Mao, Stalin Gave Kim OK to Wage War, Documents Say

Shortly after North Korea completed a memorial ceremony Wednesday for its late leader, Kim Il Sung, South Korea offered a different recollection of him through Soviet documents that show he plotted the 1950-53 Korean War with the approval of Moscow and Beijing.

Seoul’s Foreign Ministry released documents that Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin had given President Kim Young Sam during a visit to Moscow in June. They showed that Soviet dictator Josef Stalin and Chinese leader Mao Tse-tung approved Kim Il Sung’s attack on South Korea in June, 1950.

Three months later, when Kim asked Stalin for troop support from the Soviet Union, China and other Communist nations, the Soviet dictator told him, “Ask China.”

Chou En-lai, then China’s prime minister and foreign minister, wanted to reject the request. But the documents show that he was overruled, according to Seoul’s Foreign Ministry. Chinese troops entered the war in late October, 1950.

The release, in summary form, of 216 Korean War-related Soviet government records--along with the full texts of what were called “four key documents”--appeared to be timed to counteract moves among a small minority of South Koreans to pay tribute to Kim Il Sung as a nationalist.

Their disclosure, which officials here concede will upset North Korea, also underscored earlier indications that the Seoul government is not interested in quickly rescheduling a first-ever North-South summit that Kim Young Sam and Kim Il Sung had agreed upon before the North Korean leader’s death July 8.

North Korea informed the South on July 11 that it would be forced to “postpone” a meeting between the leaders of the two governments, which, if now held, presumably would be attended by Kim Jong Il for the North.

To the surprise of South Korean officials, Kim Jong Il, who has never delivered a speech, again remained silent during the 75-minute memorial ceremony that appeared to be designed to consolidate support for him as his father’s successor.

Kim’s silence and his haggard appearance spurred South Korean media to speculate that the new “Dear Leader” was ill.

But some analysts interpreted the memorial ceremony as the official conclusion of mourning and predicted that another occasion would be created for Kim’s debut. Officially, North Korea has not announced Kim’s assumption of three key positions that were held by his father.