The base was run by 100
GRU agents and the 3rd Department of FAPSI, which was the KGBs electronic intelligence
unit.59 It was reported by a KGB defector that the KGB and North Korean intelligence
collaborated in Japan during the period 1980 to 1985. This collaboration was handled through
the General Federation of Korean Residents in Japan. 60 It was reported in October 1976 that
North Korean intelligence in West Germany established contacts at the Hannover Fair in
Hamburg, the West Berlin Industrial Fair, and in Dusseldorf. The North Koreans also served as
proxies for the Soviet KGB, the GRU, and the East German Stasi. 61 In the 1960s and 1970s,
North Korea acquired from Yugoslavia designs for midget submarines. 62 In 1985, North Korea
and East Germany signed the Agreement for Technology Transfer Needed for the MIG-21 Jet
Fighter and Engine Maintenance Project. In the late 1980s, the USSR provided North Korea
with MIG-29 fighters. This was in spite of all the Soviet propaganda hailing a less aggressive,
conciliatory new thinking in relations with the non-communist world. 63 The North Korean
Embassy in East Berlin cooperated with North Korean trading companies to smuggle goods from
West Germany and other countries to Pyongyang such as US-built Hughes helicopters. It was
also reported that the North Korean agents in charge of this smuggling operation had ties to
Soviet KGB agents. 64
Even after the Korean War, it was believed that Red China would intervene on North
Koreas behalf in the event of another conflict. Hwang Jang-yop also reported that North Korea
counts on China to come to its defense in case of an invasion north by combined ROK/US
56
Conversation with Comrade Pimenov, Counselor at USSR Embassy, 29 October 1974 Cold
War International History Project Princeton University Accessed From:
http://www.digitalarchive.org/document/114281
57
Defector Says North Will Not Abandon Nuclear Programme Chungang Ilbo May 6, 1995
58
Choi Ju-hwal. An Inside Perspective: North Koreas Unalterable Stance East Asian Review,
Volume 11, Number 4, 1999 pages 87-102.
59
Pyongyang Boosts SIGINT Intelligence Online October 14, 2005
60
Preobrazhensky, Konstantin. North Korean Lobby in Russia Accessed From: www.analystnetwork.com/articles/48/TheNorthKoreanlobbyinRussia.doc
61
DPRK Spy Ship Network Extends to Germany Die Welt October 21, 1976
62
Bermudez, Joseph. The Armed Forces of North Korea (I.B. Tauris, 2001) pages 6 and 109.
63
Ibid, page 157.
64
Defecting Agent From North Involved in Helicopter Case Chungang Ilbo January 9, 1987
19
forces.65 Cho Myong-chol, who was the second son of former Minister of Construction of the
North Korean Administration Council, noted in 1994, which in the event of a second Korean
War, China would assist Pyongyang. Cho noted that I am not sure about human resources, but I
believe that if a war broke out, China would surely provide other forms of support. 66 Despite
the changes in Russia in December 1991, Moscow continued to pledge its assistance to North
Korea in the event of another Korean War. In August 1992, a senior Russian Foreign Ministry
official stated that if North Korea was invaded, the Russian Federation would intervene on behalf
of the North Koreans. 67
The Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) and Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) base in North
Korea were officially shut down in 1997. They were taken over and run by the 3rd Department
of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army. After the Korean Peoples Army chief of staff visited
Russia in 2001, the FAPSI restarted operations at the SIGINT and ELINT base. 68 North Korean
intelligence worked in Putins Russia without interference and was assisted by the Federal
Security Agency (FSB). The FSB and North Korean intelligence cooperated in operations
against the United States, Japan, and Western nations. 69
Post-Soviet Russia and some of its successor states continued the arms pipeline to
Pyongyang. Hwang Jang-yop reported that North Korea has imported outer panels removed
from Russian submarines to construct external hulls for its own submarine fleet, and
sophisticated parts and equipment necessary for their operation are also imported, mostly from
Japan.70 One of North Koreas midget submarines were captured in 1998 at Sokcho and was
found to have parts from Russia, Japan, and Germany. In 1999, a Red Chinese national living in
North Carolina (USA), Shei-Kei Mak, sold speedboats to North Korea through Hong Kong.
