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Prace OrIeNTaLISTYcZNe I aFrYKaNISTYcZNe
Nicolas Levi
Tangible and Intangible Legacies of 70 years
of Polish-North Korean relations
(1948–2018)
10
PaPers in Oriental and african studies
Prace OrientalistYcZne i afrYKanistYcZne
10
PaPers in Oriental and african studies
Nicolas Levi
Tangible and Intangible Legacies
of 70 years of Polish-North Korean
relations (1948–2018)
Warsaw 2021
Prace OrientalistYcZne i afrYKanistYcZne 10
Wydawnictwo Instytutu Kultur Śródziemnomorskich i Orientalnych
Polskiej Akademii Nauk
ul. Nowy Świat 72, Pałac Staszica, 00-330 Warszawa
tel.: +48 22 657 27 91, sekretariat@iksio.pan.pl; www.iksiopan.pl
Recenzenci:
dr Kamil Weber
dr Robert Winstanley-Chesters
Redaktor serii:
Krzysztof Gutowski
Redaktor naukowy:
dr Lech Buczek
Redakcja i korekta językowa:
Brien Barnett
Redakcja techniczna:
Brien Barnett
Projekt okładki, opracowanie graczne, skład iłamanie:
GRAF – Janusz R. Janiszewski
Druk ioprawa:
impresje.net
© Copyright by Instytut Kultur Śródziemnomorskich i Orientalnych
Polskiej Akademii Nauk i Nicolas Levi, Warsaw 2021
ISBN: 978-83-960831-3-5
e-ISBN: 978-83-960831-6-6
Table of Contents
Introduction and research questions ................................................................... 9
Methodology and theoretical backgrounds ....................................................... 13
Romanisation and linguistical issues ................................................................. 15
Chapter 1
1948–1950 in North Korea-Poland relations .................................................... 17
Chapter 2
e Korean War period and its aftermath (1950–1959) .................................. 19
2.1. e Position of Poland during the Korean War ....................................... 19
2.2. Polish support after the Korean War ......................................................... 23
2.3. Educational and cultural support .............................................................. 29
2.4. North Korean orphans in Poland .............................................................. 32
2.5. Kim Il Sung’s visit to Poland in 1956 and its consequences ................... 41
Chapter 3
Relative Disturbance in Polish-North Korean relations (1959–1980) ............ 43
3.1. Economic cooperation ................................................................................. 43
3.2. Political cooperation ..................................................................................... 50
3.3. Cultural and sport cooperation ................................................................... 52
3.4. Educational cooperation ............................................................................. 55
Chapter 4
Relations between Poland and North Korea between 1980 and 1989 ........... 59
4.1. Economic cooperation ................................................................................. 59
4.2. Political cooperation ..................................................................................... 61
4.3. Cultural and educational cooperation ....................................................... 64
Chapter 5
Relations between Poland and North Korea after 1989 .................................. 67
5.1. Economic cooperation ................................................................................ 67
5.2. Political cooperation ................................................................................... 71
5.3. Parliamentary cooperation ......................................................................... 76
5.4. Cultural, educational, and sport cooperation ........................................... 77
Chapter 6
Disputes between Poland and North Korea ...................................................... 81
6.1. Mixed marriages between North Korean and Polish citizens ................ 81
6.2. Defection of North Korean citizens in Poland ........................................ 83
6.3. North Korean workers in Poland .............................................................. 86
6.4. e Korean experience of Andrzej Fidyk ................................................. 92
6.5. Disputes involving the North Korean embassy in Warsaw .................... 93
Chapter 7
e humanitarian and cultural cooperation between Poland
and North Korea in the 2000s .......................................................................... 97
7.1. Humanitarian cooperation ........................................................................ 97
7.2. Cultural cooperation .................................................................................. 99
7.3. Polish movies in North Korea ................................................................... 102
Chapter 8
A review of Polish literature related to North Korea ...................................... 105
8.1. North Korean studies in Poland between 1950 and 1980 .................... 105
8.2. North Korean studies in Poland after 1980 ........................................... 107
Conclusion and ndings ................................................................................... 111
List of Acronyms ................................................................................................. 115
Additional documents ....................................................................................... 117
1. Chronology of North Korean ambassadors to Poland .......................... 117
2. Chronology of Polish ambassadors to North Korea .............................. 118
3. Biograms of North Korean ambassadors to Poland .............................. 118
4. Biograms of Polish ambassadors to North Korea .................................. 120
5. List of agreements signed between Poland and North Korea .............. 124
6. Biograms of Polish researchers focused on North Korean studies ...... 128
7. Selected printed North Korean publications translated into Polish ..... 129
8. Translation of the text of the North Korean-Polish Friendship
Song ............................................................................................................ 156
9. Linguistical issues ...................................................................................... 157
Bibliography ........................................................................................................ 159
Illustrations ......................................................................................................... 181
9
Introduction and research questions
How were two countries – the Republic of Poland (hereafter ‘Poland’)1
and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (hereafter ‘North
Korea’) – which were so dierent, able to collaborate? Where are Poles
remembered in North Korea, and where are North Korean citizens remembered
on the territory of Poland? is monograph aims to present key issues concerning
the cooperation between Poland and North Korea in the period 1948–2018. e
book is not in any case an attempt to collect all issues related to relations between
both countries, but rather a consideration of the most important matters that
directly concerned bilateral relations between these two states, including Polish
memories in North Korea, and North Korean memories in Poland. erefore,
the monograph has a nature that is not only historical but also geographical.
e author of this monograph argues that the relations between Poland and
North Korea prove that North Korea was not as closed a country as foreign analysts
and specialists usually describe it. For this reason, the author demonstrated,
based on ocial statistics and North Korean documentation that both countries
maintained relations not only on an ocial level but also at the micro-scale,
which involved the civil society of both countries. Evidence includes the place of
North Korea in the foreign trade of Poland with Asian countries, the number
of North Korean students in Poland, and, for instance, the number of movies
imported from North Korea to Poland. All these issues will be described in detail
within these pages and are based on a comparative approach within the framework
of the relations of Poland with other Asian nations.
is monograph also enlightens the fact that although Poland did make eorts
to successfully foster mutual relations, sometimes regardless of the Polish interest,
the behaviour of the North Korean authorities reduced the benets Poland could
gain from maintaining relations with this country. North Korea focused on its
interests and not on those of fraternal nations. is led to a negative image of
the North Korean authorities among the Polish leadership and automatically to
¹ e Polish People’s Republic (Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa) was the ocial name of Poland
between 1952 and 1989. e country was renamed the Republic of Poland (Rzeczpospolita
Polska) in 1989.
10
negative views concerning the North Korean population among Poles. is point
is especially related to the post-communist period in Poland, where the inow
of information about North Korea merely increased.
is monograph supports the hypothesis and theoretical conclusion that the
North Korean national interest was prioritised in the establishment of relations
with Poland and that therefore there is asymmetry in the quality of relations
between the two countries.
To full this aim, the author of the present monograph divides the period
of relations between Poland and North Korea into ve parts. e rst, covering
the period from 1948 to 1950, is a short outline of bilateral relations until the
outbreak of the Korean War. e second tackles the relations between Poland
and North Korea during the Korean War from 1950 to 1953 and the post-
-Korean War period till 1959 when Poland provided multilateral support for the
post-war recovery of North Korea. is monograph mainly deals with the period
1960–1980, emphasizing the rupture of relations between both countries due to
an ideological disagreement. e fourth part is related to the transition period
between 1980 and 1989 due to the collapse of communism all around the world.
e fth and last part covers the period from 1989 to 2018.
Several Polish authors have devoted their time to analysing the relations between
these two countries. Here, I would like to mention Marceli Burdelski, Marek
Hańderek, and Sylwia Szyc. Nevertheless, if I am correct, I must underline that
none of them was using research materials in the original Korean, which imparts
a biased view of the relations between both countries.
Nevertheless, one book cannot be omitted here. e publication entitled
Spotkania Polsko-Koreańskie, which can be translated as Polish-Korean Meetings,
published in 2008, is a rst attempt at collecting memories regarding the
relations between these two countries.
2
is publication, prepared in cooperation
with North Korean authorities, gathered 15 authors who provide their views
regarding North Korea.3 All of them were involved to a small or large extent in
relations between Poland and North Korea. For instance, Elżbieta Jakubiak, who
worked for three years (1954–1957) with North Korean orphans at the State
² Marszałek-Kawa 2008: 10–140.
³ e table of contents of this book was written using the North Korean dialect of the Korean
language. For instance, Poland is written as 뽈스까, which means ‘Poland’ according to North
Korean standards instead of 폴란드 like in South Korean documents. Furthermore the title of
the book can be discussed, as it seems to indicate that the book includes discussion of relations
with South Korea, which it clearly does not after reading the whole monograph. Marszałek-Kawa
2008: 5–6. Adam Marszałek, the owner of this publishing house is regularly seen at the North
Korean embassy in Warsaw but also invites its diplomats to conferences organised in Toruń,
where the publishing house is headquartered. Marszałek contributed highly to the propagation
of Asian studies in Poland.
11
Education Centre in Płakowice.
4
I would also like to underline the participation of
Juliusz Kanty and Czesław Denga, who authored two articles in this book.
5
Both
participated in the Polish mission that supervised the Armistice Treaty between
the Koreas. Another good example of valuable testimony was prepared by Jerzy
Górzański, who visited North Korea as a member of a delegation of the Polish
Writers’ Union, in 1969.6 is monograph brings excellent information about
the state of relations between the two countries, unfortunately, due to the close
control of the North Korean authorities toward the preparation of the book, its
objectivity can be debated.
is present monograph aims also at lling this crucial gap, thus providing
North Korean documents focused on relations with Poland based also on North
and South Korean documents.
For this sole reason, the author collected from among all the resources
exclusively focused on relations between Poland and North Korea, including
in Polish, 12 research books, 33 research articles, 12 documents uploaded from
the Polish Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Aairs, 84 newspaper articles,
16 agreements and protocols signed between Poland and North Korea, and
a hundred North Korean printed propaganda books and newsletters translated
in Polish. Regarding documents in Korean, the author analysed one book, the
only one according to the author, in North Korean related to Poland, eight
documents published in North Korean, one document prepared by a North
Korean citizen and published in Polish, and four North Korean documents
published in English. is list excluded not only Polish translations of North
Korean propaganda documents but also all books, research articles, and other
documents mentioning some aspects of the relations between Poland and North
Korea, which would include more than 200 positions, explicitly mentioned in
the bibliography, available at the end of this monograph.
I would like also to underline that the results obtained in the course of my
research are probably incomplete, due to the selectivity of issues I covered, and
therefore, we do obtain only an incomplete picture. erefore, it cannot be
considered an exhaustive guide to Polish-North Korean relations.
Marszałek-Kawa 2008: 33–42.
Marszałek-Kawa 2008: 147–154.
Marszałek-Kawa 2008: 129–132.
13
Methodology and theoretical backgrounds
T
his book uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods and
source criticism to analyse the mentioned topic. is is done to develop
important observations and draw conclusions. Qualitative data come
from various sources such as the literature related to North Korea and available
in Polish, but also the North Korean literature related to Poland. e author
also used the archives of various foreign ministries such as these of Poland and
France. Quantitative data are based mainly on statistical data provided by the
Polish Ministry of Economy collected from the North Korea side, as this country
has not published statistics since 1965. North Korean documents dedicated to
its relations with Poland are scarce, but are mentioned in this paper. erefore,
oral descriptions of individuals engaged in the described events are highly
valuable.
As the relations between Poland and North Korea are related to international
relations, the author used it as the theoretical background. In international
relations, the existing literature seeks to explain how to interpret the behaviour
of nations and states in the case of alliances or wars. Within recent decades, new
approaches dedicated to the theory of international relations appeared. One of
them is the rational theory of international relations. Rational choice theory is
rooted in the assumption of instrumental rationality. Rationalism is a behaviour
that can be optimally adapted to the situation considering the availability of the
information. A rational actor is one who, when confronted with ‘two alternatives
which give rise to outcomes, will choose the one which yields the more preferred
outcome’.
7
Kahneman and Tversky, two Israeli-American researchers, developed
prospect theory to gather these patterns into a theory of choice. Two phases are
distinguished.
e rst one is the reference point, the options available, and potential
outcomes. In the present case, the editing phase will be the post-Korean War
period when North Korea used as many opportunities provided by the Polish
People’s Republic as it could. It is also important to underline that the outcomes
Raia, Luce 1989: 50.
14
depend on preferences, which are determined by each entity or states. e
American political scientist Kenneth Waltz focuses on three sorts of factors related
to security strategies: motivation of a state, its capabilities and the information it
collects, and the capacities and intentions of others. Rationalist theory deduces
the circumstances under which states will seek to cooperate or compete. It is
a strategic choice theory for a state (in the present case North Korea) facing an
international environment that presents constraints and opportunities.
8
e
problem of asymmetric information was also explored by George Akerlof, who
argued that, in the case of uncertainty, actors attach probability estimates to the
occurrence of events and then attempt to maximise their utility based on these
probabilities.9 During the considered historical period, in the case of relations
between the two countries, the behaviour of Polish authorities was to a large
extent guided by the USSR authorities, thus the North Korean authorities may
have considered that Poland would keep a particular commitment to North
Korean issues considering the Soviet authority’s commitment to North Korea.
e second phase is the evaluation, which is described within a utility model
(applied in microeconomics) that can be associated with the behaviour of North
Korea. It assumes that the state will make rational decisions to maximise its gains
within its relations with Poland. e potential gain for North Korea will be an
inow of goods and know-how through dierent channels. In other words,
institutional actors will use the expected utility as the basis for their economic
and political decisions.
is monograph applies this theoretical framework to the case of Polish-North
Korean relations. e article’s research focus is to examine and chronicle the
relations between Poland and North Korea to show what relations between these
ideologically and culturally distant countries looked like, whether the countries
belonging to the socialist community could really rely on each other, and why
such relations – good in the beginning – changed.
As far as the rationalist explanations used in this book, a hierarchy of
preferences shall be established. During the studied period, the primary goal
of the North Korean leadership was its welfare. e regime tried to obtain as
much monetary support, as well as food and equipment, as it could. During the
period 1948–1980, North Korea was not directly threatened by foreign states.
As of now, with growing American interest in North Korean issues, the priority
of the North Korean state organisations is their survival instead of welfare
issues. As relations between countries are not static, we can also assume that the
preferences of the North Korean authorities consist of a mix of survival and welfare
issues.
Glaser 2010: 10.
See Akerlof 1970.
15
Romanisation and linguistical issues
One of the key linguistical issues to be discussed is the romanisation of
Korean words. Somewhat confusingly to a certain extent, there exist
several dierent systems for the romanisation of Korean words. A variant
of the older McCune-Reischauer system is still used in North Korea, while in
South Korea, the Revised Romanisation system has been in ocial use since
2000. Interestingly, most North Korean proper nouns retain the old McCune-
-Reischauer system in both Koreas (for example, the romanisation of the common
last name remains ‘Kim’ rather than the South’s Revised Romanised Korean
name ‘Gim’; ‘Pyongyang’ has also still not shifted to the revised ‘Pyeongyang’).
Given the predominance of this convention, the author of the present monograph
has mostly retained the North’s version of the McCune-Reischauer romanisation
system throughout this monograph. erefore, except in the bibliography, names
are not hyphenated.
e Polish language romanised Korean words through various mistakes. Until
2006, the Polish name of the city was ‘Phenian’, a derivation of the Russian
exonym ‘Пхеньян’ (‘Phenian’, pronounced as [fenian]). Names derived from
this Russian form were adopted both in Poland and in other countries of the
former Eastern Bloc. is exonym did not correspond to the original name or
its pronunciation, and it was also often erroneously pronounced. In recent years,
many countries of Eastern Europe have withdrawn from using the name derived
from the Russian name into forms referring to the Korean pronunciation, for
example, Czech and Slovak use ‘Pchjongjang’, Serbian considers ‘Пјонгјанг’,
Croatian and Bosnian utilise ‘Pyongyang’, and Estonian, ‘Phjongjang’.
Regarding Poland, on November 21, 2006, the Commission for the
Standardisation of Geographical Names Outside the Republic of Poland,
statutorily responsible for determining the correct Polish names of geographic
objects located outside the country, decided to accept the name ‘Pjongjang’,
proposed by Polish orientalists and referring to the pronunciation of Korean
names as Polish exonyms.
e word ‘Poland’ in Korean can be written using dierent orthographs.
Initially, Poland was called 파란 (Paran) in both Koreas. ‘Paran’ comes initially
from the Chinese language. After the Korean War, North Korean linguists called
this country 뽈스까 ((Ppolseukka) which is the closest to the Polish original
word Polska. Meanwhile 폴란드 (Polandeu) is the South Korean version. As of
2020, North Korean ocial institutions continue to use the word 뽈스까, when
referring to Poland.
17
Chapter 1
1948–1950 in North Korea-Poland relations
On September 9, 1948, the Polish People’s Republic (PRL) became the
second country in the socialist bloc, after the USSR, and the third
country (after China [PRC]) to establish a dialogue with North Korea,
shortly after it gained independence and elections.10
e USSR was the rst country to recognise North Korea, doing so on
September 12, 1948. Pak Han Jen, the North Korean Minister of Foreign Aairs,
informed Zygmunt Modzelewski, the Polish Minister of Foreign Aairs, about
the creation of North Korea and proposed the establishment of diplomatic and
economic relations between the two countries on October 8, 1948. On October 15,
1948, Stefan Wierbłowski, the General Secretary of the Polish MFA, replied that
Poland acknowledged the ghting spirit of Koreans with Japanese Imperialism.
11
On October 16, 1948, the Polish government ocially recognised North Korea.
Poland was followed in October-November 1948 by Mongolia, Czechoslovakia,
Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, China, Albania, and East Germany in 1950.
12
ere is also the probability that Poland wanted to recognise North Korea earlier;
however, due to ideological reasons, the rst countries that were to recognise
North Korea were the USSR and the PRC.
North Korea was then the country that represented the Korean Peninsula in
the communist world for the next 41 years. For historical reasons, during the
Cold War, Poland maintained limited but good relations with North Korea.
On June 7, 1950, both governments decided upon the respective appointment
of ambassadors.
Starting on July 9, 1950, Stanisław Dodin became the rst Polish representative
(chargé d’aaires ad interim) to North Korea but was based in Beijing. Before he
left Poland, he had some cultural training with Chinese and Korean people based
in Poland. Later, he was replaced by Juliusz Burgin, who was appointed solely as
the rst Polish ambassador to North Korea on December 24, 1950, more than one
¹ Buczek 2012: 59.
¹¹ Levi 2012: 69.
¹² Levi 2009: 345.
18
year after the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries and,
therefore, increasing the rank of diplomatic relations. Furthermore, like Dodin,
Burgin was based in Beijing, as the Polish authorities did not want and, due to
other nancial priorities, could not invest in an embassy in Pyongyang, which
was still not considered a crucial partner.13 On the North Korean side, Choe Il,
a former employee of the North Korean embassy to China, was nominated by
Pyongyang as the rst North Korean ambassador to Poland. He arrived in Warsaw
on May 3, 1951, with six other diplomats and accompanied by three children.14
Comparatively, Poland established diplomatic relations with Mongolia in
April 1950, followed by the appointment of ambassadors in 1953; an embassy in
North Vietnam was opened four years after diplomatic relations were established
with that country in 1950.15
Until September 14, 1954, Polish interests in North Korea were represented
by the Polish embassy in China. e large involvement of Poland in the Far East,
including in the post-Korean War period resulted in creating a special department
dedicated to Asian Aairs in the Polish MFA in 1954, which dealt with this part
of the world.16 Later in August of the same year, Jerzy Siedlecki was appointed
the rst Polish ambassador based in North Korea. Afterwards, due to diculties
in recruitment of people from Poland, the wives of diplomats were employed as
secretaries and, to a certain extent, this tradition has been maintained until the
present day. Many Koreans were also employed at the Polish embassy, especially
in the military section.17 e Polish embassy in Pyongyang consisted of several
small wood houses.18
¹³ Juliusz Burgin provided his letter of accreditation in Nampho, the city where was based the
current North Korean MFA.
