Soviet documents show Kim wanted truce
by Lee Dong-hyun 
JoongAng Daily
July 25, 2003

A half century ago, North Korea’s leader, Kim Il Sung, had an earnest wish. He wanted an armistice ending the Korean War more than anything, and his wish for a cease-fire was stronger than any of the leaders involved in the deadly conflict.

The JoongAng Ilbo’s Unification Research Institute recently obtained exclusive rights to official Soviet documents which had been stored in the archives of Russia’s Foreign Ministry. According to the documents, due to the fact that North Korea’s casualties were mounting rapidly amid the armistice negotiations, Mr. Kim approached the United Nations single-handedly in November 1951, without first consulting the Soviet Union and China.

The documents showed that Mr. Kim urged the United Nations to stop its military actions on the peninsula so that the truce could be signed as soon as possible. He was also willing to accept the UN’s demands - the withdrawal of North Korean troops from the battle front, and the establishment of a two-kilometer-wide Demilitarized Zone.

They also show that in June 1951, only one year after the war began, Mr. Kim saw that he would not be able to win it. And China’s leader, Mao Zedong, shared his view. They consulted with Josef Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union, about whether he intended to aim for a truce, but he objected. While Mr. Kim and Mr. Mao continued attempting to persuade Mr. Stalin to agree to a cease-fire, China and North Korea began taking part in the armistice negotiations in July 1951.

But the talks faced a series of obstacles. Then Mr. Kim began acting on his own, without consulting the other two leaders. According to the documents, he approached the United Nations in November 1951. His action, however, faced immediate opposition from the Soviets.

Andrei Gromyko, the then Soviet first deputy foreign minister, repeatedly ordered Nikolai Georgievich Lebedev, Soviet ambassador in North Korea, on Nov. 19 and 20, 1951, to warn North Korea to stop making any moves.

“North Korean comrades appealed to the United Nations for an armistice unilaterally, without agreeing with us,” Mr. Gromyko warned in the letters. “At this time, North Korea is seeking a truce from the UN only to bring about political disadvantages to us.”

North Korea, however, did not withdraw its efforts to seek a cease-fire. North Korea’s foreign minister, Park Hon-yong, visited China on Jan. 16, 1952, and made clear that the North would stand by its decision to seek an armistice.

The armistice talks finally thawed in March 1953, after Mr. Stalin died. The armistice was signed on July 27, 1953.