Aircraft assembly plants were constructed with the assistance of China and the Soviet Union. 71
Low levels of spare parts assistance was provided by China, Eastern Europe, and Russia in the
1990s. Russia also provided Mi-8 and Mi-26 helicopters in the late 1990s. Kazakhstan provided
MIG-21 fighters to North Korea via the Czech Republic and Slovakia in early 1999. 72 The North
Korean Armys Yongaksan Corporation acquired missile and WMD technologies from China,
Japan, Taiwan, and the former Soviet Union. 73
During the period of the 1980s, the Soviets engaged in a dtente with South Korea.
Moscow realized that the South was a growing manufacturing power that was developing high
technology items that would be useful for the Soviet military and industrial bases. Improved
65

66
Defectors Tell Press in South About Life in North Korea BBC Summary of World
Broadcasts July 29, 1994
67
Xinhua Russia Will Protect North Korea in Case of Invasion Xinhua News Agency August
13, 1992
68
Pyongyang Boosts SIGINT Intelligence Online October 14, 2005
69
Preobrazhensky, Konstantin. North Korean Lobby in Russia Accessed From: www.analystnetwork.com/articles/48/TheNorthKoreanlobbyinRussia.doc
70
71
72
Ibid.
73
Ibid.
20
relations between South Korea and the USSR would also serve to assist North Korea in the long
run. South Korea could be gently nudged by the Soviets and their allies to move to a more
tolerant attitude towards North Korea. Also, a Soviet diplomatic presence in South Korea would
potentially allow North Korea to be a recipient of intelligence on Seouls military, economic, and
political activities. A May 1986 CPSU Politburo document noted that South Korea was
becoming a factor (in the) global, military strategic balance. 74 An October 1988 conversation
between East German officials and the North Korean Ambassador to East Germany Pak Yeongchan focused in part on the decision by Hungary to recognize South Korea. Such recognition was
not intended to harm North Korea or the cause of international communism. The document
reflecting the conversation revealed that As it is certainly known to the GDR (Pak stated), the
Peoples Republic (PR) of Hungary has recently established bilateral relations with South Korea
without informing the DPRK in advance. This step has been declared by the DPRK to be
treason to socialism. The PR Hungary initially sold this step as a measure in the context of
developing economic relations, and as an opportunity to support the DPRK in establishing
contacts and talks with South Korea.75
The South Korean economy also developed along statist and highly interventionist lines
since independence in 1948. It accelerated after the populist-fascist revolution led by General
Park Chung-hee in the early 1960s. The heavy statism and interventionism of the South Korean
regimes since 1948 were the result of the retention of militarist-fascist tendencies left over from
Japanese rule and a desire to become more self-sufficient and export-oriented. Some members of
the communist bloc noticed these changes and issued praise to the Seoul regime. The Chinese
Ambassador to South Korea Lee Bin noted that Now (South) Koreans are saying that (South)
Korea is more socialist than China.76 Such a state-controlled capitalist economy could provide
a pre-existing institutional infrastructure for a potential North Korean occupation force to control
the lives and commerce of South Koreans.
Starting in the 1980s, the Soviets and their allies commenced their program to improve
relations with South Korea in an effort to establish a diplomatic and economic presence in Seoul.
In April 1990, Yonhap reported that 400 communist visitors to South Korea were watched by
South Korean intelligence since 1988. The communist countries sending these visitors to South
Korea were in numeric order: China, the USSR, Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia,
Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania, Vietnam, East Germany, Laos, Kampuchea, and Cuba. 77
In May 1991, the Seoul newspaper Chugan Choson noted that the counselor of the Soviet
Embassy in Seoul, Anatoly Sirotyuk was the KGB Station Chief in South Korea. Ever since
entering South Korea, Sirotyuk constantly changed identities and worked as a high official in the
Soviet Embassy and the USSR Chamber of Commerce and Industry in South Korea. The
Chamber in South Korea was formed in March 1989 and KGB agent Sirotyuk was a founding
member. The newspaper reported that 30-40 South Koreans visited the USSR and they were
74
Oberdorfer, Don. Two Koreas: A Contemporary History (Basic Books 2002) pages 95-98 and
158-159.