¹ Since then, the embassy of North Korea edited newsletters or conveyed newsletters with limited
circulation edited by the MFA in Pyongyang, aimed at presenting a vision of North Korea
regarding its role in international aairs. Levi 2012: 69.
¹ Kowalski 1988: 547.
¹ Labudy, Michowicz 2002: 602.
¹ Kowalski 1988: 551. e military section of the Polish embassy in North Korea was not attached
to the Polish MFA, but to the Polish Ministry of National Defence. e ocial name of the
military attaché was attaché wojskowy, morski i lotniczy, which may be translated as ‘military,
naval and air attaché’. Paduchowski 2018: 159–160.
¹ Dubrowski 1961: 24.
19
Chapter 2
e Korean War period and its aftermath
(1950–1959)
2.1.
THE POSITION OF POLAND DURING THE KOREAN
WAR
T
he Korean War was a conict that involved not only both Koreas but also
many nations, which participated in various operations. Polish media also
described this bloody conict but following views prescribed by Moscow.
For a country closed to North Korea, Polish literature on the Korean War is
abundant.19 e role of Poland in this conict has been analysed many times by
historians and political theorists.20 However, these publications were skewed in
favour of the PRL’s historiography, claiming that the Korean War was provoked
by South Korea and ‘American Imperialists’.21
e struggles of North Korea started to surface in 1950 when the Korean War
broke out.22 Interestingly, at the same time, a Polish delegation of journalists
from Trybuna Ludu, the ocial media outlet of the Polish United Workers’
Party, was in North Korea.23 Initially, such as in July 1950, there was a large
list of articles in the Polish press that were written with the framing in mind of
how the US had prepared the aggression toward the peoples of Asia.24 However,
from September 14, 1950, Polish reports recognised the futility of North Korea’s
defence, and on September 23, 1950, the ocial reports read that the ‘imperialists’
had overwhelming superiority over the communist troops.25 e Polish rhetoric
¹ See Koreańska Armia Wyzwoleńcza sforsowała pozycje na rzece Naktong 1950.
² See Burdelski 2015.
²¹ Góralski 1979: 30; Kojlo, Dikij 1975: 55; Kunstler 1986: 139; Kim 1996.
²² Wróbel 2003: 8.
²³ 위대한 수령 김일성동지께서 조국해방전쟁시기 세계 여러 나라 인민들과의 국제적련대성을
강화하도록 현명하게 이끄신 불멸의 업적 2018.
² Neścioruk 2014: 126.
² Wojna w Korei 1950: 1.
20
changed over the months, claiming that North Korea must be protected from
the imperialist invasion. Movies such as Korea Oskarża (Korea accuses) from 1951
were lmed thanks to Bronisław Wiernik, the rst Polish journalist to visit the
Far East. e Polish writer Andrzej Braun also considered that Polish young
people wanted to participate in the Korean War. 26
Media and regular people defended the North Korean cause. In both Poland and
other socialist states, mass meetings were held in solidarity with the North, with
slogans such as ‘Hands o Korea’ (Ręce przecz od Korei!). Documents emanating
from the Polish communist party started to show the stronger involvement of
Polish diplomacy in the Korean case. Unemployed Poles were even threatened
with being sent to the Korean front.27
Economic and nancial aid for North Korea was initiated by Poland and other
socialist states beginning in 1951. In March 1951, the rst convoy of food and
clothing was sent to North Korea. Between May 6 and 24, 1951, a delegation
of the Polish Committee of the Defenders of Peace (Polski Komitet Obrońców
Pokoju), led by Marian Czerwiński, transmitted additional Polish humanitarian
aid, such as machinery, resources, and other products. On June 2, 1951, Poland
signed a treaty with North Korea on the import of products as a form of credit.
e Presidium of the Polish communist party decided, however, to revise a large
part of the treaty due to the Korean War. Poland provided 91 laden wagons to
North Korea in 1951.28 On the rst ship, the Przyjaźn Narodów (Friendship of
Nations), there were 500 thousand sq. m. of fabrics, and 2,100 tonnes of steel.
In 1952, 71% of the Polish support was nanced by social funds and 29% by
state funds. e total equalled approximately PLZ 10 million. In March and
April 1952, Poland sent vaccines and medicine to North Korea worth PLZ
4 million.
29
Despite the war, a North Korean economic delegation visited Poland,
headed by Tian Si U, the North Korean Minister of Trade, who visited Poland in
May–June 1952. His visit led to the signing of a trade agreement for the sending
of food and materials to North Korea on a credit basis, at zero percent interest,
on June 2, 1952. He left Poland on June 4, 1952.30
From early spring 1952, some countries and North Korea were exchanging
views on organising control commissions in case the war ended.31 By autumn
1952, during the 7th UN assembly, the Polish delegation presented a resolution
project entitled On avoiding the threat of new world war and consolidating peace
and friendly cooperation between nations. e project encompassed the directions
² Braun 1956: 7.
² Drabik 2018: 147.
² Levi 2012: 70.
² Levi 2012: 70.
³ Kronika Dyplomatyczna 1952: 2.
³¹ Svamberk 2013: 4.
21
of peace in Korea, division of the peninsula, and determining the armistice
agreement. When the American general William Harrison and North Korean
General Nam Il signed a ceasere agreement putting an end to the three-year
war on the Korean peninsula at the demarcation line in Panmunjom on June 27,
1953, it was clear that the conict could not be resolved by military means
only and that the formation of organs ensuring the respect of the armistice was
necessary. erefore, two institutions were created to support the ceasere: e
Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (NNSC) and the temporary Neutral
Nations Repatriation Commission (NNRC).
e NNSC was appointed to make sure no military actions would be
undertaken in Korea, to investigate possible violations of the armistice and ensure
their implementation. e inauguration of the NNSC took place in Panmunjom
on August 1, 1953. According to the arrangement signed in the rst weeks of
1952, Poland and Czechoslovakia (the two countries were selected by the leaders
of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army, or CPVA, and of the South Korean
People’s Army, or KPA32) were supposed to station in the North and Sweden
and Switzerland (chosen by the US) in the South.33 e headquarters of this
organisation is Panmunjom. e main function of the NNSC was to control,
observe, and inspect military installations in the demilitarised zone (DMZ).
Four countries were also chosen by India to be members of the NNRC:
Czechoslovakia, Poland, Sweden, and Switzerland. Poland was ocially nominated
as a member of the NNRC on June 8, 1953. On June 11, 1953, Poland sent its
representatives to Panmunjom. In the spring of 1952, Poland and Czechoslovakia
prepared special actions that were supposed to be deployed in North Korea. e
NNRC mission was to control the issue of prisoners of war. e rst head of the
Polish delegation was Stanisław Gajewski, who headed a delegation composed
of 32 Poles.
Due to the rst planned meeting of the NNSC on August 1, 1953, in June
1953, a Reconnaissance Group of 30 Polish military ocials (under the governance
of Brigadier General Mieczysław Wągrowski and the deputy head, Jan Śliwiński)
accompanied a delegation to the Korean Peninsula.34 Based on Order № 0077/
ORG, signed on 10 December 1953, of the Polish Ministry of Defence, a mission
called Military Unit 2000 was created and dedicated initially to North Korea. is
unit participated also later in peace missions to Cambodia, Nigeria, Vietnam,
and the Middle-East. e rst team sent to the Korean Peninsula was checked
by the Polish Secret Police (Urząd Bezpieczeństwa, commonly known as UB).35
³² Potocka, Gawlikowski 2001: 125.
³³ Svamberk 2013: 2.
³ Potocka, Gawlikowski 2001: 125.
³ Wąs 2015.
22
is rst mission was composed of 330 ocers and soldiers who were supposed
to leave Poland for Korea, but only 301 arrived and started to full their obligations
on August 1, 1954.36 In comparison, the Czechoslovak Reconnaissance Group
had departed for North Korea already in July 1953.
37
e rst Polish team
consisted of soldiers of the Polish Army, translators, and employees of the MFA
and Ministry of Internal Aairs. After a few months of training (foreign languages,
legal and political aspects of North Korea),38 the rst team of 301 people was
sent, including women, who usually served as nurses and typists.39 Due to the
economic crisis and lack of infrastructure as a result of the Korean War, the
Polish mission brought over all requested goods and supplies, such as electronic
devices, clothes, and basic items like pens, paper, beds and also Polish-made cars
called Warszawa. Another diculty for Poles was the presence of exotic diseases
and the lack of health infrastructure in case of diculties. Many soldiers suered
from infections such as diarrhoea and dysentery.
Later, personnel changes took place regularly, every 9–11 months, and
concerned less than a hundred people.40 In 50 years of the Polish mission to
North Korea, more than 1,100 ocers and MFA workers rotated through. In
this time, they took various actions to secure the implementation of the armistice
agreement signed in Panmunjom, such as inspecting the CPVA, who were present
in North Korea until October 1958, through mobile teams travelling all over
North Korea. Poles also investigated violations of the armistice agreement. On
a monthly basis, there were some general lunches held by each country.41
It is dicult to consider the NNSC as being neutral, considering the interference
of the North Korean MFA, which tried to monitor the Polish and Czechoslovak
ocers. Poles were also spied on, especially by their North Korean drivers, who
were forced to indicate to their superiors who and where they were driving, what
Poles bought, who they talked to, etc. Poles were conscious that they were under
continuous monitoring by North Korean authorities.42
With time, the team’s range of activities changed and limited the number of
soldiers in the Polish contingent. is was also due to public protests in both
Korea against Poles, which started at the end of 1953 when North and South
Korean authorities jointly criticised the role of Poland and Czechoslovakia
concerning their management of the NNRS and their presence on the southern
³ Benken 2014: 440; Jendraszczak 2001: 131.
³ Svamberk 2013: 7.
³ Reinberger 2005: 3.
³ Birchmeier, Burdelski, Jendraszczak 2012: 28.
Burdelski 2001: 131.
¹ Interview by the author with Kazimierz Wróblewski, a major in the Polish army, who worked
at the NNSC between 1993 and 1994. e interview was held on the 19 March 2010.
² Benken 2014: 448–449.
23
side of the DMZ. Moreover, the complicated situation may have also been due
to incidents involving the killing of some Polish soldiers on November 7, 1955.
Meanwhile three Polish ocials, Zygielski, Rudnik, and Zielinski, were killed
in North Korea.43 e following incident also deteriorated relations between
North Korea and Poland. In the early 1960s, a former Polish driver was regularly
providing information to US soldiers, but any contact with the southern side was
forbidden. Caught by the Czechoslovaks, he was quickly removed and sent back
to Poland.44
e highest period of work was related to 1953–1956 when around 125,000
issues were discussed by the NNSC.45 Nevertheless, due to the dicult living
conditions and constant monitoring by the North Korean authorities, the size
of the Polish mission was regularly reduced over the years. e rst decrease in
the number of Polish soldiers took place with the dissolution of the NNRC
in February 1954. Consequently, by 1969, the Polish mission consisted of only
10 people but was still led by a brigadier general.46
2.2.
POLISH SUPPORT AFTER THE KOREAN WAR
When the parties announced the ceasere, the Polish government voted on
July 28, 1953, for a resolution that guaranteed economic aid to North Korea
and in 1955 signed a treaty enacting non-refundable relief aimed at rebuilding
the country. Cotton fabrics, linen, tarpaulins, sugar, meat, bearings, machinery,
and mechanical parts amounting to PLZ 350 million in total were sent. To thank
Poland for its support, some Koreans wanted to name a main street in Pyongyang
‘Bierut’, after the rst leader of communist Poland.47
is economic support was discussed during the visit of the North Korean
Minister of Trade Cheon Si U, who was in Poland between May 17 and June 3,
1952. e following year, Minister of Trade Ri Ju Cheon came to Poland, between
November 10 and 13, 1953. Meanwhile, Poland continued to support North
Korea by sending automotive spare parts and cars to North Korea.48
e political and organisation cooperation was not only based on diplomatic
visits, such as the visit between June 21 and 22, 1955, of Deputy Prime Minister
³ Wąs 2015.
Wąs 2015.
Jendraszczak 2001: 129.
Kowalski 1988: 551.
Brandys 1954: 9.
Levi 2012: 71.
24
Pak I Wan, who participated in the celebration of Foundation Day in Poland,
but also because North Korean institutions were organised according to structures
in Central Europe.
Despite the lack of funds due to the disastrous economic consequences of
World War 2, there was also a global initiative among European communist
countries to send medical teams to support the North Korean authorities in
the development of the country’s medical sectors49. Poles worked in dierent
cities, such as Huichon, and its suburb Hungnam in a building that was part
of the city’s former fertiliser plants.
50
One month later, they moved to the
city of Hamhung, where, considering the needs of the population, they set up
an orthopaedic hospital that is still in operation today and is considered the best
institution of its kind in North Korea.51
When the Polish hospital was inaugurated in May 1953, it consisted of eight
barracks serving as a trauma centre, replacing the North Korean Military Hospital.
e hospital was ocially inaugurated in a document entitled ‘Agreement between
the Government of the People’s Republic of Poland and the Government of the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on the establishment of the Polish Red
Cross hospital in North Korea’ signed on May 8, 1953.52 e North Korean
name was 파란 병원 (Paran Pyeongwon), Polish Hospital. is hospital was
considered the best gift from Poland to the Korean nation.
53
e local Polish team
was composed of engineers, technicians, and specialists in hospital construction
but also of young people with limited experience. Poles were assisted by younger
Korean specialists.54 Polish doctors were rewarded with a salary in Chinese Yuan
and North Korean Won.55 According to the previously mentioned agreement,
Polish authorities were supposed to fund the salaries and living expenses of
a maximum of 55 doctors. Doctors also gave lectures to future North Korean
medical employees. e lectures were prepared in Polish and then translated into
Russian, due to the lack of Polish translators, then translated into Korean.56 Tens of
thousands of North Korean citizens were treated by Polish doctors. In August 1952,
there were some rumours of biological weapons left by the Americans. Already
in the 1950s, several articles in the Polish press were dedicated to the mission
Frenkel-Czarniecka 2014: 108.
Hungnam became a ward of Hamhung in 2005.
¹ e head of the second team of Polish medical doctors servicing the hospital told the PNA:
‘During my 8-month stay, having 150 at disposition and 12 specialist clinics, doctors made
700 surgeries, provided ambulatory aid to more than 110,000 people. RTG lab made 12,000
X-rays and about 3,500 pictures. ere were about 400 prescriptions per day.’
² Levi 2012: 74.
³ Braun 1956: 7.
Braun 1956: 55.
Frenkel-Czarniecka 2014: 112.
Knypl 2014b: 23–28; Knypl 2014a: 25–28.
25
fullled by Polish doctors based on the Korean Peninsula.57 e humanitarian
organisation Caritas Polska continues to fund the hospital in Hamhung but the
medical ‘tools’ from the 1960s are still used to treat current patients.58 Similar
hospitals were erected by other communist countries from Eastern Europe and
were named based on the donor; therefore, there are hospitals built by Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and the Soviets in North Korea.59 Polish
specialists sent to North Korea obtained prestigious positions when they came
back to Poland. For instance, Professor Władysław Barcikowski became a deputy
minister of health in Poland. Professor Jan Oszacki became the president of the
Jagiellonian University of Krakow.60
e last team of Polish specialists, which consisted of 20 people, left North
Korea in 1986. ey returned to Poland on the same ight with General Wojciech
Jaruzelski, who visited North Korea in September 1986.
Except for doctors, Poland also sent numerous teams of specialists including
miners and urban engineers, who over time trained North Korean citizens,
also in Poland.
61
Polish experts also helped rebuild locomotive and carriage factories
in Pyongyang and other cities of North Korea. For instance, Poles participated in
modernising three coal mines, including one in Anju,
62
the largest coal-producing
area in North Korea. Poles also contributed to the development of coal mines in
Sinchon by conducting geological analysis and assessing coal reserves.63
Polish urbanists also came up with the plan of rebuilding Chongjin and
created projects for two residential compounds in this city. Polish technicians,
including Piotr Zaremba, the rst mayor of Szczecin after World War 2, who
arrived in Wonsan, helped to revive destroyed railway companies. In Wonsan,
the following companies and Polish cities were involved in this project: a rolling-
stock company from Poland, machinery tools produced by Rafmet, lathes from
the city of Pruszków, and compressors from the company Chrzanowska Fabryka
Cegielski 1956: 193–195; Daniłoś, Horzela, Oszacki 1956: 195–197; Józef Daniłoś was the
deputy director on political education issues at the Polish Hospital in Hungnam between
1953 and 1954. Tadeusz Horzela was the deputy director on medical and education issues for
the same period. Kuczyńska-Sicińska 1958: 528–530. Jadwiga Kuczyńska-Sicińska worked as
a doctor at the PCK between 1954 and 1955.
Janina Ochojska, the leader of Polish Humanitarian Aid, claims that Caritas Polska would
continue nancial support of the hospital in Hamhung. Fundacja Polska Akcja Humanitarna–
Raport za rok 2005 2005: 23.
Rolicka 1994: 102.
Rolicka 1994: 102.
¹ Braun 1956: 283.
² e Polish geologist Adam Dudek mentions the Anju coal mine in his book Poszukiwacze 1987:
127.
³ e original writing used by the author for Anju is Aodzi. Ogarek-Czoj 1965: 91.
26
Lokomotyw (Locomotives Factory of Chrzanów). e rst group of specialists in
transportation arrived in Pyongyang on December 7, 1953. In addition, the rst
silicate plants in Korea were established under a contract signed between the
Foreign Trade panels: Korean Daesong and Polish Polimex-Cekop.64 Concrete
came from ZREMB Makrum in Bydgoszcz. e Polish urbanist Stefan Słoński was
a co-author of the Urbanisation Plan of the city of Wonsan. e key realisation of
this project was the adaptation of the Korean ondol oor-heat system to residential
buildings.65 Poles underlined in their reports the lack of raw materials provided
by the North Korean side.66 e North Korean authorities, in turn, complained
about an accident caused by drunk Polish workers in 1955.67
Furthermore, the Warszawa, which was the rst newly designed Polish car built
after the Second World War, was quite often seen in the streets of Pyongyang.68
Józef Cyrankiewicz, then prime minister of Poland, visited North Korea in
April 1957. He observed the site constructed by Poles, such as the rolling stock
repair plants in Pyongyang and Wonsan. No Poles were working there except the
management board of both plants. Adam Bielunas led the plant in Pyongyang
and Paweł Brzozecki the factory in Wonsan.69
Regarding economic issues, supplies provided between 1954 and 1959 were
used to implement the Korean ‘5-year planication plan’. e aid usually consisted
of free deliveries of materials, resources, machinery, and appliances provided by
selected allies of the USSR, mainly European countries and Mongolia. Initially,
each of these countries was theoretically supposed to be specialised and focused
on a specic sector, nevertheless, the Korean economic needs were so signicant
that these countries were involved in various branches of the Korean economy.
For instance, Czechoslovakia provided electronic machines, measuring devices,
chemicals, paper and medicine, a car factory in Tokchon, machinery for cement
mixing plants, and a few hydrological power plants in Huichon and Unsan.
Hungary delivered machine tools, machinery, electrical appliances, pipes, metal
wires, and oil products. Hungarians also built a factory producing chemicals,
paper and medicine. East Germany built rolling mills and an engine factory.70
Wires, cement, glass, and medicine came from Bulgaria. Mongolia is the only
country that specialised in one specic area of the humanitarian aid brought to
North Korea. e Mongolian authorities provided 10,000 horses, sheepskin,
Konecka 1989: 40.
Ogarek-Czoj 1965: 92.
Levi 2012: 80.
Levi 2012: 198.
Dubrowski 1961: 10.
