--- Notes



Telegram to Li Kenong [2] Concerning Opinions on the Two Speeches by Nam Il and Deng Hua [1] (July 9, 1951) Comrade Li Kenong, with copy to Kim and Peng [3]: Your telegram of 2300 hours on July 8 has been received.   (1) The communiqué draft [4] is acceptable and has already been published.   (2) Both the speeches by Nam Il and Deng Hua [ ] are acceptable.
However, in Nam Il’s draft, the phrase “willing to accept the proposal of Mr. Malik, the Soviet representative to the United Nations, and to prepare for the holding of armistice negotiations” should be revised to read simply “willing to hold armistice negotiations,” with the twenty-one characters following “to accept the Soviet” deleted.
This is because General Ridgway’s [ ] statement does not, in its wording, indicate any willingness to accept Malik’s proposal; if Nam Il were to say so, it might provoke unnecessary criticism from the other side.
The passage in Deng Hua’s speech concerning Malik’s proposal, on the other hand, is sound and would not invite criticism.
If you believe that mention of Malik’s proposal ought to be included in Nam Il’s speech, it should be made elsewhere.

Mao Zedong, 1200 hours, July 9. Printed from the manuscript.

Notes  [1] Nam Il was at the time the chief delegate of the Supreme Command of the Korean People’s Army to the Korean Armistice Talks.
Deng Hua was at the time the delegate of the Chinese People’s Volunteers to the Korean Armistice Talks.

[2] Li Kenong was at the time Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Central People’s Government.

[3] Kim refers to Kim Il-sung, Premier of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Peng refers to Peng Dehuai, Commander and Political Commissar of the Chinese People’s Volunteers.

[4] Refers to a report sent by Li Kenong stating that the liaison officers of the North Korean–Chinese side had arrived in the Kaesong area to make arrangements and preparations for the convening of the Korean Armistice Talks in Kaesong.
Based on this, Mao Zedong rewrote it as a dispatch for the Korean Central News Agency and instructed Hu Qiaomu: “Broadcast it immediately in English; there is no need to publish it in the newspapers.”  [ ] refer to the drafts of the speeches respectively prepared by Nam Il and Deng Hua for the inaugural session of the Korean Armistice Talks.
These two speeches were published in the People’s Daily on July 11, 1951.