75
Note About a Conversation with the DPRK Ambassador to the GDR, Comrade Pak Yeongchan (Pak Yong Chan), on 10 October 1988 in Berlin Cold War International History Project
Princeton University Accessed From: http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/114992
76
Chung Woo-seong Socialism Story Leads to Big Wall Chosun Ilbo July 10, 2003 Accessed
From: http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2003/07/10/2003071061008.html
77
Security Agency Said Watching Communist Visitors Yonhap April 26, 1990
21
employees of travel agencies, trading companies, shipping firms, professors from prominent
universities, and some businessmen.
KGB collection efforts against South Korea started in the late 1970s. One South Korean
official who was sent to Eastern Europe in the mid-1970s noted that The KGBs hopes rose,
recognizing that unlike the Korean Governments attitude the Korean peoples hostility towards
the Soviet Union was not as seriousAs Koreas international prestige gradually increased the
Soviets could not help but be concerned with Korea. In order to create an atmosphere conducive
to this, the KGB penetrated Korea through cultural exchangeThe Soviet KGB discerned that as
anti-Americanism gradually intensified within Korea before the 1988 Seoul Olympics a byproduct of this was the development of a cordial atmosphere towards the Soviet Union. In order
to accelerate this phenomenon the KGB sent cultural groups en masse to Korea including the
Bolshoi Ballet and the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. I know that the KGB developed a plan
on the occasion of the Seoul Olympics to improve ROK-Soviet economic relations and moreover
to even establish diplomatic relations.
The senior vice chairman of the USSR Chamber of Commerce and Industry Kollanov
visited South Korea in 1988 and was a KGB official. Soviet KGB agents in South Korea were
employed as officials in Aeroflot, Soviet Embassy, and the USSR Chamber of Commerce and
Industry. The KGB agent and vice chairman of the USSR CCI in South Korea was Petrov and
was in the USSR for consultations on advancements into the USSR by companies such as
Hyundai, Samsung, Daewoo, Lucky Goldstar as well as small and medium sized South Korean
companies. The adviser to the USSR CCI in South Korea Mikhail Steklov advised small and
medium sized businesses in South Korea in the establishment of branch offices in the USSR and
meets with 20 South Korean businessmen each day. It was noted that KGB officials speak
highly of Koreas economic development and take the position negative side effects can occur to
some degree at certain stages of development, cant they? when asked about labor management
discord or campus demonstrations.
It was also noted that The reason that the KGB officials meet primarily with university
professors and business figures is, in reality, to alleviate the hostility shown by Koreans towards
the Soviet Union. KGB agents primarily are working at providing data on the Soviet Union to
professors that they have been thirsting for years, while amicably approaching Koreas medium
and small businesses which are dreaming of advancing into the Soviet Union with pledges of
transfer of state of the art technology. The result is that a pro-Soviet force is forming among a
substantial number of academics and businessmen. 78
In July 1990, the Korea Herald noted that a European academician reported There is a
general apprehension in the Western world that the Soviet interest in high technology and the
efforts to get hold of nonmilitary as well military information has increased considerably against
the backdrop of reduced East-West tensionThe rush of Korean companies to do business in the
Soviet Union opens the possibility of espionage conducted to gain inside information useful in
contract negotiations as well as sensitive technology associated with the computer, electronic
and telecommunications industries of Korea which has military implications. 79
78
Eyes on Korean Trends Since 1978-The Current Overall Responsibilities of the Consul of the
Soviet Embassy in Korea Seoul Chugan Choson May 19, 1991
79
ROK Attractive for Soviet Technology Gains Korea Herald July 29, 1990
22
In May 1991, So Tong-kwon head of the Agency of National Security Planning noted
that 5 to 6 KGB agents operated in Seoul posing as Embassy officials and Aeroflot employees. 80
Defectors to the North also proved to be useful tools of the North Koreans, as the history
of the occupation of the South in 1950 indicated. Post-1953 South Korean defectors to the North
seemed to be motivated primarily by money, privileges, and ideology. Specifically; one study
indicated that the types of South Korean defectors to North Korea were dissenters, misguided
idealists, and individuals with legal and psychiatric problems. By the early 1980s, leftist
ideologues from the South were the only ones who contemplated defection to North Korea.