In both cities, Poles had their own dormitories and cinema rooms. Wiec w kolonii polskiej
w Phenianie 1957: 1.
Szalontai 2005: 46.
27
and meat. is specialisation was because this country likewise needed foreign
support at all levels and in every sector of its economy.
Poland became the fourth humanitarian supplier to North Korea in the period
following the Korean War. e Polish support was based on a treaty signed on
January 14, 1955, entitled Umowa o udzieleniu pomocy KRL-D (‘Agreement of
support for the DPRK’). In this document, it was stipulated that North Korea
was supposed to receive nancial support worth PLZ 365 million in the period
1955–1959.
71
On April 30, an agreement on postal services and communication
was signed by the countries.72 On December 16, 1955, an agreement entitled
Protokół o płatnościach niehandlowych między Rządem Polskiej Rzeczpospolitej
Handlowej a Rządem Koreańskiej Republiki Ludowo-Demokratycznej (‘Protocol on
non-commercial payments between the Government of the Polish Trade Republic
and the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’), which
regulated expenses by both diplomatic missions and delegations. Globally speaking,
North Korea is a country that received the biggest nancial support from other
socialist countries during the period of the communist alliance (1945–1991).73
Table 1. Financial support to North Korea (1954–1956)
Currency and unit: SUR mln
Providers Financial support As a percentage
of the total aid
USSR 292.5 38%
PRC 258.4 34%
East Germany 122.7 15%
Poland 81.5 10%
Romania 5.6 1%
Hungary 5.6 1%
Bulgaria 4.5 1%
Source: Levi 2009, [in] Żelichowski 2009: 351.
On March 28, 1956, an economic agreement was signed by both countries
under the name Umowa między Rządem Polskiej Rzeczpospolitej Ludowej i Rządem
Koreańskiej Republiki Ludowo-Demokratycznej o obrocie towarowym i płatnościach
na rok 1956 (‘Agreement between the Government of the Polish People’s Republic
¹ Levi 2012: 80.
² See Umowa między Rządem Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej a Rządem Koreańskiej Republiki
Ludowo-Demokratycznej w sprawie transportu poczty i komunikacji 1955.
³ Harden 2016: 232.
28
and the Government of the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea on Trade in
Goods and Payments for 1956’), indicating goods that are supposed to be traded
between the two countries. Poland was supposed to export machinery and fabrics.
North Korea was supposed to export raw materials such as magnesite. Based on
statistical data, the two following facts are clear: in 1956, North Korea was the
third economic partner of Poland after China and Turkey; and, in 1956, the
trade with North Korea represented 0.8% of the global foreign trade of Poland.
In 1948–1956, North Korea represented no more than 1% of the foreign trade of
Poland and rather close to 0.3%. Until 1961, every year an economic agreement
was signed, underlying which goods would be traded between the countries.
To improve relations between the countries, in June 1961, an agreement for
the mutual exchange of products was signed. A similar agreement was signed
already in the 1950s with other socialist countries (with the PRC in 1950 and
with Ceylon in 1955).
Table 2. Bilateral trade between Poland and North Korea (1948–1959)
Currency and unit: PLZ mln
Year Polish Export
to North Korea
North Korean Export
to Poland
Trade Balance
1948 – – –
1949 – – –
1950 0 0 0
1951 0 0 0
1952 0 0 0
1953 0 0 0
1954 0 0 0
1955 0 0 0
1956 31 4.5 26.5
1957 52.5 10.6 41.9
1958 5.6 3.3 2.3
1959 7.1 9.8 –2.7
Source: Compiled data from Statistics Poland.
29
2.3.
EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL SUPPORT
Poland and other communist countries provided not only economic support
but also some education support to North Korean youth. ese young Korean
citizens had nowhere to study after the Korean War. e main educational sites
were destroyed. e Kim Il Sung University lacked lecturers. at’s why those who
were sent to Europe and other communist countries were supposed to participate
in the intellectual reconstruction of North Korea and to the replacement of non-
-North Korean specialists based in North Korea. erefore, Poland received an
inux of young exchange students from the North, studying mainly at technical
universities and agricultural colleges, but usually being aliated at least to
a certain extent to the WPK.74
Paulo Carvahlo mentions that in the early 1950s, there were already more than
500 North Korean students in Poland.75 In 1952, of the 301 foreign students
in Poland, only 20 were from North Korea. Patryk Laskot, a researcher at the
Institute of National Remembrance, notes in his research papers that this increase
is probably due to how Polish authorities began to count not only those who
were students but also those enrolled in courses or internships in the country. In
1954, 89 North Korean citizens came to Poland for their internship, mostly in the
production sector.76 at is why many of the North Korean citizens who arrived
in Poland in the 1950s were already in their 30s. For instance, on August 12,
1953, 123 North Korean citizens arrived to take a crash course in Polish at the
University of Łódź. When they arrived in this city, they received some clothes
oered by the Central Trading House and received suits adapted to their size.
Later, they had a health check-up. Among them were 25 cases of malaria, nine
cases of tuberculosis, two cases of otitis media, two of ringworms, two of heart
disease, and one case of haemorrhagic tumours. So, in all, every third North
Korean was seriously ill. Four citizens of the country were immediately sent to
sanatoriums.77
North Korean students in Poland had not only health problems but also
administrative diculties. When 20 North Korean citizens arrived in Warsaw on
January 4, 1952, they had to wait 20 days before a Polish teacher was committed to
them.
78
Meanwhile, they were kept at their student dormitory, Akademik, located
I Sok Ju 2016: 350.
Pleskot 2009: 15. Among the Korean community in Warsaw there was also a Soviet citizen,
a woman, with Korean roots (Koryosaram) who had arrived and settled in Warsaw in 1951.
See: Kochanowski 2009: 212.
Levi 2012: 70.
Pleskot 2009: 22.
Pleskot 2009: 15.
30
on Plac Narutowicza.79 Some 119 other North Korean citizens settled into the
Student Dormitory House close to Bystrzycka Street in Warsaw on August 19.
80
On August 20, 1955, they started their Polish course. After passing all the exams
they attended Polish universities as regular students.
81
is large number of
North Korean citizens in Poland can be found in an administrative document
enumerating the number of foreigners with a permanent residency card in Poland
as of October 1955: among the 649 people registered, 96 were from North Korea,
the second-most-represented nationality in Warsaw after Spain (101 people). Of
Soviet citizens, only 69 people were registered.82
e North Koreans usually sought technical majors
83
in cities such as Gdańsk
(University of Gdańsk), Gliwice (Silesian University of Technology), Poznań
(Adam Mickiewicz University), Warsaw (especially at the University of Technology
in Warsaw, at the University of Warsaw, and the Warsaw University of Life
Sciences). Many of them also studied at the University of Science and Technology
in Kraków, which prepared them for future work in the mining industry.
According to ocial Polish statistics, there are estimates that in 1955/1956, out
of 575 foreign students, 367 came from North Korea.84 Although many North
Korean students knew Polish quite well by then, they lived separately while still
maintaining contact with Polish students, but to a small extent.85
As an answer to the diculties coped with by the North Korean students in
Poland, in August 1953, scholar support was to be implemented with respect to
North Korea. According to an ocial document entitled Notatka informacyjna Zoi
Zemankowej, zastępcy kierownika Wydziału Nauki KC PZPR, o pomocy naukowców
dla Korei Północnej (‘Information Note by Zoa Zemankowa, Deputy Head of the
Science Department of the PUWP Central Committee, on the Help of Scientists
for North Korea’)86, Polish education centres were supposed to actively support
the reconstruction of North Korea. e document indicated the voluntary status
of Polish scientists who contacted the Polish Academy of Sciences to concretely
support educational institutions in North Korea.
e exact address is Akademicka 5.
Pleskot 2009: 20.
¹ De Carvalho 1990: 23–25. Among the 301 foreign students in Poland in 1952, 20 were from
North Korea. See: Pleskot 2009: 15.
² North Korean orphans based in Świder, a city close to Warsaw, were probably included among
these 96 North Korean citizens. Kochanowski 2009: 218.
³ Ri Chun Su (North Korean Cultural Attaché to Poland) in discussion with the author, April
2006.
Meanwhile, there were 53 students from China, 41 from Bulgaria. e gure related to students
from the USSR is not mentioned, but may be considered to be fewer than 15. De Carvalho
1990: 23–25.
Based on the authors’ personal correspondence with Janusz Kochanowski, a former Commissioner
for Civil Rights Protection of the Republic of Poland, addressed on June 20, 2007.
Pleskot, Rutkowski 2009: 111–113.
31
From a cultural perspective, a rst treaty entitled Agreement on Cultural
Cooperation Between the Government of the Polish People’s Republic and
the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on Cultural
Cooperation Between Both Countries was signed on May 11, 1956, and came
into force on January 31, 1957, and functioned until 1971, being automatically
prolonged every ve years.
87
According to it, both sides were annually supposed to
send delegations to the other country to update it on its status. Protocols regarding
education cooperation, religion, radio, lm, and health were also mentioned in
this global agreement. Learning Polish in North Korea was also supposed to be
promoted. During the World Festival of Youth, which took place in Warsaw
from July 31 to August 15, 1955, a North Korean delegation of 158 came,
including 39 athletes, 98 dancers, and 21 journalists, which represented 3% of all
delegations. In comparison, there were 706 Chinese and 310 Indian delegates.88
A few months later, the orchestra of the Polish Army visited North Korea while
at the Dramatic eatre of Pyongyang, an exhibition devoted to Polish Author
Adam Mickiewicz was held. In 1960, an exhibition of North Korean pictures
entitled ‘Chollima’ and an exhibition of North Korean children’s cartoons were
presented in Poland.89
Starting in 1957, a Polish-North Korea committee focused on scientic
and technical cooperation was to hold meetings every year.90 e rst meetings
were held in December 1958. Between then and 1971, the committee held just
10 meetings, signed 122 resolutions favouring Korea and 60 favouring the
Polish side, for instance, allowing Polish scientists to go to North Korea. On the
same basis, North Korean engineers and technicians had internships in Poland,
for example, in the mining industry, and scientists from Poland learned about
breeding and plant cultivation. Botanists such as Leon Stuchlik went to Korea
for scientic expeditions. Polish education centres proposed support through the
transfer of electro-machinery. e Electrotechnical Institute, which undertook to
help to rebuild Pyongyang University of Technology, provided the Pyongyang
authorities with an impressive amount of technical documentation necessary for
the construction of laboratories. e Polish Water Institute submitted a project
to make hydrological eld tests in North Korea, and the Vibration Research
Department was to prepare acoustic documentation for one cinema in Pyongyang.
See Umowa o współpracy kulturalnej między Rządem Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej a Rządem
Koreańskiej Republiki Ludowo-Demokratycznej podpisana w Phenianie dnia 11 maja 1956 r. 1956.
See Raport Polityczny Ambasady Polskiej Rzeczpospolitej Ludowej w Koreańskiej Republice Ludowo-
Demokratycznej za okres od 1 maja do30 czerwca 1955 r. 1955. A dierent source provides a
gure of 184 North Korean citizens present at this festival. Krzywicki 2009: 35.
Kutte 1973: 261.
See Porozumienie o współpracy naukowo-technicznej zawarte między Rządem Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej
Ludowej a Rządem Koreańskiej Republiki Ludowo-Demokratycznej 1957.
32
A commission of the Polish Academy of Sciences was supposed to be created to
determine needs for North Korea.
Polish culture also emerged in Pyongyang, not only through exhibitions,
like in 1957 when Polish art was shown in Pyongyang,91 musical shows, with
the visit of the State Folk Ensemble of Song and Dance ‘Mazowsze’ in January
1960,
92
but also on North Koreans’ dinner plates. In memory of the ocer
Marian Reinberger, we learned that during weekends ocials used to go to the
Polish restaurant in Pyongyang called Warszawa (Warsaw).
93
Polish cooks worked
there, serving typical dishes of Polish cuisine. It is worth mentioning that this
Polish restaurant was only one of three foreign restaurants in Pyongyang. e
rst one was a restaurant with hot dishes prepared by a Japanese citizen with
Korean roots, the second was a Hungarian restaurant, and the third was the
Polish one. Warszawa was located on Changwang Street, about 100 meters from
the Koryo Hotel. It closed in the 1970s. Interestingly, there was also a North
Korean restaurant in Warsaw under the name Phenian (Pyongyang in Polish), at
Senatorska 27, in the centre of Warsaw. Half of the working team was Polish and
half came from North Korea. In the late 1970s, the name of this restaurant changed
to Insam.94
2.4.
NORTH KOREAN ORPHANS IN POLAND
e Korean War, which occurred between 1950 and 1953, limited exchange
between both countries to marginal economic cooperation and mostly to Poland’s
support of North Korea related to reconstruction.
e USSR, the PRC, European communist countries, and Mongolia agreed
on a global project focusing on taking care of Korean children who had lost their
parents during the Korean War. Already during the war as a sign of solidarity
with the North Korean authorities, the Polish authorities had proposed some
social and nancial initiatives to North Korean ocials in which Poland would
care for some North Korean orphans. is large initiative was not only conducted
for humanitarian reasons but for propaganda purposes as well, used to mark
¹ Kutte 1973: 261.
² Dubrowski 1961: 7.
³ Reinberger 2005: 3. Some Polish dishes such as dumplings (pierogi) were also served at the
Taedongang Diplomatic Club.
A North Korean restaurant was established in Krakow in the 1990s. is facility was co-
managed by the sister of the former prosecutor of North Korea, Ri Kil Song, and some former
North Korean students who had become responsible for hiring North Korean workers who
were supposed to work in construction projects in Poland. Kittel 2006.
33
the orphans as one of the consequences of the U.S. intervention in the Korean
conict.
erefore, Poland brought about 200 North Korean orphans and placed
them in orphanages all around Poland, starting from November 1950.95 After
a journey of 14 days, the orphans found a home in Gołotczyzna, close to the
city of Ciechanów. However due to a lack of educational institutions nearby
Gołotczyzna, starting from November 23, 1951, all of the children were moved to
various parts of the city of Otwock, such as Świder (an orphanage on Komunardów
Street) and Sopliców.96 In particular, the construction of the building in Świder
was partially funded by the North Korean embassy in Warsaw.97 Pak Jon Suk is
the name of the rst North Korean orphan registered at this orphanage.
98
Before
their departure in 1959, the orphans planted pines and birch trees; their journey
is also commemorated with a stela.99
e orphanage of Świder was visited by Kim Il Sung in July 1956. In the
assembly hall of this former orphanage, there was a commemorative tablet that
read: ‘We were living happily in this house between 1951 and 1959. We will
remember forever the motherly support of the nation of Poland’.
Other orphans lived in Otwock, at Bernardyńska Street 13 and Zaciszna
Street 54 (regarding the latter, it was a famous building in the city called
Willa Anulka, which was destroyed in the mid-1990s). Children went to
primary school Nos. 1, 2, and 5 in Otwock but the majority were educated at
a primary school located on Wojskiego Street. is school was around two
kilometres from the orphanage at Bernardyńska Street. e building at Bernardyńska
Street was destroyed in 2016, and as of 2017, there was a retirement centre there
that kept a stela commemorating the presence of North Korean orphans in
Sopliców, a part of Otwock.
On January 1, 1955, some 1,270 new Korean orphans were placed in Płakowice,
near Lwówek Śląski. When North Korean orphans arrived there, they were in touch
with other orphans from Greece, Poland, and the USSR. is large institution
constituted a school, some dormitories and boarding homes, and two pitches.
Korean children were educated by Polish teachers and teachers from North Korea,
including Korean people responsible for their security. ese young orphans
were taught various classical subjects such as mathematics and biology but also
learnt the Polish language. After a few months, many of them were able to speak
Some young North Koreans arrived on November 23, 1950. Cze Czan Ir 1957: 4.
Kałuszko 2004. In the 1970s, Otwock was a partner city to Sunchon and a Polish-Korean
friendship rural cooperative was located there. Konecka 1989: 49.
is building was quickly called the Korean House (Dom Koreański).
Kałuszko 2004.
e orphanage in Świder has served since 2012 as the Architecture and Construction Department
of the administration of Otwock.
34
prociently in Polish. Some other orphans were placed in Zgorzelec, close to
the German border.100 Older kids started higher education in technical schools
in Warsaw; many of them also went to schools with dormitories, such as City
and Suburbs Construction High School of Wrocław (Wrocławskie Technikum
Budowy Miast i Osiedli), at Górnicza Szkoła Zawodów101 or Poznań University.
erefore, until 1959, a relatively large North Korean population, mainly
composed of 30-year-olds, lived in Poland. e rst year of study was focused on
learning the Polish language in cities such as Gdańsk, Gliwice, Poznań, Kraków,
Łódź, or Warsaw. After that, they were able to complete a degree in Poland. e
whole journey of these students was nancially covered by the Polish authorities,
including accommodation, food, return tickets to North Korea, and other
things.
Some Polish historians consider that the issue of North Korean orphans was
kept secret,102 but that seems to be inaccurate, mostly because the inhabitants
of the previously mentioned cities were in touch with these young Koreans,
for example, going together to primary schools. Secondly, this issue was also
mentioned in the contemporary Polish press.103 For example, Kim Wan Un and
Ri Jin Ben,104 two students at Poznan University, visited the city of Mogilno for
a few days starting on July 22, 1959.105 Another example is the case of Li San-
hy, who won nationwide shooting competitions of mining schools in 1955.106
North Korean orphans in Central Europe were also regularly mentioned in
the North Korean press.107
Despite an agreement signed between Poland and North Korea stipulating
that all of these children would return to North Korea after that had nished
either high school or other studies, their quiet life in Poland was interrupted by
the visit on September 4–7, 1959, of Jon In Saen, the North Korean deputy
minister of education. is North Korean ocial came to Poland to discuss the
return of North Korean orphans to their home country, providing limited
explanations to the Polish authorities. In total, 606 orphans suddenly left Poland
and returned to North Korea between 1957 and 1958. Once back in North Korea,
some of them continued to live in orphanages but were sent to ones with other
orphans from abroad. e orphans grouped themselves based on the country
¹ Kubrak 2016: 388.
¹¹ Centrum Edukacji w Zabrzu – Kalendarium 2017: 2.
¹² Kubrak 2016: 388.
¹³ Nasze dzieci – sieroty, oary pożogi wojennej-wychowują się w Waszym kraju, a naród otoczył je
prawdziwą opieką rodzicielską. Spotkanie z delegacją KRL-D 1956: 2.
¹ Ri Jin Ben is the original version in written Polish by this student.
¹ Kaczyński 2019.
¹ Centrum Edukacji w Zabrzu – Kalendarium, http://www.ce.zabrze.pl/dokumenty/historia_ce.pdf
(accessed: 20.08.2019), p. 3.
¹ 진형제의마음으로 1956: 1.
35
where they had been educated. is created factions, such as one composed of
those coming from China, others from Romania, and a Polish one, etc.108 e
largest group was the Chinese one. Not all North Korean citizens who had been
educated in Poland were forced to return to their native country. Students in
their last year of study remained in Poland until 1959. By that year, 120 North
Korean students had obtained a diploma from a Polish university.109
e previously mentioned Kim Wan Un and Ri Jin Ben were able to remain
in Poland until the completion of their education in 1961 at the University of
Adam Mickiewicz in Poznań. Kim Wan Un became a research worker at the
Institute of History at the Academy of Social Sciences in Pyongyang. He married
and became the father of two sons. He died on November 12, 1968, at the age
of 30. In his childhood, he lived in the Kumkang area near Wonsan, where he
was born on February 11, 1938. Ri Jin Ben, born on May 2, 1932, in Hyesan,
initially worked as an engineer at Kangson and then became its vice-director.
Friends called him a Korean Pole.110
Initially, some of the Polish orphans wrote letters to their European tutors,
but nally, it became more or less too dicult for them to communicate with
those who educated them in Europe. Despite a law forbidding them to do so,
some North Korean people formerly based in Poland tried to send several letters
to Poland, explaining that the North Korean orphans who had lived in Europe
were badly treated in comparison to those who had been in China and Albania.
