ID :
36822
Sun, 12/21/2008 - 21:14
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http://m.oananews.org//node/36822
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N. Korea proposed secret contacts with U.S. in 1974: dossier
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 (Yonhap) -- North Korea proposed setting up secret contacts
with the United States through Romania in 1974, two years after U.S. President
Richard Nixon made his historic visit to China ending decades of Cold War
rivalry, a declassified U.S. document has shown.
An aide to then Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu met with then U.S. President
Gerald Ford at the White House on Aug. 27, saying, "The North Korean leadership
wants to have confidential contacts with the United States for discussions,"
according to the recently declassified Memorandum for the President's File.
"They have suggested Romania," the aide told Ford, according to the memorandum.
The suggestion was made soon after the assassination of South Korea's First Lady
Yuk Young-soo by a Japan-born Korean believed to be linked to a pro-Pyongyang
organization in Japan.
The aide told Ford that the Romanian president "has offered to help if you want
to do it," without elaborating on what the North Koreans were hoping to discuss.
Ford's response to the proposal was lukewarm. "Certain things must precede such
contacts. We don't want to go in without a firm understanding."
The U.S. president, however, told the aide he would discuss the matter with
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who was in attendance during the meeting
between Ford and the Romanian official.
Kissinger later said he would deliver the U.S. government's position on the issue
to the Romanian ambassador in Washington.
Ceausescu met with Ford at the White House on June 11, 1975, and said he had
delivered Washington's position on the issue to then North Korean leader Kim
Il-sung, according to the declassified document.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)
WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 (Yonhap) -- North Korea proposed setting up secret contacts
with the United States through Romania in 1974, two years after U.S. President
Richard Nixon made his historic visit to China ending decades of Cold War
rivalry, a declassified U.S. document has shown.
An aide to then Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu met with then U.S. President
Gerald Ford at the White House on Aug. 27, saying, "The North Korean leadership
wants to have confidential contacts with the United States for discussions,"
according to the recently declassified Memorandum for the President's File.
"They have suggested Romania," the aide told Ford, according to the memorandum.
The suggestion was made soon after the assassination of South Korea's First Lady
Yuk Young-soo by a Japan-born Korean believed to be linked to a pro-Pyongyang
organization in Japan.
The aide told Ford that the Romanian president "has offered to help if you want
to do it," without elaborating on what the North Koreans were hoping to discuss.
Ford's response to the proposal was lukewarm. "Certain things must precede such
contacts. We don't want to go in without a firm understanding."
The U.S. president, however, told the aide he would discuss the matter with
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who was in attendance during the meeting
between Ford and the Romanian official.
Kissinger later said he would deliver the U.S. government's position on the issue
to the Romanian ambassador in Washington.
Ceausescu met with Ford at the White House on June 11, 1975, and said he had
delivered Washington's position on the issue to then North Korean leader Kim
Il-sung, according to the declassified document.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)