South Korean defectors were provided with good houses, generous bonus payments, and
encouraged to deliver military equipment and intelligence. Examples of high profile defectors
who did well in the North were: Kang Tae-mu was a South Korean officer who defected with
his unit shortly before 1950 became a two star North Korean general; Professor Yun No-bin
from Pusan University defected in 1983 became a North Korean journalist producing propaganda
material targeting South Korea; and former Minister of Foreign Affairs Choe Tok -sin defected
to the North in 1986. A large number of educated defectors work for agencies responsible for
psychological warfare against South Korea. They included announcers, editors, and writers in
broadcast stations, research fellows at the Institute of South Korean Studies and similar
institutions.81
In 1996, the North Korean Central Broadcasting system noted that the Military
Commission provided numerous incentives and privileges to South Korean defectors to the
North. It noted that Regarding those who defect to the DPRK after serving in the puppet
army(the North Koreans would award) money to guarantee their living will be given to the
defectors as well as state commendations for individual meritorious deeds and collective
achievements (for striking a blow to the enemies), all according to their exploitsIf defectors
bring with them weapons or equipment related to combat technology and provide classified
military material, they will receive corresponding prize money. If defectors want to study in
schools or want to engage in academic research, they will be allowed to enter universities and
related research institutes and study for free, since scholarships are provided by the state. If
defectors want a place to work, arrangements will be made for them to work at the place they
desire, and if they want to study abroad, they will be guaranteed all kinds of conveniences so
they can study abroad according to their capability and temperament. Defectors will be provided
with housing and daily necessities for free and will be guaranteed all possible conveniences in
their everyday lives. If defectors want to serve in the army, they will be promoted according to
their services and will be assigned to units related to all branches and services of the Korean
Peoples Armyprize money will be given to defectors who bring with them weapons and
equipment related to combat technology.82
Lastly, the North Koreans also engaged in economic exchanges and commerce with the
South. The North sought to win over South Korean big business as a lobbying force in an effort
to divide the non-communist camp and to gain new technologies for its industries. Despite
official hostility to capitalism in the South, the communists in Pyongyang were strategic
pragmatists who valued high quality goods and technologies if such items enhanced their power.
North Korean delegates that attended the May 1972 conference with the South Koreans
80
NSP Chief Says 5 to 6 KGB Agents in Seoul Yonhap May 3, 1991

Lankov, Andrei. North of the DMZ (McFarland 2007) pages 303-305.