111
Some former North Korean orphans, such as Won Suk Ja and Ji Sun Ja, met again
Polish citizens during cultural events in Pyongyang, supplying for Polish books.
112
e process of the removal of the North Korean orphans started earlier, in
1958 when all of them were classied according to their Songbun,113 a North
Korean caste system subdividing the population of the country into three classes
and 51 categories by trustworthiness and loyalty to the Kim family. A few years
later, a minority of them considered to be less loyal toward the Kim family were
supposedly either sent to labour camps or killed.114
¹ Kim Yong 2009: 24.
¹ Six people obtained a university degree, 89 gained a technical degree, 16 an agricultural degree,
six a degree in economics, two an artistic degree, and one person was awarded a medical diploma.
Levi 2012: 73.
¹¹ Kaczyński 2019.
¹¹¹ Uzupełnienie notatki z 23 grudnia w sprawie byłych studentów koreańskich w Polsce z dnia
2 stycznia 1963 r. 1963.
¹¹² Dubrowski 1961: 18.
¹¹³ e Songbun is a North Korean classication system which, according to one’s supposed degree
of loyalty toward the WPK, determines the work and education path of its population. is
system is constituted of ve classes.
¹¹ Sprawozdanie z pobytu w Koreańskiej Republice Ludowo-Demokratycznej w latach 1964–1968
Władysława Napieraja.
36
e ‘return policy’ was not apply applied to very young North Koreans
but also the students based in Poland. Until 1956, North Korean students
constituted the majority of foreign students in Poland. After 1957, their number
started to decline. For the academic year 1960–61, there were only 108 North
Korean students out of 740 foreign students in Poland. For the academic year
1965–1966, none of the 1,364 foreign students was from North Korea.115
Table 3. Number of North Korean students in Poland in 1955–1965
Academic Year 1955-
56
1956-
57
1957-
58
1958-
59
1959-
60
1960-
61
1961-
62
1962-
63
1963-
64
1964-
65
Number of
North Korean
students
367 359 349 303 164 108 37 2 0 0
Number
of foreign
students in
Poland
575 687 931 916 751 740 648 – – –
Number of
North Korean
students
as a %-age
of foreign
students
64% 52% 37% 33% 22% 15% 6% – – –
Finished
studies ––––––4–––
Source: Compiled data from Statistics Poland.
e sudden return of North Korea youth from Poland and other socialist
nations in Europe was probably due to the following. First, several events in
Europe and in the USSR indicated a relative opening of communist minds. e
majority of information reaching Kim Il Sung was available in reports prepared by
the North Korean embassy in Warsaw and secret information from journalists and
Korean students staying in Poland. He thought that these young Korean citizens,
in touch with relative liberalization, would constitute a danger to his power.
Secondly, Kim Il Sung was afraid that the students would ee Central Europe.
Some North Korean students had left Hungary, using the Budapest crisis of
September 1956 as cover. Some others based in Poland also tried to escape. Two
high school students based at the Technical High School in Szopienice tried to
¹¹ De Carvalho 1990: 23–25.
37
escape to East Germany in May 1957 but were arrested by Polish ocials. In
June 1957, some North Korean students based in Poland initially contacted the
US embassy in Warsaw, but nally, North Korean authorities arrested them,
in cooperation with Polish and French authorities based in Warsaw who had
contacted the North Korean embassy there.116
Despite the large geographical distance and cultural dierences, these events
were a warning sign of things that might happen in North Korea, especially
constitutionalising an opposition (anti-Kim Il Sung) and the possible attempt
of triggering a ‘Korean Poznań.’117 Kim Il Sung could not openly question the
20th assembly and provoke the USSR and other socialist bloc states, at least due
to all the aid they provided. e 1950s and crises in Hungary, Poland, and the
GDR was a sign to him that the regime must be moderated but attention must
be tightened. Very soon after, salaries increased by 35%, the processing of some
goods decreased by 25%, daily rice rations were increased by 100g118 and at the
same time repressions against opponents of the system were radically toughened.
Show trials against members of the Chondoist Chongu Party with 200 given the
death penalty were mentioned in Polish diplomatic notes.119
Repatriation of North Korean citizens based in Central Europe was also
extended to North Korean ocials based there. e previously mentioned events
may also have been the reason for the dismissal of the North Korean ambassador
to Poland, Ho Guk Bon (1954–1958), considered to be relatively open-minded
by other diplomats, who openly discussed religious issues in the Polish press. e
diplomat indicated as follows:
is matter is complicated. Our village strictly professes Buddhism. However,
only elderly people are sincerely religious. Young Buddhists are rare anymore.
e Catholic population prevailed among the urban population, while the war
destroyed all Catholic temples. e Japanese occupation […] introduced a third
religion to the country, which was used as an instrument of their politics. e
war against Japan was also a war against their religion. Our youth, however,
is already completely progressive, and the Buddha statues are found only in
distant and less accessible mountains.120
Meanwhile, Rim Chum Su, the North Korean ambassador to Bulgaria was
also purged and removed from his position in Soa and sent back to Pyongyang
in 1963.121
¹¹ Levi 2012: 195.
¹¹ See Notatka z rozmowy z tow. Pieliszenko radcą Ambasady ZSRR z dnia 26.07.57 1957.
¹¹ Dziak 2000: 245.
¹¹ See Notatka z rozmowy z tow. Pieliszenko radcą Ambasady ZSRR z dnia 26.07.57 1957.
¹² Burzyński 1957: 3.
¹²¹ Loken-Kim 2003: 906.
38
Additionally, relations between Poland and North Korea worsened after the
publication of an article written by the Polish journalist Wanda Melcer entitled
Obiad w Pjongjangu (‘Lunch in Pyongyang’), which included a negative image
of Korean cooking culture. As a result, no Polish delegation was invited to the
15th anniversary of the birth of North Korea in 1962.
Some of the older orphans of higher Songbun were able to study and get jobs
working with Eastern European engineers sent to North Korea. ey worked in
the following places: the Polish hospital in Hamhung, the Polish mission at the
NNSC, and the Polish embassy in Pyongyang.122 Others worked in elds where
Polish specialists were based, and where knowledge of Korean was requested.123
For their jobs, no university degree was required, only knowledge of the Polish
language. As proof, we can quote the case of Ri Hang sik, who worked for Fabex-
-ZREMB as a translator despite having only primary education.
Later, some of these orphans returned to Poland for professional reasons. For
example, Kim Je Ming (born in 1941), who was initially a translator for Polish
companies in North Korea in the 1970s, returned to Poland in the 1980s and
was used as a translator for ve North Korean artists who worked as cartoonists
in the Cartoon Studio in the city of Bielsko-Biała (Studio Filmów Rysunkowych
Bielsko-Biała). Another orphan was a translator for a group of overseas North
Korean workers delegated to Kleczanów in 2004. e Department of Polish Studies
at Kim Il Sung University has been headed since its creation in 2007 by one of
the orphans from Płakowice, Jo Song-mu. It is also known that a wife of a North
Korean ambassador was also an orphan based in Otwock. She used to return there
to visit a doctor at the Marchlewski Sanatorium in Otwock. A military attaché
at the North Korean embassy in Warsaw was also an orphan based in Poland.
Unfortunately, both names are unavailable. Yun So Hyon, the current ocer of
the Committee for Cultural Relations of North Korea, and the secretary of the
association of Friendship between France and North Korea, and between Poland
and North Korea, is the daughter of Yun Myong Jin, a former Secretary of the
National Commission of North Korea to UNESCO and a former orphan based
in Poland. Her father taught her Polish, a language she uses perfectly.124 As of
October 2017, Yun So-hyon has travelled ve times to Poland.
ese Korean children inspired many books, poems, and articles. e most
famous ones were authored by Marian Brandys, such as Dom odzyskanego
dzieciństwa (‘e home of recovered childhood’) and a similar one entitled
Koreańczycy Gołotczyzny (‘Koreans of Gołotczyzna’), a shorter version aimed
at younger children. is book told about the story of North Korean orphans
¹²² Konecka 1989: 42.
¹²³ Konecka 1989: 42.
¹² Myjak 2017: 11.
39
who were based in Gołotczyzna, a village close to the city Ciechanów. is book
underlined the number of interactions between Poles and North Korean citizens.
is book was a success in Poland, being published several times, in 1953, 1954,
and 1956. It was also translated into Czechoslovak in a version entitled Dom
na văzvărnatoto detstvo (‘House for a childhood’) published in 1954 with the
support of the author, R. Pečikova). is book was also translated in Chinese
with the romanized title of Chaoxian haizi zai Bolan (which can be translated as
‘Korean Children in Poland’) and published in 1955 in the city of Shanghai by
the Shaonian Publishing House.
We must also mention the book Grupa Słowika (‘e Group of Słowik’) (1954)
by Marian Bielicki. Monika Warneńska wrote in her book entitled Karolinka
z Diamentowych Gór (‘Karolinka of Diamonds Mountains’) of a protagonist who
is sent to join a group of small Korean children who settled in Płakowice, near
Wrocław. A 15-minute movie entitled Dzieci koreańskie (‘Korean Children’) was
also prepared by Władysław Marko in 1953, describing the life of Koreans in
Poland. Also, according to chronicles from Polish Television, Radio Pyongyang
had broadcast the message, War orphans, go to Sinuju! From there you will be
evacuated to places where there is no War. 125
ere is also a particular place for the book Mały łącznik Kim E-cho126 (‘e
Little Runner Kim E-cho’) (1951), written by Weronika Tropaczyńska-Ogarkowa.
In this book, there is an 18-page story related to the life of a young North
Korean child during the Korean War. It is also worth noting that the rst books
introduced to Korean literature appeared at the same time, such as Na południe
od 38 równoleżnika. Sztuka w trzech obrazach (‘South of the 38th Parallel. Art
in ree Pictures’) (1951), by Bronisław Troński; Korea walczy. Wiersze poetów
koreańskich 1950–52 (‘Korea Is Fighting. Poems of Korean Poets 1950–52’)
(1954), by Jerzy Ficowski; Korea walczy. Zbiór opowiadań (‘Korea Is Fighting.
Collection of Stories’) (1952), by Marek Lechowicz; Bajki koreańskie ‘(Korean
Fairy Tales’) (1954), by Czesław Jastrzębiec-Kozłowski and Ziemia (‘ e Land’)
(1955). Since there were no Poles available to speak uent Korean,127 these ve
previously mentioned books were translated from the Russian version.
e history of North Korean orphans in Poland has also been presented many
times in media. Journalist Jolanta Krysowata’s program entitled Osieroceni (‘ e
Orphaned’) (2003), in which two orphans were found, was awarded the Europa
Award in Berlin. She co-directed a similar documentary called Kim Ki Dok (2006),
with the famous director Patrick Yoka. is production was focused on the life
of the orphan Kim Ki-dok (김기덕), who lived and was buried in Osobowicki
¹² Levi 2009: 351.
¹² Tropaczyńska-Ogarkowa 1951: 121–139.
¹² Within this period, two Polish citizens spoke Korean to a certain extent, Wiesław Sieroszewski
and Remigiusz Kwiatkowski.
40
Cemetery in Wrocław, Poland. is lm was presented by the Polish embassy in
Seoul in 2016 as part of a lm festival organised by the European Union National
Institutes for Culture.128
e humanitarian support provided to Korean orphans was not forgotten by
the North Korean authorities. As a sign of their gratefulness, the North Korean
government gave 3,000 tonnes of wheat to Poland in 1982.129 e North Korean
press remembered one of Kim Il Sung’s visits to an orphanage in Poland in
a document issued by the Korean Central News Agency in 2006.
130
Furthermore,
the city of Otwock maintained contacts with North Korea and its ocials by
organising a meeting with the North Korean delegation. In 1984, an ocial
delegation of representatives from Otwock consisting of four people went to
North Korea.131 Another delegation was sent in 1990. Moreover, on the Juche
Tower in Pyongyang, among the ‘friendly’ cities, there is a tablet from Otwock,
the only Polish city listed. A branch of the Polish-North Korean Friendship
Association was inaugurated there in 1970.132
Other socialist states also took care of North Korean orphans. During his
visit to Czechoslovakia in June 1956 as part of his grand tour of Eastern Europe,
Kim Il Sung referred in his speech at a mass rally in Pilsen to the Numbers of our
students and war orphans who are freely studying … in your country.133 He went
on to observe that, when they come back to their country after nishing their study,
they will become excellent workers in the labour struggle for the development of the
national economy.134 In a March 7, 1957, report on friendship communication
between North Korean and Czechoslovakian schools, Pyongyang mentioned that
children from one Czechoslovakian school had recently combined their talents
in friendship art-circle performances with Korean children of the Kim Il Sung
School in Czechoslovakia. It is assumed that around 600 orphans were raised in
Czechoslovakia. On December 27, 1956, Pyongyang broadcasted the following
dispatch from Budapest:
¹² e South Korean producer Chu Sang Mi authored a lm concerning North Korean orphans
in Poland entitled 폴란드로 간 아이들 (Pollandeuro gan aideul, Children Gone to Poland).
Principal photography began already in autumn 2016 in Płakowice, where some of the North
Korean orphans in Poland were located.
¹² Krysowata 2004: 1998.
¹³ See: 뽈스까에서 김일성주석의 고아원방문 50돐 기념집회 2006.
¹³¹ Kałuszko 2004.
¹³² Kim Hi-sun, the North Korean ambassador to Poland, and Ko San-gin, the rst secretary,
inaugurated its activities. Koreański klub w Otwocku 1970.
¹³³ See Relations de la Corée du Nord avec la Tchécoslovaquie. Copie d’une étude en date du 18 septembre
dernier, établie par le service de la „guerre psychologique” du quartier général de l’armée américaine
au Japon 1957.
¹³ See Relations de la Corée du Nord avec la Tchécoslovaquie. Copie d’une étude en date du 18 septembre
dernier, établie par le service de la „guerre psychologique” du quartier général de l’armée américaine
au Japon 1957.
41
Hundreds of Korean children who have been attending Hungarian schools
left for home by special train yesterday and today. Mostly war orphans, they
were invited by Hungary. While in Hungary, the children were studying in
60 schools in Budapest and dozens of other cities.135
2.5.
KIM IL SUNG’S VISIT TO POLAND IN 1956 AND ITS
CONSEQUENCES
On June 1, 1956, Kim Il Sung and an impressive delegation of North Korean
ocials left their country by train for a 50-day tour around the USSR, the
Mongolian People’s Republic, and allies of the USSR in Europe.
is visit was prepared during the trip of Kim Tu Bong, the rst secretary of
the SPA, between January 12 and 15, 1956.
It was not only the longest foreign travel of a North Korean leader but also
the longest absence from his country. e visit aimed to collect positive reactions
concerning nancial and material support, which would be used to full the
assumptions of the North Korean economic plan for the period 1957–1961.136
As part of his European tour, Kim Il Sung visited Poland between July 2 and 7,
1956. In Warsaw, at the Palace of Culture and Science, on July 5, at a public
meeting gathering 3,000 people, he thanked Poland for its support and asked
for continued aid and cooperation in the realisation of North Korea’s economic
strategy.137 On the same day, Kim Il Sung was granted the Order of Polonia
Restituta First Class, and two party ocials (Nam Il – named as Nam Ir – and
Pak Chong Ae – named as Pak Den Ai) who accompanied him received the same
Order, but the Second Class.
Implementation of the resolutions of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers
of the Polish People’s Republic, including aid for Korea, was being discussed at
that time. While in Poland, Kim Il Sung visited the orphanage in Świder, and in
‘Gwardia’ Hall he met with inhabitants of Warsaw. Finally, he was awarded the
Order Polonia Restituta.
138
Inhabitants of the city of Głogów received a reward as
an expression of gratitude for equipping Korean schools destroyed by the war.139
¹³ See North Korean orphans in Hungary 1957.
¹³ Dziak 2000: 236.
¹³ See Komunikat końcowy z pobytu w Polsce delegacji rządowej KRL-D 1956.
¹³ Kowalski 1988: 552.
¹³ Ho Guk Bon, then the Ambassador of North Korea to Poland, informed that furniture and
learning aids would reach the prominent Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang. Burzyński
1957: 3.
42
e requests made by Kim Il Sung were only partially fullled, which
constituted a failure for him. Edward Ochab, then the Secretary of the Polish
Communist Party, did not declare anything above what was promised before.
e North Korean authorities expected military support, consisting of 200 Polish
military troops, 45 cars, and food support. Konstanty Rokossowski, then the
Polish defence minister, only allowed sending no more than 20 ocers.
Visits to other states also did not match the Korean leader’s expectations. Aid
from Russia was not as signicant as previously thought. In 1956, North Korea
received 300 million roubles, but it was much less than after the end of e
Korean War. e GDR authorities declined continuing special aid and production
support of diesel engines. e Hungarians declared that they would not provide
15 million roubles. Romania declined to provide 25 million roubles. In total, the
economic and technical aid did not exceed 500 million roubles, less than half of
what was expected.
140
One year later, Józef Cyrankiewicz, then the prime minister
of the Polish People’s Republic, in April 1957 visited North Korea. His visit was
aimed at consolidating friendship and developing cooperation between Poland
and North Korea. During his visit, he met Kim Il Sung, the prime minister of
North Korea.
141
In the same period, the WPK publishing house published a book
focused on the success of the Polish economy.142
¹ Kim Ir Sen 1970: 51–52.
¹¹ Józef Cyrankiewicz is known for an eccentric way of life. During the meeting with Kim Il Sung,
the leaders each drank 38 glasses of vodka and were still feeling sober. Lipiński 2016.
¹² See Kim Yong 1956.
43
Chapter 3
Relative Disturbance in Polish-North Korean
relations (1959–1980)
3.1.
ECONOMIC COOPERATION
T
he period starting in 1959 was one heralding a new era in relations
between the countries. Aleksander Zawadzki and Edward Gierek headed
a delegation of members of the PUWP Political Bureau that visited North
Korea between October 15 and 19, 1959.¹³ Two years later, between June 20 and
29, 1961, Cheon Jung aek, the head of the WPK Planication Commission
visited Poland. In the same year, Roman Zambrowski, the secretary of the PUWP
CC visited North Korea and plants built by Poles. e Polish authorities, through
the Książka i Wiedza publishing house, produced 1,260 copies in Polish of speeches
from the fourth WPK Congress (September 11–18, 1961).¹
From 1961, the North Korean authorities proceeded to make some changes to
their foreign policy. Being in a better economic situation than before, the North
Korean leadership assumed that they did not want to be subordinated either to
the USSR or, to a lesser extent, to China. Kim Il Sung wanted to reinforce his
autonomy instead. Kim viewed the USSR as a state where ‘modern revisionism’
prevailed. He also dismissed the Chinese view of a shift in the ‘world revolution’
with Beijing at its epicentre because, he said, ‘it is impossible to shift the revolution
from one country to another. Moreover, a situation in which one country would be
the centre of world revolution or that any party would stand atop the international
communist movement is impossible’.¹
e North Korean authorities forbade foreigners to move around the country
or to marry Korean partners from September 1963. Even the Polish delegation of
the NNSC was not able to travel freely in North Korea. In June 1962, sailors were
¹³ Wspólny komunikat Polsko-Koreański 1959: 3.
¹ is publishing house already in 1961 had published 22 other books summarising communist
congresses in other countries.
¹ Kim Ir Sen 1977: 571.
