Translating History continues its look at the early days of the Korean War with two new translations of declassified documents from 1950.
The materials in the collection contain two versions of the origin of the Korean War of 1950-1953 and the degree of guilt of the DPRK and ROK in unleashing it. One of them is set out in a telegram from the Soviet ambassador to Korea T.F. Shtykov to the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs (see document 2). It carried the text of an official message from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the DPRK, dated June 25, 1950, which provided the official North Korean version of events: that South Korean troops had launched a surprise offensive against the DPRK along the entire line of the 38th parallel, and that “troops of the republic are stubbornly resisting the enemy.”
The version of aggression on the part of North Korea and its guilt in unleashing the armed conflict is contained in a telephone dispatch with a flash message from TASS dated June 25, 1950 (see document 3). Citing Radio Paris and the Japanese agency Kyoto, TASS reported that “North Korean armed forces began the offensive at 5 a.m. local time along the entire 38th parallel.”
In connection with the armed conflict that had begun on the Korean Peninsula, the UN Security Council adopted resolutions on June 25 and 27, 1950. These resolutions identified the DPRK as the aggressor and served as the basis for American support for South Korean troops. The Soviet Union supported the official version of the North Korean authorities and defended the DPRK by political and propaganda means. The materials we’ve come across also contain the “Statement by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR A.A. Gromyko on American Armed Aggression in Korea” (see document 4). Judging by the content, this is the original version of the “Statement” published in the Soviet press on July 4, 1950. It laid out the main theses of Soviet propaganda, which were developed in the subsequent political and propaganda activities of the USSR. Namely, on June 25, the South Korean troops invaded the DPRK; the United States is responsible for this; and the USSR condemns armed intervention in the internal affairs of Korea. The nature of the conflict on the Korean Peninsula was defined as a just war of liberation of the Korean people against the illegal armed intervention of the American imperialists.
As a postscript, Russian history books now officially identify the North Koreans as having kicked off the offensive, but weaken their stance with the assertion that it was merely meant to be a brief response to the border clashes and uprisings in the south.
Translations of all three documents (2, 3, and 4 from the collection) are provided below.
Document 2: Clerical telegram from Pyongyang
To Comrade Gromyko
I am transmitting a message from the Ministry of Internal Affairs made on the radio on June 25, 1950.
“Message from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the DPRK.
“On June 25 this year, early in the morning, the troops of the so-called National Defense Army of the puppet government of South Korea launched a surprise attack on North Korean territory along the entire 38th parallel. The enemy, who launched the surprise attack, invaded North Korean territory to a depth of one to two kilometers north of the 38th parallel in the area west of Hyadyu and in the Kymchon and Chyarvon areas. [Translator note: These placenames transliterated as found.]
“The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the DPRK has ordered security troops to repel attacks by the enemy who has invaded North Korean territory. At the moment, the security troops of the Republic are stubbornly resisting the enemy. The security troops of the Republic have repulsed attacks by the enemy who has invaded North Korean territory in the Yangyang area. The government of the DPRK has instructed the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic to warn the authorities of the puppet government of South Korea that if they do not immediately cease their adventuristic military actions in areas north of the 38th parallel, decisive measures will be taken to suppress the enemy, and that they will bear full responsibility for all serious consequences of these adventuristic military actions.”
Reported by Chichkova
Received by Kirsanova
Certified by Shtykov
Document 3. Telephone dispatch
From Comrade Vyshinskiy, 25 June 1950
12.10 hours
Flash message from TASS
Radio Paris reports that military action has begun along the entire border between South and North Korea.
Radio Paris cites a report from the Japanese agency Kyoto, which says that North Korean armed forces began an offensive at 5 a.m. local time along the entire 38th parallel.
South Korean army headquarters said the attacks had been repelled and fighting was continuing.
Radio Paris has reported on the statement from the US State Department, which states that the US government has demanded that the Security Council be convened to discuss the situation in Korea.
The State Department spokesman insists that this Security Council meeting take place this very afternoon.
Transmitted over telephone from TASS.