82
Radio Describes Rewards Defectors Will Receive Central Broadcasting Station July 16, 1996
81
23
reportedly stated Whether one believes in communism, nationalism or capitalism must not be an
obstacle to great national unity. We are not opposed to the nationalists and capitalists in South
Korea. The majority of the South Korean capitalists are national capitalists. We have been
pursuing a policy of protecting national capitalists. For the sake of national reunification, we
will unite and cooperate with the people of all backgrounds in South Korea including
nationalists and national capitalists. The North Korean delegates also supported the creation
of an economic committee of representatives of the business circles of the South and North in
order to hold an exchange of commodities and economic cooperation betwe en both parts of
Korea. A broad cultural exchange and assurance of free movement from one part of Korea to
another is also envisioned.83 Kim Jong-il reported stated in 1998 in reference to South Korean
goods: What ideology could be smeared on goods? Accept and use anything that is
offered.84
Until the late 1980s, much of the reported North-South trade occurred either through third
countries or underground transactions (i.e. smuggling). As of June 1947, South Korea served as a
transit point for goods from Japan going to China, North Korea, and Communist-held
Manchuria. Imports from China, communist-held Manchuria, North Korea, and Hong Kong were
re-shipped via South Korea. North Korean soap with the hammer and sickle was smuggled to
gain hard currency. The Soviet occupation forces in North Korea set up a yen fund to promote
smuggling with the goal of receiving rice and warm US Army issue clothing. North Korea
received Korean rice, US Army clothing, US sulpha drugs, Japanese silk and light bulbs, South
Korean shoes, US PX goods such as cigarettes, candy, and chewing gum, and US gasoline.
Soviet-occupied North Korea exported cement, paper, wood pulp, caustic soda, soap, candies,
cotton socks, apples, fertilizer, and fish. 85
President Rhee of South Korea noted in 1948 that smugglers were carrying profitable
illicit trade through the Korean DMZ to South Korea. It was noted that traffic was controlled by
the Soviet authorities on traffic going to the North. 86 As of June 1950, clandestine trade was also
reportedly carried out with South Korea according to the CIA. 87
It was reported in 1980 that South Korea purchased coal from North Korea indirectly
throughout Japanese merchants. 88 South Korea imported 1,262,000 tons of coal ($80 million)
from North Korea during the period 1979-1983. South Korea imported this coal from the North
to solve a serious fuel shortage in the wake of the second oil crisis. This coal was imported by
83
On the Three Principles of National Reunification: Conversations with the South Korean
Delegates to the High-Level Political Talks between North and South Korea -May 3, 1972 Cold
War International History Project Woodrow Wilson Center Princeton University Accessed From:
84
Kang Chol-hwan. North Koreans Value South Korean Commodities Chosun Ilbo April 16,
2002 Accessed From: http://www.chosun.com/english/special/nkreport1031.html
85
Cromley, Ray. Oriental Smugglers: Their Business Booms Wall Street Journal June 20,
1947 page 1.
86
South Korea Puts Guards on Border New York Times October 14, 1948 page 14.
87
Central Intelligence Agency. Current Capabilities of the Northern Korean Regime June 19,
1950 Accessed From: http://www.foia.cia.gov/sites/default/files/document_conversions/44/195006-19.pdf
88
Seoul Dismisses Norths Overture The New York Times July 22, 1980 page A2.
24
Sunkyong Ltd through trading companies in third countries. 89 South Korea imported 1,262,000
tons of coal ($80 million) from North Korea during the period 1979-1983. South Korea imported
this coal from the North to solve a serious fuel shortage in the wake of the second oil crisis. This
coal was imported by Sunkyong Ltd through trading companies in third countries. 90
In November 1988, North Korea exported to South Korea 40 kilograms of clams to South
Korea via the port of Pusan. South Korea imported North Korean artwork such as paintings,
pottery, woodwork, and industrial artworks in January 1989. In July 1990, North Korea imported
800 tons of South Korean rice. In December 1990, the South Korean trading firm Doosung
Company signed a barter agreement with the North Korean Kumgang-san International Trade
and Development Company. Doosung exported 500 refrigerators and 240 color television to
North Korea in exchange for cement, artifacts, and paintings. Before December 1990, over 200
North Korean-South Korean trade deals were concluded between 150 South Korean firms and
nine state-owned North Korean companies. These deals were conducted through brokers in Hong
Kong and Japan. In March 1991, the South Korean Cheongji Trading Company signed a barter
trade agreement with Kumgang-san International Trade and Development Company. The South
Koreans pledged to export to the North rice in exchange for coal and cement. The South Korean
government pledged to subsidize any losses to Cheongji through a special inter-Korean
cooperation fund that was set up in August 1990. South Korean chaebol or multinationals also
cooperated with the North. Lucky-Goldstar signed a contract with a Red Chinese broker in
February 1991 to export to North Korea 30,000 barrels of high sulfur diesel oil for $1.4 million.