44
not allowed to leave their ships docked at the port of Kaesong without approval
from the North Korean authorities. e orphans who were educated in Central
Europe were also punished dierently than those educated in China, Albania,
or South Vietnam.
is newfound autonomy and economic independence was outlined in the Juche
ideology aimed at tightening relations with ird World Countries and Eastern
Europe.¹ Progressively, North Korea’s trade with other countries increased. In
1961, Poland exported goods worth PLZ 5.4 million while importing from North
Korea products worth PLZ 11.4 million. Meanwhile, Poland consented to a credit
to the North Korean authorities worth 10 million Soviet roubles.¹ Four years
later, Poland exported goods and services worth PLZ 19.3 million. at same
year, Poland imported goods from North Korea worth PLZ 24.6 million and
services worth PLZ 20.2 million. e trade between Poland and North Korea
in the framework of Polish trade with other Asian partners was signicant. In
1965, Poland exported around four times more goods to North Korea than to
Japan (PLZ 4.2 million) and imported slightly more from North Korea (PLZ
24.6 million) than Japan (PLZ 20.2 million), despite the high level of quality of
Japanese products.
In 1968, Franciszek Waniołka, the deputy prime minister of the Republic of
Poland, went on a state visit to North Korea.¹
In the 1970s, attempts by North Korean diplomacy to consolidate the
relationship and cooperation with Poland resulted in signing yet another agreement
on March 26, 1970, forecasting an increase in trade exchange of 35% in comparison
to the 5-year plan of 1966–1970, and the North Korean vice minister, Pak Song
Chol (박성철), paid a visit to Poland on February 21, 1972. On October 4, 1972,
an agreement related to the establishment of a Consultative Commission for
Economic and Scientic-Technical Aairs was signed.¹ e Commission was
supposed to be composed of four Poles and four North Korean citizens (Art. 2 of
the agreement) and meet once a year (Art. 9). is agreement was also supposed
to replace a similar agreement signed on April 17, 1957.
e same year, delegates of the North Korea Supreme People’s Assembly
also came to Poland. ese delegations included not only ocial meetings with
politicians but also visits to economic facilities in Poland. For instance, in 1973,
a delegation from the North Korean embassy in Poland led by Kim Jaen Wok
¹ Kim Il Sung 1976.
¹ Paduchowski 2018: 177.
¹ Wicepremier Fr. Waniołka udał się do KRL-D 1968: 1
¹ See Umowa między Rządem Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej a Rządem Koreańskiej Republiki
Ludowo-Demokratycznej w sprawie utworzenia Komisji Konsultacyjnej ds. kwestii naukowo-
-technicznych i ekonomicznych 1972.
45
and Ri Je Jang, its commercial attaché, visited the Silesia chemical factory in
Żarów (Świdnica county). On September 8, 1977, another delegation from the
North Korean embassy in Poland, including ambassador Paek Nam Sun, visited
some factories near Sochaczew and Teresin, about 65 kms south of Warsaw.¹
Economic relations between North Korea and other communist states
intensied in the 1970s. Bilateral government commissions were formed to watch
over economic, scientic and technical cooperation. North Korea had raw materials,
such as zinc, silver, talcum powder, and graphite. In Poland’s case, it was able to
provide in return heavy machinery, car and tractor parts, and control apparatuses.
A multiannual trade agreement for the period 1962–1965 was signed in 1961. It
provided credit for products imported to complete industrial buildings. Credits
were given on very convenient terms, with interest rates at 2% per annum and
refund payments were supposed to begin after a period of seven years. North
Korea was supposed to pay back the credit in the form of exports of magnetite,
talcum, and graphite.
In 1965, Poland exported goods and services worth PLZ 19.3 million;
meanwhile, the sum of exports to Japan reached PLZ 4.2 million. In the same
year, Poland imported goods from North Korea worth PLZ 24.6 million and
exported PLZ 20.2 million worth of goods to Japan. Furthermore, new industrial
buildings were constructed in North Korea between 1962 and 1970, such as
a factory for medical tools and glass polishing and candy factories, challenging
the demand for European products.
In 1969, Poland was the fth-largest trade partner of North Korea, preceded,
in order, by the USSR, China, East Germany, and, paradoxically, Japan, a country
formally considered an enemy. Machinery dominated the Polish exports to North
Korea (more than 60% of its exports to North Korea), mostly machine tools, AN-2
aircraft, and coke, as well as – due to market deciencies – consumer goods such
as glassware and porcelain. Imports from North Korea consisted mostly of raw
materials such as magnetite or talcum powder.¹¹ However it must be noted that
although as of 1972 the trade exchange with North Korea represented only 0.2%
of total Polish trade, some interesting facts were present. For instance, in 1972,
North Korean exports represented the following percentages of Polish imports
of these products: 56% of the talcum, 49% of the magnetite, 18% of the uorite,
49% of the porcelain ware, 7% of the lead, and 4% of the herbal products. is
means that North Korea was the top provider of uorite, magnetite, porcelain,
and talcum to Poland.
¹ Ambasador KRL-D gościł w woj. skierniewieckim 1977: 2.
¹¹ Kojło 1975: 169.
46
In 1972, the cooperation between the countries deepened through an agreement
focused on the creation of an Economic, Scientic, and Technical Consultative
Committee. e aims of such an organisation were to examine the possibilities
for development and expanding cooperation between them, to consider the
implementation of agreements and protocols concluded by the competent
authorities of both parties, and to take necessary measures for the further
development of cooperation. e treaties were supposed to be renewed every two
years, as the economic situation of North Korea was considered as dicult. North
Korea since 1967 then participated in international fairs in Poznań.
is organisation was inaugurated during a visit by Cheon Jun Taek, the
North Korean deputy prime minister, to Poland in October 1972. Poland’s
deputy prime minister, Franciszek Kaim, participated in the rst session of this
committee. During the rst sitting, both parties concluded that by mid-1970 the
trade exchange could reach 100 million roubles. Between October 3 and 8, 1973,
the second session took place. e third session was between October 16 and 18,
1974. e fourth session was held a little over a year later, between November 5
and 10, 1975, with the participation of Franciszek Szlachcic, the Polish deputy
prime minister, and Kong Jin Dae, the North Korean representative. e fth
session took place between November 16 and 18, 1977, with Polish Deputy Prime
Minister Józef Kępa and Kong Jin Dae on the North Korean side.
On August 13, 1973, a treaty on scientic exchange between Poland and
North Korea for the years 1973 and 1974 was signed. e sides also agreed to
pursue a trade exchange agreement covering the next four years. Emil Wojtaszek,
then the Polish foreign minister, paid a visit to Pyongyang between June 26 and
29, 1977,¹² and Wojciech Jaruzelski, then defence minister, followed between
September 25 and 29, 1977. On August 28, 1978, a document entitled Agreement
between the Government of the PRP and the Government of the DPRK on air
transportation was signed by both sides, underlining that in both countries, two
cities (including Warsaw) would welcome Polish or North Korean commercial
airplanes. Both airlines would be exempt from taxation on their prot regarding
these bilateral activities.¹³
Between July 1 and 4, 1978, Gerard Kroczek, the deputy minister of mining,
headed a delegation to North Korea. Between July 28 and August 7, 1978, Ri
Jin Chan, the North Korean energy minister, visited Poland. Cheon Jung Eun,
the North Korean foreign trade minister, headed a delegation to Poland between
November 27 and December 2, 1980. Two additional visits must be underlined.
Between January 28 and February 1, 1980, Pak Myong Bin, the North Korean
¹² See Wizyta Tow. Ministra E. Wojtaszka w KRL-D w dniach 26–29 czerwca 1977 r. 1977.
¹³ Umowa między Rządem PRL a Rządem KRLD o komunikacji lotniczej 1978.
47
health minister, visited Poland. at same year, between July 19 and 25, Choi
Hi Heon, the North Korean labour minister visited Poland.
By analysing the bilateral trade between these two countries, we can draw the
following conclusions. First, despite its theoretically secretive nature, North Korea
was not at the bottom of the list of Polish economic partners. When we review the
ocial Polish statistics for the year 1979, we notice that Poland considered North
Korea to be a more important business partner than, for instance, Bangladesh or
Mongolia. Poland exported goods to North Korea worth PLZ 95.2 million, but
to Bangladesh items worth just PLZ 33.5 million, and to Mongolia goods worth
PLZ 22.5 million. North Korea was in the bottom half of the 10-largest Asian
commercial partners of Poland, ranking seventh but far behind China (exports
of PLZ 314.3 million) and Turkey (exports of around PLZ 153.3 million). As
noted above, on average, North Korea represented around 0.2% of Poland’s total
foreign trade. From North Korea’s perspective, if we do not take into account
the USSR, Poland represented 8% of North Korea’s foreign trade from socialist
bloc countries in 1973.
Table 4. Bilateral Trade between Poland and North Korea (1960–1979)
Currency and unit: PLZ mln
Year Polish Export to
North Korea
North Korean Export to
Poland Trade Balance
1960 26 7.5 18.5
1961 5.4 11.4 –6
1962 13.1 15.9 –2.8
1963 17.6 15.4 2.2
1964 16.4 15 1.4
1965 19.3 24.6 –5.3
1966 23.1 25.6 –2.5
1967 28.5 10.2 18.3
1968 47.1 36.9 10.2
1969 49.3 33 16.3
1970 34.5 40.9 –6.4
1971 19.9 155.7 –135.8
1972 32.1 316.7 –284.6
1973 20.4 393.9 –373.5
1974 35.7 41.2 –5.5
48
Year Polish Export to
North Korea
North Korean Export to
Poland Trade Balance
1975 38 60.2 -22.2
1976 36.6 56.7 -20.1
1977 45.4 52.8 -7.4
1978 55.2 85.3 -30.1
1979 108 95.2 12.8
Source: Compiled data from Statistics Poland.
Table 5. Bilateral Trade between the Socialist Bloc and North Korea (1960–1973)
Currency and unit: SUR mln
Country 1960 1965 1970 1973
USSR 102.7 160.0 329.3 357.3
East Germany 8.3 7.0 28.6 27.5
Romania 7.5 7.6 12.5 25.0
Bulgaria 1.5 1.2 5.9 13.7
Czechoslovakia 13.8 11.9 13.7 13.4
Poland 2.9 9.9 17.0 10.3
Hungary 6.7 4.0 6.0 5.6
Mongolia 1.0 1.5 2.3 3.9
Total: 143.0 203.0 415.3 484.6
Source: Ekonomika i politika zarubieżnych stran socjalizma: Koreanska Narodno-
-Demokraticzeskeja Republika 1975: 128.
e development of trade between Poland and North Korea led to the
development of the logistic sector between the countries, with the North Korean
ports of Chongjin, Hungman, and Nampho able to start to receive goods
provided by vessels of the Far Eastern Lines of the Polish Maritime Lines (Polskie
Line Okrętowe) on a monthly basis from the early 1960s. One vessel was even
named Pjongjang. On November 19, 1965, the treaty Porozumienie pomiędzy
Rządem Polskiej Rzeczpospolitej Ludowej a Rządem Koreańskiej Republiki Ludowo-
Demokratycznej o utworzeniu Koreańsko-Polskiego Towarzystwa Maklerów Morskich
(Agreement Between the Government of the Polish People’s Republic and the
Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on the Establishment
of the Korean-Polish Maritime Brokers’ Society) was signed, establishing
49
a Polish-Korean Shipbrokers Association (Koreańsko-Polskie Towarzystwo Maklerów
Morskich), also known as Chopol (Cho from Choson, and Pol from Polska, the
Polish name of Poland), which was put in charge of naval cooperation.¹ e
inaugural meeting with the partners was held on February 7, 1967, in Pyongyang.
e shipbrokers’ association had two ships under their command manned by bi-
national crews. e association controlled by Polish and North Korean citizens
was supposed to buy, sell, and rent ships to transport coke and magnetite. By
comparison, the Polish-Chinese Association of Shipbrokers – Chipolbrok – had
been operating since 1945. Two Polish ships, the Narvik and the Mickiewicz,
were used. Accordingly, per the bilateral agreements 70% of the Mickiewicz
merchant shipping was supposed to be from North Korea, a gure that was not
always maintained. Poles complained often about the behaviour of the North
Korean seamen, who tried to invoke propaganda during journeys. In 1972, Polish
shipyards refurbished the North Korean eet.¹
e economic cooperation between these countries can also be illustrated by
the creation of the Polish Korean Farm based in Model, around 115 kms south
of Warsaw. is Polish-Korean farm was started in 1949, but its Korean name
was only given in 1967. e cooperative used to be run by 14 families. Each of
them took care of ve hectares. Powerful communist names were often given
to leading cooperatives tied to ‘friendship’ with communist countries, hence
the Model cooperative was given the name ‘Polish-Korean Friendship’ in 1967.
e size of the cooperative increased to 517 hectares, with 147 people working
there with cattle and operating a fruit and vegetable processing plant. On
a regular basis, North Korean diplomats and delegations visited this symbol of
cooperation between the countries. e cooperative was visited by the North
Korean ambassador to Poland in 1972, 1947, 1979, and 1984. e managers of
the cooperative visited North Korea in 1975. eir delegation consisted of two
people – CEO Wladyslaw Adamczyk and chief accountant Tadeusz Ziółkowski.
Another delegation was sent in 1980 that including Adamczyk again, but this time
Czesław Braszka, a member of the board. e last visit took place in 1982 when
a larger delegation consisting of Adamczyk, Marek Paradowski, and Aleksander
Znyk visited North Korea. After 1989, the cooperative disappeared and only the
name of the street remained.
A similar initiative was birthed in North Korea. e rst cooperative in
Noseaden in the county of Samsek was inaugurated on July 24, 1960. A second
¹ On February 11, 1987, the name of the company changed to Koreańsko-Polskie Towarzystwo
Żeglugowe Sp. z o.o., still emphasing its Korean origin in the name of the economic entity,
but from a legal perspective transforming it into a limited liability organisation (pol. spółka
z ograniczoną odpowiedzialnością).
¹ Kojło 1975: 182.
50
cooperative in Jangsuwon, which was inaugurated as the North Korean-Polish
one, opened on November 25, 1965. e Polish ambassador to North Korea and
embassy sta visited this cooperative once a year, which was noted by the North
Korean press.¹
3.2.
POLITICAL COOPERATION
Poland’s position in the 1960s regarding the recognition of North Korea as
the only true Korea did not change in this period. On a regular basis, Polish
authorities sent messages of support to the North Korean authorities. For instance,
on August 13, 1962, Czesław Wycech, the head of the Polish National Assembly
sent a message to the head of the SPA, Choi Won aek, regarding the removal
of U.S. troops from the Korean Peninsula.
When the North Korean government reduced their support for Chinese issues in
the mid-1960s, the North Korean leadership’s approach toward Poland improved.
at is why in the second half of the 1960s, several bilateral visits took place.
An interesting document entitled Agreement between the Governments of the
PRP and the DPRK on the mutual granting of rights to use plots of land intended
for the construction of embassies was signed on May 10, 1966.¹ is agreement
stipulated that the Polish embassy in Pyongyang would be nanced by the Polish
side and the North Korean embassy in Warsaw was to be nanced by the North
Korean side. e North Korean embassy was also supposed to be erected on
Bonifraterska Street, close to the Chinese embassy, with work commencing in
1970. e Polish embassy was supposed to be addressed in district number 66
of Pyongyang, with construction supposed to begin in 1966.
Between November 8 and 11, 1966, the North Korean foreign minister, Pak
Song Chol, visited Poland. His visit was already discussed and prepared during
a meeting between the North Korean ambassador to Poland and Wladyslaw
Gomulka on August 8, 1966. In July 1967, Li Jeon Ho, the deputy secretary of
the SPA visited Poland. Between September 3 and 11, 1968, the deputy prime
minister of Poland, Franciszek Waniołka visited North Korea. Kwon Hi Jeon,
the North Korean deputy foreign minister, visited Poland between August 29
and September 2, 1969. Choi Hyeon, the North Korean defence minister, visited
Poland between September 22 and October 2, 1969. Between October 31 and
¹ 뽈스까대사관 성원들 장수원협동농장에서 친선로 2017. e Polish Ambassador to North
Korea would visit the Korea-Poland Friendship Jangsuwon Cooperative Farm once a year.
¹ Porozumienie między Rządami PRL i KRLD o wzajemnym przyznaniu praw do użytkowania
działek przeznaczonych pod budowę budynków Ambasad 1966.
51
November 1 of that year, O Song Ryeol, the North Korean transport minister,
visited Poland. Between May 24 and 30, 1970, the deputy head of the Polish
National Assembly, Zenon Kliszka, led a delegation to North Korea. Pak Sung
Cheol revisited Poland between February 21 and 25, 1972. Between June 29 and
July 3, 1972, Ri Man Seok, the North Korean deputy foreign minister, visited
Poland. Kang Rian Guk, the SPA secretary, visited Poland between July 10 and
16, 1972. Ri Taek Hyon, the North Korean transport minister, visited Poland
between the September 13 and 25, 1972. Kye Ung Tae, the North Korean foreign
trade minister, visited Warsaw between September 24 and 28, 1976. On May 30,
1977, a protocol partially amended the Agreement between the Government of the
PRL and the Government of North Korea on the mutual granting of rights of use
of plots intended for the construction of Embassy buildings. Although the embassy
was to have been built on Bonifraterska Street, this protocol indicated a new
localisation, close to Beethoven Street, with a total surface area of 1.55 ha.¹
Between September 8 and 9, 1978, the Polish Deputy Prime Minister Franciszek
Kaim visited Pyongyang due to the 30th anniversary of the founding of North
Korea. Meanwhile, the North Korean authorities wanted to improve the position
of South Korea in international elds. At the 68th meeting of the International
Olympic Committee, the North Korean delegate, Ri In Gyu, spoke along with
a Polish delegate suggesting the participation of South Korea in international
organisations.¹
e question of the possible unication of Korea was constantly on the
minds of North Korean ocials. For example, in June 1973, the North Korean
ambassador to Warsaw met with Deputy PM Kaim to discuss the question of
Korean unication. During this meeting, the creation of the Koryo Confederation
was suggested and later was agreed upon by Poland.¹
Kim Tong Gyu, the North Korean WPK Secretary of Foreign Aairs and the
Minister of Foreign Aairs Ho Dam, visited Poland between May 4 and 10, 1974.
On May 22, 1974, Tadeusz Białkowski, the Polish ambassador to North Korea,
met with North Korean Prime Minister Ri Jong Ok to discuss the reunication
issue. Between September 17 and 24, 1974, Jan Czapla, the Polish deputy PM,
visited North Korea.
Under some circumstances, Polish foreign policy was supported by North
Korea. e arrangements for normalisation and mutual relations between Poland
and West Germany, signed on 12 December 1970 by Józef Cyrankiewicz and
¹ Protokół częściowo zmieniający Porozumienie między Rządem PRL i Rządem KRLD o wzajemnym
przyznaniu praw do użytkowania działek przeznaczonych pod budowę budynków Ambasad 1977.
¹ Levi 2012: 91.
¹ June 29, 1973, notes taken during a discussion of Deputy Prime Minister Kaim with the North
Korean Ambassador in Poland, Kim Hi Soun, regarding the unication of Korea. [Note from
the Author: exact spelling of the name of the North Korean ambassador to Poland].
52
Willy Brandt, was considered by the North Korean government as a victory for
the Polish nation. However, Poland was not a North Korean ideological ally.
A closer country to North Korean propagandists was Romania. Its president,
Nicolae Ceausescu, visited China, North Korea, and North Vietnam in 1974.
He came back to Bucharest fascinated by the mass demonstrations of the WPK.
After his return to Bucharest, he presented his July eses, which echoed his
experience in Asia. e Romanian leader pressed for increasing the role of the
party and ideology in daily life. His actions that followed were based on Juche.
e shared concept of the cult of personality had the eect of tightening North
Korean relations with countries such as Romania and Albania, where the party
directorate conducted all actions of the state ideologically and economically.
North Korea also began to look for allies in African countries that had had
no previous experience with socialism, drifting way from Soviet and Chinese
inuence. Equally, relations with European communist states gained a mainly
economic character. e political diculties may be illustrated by the fact that
Polish diplomats based in Pyongyang could visit the North Korean leadership
only when they were informed that the North Korean ambassador to Poland had
made an ocial visit in Poland.