Transmitted by Sofronova
Received by Ridionova
Certified by Tumantsev
Distribution: Stalin, Molotov, Beria, Mikoyan, Kaganovich, Bulganin
Document 4: Statement by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR A.A. Gromyko on the American armed intervention in Korea
/Extract/
The events taking place in Korea, which arose as a result of the provocative attack on June 25 by the troops of the South Korean authorities on the border areas of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, are attracting the attention of the peoples of the entire world. It is now easy to understand what the plans of the South Korean puppet regime of Lee Seung Man and those who stand behind him are.
The very first days of the struggle taking place in Korea showed that events were not developing in favor of the South Korean authorities. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea achieved success in the fight against the South Korean troops, armed with American equipment and under the leadership of American military advisers. As a result, many settlements south of the 38th parallel, as well as the capital of Korea – Seoul, were liberated.
When it became clear that the reactionary terrorist regime of Lee Seung Man, which had never enjoyed the support of the Korean people, was collapsing, the United States government resorted to open intervention in Korea, ordering its air, naval, and then ground forces to intervene on the side of the South Korean authorities against the Korean people. Thus, the United States government took the path of overt interference in the internal affairs of Korea, the path of armed intervention in Korea.
The United States government and President Truman are trying to justify these actions against Korea by citing that they were allegedly undertaken on the instructions of the Security Council. The falsity of such an assertion is glaring.
What actually happened? It is known that the United States government had decided on armed intervention in Korea and had already begun to implement it, without waiting for the Security Council to convene on June 27. The United States representative at that meeting merely informed the attending members of the Security Council about the military measures already begun by the US government in Korea, thus presenting the United Nations with a fait accompli. The Security Council merely clumsily rubber-stamped the resolution proposed by the US government approving the aggressive actions taken by that government. Moreover, the American resolution was adopted by the Security Council in flagrant violation of the United Nations Charter.
According to Article 27 of the UN Charter, all decisions of the Security Council on important issues must be taken by at least seven votes, including the votes of all five permanent members of the Security Council, i.e. the Soviet Union, China, the United States, Great Britain and France.
Meanwhile, the American resolution approving the military intervention of the United States in Korea was adopted by only six votes – the United States, England, France, Norway, Cuba, Ecuador. The vote of the Kuomintang member Jiang Ting-fu, who illegally occupies China’s seat on the Security Council, was counted as the seventh vote for this resolution.
In addition, at the meeting of the Security Council on June 27, only three of the five permanent members of the Council were present – the United States, England and France. The other two permanent members of the Security Council – the USSR and China – were not present at the meeting of the Council, since the hostile position of the US government towards the Chinese people deprives China of the opportunity to have its legal representative on the Security Council, which made it impossible for the Soviet Union to participate in the meetings of the Council.
Thus, neither of the two requirements of the UN Charter regarding the procedure for decision-making by the Security Council was met at the meeting of 27 June, which deprives the resolution adopted at that meeting of any legitimacy.
…This became possible only because the shameless pressure of the US government on the members of the Security Council turned the United Nations into some kind of branch of the US State Department, into an obedient instrument of the policies of the American ruling circles.
…[T]he US government is trying to portray its military actions against the Korean people as “police measures” allegedly in accordance with the United Nations Charter. It is not difficult to understand the absurdity of such a statement. One of the basic principles of the United Nations is the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of states. Meanwhile, the actions of the United States in Korea represent blatant interference in the internal affairs of the Korean people, who are fighting to preserve the unity of their country, for its national independence and national freedom.
In reality, the invasion by American armed forces into Korea is an open war against Korea, with the goal of depriving it of its national independence, preventing the creation of a unified democratic state in Korea, and forcibly establishing an anti-people regime there that would allow the ruling circles of the United States to turn Korea into their colony and use its territory as a military-strategic bridgehead in the Far East.
It is clear that such a policy of the United States government has nothing in common with the interests of maintaining and strengthening international peace, and is deeply reactionary and imperialistic at its core. Such a policy of the US government is completely hostile to the fundamental national interests of not only the Korean people, but also other peoples of Asia fighting for their national liberation, for independence.
…The Soviet Government has already expressed its attitude towards the policy of gross interference in the internal affairs of Korea conducted by the Government of the United States in its reply of June 29 to the statement of the Government of the United States of June 27. It adheres to its traditional principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other states and considers armed interference in the internal affairs of Korea to be criminal.
© 2025 by Michael Estes and TranslatingHistory.org
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