Top Secret 1992 Report on the 1983 Soviet Shootdown of Korean Airline KAL-007

Last week we were fortunate enough to be given access to two Top Secret documents (without the “declassified” stamp, but that’s neither here nor there) regarding the 1 September 1983 Soviet shootdown of a civilian Korean airliner that, according to official accounts, inadvertently drifted into Soviet airspace during its New York City – Anchorage -ContinueContinue reading “Top Secret 1992 Report on the 1983 Soviet Shootdown of Korean Airline KAL-007”

Korean War: Kicking Off the Soviet Propaganda Program

Translating History winds down its look at Korean War with four new translations, the last of our documents from this batch. Today’s post features evidence that most of the world was siding with the United Nations version of events, that the North Koreans invaded South Korea as puppets of the USSR. The Soviets, seeing theContinueContinue reading “Korean War: Kicking Off the Soviet Propaganda Program”

Korean War, 1951: The North is Hesitant to Continue, but Stalin Finds the Conflict Too Useful to Allow it to End

Translating History continues its look at the early days of the Korean War with a new translation of a declassified Top Secret document from 1951, Document 5 in our series. Stalin’s position, as well as that of his entourage, regarding the Korean issue in the winter of 1951 is revealed by secret instructions from theContinueContinue reading “Korean War, 1951: The North is Hesitant to Continue, but Stalin Finds the Conflict Too Useful to Allow it to End”

Two Versions of the Beginning of the Korean War, Stalin and Gromyko Embrace the Lie

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 themContinueContinue reading “Two Versions of the Beginning of the Korean War, Stalin and Gromyko Embrace the Lie”