In the 1970s, relations between Poland and North Korea improved. Meanwhile,
the North Korean authorities implemented an open strategy of promoting North
Korean ideology in Poland. North Korean political and ideological activity
in Poland was also mentioned in the Polish press. For instance, in the edition
of February 1, 1977, the daily newspaper Dziennik Bałtycki informed readers
about a meeting held at the North Korean embassy in Warsaw focused on the
unication of the Koreas.¹¹
3.3.
CULTURAL AND SPORT COOPERATION
During the period 1960–1980, except for the Protocol between the Government
of Poland and the Government of North Korea on the amendment of Art. 4 of
the Cultural Cooperation Agreement, signed in Pyongyang on May 11, 1956,
signed on September 28, 1966, the most important pillar of the educational
cooperation between the countries was the partnership signed between the Polish
Academy of Sciences and North Korea Academy of Sciences in 1963. is North
Korean institution was supposed to establish a branch in Warsaw to attract
North Korean researchers (especially from technical elds) to Poland and export
¹¹ Spotkanie w ambasadzie KRLD 1977.
53
technical knowledge and scientic machinery to North Korea. e branch was
inaugurated in 1968 but closed suddenly in 1974, only to reopen a few years later.
Meanwhile, Jong Jong Ryu, the North Korean ambassador to Poland was also
expelled on December 19, 1974. e whole situation was due to a Polish student
named Kim Hak, who focused on Polish studies at the University of Warsaw
and was motivated to leave Poland.
Polish artists regularly travelled to North Korea, such as the Folk Group Śląsk,
which toured North Korea between November 19 and 27, 1966. e North
Korean embassy in Poland also tried to attract Poles through public meetings,
not only in Warsaw but also in smaller cities, such as Radom. For instance, in
July 1975, Ri Man Skim and O aek Gwon, the rst secretary of the North
Korean embassy to Poland and the cultural attaché of the North Korean embassy,
respectively, participated in a meeting at the International Press and Book Club
(Międzynarodowy Klub Prasy i Książki) devoted to North Korean issues.¹²
PUWP ocials and Krystyna Firmanty also participated in this meeting.¹³
On October 15, 1978, there was a concert by the Mansudae Art Group, which
was shown at the Poznań Opera House.¹
Another subject cooperation was sports. Among the North Korean students
based in Poland in the 1970s, some of them started to teach taekwondo to Poles
interested in this sport. First, they were teaching karate, but after a certain
period, they begin to teach Poles the karate technique called kyoksul (격술).
Kyoksul has already been taught in Poland in the 1960s when KAL ocials who
were in contact with Polish ocers discussed this martial art. Another striking
example of cooperation is the case of the development of taekwondo in Poland.
e origins of taekwondo in Poland are related to the situation and political
system prevailing before 1989. e rst taekwondo section in Poland of the
International Taekwondo Federation was established in 1974 in Lublin. It was
led by an Englishman, Andrew Marshall. e next centres were established in the
cities of Łódź, Wrocław, Gdańsk, and Olsztyn. In 1978, the leader of the ITF,
Gen. Choi Hong Hi, visited Poland in 1978, 1980, 1982, and 1983. During
these visits, Choi conducted instructor seminars. e rst North Korean coaches
arrived to Poland in April 1979. Transportation was ensured by the North Korean
authorities with other logistical matters fullled by the Polish side. e rst
invited coach was Han Ho Un, who coached some foreigners during journeys
in the USSR. When Han Ho Un came to Poland, he was already known by
a student based in Warsaw. He came to Poland for three months, left in July, but
returned for a six-month visit between December and June 1980.
¹² Ri Man Skim is probably mispelled. e exact spelling of the name of this North Korean
diplomat is Ri Man Shim.
¹³ Spotkanie z Koreańczykami 1975.
¹ 16 październik 1978, Dziś w Teatrze Wielkim zespół ‘Mansude’ 1978.
54
In the same period, the ITF established cooperation with the Supreme Council
of the Socialist Union of Polish Students (SUPS),¹ which became the guardian
and sponsor of the taekwondo movement in Poland, providing assistance in the
form of the organisation of summer and winter camps. During his visit in 1982,
Gen. Choi Hong Hi held talks with the North Korean embassy to secure additional
funds to support the taekwondo movement in Poland. In the talks, the party
representing Poland was the Supreme Council of the SUPS. A meeting between
Gen. Choi Hong Hi and the North Korean Ambassador resulted in the arrival
of a North Korean demonstration team in Poland in September 1982. e North
Korean citizens presented the martial art in several major Polish cities and shot
a programme later broadcast by Polish Television. e North Korean Taekwondo
Association initially sent several instructors to cities in Poland, including Gdańsk,
Kraków, Łódź, Lublin, and Warsaw.
After June 1980, Han Ho Un disappeared, with some versions of why stating
that the Polish elite counter-terrorism unit, GROM, had recruited him. After
his disappearance, he was replaced by a North Korean student based in Warsaw.
Some others came to Poland, but their fate changed after 1980, being forcibly
recalled to their home country due to cooling relations between North Korea and
Poland.
Due to his position, Gen. Choi Hong Hi was allowed to return to Poland
where he was invited to lead some seminars focused on taekwondo techniques in
the 1990s. His rst seminar in Poland took place in 1993. He again returned to
Poland between May 24 and 27, 1994, where he gave some technical instruction
at the Warszawianka Hall in Warsaw. He visited again in October 1996 and in
December 1997. Choi Hong Hi was sometimes accompanied during his seminars
by his son, Choi Jung Hwa, who also led seminars. Choi Hong Hi passed away
in 2013.
Another story to be mentioned is the case of several North Korean orphans
who has made a sport career during and after their time in Poland. Two of them,
born in the mid-1930s, Im Kwan Sik and Ro Jong Nam, returned to Poland in
1952. A third one, Pak Ton Ho, arrived at an unknown later date. All of them
were educated at the Sport High School in the Oliwa district in Gdańsk along
with other North Korean citizens, including one woman who trained in athletics
and three males who focused on acrobatics. Ro Jong Nam and Im Kwan Sik
were able to participate in the Polish Judo Championships due to their strong
physical and technical abilities. Ro Jong Nam competed in the under – 60 kg
category, topping the charts in the mid-1950s. Ro Jong Nam left Poland in 1956.
Im Kwan Sik was allowed to remain a few more years. Later, they became close
to Polish bronze medallist in judo Kazimierz Jaremczak. Jaremczak became Im
¹ Ocial name in Polish: SZSP – Socjalistyczny Związek Studentów Polskich.
55
Kwan Sik’s trainer. ey called themselves ‘brothers’. Im Kwan Sik also would
visit Jaremczak’s family, including during Christmas festivities.¹ Im Kwan Sik
was highly appreciated for his sport performances as a member of TWF Gdańsk
and later in the GKS Wybrzeże Gdańsk Sport club. He won two medals. On
May 19, 1957, he was awarded a silver medal at the Polish Championship held
in Łódź in the under – 68 kg category. On March 13, 1960, he won a bronze
medal at the Polish Championship held in Gdansk in the same category. As he
could speak Polish, he trained young Poles regularly in Elblag. Pak Ton Ho also
became a coach.
Ro Jong Nam returned to Poland with other North Koreans in the mid-1960s.
Kazimierz Jaremczak wanted Im Kwan Sik to return to Poland, suggesting that
he could open a training company in Poland. Pak Ton Ho came back to Poland
and was awarded the Order of Merit with a Knight’s Cross by the Republic of
Poland in 1994 for his involvement in the North Korean cooperation with the
Mining Academy of Kraków.¹
3.4.
EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION
Between 1953 and 1989, the cooperation between Poland and North Korea was
especially concentrated on cultural exchanges and some minor trade. According
to Mieczysław Dedo,¹ due to the similarities – two wars which destroyed their
capitals, Warsaw and Pyongyang – and common ideologies, many Polish songs
and movies were presented in North Korea and many North Korean movies were
also available in Poland.¹ As mentioned above, North Korea needed Poland
more than Poland needed North Korea due to its national and economic interests.
e rst stage of the relationship, from 1949 until 1953, could be characterised
also as a period during which there were intensied eorts by Poland toward
the reconstruction of North Korea. e second phase of the relations, from
1953 to 1989, can be characterised as a period in which North Korea looked for
nancial support from countries belonging to the Warsaw Pact. is was a period
¹ Compilation of data collected during interviews by the author with Stanisław Tokarski, professor
of philosophy. e interviews were held on October 8 and 28 and November 12, 2019. Some of
the information was also provided by Waldemar Sikorski, a former national coach of the Polish
judo team. Another source was the Polish judoka Kazimierz Jaremczak, who won a bronze medal
at the European Championship of Judo in 1965.
¹ Monitor Polski 1994.
¹ Interview by the author with Mieczysław Dedo, a former Polish diplomat who was twice the
Polish representative to North Korea. e interview was held on April 4, 2010.
¹ Krysowata 2004: 98–122.
56
of turbulence and confusion, when Poland was not in a position to challenge
the USSR like North Korea could. is was because Poland was a Warsaw Pact
member, unlike North Korea, which was not part of this alliance.
On January 13, 1972, an agreement was signed in Warsaw by the Academies of
Sciences of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania,
and the USSR establishing the Banach Centre. Later, the Academies of Sciences
of Vietnam (1979), Cuba (1984), and North Korea (1986) joined. Between 1972
and 1992, Ho Gon represented North Korea at its scientic council. Interestingly,
North Korea was the only country to have only one member on the scientic
council.
A long-term project began involving the Kraków Institute of Systematics and
Evolution of Animals of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the North Korea
Academy of Sciences.¹ is was not the rst cooperation of this kind. In the past,
the Warsaw Institute of Zoology of the Polish Academy of Sciences participated
in four eldtrips to North Korea in 1959, 1965, 1966, and 1970.¹¹ After 1970,
the cooperation between these two institutions was withdrawn, though some
of the zoologists from Warsaw remained in touch with the scientists in Kraków.
Later, another research institute and its members took the place of the Warsaw
researchers. In September 1971, the rst Kraków trip to North Korea took place,
led by Prof. Kazimierz Kowalski.¹² In North Korea, they were working with
several North Korean citizens who spoke Polish at varying levels – Kim Hyong
Sok and Ku Wan Son. e latter was a North Korean orphan who had lived
in Poland in the 1950s and was educated at the Rud Technical High School in
Czestochowa.¹³ An unnamed Polish-speaking North Korean partner was also
a PhD student at AGH University of Science and Technology of Kraków.
During 15 eld trips to North Korea, the Polish zoologists were mainly in
touch with sta members of the Zoological Institute in Pyongyang. ey worked
all over North Korea (Kumgang Mountains, Myohyang mountains). Many
publications were published based on studies made during these eldtrips by
the researchers.¹ Some of them brought old books written in Polish and Polish
¹ Pawłowski, Tomek 1997: 231–246.
¹¹ Pawłowski 2008: 1.
¹² e two other leaders were Jerzy Pawłowski and Józef Razowski.
¹³ Ku Wan Son was educated with several other North Korean young people, Jae Jang Il (Cze Czan
Ir as spelled in the newspaper), Ha Jon Sik (Ha Czon Sik), Ri Jan Hui (Li Chian Hi), Kang
Jaen Kwon (Kang Jen Kwen), Ri Han Su (Li Han Su), Ho Jong Rak (Ho Zon Rak), Kim Ho
Gon (Kim Ho Kon), So Jon Sik (So Ją Sik), Pak Riom Dok (Bak Rią Dok), Jo Ju Gon (Czo Ji
Gon), Jae In Gon (Cze In Gon), Kim Pong Muk (Kim Bą Muk), Kye Kyong Ho (Ke Ken Ho),
Kim Jae Gon (Kim Ze Gon), and Kim Sun Won (Kim Syn Won). Cze Czan Ir 1957: 4.
¹ A list of publications made possible thanks to these 15 eldtrips to North Korea is available at:
http://www.isez.pan.krakow.pl/archiwalne/korea_lista_publikacji.pdf
57
music (such tunes by the famous Polish band „Mazowsze”) and deposited them
in North Korean libraries.¹ Due to the establishment of relations between the
now non-communist Poland and North Korea on November 1, 1991, these eld
trips ended in 1992.
In the 1970s, some North Korean students returned to Poland but all of them
were removed on December 17, 1974, including scholars of the North Korean
Academy of Sciences who had been initiating the launch of a branch in Poland.¹
¹ W skansenie komunizmu 2013.
¹ Levi 2012: 76.
59
Chapter 4
Relations between Poland and North Korea between
1980 and 1989
4.1.
ECONOMIC COOPERATION
In 1981, North Korea exported goods with a net value of 65.9 million Polish
zlotys, with 48.7 million polish zlotys’ worth considered as minerals, or
74% of the total. at same year, North Korea was the seventh-largest trade
partner of Poland among Asian countries but represented only 0.1% of Poland’s
total imports. Meanwhile in 1981, Poland exported 66.4 million Polish zlotys’
worth of electro-machinery to North Korea, which represented 65% of its exports
to that country but only 0.2% of its total exports.
Despite the changes happening in Poland in the early 1980s, bilateral economic
visits continued between both countries. Between October 29 and November 3,
1981, a Polish economic delegation visited Pyongyang. e delegation participated
in the sixth session of the Polish Korean Consultative Commission on Economic,
Education, and Technical cooperation. Between November 22 and 30, 1982,
a delegation from the healthcare ministry of Poland headed by Antoni Konaszyc
visited Pyongyang.
e eighth session took place in Pyongyang between July 8 and 13, 1984. e
ninth session was shorter and came on December 13–14, 1985. is session was
led by the deputy prime minister Zbigniew Szałajda and a member of the CC
WPK, Kye Ung Tae. Between September 26 and 28, 1986, the 10
th
session of the
Polish Korean Consultative Commission on Economic, Education, and Technical
cooperation took place in Pyongyang. is session ended with the signing of an
agreement between the Polish People’s Republic and the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea on legal assistance in civil, family, and criminal cases.¹
Like the previous session, this one was led by Szałajda and Kye Ung Tae.
Between 1984 and 1986, several Polish agricultural delegations visited North Korea.
¹ Umowa między Polską Rzeczpospolitą Ludową a Koreańską Republiką Ludowo-Demokratyczną
o pomocy prawnej w sprawach cywilnych, rodzinnych i karnych 1986.
60
Between December 16 and 20, 1988, the 12th session of the Polish Korean
Consultative Commission on Economic, Education, and Technical cooperation
took place. Janusz Patorski, the deputy prime minister of Poland, and Cho Se
Ung on the North Korean side participated in the meetings.
A trade agreement entitled Trade and Payment Agreement between the Government
of the Republic of Poland and the DPRK was signed on May 12, 1992, and testied
to changes in the Polish economy.¹ According to Art. 3 of this agreement,
transactions were supposed to be made between individuals and companies from
Poland and ‘trade companies’ from North Korea, thus avoiding transactions with
North Korean individuals. Art. 5 of the agreement stipulated that all currencies
must be nalised in exchangeable currencies.
Some Polish companies tried to enter new markets, such as the mining
society Damel, which sent two six-person delegations to North Korea in October
and November 1988 to sell electric mining motors and exchange technical
knowledge.¹ Unfortunately, this cooperation was the exception. e whole eort
may be summarised by Mieczysław Dedo, former Polish ambassador to North
Korea, who always described his visits with the North Korean leadership as ‘nice‘
but also emphasized the dicult economic situation of the country.
Table 6. Bilateral Trade between Poland and North Korea (1980–1989)
Currency and unit: PLZ mln
Year Polish Export
to North Korea
North Korean Export
to Poland
Trade Balance
1980 117.1 128.7 –11.6
1981 65.9 102.2 –36.3
1982 1 009 1 563 –554
1983 1 422 2 131 –709
1984 1 783 2 546 –763
1985 3 088 3 349 –261
1986 3 371 3 941 –570
1987 8 010 5 721 2 289
1988 13 452 10 651 2 801
1989 34 925 22 715 12 210
Source: Compiled data from Statistics Poland.
¹ Umowa o handlu i płatnościach między rządem Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej a KRLD 1992.
¹ 1940–2015 – Damel 75 lat, Konkurent Światowych Liderów 2015.
61
4.2.
POLITICAL COOPERATION
1980 is a crucial year in the history of Poland, notably for the major strikes
that took place in Gdańsk. ese strikes and the creation of the labour union
‘Solidarność’ (‘Solidarity’) were carefully observed from Pyongyang, which was
afraid of losing an economic partner. e Pyongyang authorities also wished during
this period that the Polish authorities would avoid any contact with South Korean
authorities; therefore, bilateral relations between the two countries increased,
despite the international context. is led to several bilateral visits. e rst one
took place between February the 9 and 18, 1980, when a delegation of the WPK
participated in the 8th Congress of the PUWP. e Polish delegation, headed by
Emil Wojtaszek, was present at the 6th Congress of the WPK in Pyongyang in
October 1980.
From a dierent perspective, the North Korean authorities informed its
population about the events that took place in Poland only in 1981, indicating that
the government is promoting a policy that would avoid diculties encountered by
the Polish population.¹ e state of war implemented in Poland in December
1981 was also commented on by a North Korean newspaper. e ocial daily
journal Rodong Sinmun mentioned in an article published on January 6, 1982,
that military control is something uncommon in a socialist country. On August 3,
1983, a consular convention focused on the duties of the bilateral agreements the
two countries signed in Warsaw.¹¹
Between April 3 and 29, 1984, Kim Yong Nam, a member of the WPK
Politburo visited Poland. During his stay, a memorandum of cooperation between
both MFAs for the period 1985–1989 was signed in Warsaw.
After a break of nearly 30 years, Kim Il Sung came back to Europe where he
visited the majority of Socialist countries. Several documents discuss the visit
of Kim Il Sung to Poland in May 1984. One of the most important of them is
a book in Polish published in Pyongyang and entitled Wieczna braterska przyjaźń.
Ocjalna wizyta Kim Il Sunga w Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej w maju 1984
roku (‘Eternal Brotherly Friendship. Kim Il Sung’s Ocial Visit to the Polish
People’s Republic in May 1984’). We may also quote the research article written
by Sylwia Szic and entitled ‘Wieczna braterska przyjaźń. Ocjalna wizyta Kim
¹ Szyc 2018: 355.
¹¹ Konwencja Konsularna między Polską Rzeczpospolitą Ludową a Koreańską Republiką Ludowo-
-Demokratyczną 1983.
62
Il Sunga w Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej w maju 1984 roku.’¹² Some video
programmes prepared by the Polish Television are still made available online.¹³
Based on the previously mentioned propaganda book and the research by the
author, the Kim Il Sung’s visit can be described as follows¹: On May 27, 1984,
Kim Il Sung and his delegation arrived to Warsaw by train. e North Korean
delegation was welcomed at Warszawa Centralna, the capital’s main railway
station inaugurated in 1976. When Kim Il Sung came to Poland in 1956, he
was welcomed by the top Polish leadership at the former main railway station
of Warsaw, Warszawa Główna. In the evening of his 1984 visit, he had some
discussions with the Polish head of state, Wojciech Jaruzelski.
On the second day, in the morning, Kim Il Sung met Henryk Jablonski, the
president of the Ministries Council. en, he visited and left owers at the Tomb
of the Unknown Soldier on Pilsudski Place¹. On the same day when Kim Il
Sung was driven with his limousine down Krakowskie Przedmieście street, the
sculptor Marek Kijewski¹ pretended to shoot the North Korean leader’s car.
e Polish services detained him and he spent 24 hours in custody. Later, Kim Il
Sung watched a movie describing the history of socialism in Poland at the Palace
of Culture and Science. Meanwhile, the members of his delegation visited a plant
making precision machinery, K. Świerczewski, and met its workers. Later, the
delegation met with the artistic group Mazowsze. In the evening, Kim Il Sung
had some more discussions with Jaruzelski before having an ocial dinner.