In 1991, Samsung and Lucky-Goldstar purchased 135 kg of gold bullion from North Korea. This
transaction was handled by brokers in Hong Kong. After 1991, Samsung imported steel sheets,
zinc ingots, farm crops, and yarn from North Korea. Samsung provided the North with color
television sets, sugar, and refrigerators. In September 1991, the South Korean firm Ssangyong,
imported North Korean iron ingots. North Korean-South Korean trade totaled $23.34 million in
1989; $25.61 million in 1990; and $190 million in 1991. In early 1992, the North Koreans
imported $800 million worth of consumer and luxury goods from South Korea in honor of Kim
il-sungs birthday. They included toothbrushes, clothing, refrigerators, and washing machines.
The South Korean firms were requested not to attach their brand names to the goods.
In the early 1990s, there were also attempts by South Korean firms to outsource
production to the North on account of its cheap and controlled labor force. By 1992, the South
Korean Kolon textiles opened a factory in North Korea that produced socks on machines
imported from Seoul under a South Korean supervisor. In January 1992, Daewoo chairman Kim
Woo Choong visited North Korea to open an industrial park in the North where communist labor
would produce goods for export to the South. 91
By 1992, the South Korean Kolon textiles opened a factory in North Korea that produced
socks on machines imported from Seoul under a South Korean supervisor. In January 1992,
89
South Korean Energy Ministry Reportedly Imported Coal From North Yonhap October 10,
1988
90
Ibid.
91
North Korea: A Country Study (Federal Research Division Library of Congress 1993)
Accessed From: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+kp0096)
25
Daewoo chairman Kim Woo Choong visited North Korea to open an industrial park in the North
where communist labor would produce goods for export to the South. 92
Since 1989, numerous South Korean companies had entered North Korea to produce
goods to be shipped back to the South and elsewhere. By 1998, most of these operations initially
folded. As of 1998, the only businesses still in operation in North Korea were Daewoos dress
shirt factory in Nampo and food manufacturing factories by some small and medium-sized South
Korean businesses. 93 However by the 2000s, South Korean firms outsourced production to the
Kaesong Industrial Complex. This is covered in detail in my book Sowing the Seeds of Our
Destruction: Useful Idiots on the Right.
The North also attempted to extract loans, grants, and humanitarian aid to salvage its
collapsing economy. The communist leadership cleverly schemed to extract as much aid as
possible from the West, Japan, and South Korea. In 1992, high level Workers Party Secretary
Hwang Jang Yop recalled that that Kim il-sung said we can gain an easy 1.5 billion dollars
while Kim Young Sam visits North KoreaNorth Korea can earn 1.5 billion dollars by linking
railroads between South Korea and Russia for transportation of South Korean, Russian and even
Japanese goods.94
Former secretary of the Workers Party of Korea and creator of the Juche (self-reliance)
philosophy Hwang Chang-yop noted in 1999 that communists in Pyongyang: so boldly tricked
the South Korean public into believing that Seoul's economic assistance for the North and its
leader Kim Jong-il would help democratize the communist state. Are we to believe North Korea,
which even opposes the Chinese model of reform and opening, would actually adopt American
democracy? Mr Kim Dae-jung, an honorable president of South Korea, boldly lied to the (South
Korean) people to hand over enormous amounts of foreign currency to Kim Jong-il. Many
ordinary people in the South and honest persons overseas now believe that (the provision of
money) has helped strengthen Kim Jong-il's nuclear arms and place the people of South Korea
under greater military threats (from North Korea). 95
The North Korean government viewed the South Korean government of President Kim
Dae Jung as the enemy with an olive tree branch. In early 2000, the North Korean regime
referred to the rice and fertilizer exported by South Korea as the tributes from South Koreans to
praise Commander Kim Jong-ils greatness. North Korean propaganda media stated that
South Korea and the US are on their knees in front of the Commanders Spirit and offer tribute.