During this meal, Kim Il Sung discussed the size of the North Korean embassy
in Poland, which was not only denitely too small but also too close to the US
embassy in Warsaw. Between 1948 and 1985, the localisation of the embassy
was a neogothic palace called Pałac pod Karczochem.¹ One year later, the new
building of the North Korean embassy was inaugurated during a visit by Kim
Hyeon Ryeol, the deputy foreign minister of North Korea, who was in Poland
between September 24 and 27.¹
On the third day, Kim Il Sung left Poland and headed to East Berlin. Kim
Il Sung’s visit to Poland was also described in detail in North Korea press, for
example, in Rodong Sinmun¹. e English version of the newspaper of June 2,
1985, provided information about the visit, describing it on pages 2 and 3.
¹² Szyc 2013.
¹³ PRL 1984 Kim Ir Sen. Powitanie na Dworcu PKP 1984.
¹ Wieczna braterska przyjaźń.’ Ocjalna wizyta Kim Il Sunga w Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej
w maju 1984 roku 1985: 25–38, 246–247. is book was published due to ‘the rst anniversary
of the ocial friendship visit of the comrade Kim Il Sung to Poland’.
¹ PRL 1984 Kim Ir Sen. Powitanie na Dworcu PKP 1984.
¹ Marek Kijewski passed away in 2007.
¹ e address is Aleje Ujazdowskie 14. It serves currently as the Lithuanian embassy in Poland.
¹ e embassy kept, as of 2020, the same address at Bobrowiecka 1A in a quiet area of Mokotów.
¹ 조선-뽈스까진선-힘있는시위 1984.
63
Between September 24 and 29, 1986, Jaruzelski and a member of the PUWP
Politburo, Czesław Kiszczak, paid a visit to North Korea. ey did some sightseeing
in Mangyongdae and Nampo. Beyond that, the Polish head of state signed
a declaration of friendship between the two nations. e Polish delegation also
visited Chongsan Farm.¹ is visit was described on the rst four pages of the
Pyongyang Times of 4 October 1986, ve days after the journey of the Polish
leader to North Korea, but it had already been published on September 26, 1986,
in the North Korean edition of Rodong Sinmun.
Between 1987 and 1988, there were three visits related to North Korean-
Polish political relations. Between the May 6 and 11, 1987, Hwang Jang Yop, the
secretary of the SPA, visited Poland. Between the November 16 and 19, Marian
Orzechowski, the Polish foreign minister, visited North Korea and signed a protocol
of cooperation between both MFAs for the period 1987–1991. Kim Yong Nam, the
North Korean foreign minister visited Poland between May 5 and 9, 1988. Ri In
Gyu, the deputy minister of foreign aairs, visited Warsaw between November 17
and 21, 1988. He met Jan Majewski, the deputy minister of foreign aairs.
After the visit of Kim Il Sung to Poland, additional bilateral visits took
place and several agreements were signed. Regarding agreements, between April 23
and 29, 1985, an agreement of cooperation was signed between the Polish and
the North Korean MFAs. Kim Yong Nam, the deputy prime minister and the
foreign minister of North Korea signed this agreement in Warsaw. Regarding
visits, delegates of the CC PUWP, Włodzimierz Mokrzyszczak and
Orzechowski, visited North Korea in 1984. Zbigniew Michałek, secretary of the
CC PUWP visited North Korea in 1985. In March 1986, O Kuk Ryol, the head
of the North Korean army, visited Poland. is experienced air-force commander
signed on March 27, 1986, an agreement on the supply of goods and payments
related to the production of MI-2 helicopters sold to North Korea.¹¹
at same year, the deputy president of North Korea, Ri Yong Ok, paid
a courtesy visit to Poland on the occasion of the 10th Congress of the PUWP.
Jaruzelski visited North Korea between September 24 and 28, 1986.
¹ ‘e Pyongyang Times’, October 4, 1986, issue 40 (1335), p. 4. Interestingly, some young
Poles belonging to the Kim Jong Il Youth Brigade of the Polish Socialist Youth Union arrived
to North Korea a few days before Wojciech Jaruzelski.
¹¹ Umowa o współpracy w produkcji śmigłowców MI-2 w Korei Północnej 1986.
64
4.3.
CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION
Despite a few growing ideological dierences, some Polish organisations
continued to defend the North Korean economic model with their presence at
the inauguration of the Juche Tower in Pyongyang. is monument opened on
April 15, 1982, on the occasion of the 70th birthday of Kim Il Sung. A stone was
added on April 15, 1981, by the branch of the Poland-North Korea Friendship
Association in the city of Otwock, where North Korean orphans lived between
1951 and 1959. A second stone was oered by the branch of the Poland-North
Korea Friendship Association of the city of Puławy in 1983. ¹² at same year,
the Puławy branch organised a meeting at a veterinary plant in the city praising
Kim Il Sung. e people of Puławy and the sta of the North Korean embassy
in Poland were invited.¹³
Starting from 1985, North Korea proposed that Polish politicians spend
their vacation at their facilities. Józef Czyrek and Jan Główczyk (members of the
Politburo of the CC PUWP) spent their holidays in North Korea in August 1986.
Henryk Bednarski, Janusz Kubasiewicz, and Marian Woźniak, senior leaders of
the PUWP, spent their vacations in North Korea in 1987.¹
Besides this ideological cooperation, the visit of Kim Il Sung to Poland provided
an impetus to the number of North Korean students in Poland who reappeared
in 1985, even as many as 65 in 1987. Some lecturers of the Korean language were
also brought from North Korea. However, in September 1988, a delegation of
the Mansudae Art Troupe, known for a song called Song of the Korean Polish
Friendship, the dierences between both countries through the line ‘although
years have passed, the rivers have changed and the mountains are still together on
the anti-imperialist path’ (세열은 훌러가고 강산은 변해도 반제의 길에 함께
있네), where ‘rivers have changed‘ is probably related to the change of economic
policy of Poland. After 1988, the Mansudae Art Troupe never returned to Poland.
¹² A similar branch was launched in the early 1980s at the College of Pedagogy in Kielce. At the
launch, due to low interest, the head paid for drinks to attract potential newcomers to the meeting
to meet the visiting representatives of the North Korean embassy in Warsaw. e members of
such friendship associations regularly visited North Korea. For instance, a delegation of the
Poland-North Korea association visited North Korea in June 1985. Ryszard Towalski, a scout
leader initiated the Puławy branch in the 1960s.
¹³ Polish Meeting Marks Kim Il-song Birthday 1983.
¹ Szyc 2018: 355.
65
Table 6. Number of North Korean students in Poland (1980–1989)
Academic Year 1980
/81
1981
/82
1982
/83
1983
/84
1985
/86
1986
/87
1987
/88
1988
/89
Number of North
Korean students 7 0 0 0 10 45 65 84
Number of foreign
students in Poland 2913 – – – 2986 3113 3447 3619
Number of North
Korean students
as a percentage
of foreign students
0.2% – – – 0.3% 1.4% 1.9% 2.3%
Finished studies – – – – – – 4 –
Source: Compiled data from Statistics Poland.
67
Chapter 5
Relations between Poland and North Korea
after 1989
5.1.
ECONOMIC COOPERATION
C
hanges in Poland’s policy toward the Korean Peninsula did not inuence
the role of North Korea in the Polish economy. Like in 1981, North Korea
continued to account for only 0.1% of total Polish imports. Furthermore,
although diplomatic relations between Poland and South Korea had been
established just one year earlier, the total trade between them (157 billion PLZ)
had already surpassed trade between Poland and North Korea (146 billion PLZ).
In specic gures, in 1990 Poland exported and imported goods to North Korea
with 84 billion and 62 billion PLZ, respectively, and in comparison, with South
Korea, 45 billion and 112 billion PLZ. Commercial cooperation between Poland
and North Korea is highly limited to some minor activities. Poland exported
meat, industrial machines and tools, clothing, and medical supplies. North Korea
exported mainly raw materials and spare parts to Poland. It also was exporting
to Poland some products produced by South Korean companies based in the
Kaesong Industrial Complex. In the overall trade balance with North Korea,
Poland has been on the negative side for years. For instance, in 2007, Poland
imported USD 14 million worth of North Korean goods and exported USD
0.5 million, meaning North Korea was its 99th economic partner.
Despite the deepening relations between Poland and South Korea, the nature
of the contacts between Poland and North Korea left a tremendous impression on
the business life of Pyongyang. One of the 12 founders of the European Business
Association (EBA) in Pyongyang was Andrzej Weber, the Polish delegate of the
Polish-North Korean Joint Venture Chopol. Furthermore, the founding ceremony
of the EBA was also attended by a visiting Polish business delegation headed by
the vice minister of the Polish Ministry of Transportation. Also, according to
Felix Abt, a Swiss businessman who was based in Pyongyang in the 2000s, ‘Polish
68
people were those who contacted him on seeking advice on how to do business in
North Korea in the last 12 years more than any other European nationality.’¹
Besides Chopol, another trial joint venture was discussed in the late 1990s. In
October 1997, a delegation from the North Korean Ministry of Fishing visited
Poland and discussed the details of the countries’ cooperation in shing and on
October 2, 1997, signed the document, an Agreement between the Government of
the Republic of Poland and of the DPRK on cooperation in the shery industry.¹
Art. 3 of this agreement stipulates that Polish ships will be able to be repaired in
North Korea maritime waters. Art. 4 underlined the cooperation between the
countries and Art. 8 discussed a potential Polish-North Korean joint venture in
which the Poles would help North Korea restore its shing eet and in return
would receive sh from Korean waters. In addition, Polish trawlers hoisting North
Korean ags would gain access to shing zones in the Sea of Okhotsk. Russia
has denied Poland’s right to sh there but North Korea holds a licence allowing
it to take over 10,000 tonnes of sh from the sea annually, though it lacks a eet
to make use of it. A special Polish-Korean Joint Fisheries Commission was also
supposed to be established,¹ but this was never started.
On June 1, 2001, the countries signed an agreement regarding the settlement
of North Korean debt owed to the Republic of Poland.¹ As of this date, the
North Korean government was supposed to reimburse Poland a total of USD
4.3 million. e North Korean authorities were supposed to transfer USD
1.5 million to Chopol and USD 200,000 to the Polish embassy in Pyongyang.
e remaining USD 2.6 million in debt was supposed to be cancelled. Chopol
was also supposed to reimburse USD 400,000 to North Korean companies. is
amount was also cancelled. From the Polish perspective, during the Cold War
it was seen as necessary to support a fraternal regime and the nancial returns
were considered unimportant. With increasing demands from the North Korean
side for further support for post-war reconstruction, the question of payment
arose and there was some tension, which particularly emerged after the fall of
the Berlin Wall and the disintegration of the Soviet Bloc. If North Korea is going
to repay its debt, which is rather not possible in the foreseeable future, the trust
toward this country may increase as will transparency. Rescheduling the debt in
exchange for reforms may also be a solution to this nancial issue.
¹ Interview of the author with Felix Abt, a Swiss businessman who was based in North Korea for
more than 10 years, between 1992 and 2002. e interview was held on December 18, 2014.
¹ Umowa między Rządem RP a Rządem KRLD o współpracy w dziedzinie rybołówstwa 1997.
¹ Prawo i Gospodarka 1997: 4.
¹ Umowa między Rządem Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej a Rządem Koreańskiej Republiki Ludowo-
-Demokratycznej w sprawie uregulowania zadłużenia Koreańskiej Republiki Ludowo-Demokratycznej
wobec Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, podpisana w Pjongjang dnia 1 czerwca 2011 r. 2011.
69
Starting from the mid-2000s, many North Koreans were also dispatched to
rural areas of Poland to learn agricultural techniques. e rst discussions related
to this topic were performed via a meeting between a North Korean delegation
led by Kil Sang Bong, the vice-chairman of the CC of the Agricultural Workers
of Korea, and the Polish Ministry of Agriculture in 2005. e Polish authorities
have also donated farm machinery to North Korean cooperatives since the early
2000s. Some Polish companies also sent a prospective delegation to North Korea,
including representatives of steel producer KGHM, who were invited by the
North Korean authorities.¹
A protocol on the validity of bilateral agreements was signed in Pyongyang on
February 1, 2007.² Several of its points were made active until February 27, 2014.
Table 7. Bilateral Trade between Poland and North Korea (1990–2017)
Units: PLZ mln till 1992, and USD mln from 2006
Year Polish Export
to North Korea
North Korean Export
to Poland
Trade Balance
1990 84 62 22
1991 11 98 –87
1992 211 206 5
1993 – – –
1994 – – –
1995 – – –
1996 – – –
1997 – – –
1998 – – –
1999 – – –
2000 – – –
2001 – – –
2002 – – –
2003 – – –
2004 – – –
¹ Polska Miedź w Korei Północnej 2004.
² Protokół między Rządem Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej a Rządem Koreańskiej Republiki Ludowo-
-Demokratycznej w sprawie obowiązywania dwustronnych umów międzynarodowych w stosunkach
między Rzecząpospolitą Polską a Koreańską Republiką Ludowo-Demokratyczną 2014.
70
Year Polish Export
to North Korea
North Korean Export
to Poland
Trade Balance
2005 – – –
2006 3.12 14.04 –10.9
2007 0.5 15.0 –14.5
1998 – – –
1999 – – –
2000 – – –
2001 – – –
2002 – – –
2003 – – –
2004 – – –
2005 – – –
2006 3.12 14.04 –10.9
2007 0.5 15.0 –14.5
2008 4.7 94.5 –89.8
2009 0.4 48.4 –48.0
2010 0.8 16.9 –16.1
2011 1.4 11.0 –9.6
2012 0.3 6.5 –6.2
2013 0.4 7.5 –7.1
2014 0.3 10.5 –10.3
2015 1.2 7.7 –6.5
2016 0.2 3.2 –3.0
2017 0.2 2.0 –1.7
Source: Compiled data from Statistics Poland.
71
5.2.
POLITICAL COOPERATION
Starting in 1989, relations between Poland and North Korea gradually
deteriorated because of several issues, which can be summarised in three stages.
e rst event that reduced relations between the countries was the establishment
of bilateral relations between Poland and South Korea on November 1, 1989.
It was the custom during the Cold War to maintain diplomatic contacts with
only one of two conicted countries. Even if at the time Poland was willing to
establish diplomatic relations with South Korea, it would have encountered strong
opposition from mainly North Korea and, of course, the USSR. e reaction of
the socialist bloc given Cold War rivalries was perfectly understandable because
in these countries, the government in Seoul was considered a puppet of the US,
and servile. North Korea appeared then to the countries behind the Iron Curtain
as the only representative of the Korean nation on the political scene. erefore,
between January 10 and 12, 1989, Kim Yong Nam, the North Korean foreign
minister, paid an unocial visit to Poland, during which he discussed Polish
relations with South Korea. e status quo lasted until November 1, 1989, when
the PUWP established diplomatic relations with the Republic of Korea (South
Korea). On that day, among others, an agreement on the promotion and mutual
protection of investments was signed in Seoul. Poland-North Korean contacts
started to be clearly damaged. Pyongyang recalled its ambassador to Poland,
and forced its workers, students, technical specialists, sportsmen, and others to
return to their home country under various pretexts, such as participating in
military exercises.²¹ e Polish ambassador to North Korea was forced to return
to Poland.²² Contact in Poland between the ambassadors of the two Koreas
was also forbidden.²³ e attachment of Poland to communist ideas was also
jeopardised by the three following events. On December 29, 1989, the Polish
National Assembly decided to change the ocial name of Poland from ‘e
²¹ For example, until the end of the 1990s, a dozen North Koreans were studying at Gdynia
Maritime University. Due to the changes that occurred in Poland, all of them (including two
North Korean agents responsible for them in Gdynia) left Poland in a day. e reason for
their departure mentioned by the North Korean embassy in Poland was their participation in
military exercises in North Korea. ey never returned to Poland. Nevertheless, on May 13,
1989 (before the fall of the Berlin Wall), a Taekwondo match between a team from Poland and
one from North Korea took place in Koszalin. A few weeks later, the junior Polish team went
to Pyongyang for the 13th International Festival of Youth and Students, which was held in the
capital of North Korea.
²² Séoul & Varsovie établissent des relations diplomatiques 1989: 4.
²³ e situation changed in the 2000s as during diplomatic events both ambassadors were often
seen having a chat together. 사교행사 적극 참여… 유럽 北대사들 달라졌다 2018.
72
Polish People’s Republic’ to ‘Republic of Poland’. ² en, on December 31, the
expression ‘socialist country’ was replaced by ‘democratic country’. Finally, on
January 28, 1990, the PUWP ceased to exist.
e North Korean authorities were surprised by the establishment of relations
between Poland and South Korea, as still a few months before this event, Poland
and North Korea had several interactions. On May 13, 1989 (before the fall of
the Berlin Wall), a Taekwondo match between teams from Poland and North
Korea took place in Koszalin. Between July 1 and 9, the Polish authorities sent
a delegation to Pyongyang for the 13th International Festival of the Youth and
Students.
A second argument was constituted by the collapse of the USSR on December 26,
1991, which complicated the economic situation of North Korea, which was
dependent to a certain extent from USSR supplies.
Finally, a third issue had a serious impact on the privileged position of Poland
in relations with the regime of the North. e ocial visit of Polish President Lech
Wałęsa to South Korea in December 1994 when he met South Korean President
Kim Young Sam, seriously upset the North Korean authorities. Pyongyang was
even informed by the Polish head-of-state of closing its already reduced embassy
in Pyongyang. As a form of retaliation, on February 28, 1995, the North Korean
authorities expelled the Polish delegation of the NNSC. e Polish military group,
with its head, Gen. Andrzej Puczarek, and ve ocials had to leave Panmunjom
and return to Poland, with North Korea claiming they had been doing nothing
except eating, sleeping, and generating costs.² From a dierent perspective, the
Polish mission to the NNSC met with a lot of diculties, including the death of
three Polish soldiers between 1953 and 1956 and a total invigilation of the Polish
mission by North Korean authorities, who prevented them from even having
a walk in the DMZ.² However, the Polish delegation to the NNSC was also
composed of only 10 Poles starting from 1960 and eight people from 1968.
On the other hand, the Czechoslovakians has already been expelled in
1989 because the Czech Republic was not recognized as the successor to
Czechoslovakia. Nevertheless, it should be noted that Polish journalist Krzysztof
Darewicz was the only Western reporter able to cover the funeral of Kim Il Sung
in 1994.² is was a sign of the double-sided policy of North Korea.
² e Polish People’s Republic was the ocial name of Poland between 1952 and 1989.
² Interview of the author with Kazimierz Wróblewski, a major in the Polish army who worked
at the NNSC between 1993 and 1994. e interview was held on March 19, 2010.
² Polacy w KNPN w Korei 2018.
² Interview of the author with Krzysztof Darewicz. A former Beijing-based correspondent for
the Polish News Agency (PAP) in the 1990s. e interview was held on September 9, 2019. At
Kumumsan Mausoleum, where Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il are interred, there are some gifts
provided by Poles. ere are similar oerings at the Museum of Gifts for Kim Il Sung and Kim
Jong Il, located in the Myonghasan mountains.
73
e Polish authorities responded to the North’s actions within a few weeks,
lowering the rank of its ambassador in Pyongyang to the level of chargé d’aaires
and recalling its representative, Ryszard Baturo, who had been based in Pyongyang
since 1991. e Polish MFA also forced the North Korean authorities to reduce
to seven people the number of its diplomats based in Warsaw within six weeks.²
e MFA also prevented any visits or bilateral diplomatic contact.
e removal of Poland and Czechoslovakia from the NNSC led to the start
of annual meetings of this organisation, but outside of North Korea. Some of
these sessions took place in Warsaw.² During these meetings, representatives
of Poland, the Czech Republic, Sweden, and Switzerland discussed recent
regional tensions and their impact on NNSC activities. e last workshop was
held on the March 21–22, 2019, in Seoul and Panmunjom. ese consultations
are held every year, such as the one on March 20, 2017, but, unfortunately, this
has not brought concrete results – the NNSC has no branches in North Korea.