Yet, in order to dry us to death, they give us only little at a time. It is not a Sunshine Policy but a
Sacrifice (Killing) Policy. The North Korean state-owned media reported that the loan (rice
and fertilizer) is interest-free and in thirty years we will be reunited so we will not have to pay it
back. It was reported that the hundreds of thousands of tons of food coming from
international societies and South Korea were given out to the military first in the North. It rarely
reached people in more than a few hundred kilograms per serving. Military vehicles changed
license plates and military drivers changed their clothes to civilian clothes to go to the pier and
retrieved the food. Kim Jong-ils strategy was to utilize the Three Mutuality Theory of
92
North Korea: A Country Study (Federal Research Division Library of Congress 1993)
Accessed From: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+kp0096)
93
Hyundai plans industrial park in North Sisa Journal December 2, 1998
94
Kim Song A. Kim Il Sung: Kim Young Sam's Visit Portends Big Money Daily NK June 2,
2007 Accessed From: http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk02200&num=2161
95
Top North Korean defector says South helped North test with aid Yonhap October 17, 2006
26
Minjok, which sought to align the anti-American forces in South Korea, isolating the ruling
party, and overthrowing the US. Kim Jong-il noted that the South Korean Sunshine Policy of
appeasing the North Korean communists was having three kills with one swing. 96
Fertilizer exported by South Korea to North Korea was used to grow opium plants. Room
39 of the Workers Party distributed the fertilizer given by the South. The fertilizer was provided
to state-owned farms in four provinces. The North ordered that at least 30% of the acreage on
some farms be devoted to growing opium poppies. The opium grown at these farms is processed
at the Nanam Pharmaceutical Factory and the Suncheong Pharmaceutical Factory. The opium
was exported aboard and a Hong Kong drug dealer reportedly visited the Nanam factory. North
Korea started to grow poppies on the orders of Kim il-Sung in 1992. The project was dubbed
Baikdoraji Saeop or white balloon flower project.97
Even in the present, North Korea represents a militant threat to the peace and stability of
South Korea and Japan. Backed by Russia, China, and its Third World bloc of allies, North
Korea still remains a potent force to be reckoned with, especially on the account of its highly
trained special troops, growing domestic arms production industry, and stocks of weapons of
mass destruction. Respectfully, the South Korean and American governments could implement
the following policies that would maintain and even extend their mutual strength and security:
1) Maintenance of American troops and tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea.
2) Continued weapons sales to the South Korean armed forces.
3) Coordination of the United States and South Korea in counter-propaganda efforts
against North Korea and its leftist sympathizers and agents in the South.
4) Full reinstatement of national security laws in the South, along with special
investigations in the National Assembly to determine the strength of the Norths
subversive apparatus.
5) Coordination with Japan to neutralize the Chosen Soren and strengthen the pro-South
ethnic Koreans in Japan.
6) Dissolution of the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) on the grounds that
this particular agreement indirectly strengthens the North and Red China through
transshipment of goods and outsourcing production to factories in the North. A new
trade agreement would be negotiated that would balance trade between the United
States and South Korea. All indirect and direct benefits to the North Koreans and
Chinese would be removed from such a proposed agreement.
7) Encouragement of a domestic arms and nuclear energy industry in South Korea.
96
Han Young Jin, Kim Young Soo, Kim Kwang Chul How We Saw the Sunshine Policy in
North Korea Daily NK April 10, 2005 Accessed From:
http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk00100&num=108
97
Lee Kyo Kwan. Aid Used to Produce Narcotics Chosun Ilbo April 7, 2003 Accessed From:
http://brothersjuddblog.com/archives/2003/06/how_you_fund_terror_via_tom_mo.html

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NSP Chief Says 5 to 6 KGB Agents in Seoul Yonhap May 3, 1991

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