Every year, the Polish MFA organises an internal meeting focused on the Korean
Peninsula, inviting Polish experts and Korean diplomats. For instance, on October
28, 2018, the Polish MFA met, respectively and separately, with the North Korean
and South Korean ambassadors in Poland.
In the strategic vision of North Korea foreign policy, Poland began to be
treated as a peripheral country of the Euro-Atlantic political area. Hence, relations
with Poland have marginalised North Korean’s foreign policy. For North Korea,
Poland was neither an attractive economic partner due to distance, nor a partner
for political dialogue.
After a break of nearly seven years, bilateral cooperation started again. Pak
Sang Am was designed as the new ambassador to Poland on July 19, 1997.²¹
However, one year later, Pak Sang Am was dismissed by Pyongyang and replaced
by Kim Pyong Il, a sibling of Kim Jong Il. Kim Pyong Il was sent to Poland,
being considered back home as a threat to the regime.²¹¹ Kim Pyong Il arrived
in Poland in January 1998, during a period in which 80% of the symbolic trade
between North Korea and Central Europe was conducted with Poland.²¹² He was
nominated as one of the youngest North Koreans in its diplomatic corps – only
34 when accredited to Hungary. ere was a delay in Kim Pyong Il’s credential
presentation due to a protocol problem. Until 1997, North Korea issued credentials
in the name of Kim Il Sung, who passed away in 1994. To resolve the issue, the
² Jak Korea Polsce... 1995: 2.
² For instance, on April 11, 2013. e author of the monograph participated in such meetings.
²¹ DPRK ambassador to Poland appointed 1998. Pak Sang Am also represented North Korean
interests in Hungary for a few months in 1998 but later he was removed from his position and
sent back to North Korea.
²¹¹ Levi 2010: 33–46.
²¹² Levi 2012: 97.
74
credentials were signed by Kim Yong Nam, the North Korean foreign minister.²¹³
During his time in Poland, he rarely appeared in public.²¹
When Kim Pyong Il left Poland in December 2015, he was replaced by Ri
Gun, a former director-general of the North American Aairs Bureau of the
Foreign Ministry of North Korea. Ri Gun also serves as North Korea’s deputy
nuclear negotiator to the Six-Party Talks in the early 2000s. e nominations
of these important persons to the North Korea mission in Warsaw may be due
to the fact that the headquarters of North Korean spies in Central Europe was
located in Warsaw.²¹ is assumption is possible because, in the mid-1980s,
the North Korean authorities tried to increase their cooperation with the Polish
secret services. ey invited Gen. Roman Misztal, the head of Polish military
intelligence, to Pyongyang. North Korean ocials were supposed to operate
against South Koreans in Poland, and Polish ocers of the NNSC, who had an
access to South Korea, were supposed to inltrate this country. In his report to
the chief of the General Sta, Misztal accepted the North Korean requests.²¹
Between 2005 and 2014, each Polish ambassador who served in Pyongyang had
a military background, which is especially the case for the North Korean authorities,
which held foreign military ocials in high esteem. Roman Iwaszkiewicz, a general
in the Polish Army was ambassador to North Korea between 2005 and 2009.
His successor, Edward Pietrzyk, a Polish general who previously served as the
ambassador to Iraq (2007–2010), replaced him in 2010 and served in Pyongyang
till 2014.
Pietrzyk was replaced by Krzysztof Ciebień in 2014, who is the rst Polish
civil ambassador since 2005. He was removed from his position on January 31,
2019. As of October 2020, there is still no Polish ambassador to North Korea.
e next ambassador is supposed to be a military ocer. Moreover, some of the
meetings related to the North Korean nuclear programme were held in Warsaw.
is diplomatic channel in Warsaw is one of the main reasons for maintaining
relations between both countries despite limited bilateral cooperation. e role of
the North Korean embassy in Warsaw can be compared, within its limits, to the
role of the Chinese embassy in Warsaw, which secretly and partially organised
the visit of US President Richard Nixon to Beijing in 1971.²¹
At the end of 1999, Poland and North Korea re-established political cooperation
between their respective parliaments. Political consultations were held in Warsaw in
July 2000 and on March 28, 2001, with the participation of then Deputy Foreign
²¹³ Levi 2012: 97.
²¹ Kim Pyong Il appeared in Narew, a small city of Poland in May 2007. A rare glimpse of Kim
Pyong Il 2007.
²¹ Steiner-Gashi, Gashi 2011: 20.
²¹ See Hańderek 2019.
²¹ Komine 2008: 116.
75
Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and Deputy Foreign Minister Choi Su Heon. On
May 25, 2001, the deputy secretary of the Polish National Assembly, Franciszek
Stefaniuk, met with North Korean Deputy Energy Minister Hyon Ryo Jin, who
was also a representative of the North Korea-Poland parliamentary group.
Poland reappointed an ambassador to Pyongyang, nominating Wojciech
Kałuża as its representative starting from October 2001. In the post-communist
world, Poland became one of seven European countries (alongside the UK,
Sweden, Romania, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria), that maintain
diplomatic missions in Pyongyang. Since then, Polish-North Korean relations
began to gradually warm up. In 2001, Radosław Sikorski, still in his capacity as
deputy foreign minister, visited North Korea for political consultations as part of
the strategy on relations between North Korea and the EU. e following year,
a Polish parliamentary delegation visited Pyongyang.
In 2004, Deputy Foreign Minister Bogusław Zaleski visited Pyongyang and
then in 2006, his counterpart from North Korea, Kung Sok Ung, paid a courtesy
visit to Poland. Slightly later, an agreement of cooperation between the countries
was signed in Pyongyang.
In 2008, Kung Sok Ung visited Poland again. In October of the same year,
the Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Ryszard Sznepf and Tadeusz Chomicki, the
director of the Asia and Pacic Department of the Polish MFA, visited Pyongyang
for the 60th anniversary of the establishment of relations between Poland and
North Korea, meeting with Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun and Kung Sok Ung.
Meanwhile, a North Korean delegation was sent to Poland between October 15 and
17, 2008. On October 19, 2009, some political consultations were held between
the countries. Kung Sok Ung visited Poland on September 13, 2011. Poland also
maintained its transversal role in Korean issues, participating in the inspections of
a South Korean vessel red on by a North Korean gunboat on June 29, 2012.²¹
Between September 17 and 20, 2013, Filip Grzegorzewski, the director of the
Asian department of the Polish MFA, paid an ocial visit to North Korea. Kim
Son Gyong, the director of the European Department of the North Korean MFA,
visited Warsaw in December 2015 to discuss two documents: a bilateral agreement
on education and cultural cooperation and the Protocol between the Government
of the Republic of Poland and North Korea on the validity of bilateral international
agreements in relations between the Republic of Poland and the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea. Both documents were signed on June 15, 2015, in Pyongyang.
On March 29, 2017, Michał Kołodziejski, the director of the Asia and Pacic
Department, met with a delegation of the Ministry of Unication of the Republic
of Korea. e delegation was led by Lee Moo Il, the director-general of South
²¹ Levi 2012: 79.
76
Korea’s Intelligence and Analysis Bureau. e meeting focused on the situation
on the Korean Peninsula, including the developments in the security situation
resulting from the recent nuclear and ballistic tests conducted by the North. e
parties discussed the ideas to develop the cooperation between Poland and South
Korea in fostering peace and stabilisation on the Korean Peninsula. In the rst
half of 2017, Poland acted on behalf of the European Union presidency in North
Korea’s capital Pyongyang.
In October 2018, Pawel Milewski, the director of the Asian Department of
the Polish MFA, visited North Korea.²¹ He was preceded by a visit of the Polish
think tank, the Polish Institute of International Aairs (PISM). is delegation
was headed by its then director, Slawomir Dębski. For a few years, the North
Korean mission to Warsaw had been trying to invite the Polish think-tank to
visit North Korea.
5.3.
PARLIAMENTARY COOPERATION
In the rst term of the Polish National Assembly (1991–1993), the North Korean
leadership came out with an initiative to resume the parliamentary exchanges
and gave Sejm Marshal Wiesław Chrzanowski the appropriate invitation. is
matter has not been taken up by the Polish side since 1996. Bilateral contacts
were limited due to the decision taken by the authorities in Pyongang in 1995
to expel Polish NNSC personnel; therefore, international cooperation at the
bilateral group level between Poland and North Korea started in the third term
of the Polish National Assembly (1997–2001).²² e deputy foreign ministers of
both countries met in 1997 and political consultations were held in March 1998
in Warsaw. Since 1999, Poland’s policy towards North Korea has been targeting
the gradual normalisation of relations. In January 1999, the North Korean side
launched an initiative to conduct a visit of a parliamentary delegation to Poland.
e visit nally took place in 2001.
One year earlier, the DPRK-Poland Friendship Assembly Group was constituted
on October 20, 1999, and 14 meetings of this group have taken place since
then.²²¹ On March 13, 2002, the Polish authorities decided to create a Polish-
²¹ 뽈스까외무성 대표단 도착 2018.
²² e information provided here was obtained from the Social Communication Desk of the
Chancellery of the Polish National Assembly. e correspondence was made in the rst half of
October 2018.
²²¹ e group was composed of left-wing politicians. Its chairman is Cezary Stryjak, who visited
North Korea in 2000 and between June 25 and 29, 2002 (the delegation met with Choe
ae Bok, at that time the current head of the SPA). e North Korean-Polish Friendship
77
-Korean Parliamentary Group split in two branches, each dedicated to one of the
Koreas. irty meetings of this group have been held since then.²²² However,
there were no joint meetings with representatives of both Koreas. As of 2020 there
is no North Korean branch of this parliamentary group due to a lack of interest
among Polish deputies.²²³
5.4.
CULTURAL, EDUCATIONAL, AND SPORT
COOPERATION
e establishment of Poland-South Korean relations in 1989 also could be felt
in the Polish literature related to the Korean Peninsula. In 1988, in the context
of the XXIV Summer Olympics held in Seoul, the Publishing House Sport
i Turystyka issued a tourist guide to the Korean Peninsula. Due to its ideological
background, North Korea was discussed rst. However, the authors dedicated
only 32 pages to this country, followed by 70 pages on South Korea.
Between 1989 and 1995, there were no signicant cultural or educational
initiatives between the countries due to the freezing of relations. However, some
agreements were signed, but with a historical background. For instance, on
November 27, 1996, an agreement of cooperation was signed between the Polish
Academy of Sciences and the North Korean Academy of Sciences. is kind of
agreement was based on deep cooperation on selected projects. One of them
constitutes extensive research conducted between 1982 and 1986 by ve Polish
researchers – Zoa Heinrich, Halina Komorowska, the husband-and-wife team of
Kazimierz Zarzycki and Barbara Zarzycka, and Władysław Wojewoda – in North
Korea focused on macrofungi.²² In 2004, they published a report detailing 430
species of macrofungus originating from North Korea. Previously, information
concerning these species (mushrooms) were only published in Korean.²²
In the late 2000s, North Korean diplomats started also to be more present at
cultural events in Poland. For instance, since 2016, Ri Gun, the ambassador of
Parliamentary group visited Poland twice: in 2001, the delegation was headed by Hyon Ryo
Jin (the former head of the SPA and former minister of energy), and again in 2003, with
a delegation headed by Hong So Hon (the head of Kim Chaek University). e group is known
in Polish as Parlamentarna Grupa Przyjaźni KRL-D–Polska. A similar group (under the name
조선-뽈스까드친선협회–Korea-Poland Friendship Association) exists in the North Korean
SPA and is headed by Hong Seon Uk.
²²² Cezary Stryjak was the co-chair of this group.
²²³ At least seven deputies or senators from at least two parliamentary clubs are required to form
a group.
²² See Wojewoda, Heinrich, Komorowska 2004.
²² Inne kierunki badań i aktywność pracowników Zakładu Mykologii 2018.
78
North Korea to Poland, has participated in the Polish Congress on Asian Studies
held in Torun. ere was even an exhibition of North Korean stamps at the 2018
edition of the Congress. is exhibition was prepared on the occasion of the 70
th
anniversary of the establishment of relations between the countries.²²
As a former North Korean diplomat mentioned to the author, the cultural
eld is the main driver of cooperation between North Korea and Poland.²²
On November 27, 1996, an agreement of cooperation was signed between
the North Korean National Academy of Sciences and the Polish Academy of
Sciences. In 2002, an exhibition of North Korean art was held in the city
of Sierpc.²² In October 2007, three North Korean students were sent to Poland
to learn the Polish language at Łódź University so they would be able to apply
to a Polish music academy. ese events were made available to Polish citizens
because of historical relations with North Korea. is demonstrates the importance
of the fraternal factor. In the case of the exhibition in Sierpc, the Polish link was
Emil Czajkowski, a politician with several connections at the North Korean
embassy in Warsaw.²² Fraternity also justied the organisation of several North
Korean art exhibitions in Poland.
e rst exhibition was held in Warsaw between September 2 and 6, 2008, on
the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations
between Poland and North Korea. is event was co-organised by members of
the Polish-North Korean Friendship Association.
A second exhibition of North Korean art took place at the Faculty of Social
Sciences of the University of Gdańsk between September 3 and 13, 2014.
e initiator of this event was Marceli Burdelski, a long-time observer of the
Korean Peninsula who started the process of inviting the North Korean artists
to Poland. is cultural event also found justication in the 66th anniversary of
the establishment of relations between Poland and North Korea. is second
exhibition was much better promoted, bringing in numerous visitors, unlike the
rst exhibition, which took place in a green, but unfortunately remote part of
Warsaw. In any case, such initiatives were introduced by the Polish side, which
aimed at softening the image of North Korea in Poland. e objects presented at
both exhibitions diered diametrically. At the rst one, one could observe some
paintings that were reproductions of well-known drawings. e second one was
much more focused on strictly North Korean art. Interestingly, the rst exhibition
²² Zaproszenie dla Ambasadora Korei 2018.
²² Interview of the author with Kim Ju Dok, counsel of the North Korean embassy in Warsaw.
e interview was held in January 2016 at the Asia and Pacic Museum in January 2016.
²² Koreańska wystawa w sierpeckim Muzeum Wsi Mazowieckiej 2002. ree North Korean citizens
participated in this event – two diplomats, Pak Sung Chol and O Sung Chol, and Ryom Chung
Gon, the director of International Exhibitions of North Korea.
²² Koreańska wystawa w sierpeckim Muzeum Wsi Mazowieckiej 2002.
79
also included some representations of the Buddha, despite the repressive nature
of the North Korean state toward religion.
On June 17, 2015, representatives of both countries signed in Pyongyang
a document entitled Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Poland
and the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea for cooperation in
the eld of science, education and culture, in which both sides expressed their wish
to improve bilateral cooperation in elds such as physical education (Art. 6) and
broadcasting issues (Art. 7). A joint commission with meetings every four years
was also supposed to be established (Art. 9).²³
Given the risk of instability within North Korea, any sport activities between
the countries is limited to the minimum. ere were some discussions in the past
regarding a potential friendly football match between Poland and North Korea,
but the Polish MFA was against this.²³¹ Besides this, attempt, a North Korean
football team did play at least once in Poland, in a match between the Polish
team Wisła Kraków and the Amrokkang Football Club, which sold out tickets
and ended in a 3–3 draw.²³²
In 2003, some Poles re-established the non-governmental Polish-Korean
Friendship Association (Towarzystwo Polsko-Koreańskie), which aims to deepen
relations between Poland and North Korea. e organisation was originally
founded in 1982, but without legal form.²³³ Its founders were related to some
extent to North Korea. For instance, as of 2019, the president of the board is
Sławomir Guzowski (born in 1937), whose parents took care of some of the North
Korean orphans in Poland in the mid-1950s.²³ Stanisław Dobek, a member of
the board, employed North Koreans at his farm in Poland.²³ Other members
of this organisation are also related to some extent to North Korea. For instance,
one regular member, Leszek Goździk, used to invite North Korean diplomats to
his university, including Kim Pyong Il, the former North Korean ambassador
to Poland, who visited the University of Technology in Bialystok on October 25,
2002, where Goździk was teaching.²³ e Polish-Korean Friendship Association is
not aliated to the Polish branch of the Korean Friendship Association, a friendship
association with North Korea acknowledged by the government of Pyongyang.
²³ Umowa między Rządem Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej a Rządem Koreańskiej Republiki Ludowo-
-Demokratycznej o współpracy w dziedzinie nauki, edukacji i kultury. ‘Monitor Polski’ 2015/1262.
²³¹ Note from a meeting with a diplomat of the Polish MFA. e meeting took place on February
23, 2015, in Warsaw.
²³² See Cichowicz 1968.
²³³ Retour sur les relations entre la Pologne et la Corée du Nord 2015.
²³ Guzowski 1996: 5.
²³ Kowalski, Głuchowski 2006.
²³ Kim Pyong Il (and his daughter Kim Un Song), Om Sung Chol, and Pak Sung Chol visited
the Faculty of Materials and met its students. Biuletyn Informacyjny Rektora Politechniki
Białostockiej 2002: 5.
80
e Polish-Korean Friendship Association is participating in international
events. In 2015, a delegation headed by Danuta Pająk joined a seminar focused
on Korean issues in Helsinki.²³ Belonging to this organisation was considered
as threatening the professional career of its members. As an example, Jacek
Poniewierski, an expert in the railways industry, was supposedly expelled from
his professional position due to his membership in the Polish-Korean Friendship
Association.²³
²³ Retour sur les relations entre la Pologne et la Corée du Nord 2015.
²³ Kowalski 2013.
81
Chapter 6
Disputes between Poland and North Korea
6.1.
MIXED MARRIAGES BETWEEN NORTH KOREAN
AND POLISH CITIZENS
T
he presence of North Korean students in Poland and other socialist
countries and their interactions with foreign students, including Polish
ones, led to couples and in some cases, in marriage. Some Poles met
their future North Korean spouses while studying in Poland or abroad.239 Polish
diplomatic documents referred to ve such cases.240
e most relevant and famous example is the story of Halina Ogarek-Czoj, who
married a North Korean student she met in Warsaw. Ogarek was born in 1931
in Lublin, a city 165 km south of Warsaw. Her mother, Weronika Tropaczyńska-
-Ogarkowa (1908–1957), was a novelist and a communist activist. In the 1950s,
Halina Ogarek left Lublin and started to study sinology at the University of
Warsaw where she met her future husband. Later, she obtained a scholarship
to Kim Il Sung University in 1957. While she may have been inspired to take
Korean studies by her husband, it was also by her mother, who wrote a Korean-
-dedicated novel in the book Mały Łącznik Kim E-cho (‘e Little Runner Kim
E-cho’), published in 1951. Ogarek defended her doctorate in Korean literature
at Kim Il Sung University in 1961. One year later, she gave birth in Pyongyang
to a daughter named Anna. Until September 1963 they had a happy life in
Pyongyang, but in 1965, in connection with the decision by the North Korean
authorities to expel foreign wives, Ogarek-Czoj had to leave North Korea, along
with her daughter. After returning to Poland, she started work at the University
of Warsaw as an assistant, as her PhD from Pyongyang was not recognised.
²³ ere is also the case of one male North Korean citizen who ed the North in the early 1960s.
He nally settled in Poland where he worked in the mining industry and was married twice.
² Notatka dotycząca ograniczeń stosowanych przez władze Koreańskiej Republiki Ludowo-
-Demokratycznej z dnia 7 czerwca 1963 r. 1963; Notatka A. Morskiego z 11 grudnia
1963 r. 1963.
82
After a titanic amount of work, she defended a thesis related to the works of
the Korean author Song Yeong at the University of Warsaw in 1974.²¹ In 1977,
together with Cho Un Hak, a North Korean lecturer at the University of Warsaw,
she published a 288-page book of the Korean language entitled Teksty do nauki
języka koreańskiego (‘Texts for the learning of Korean’). Despite making several
trips to North Korea working as a translator for Polish delegations, such as the
one in September 1986 of ocial visit of Wojciech Jaruzelski, she never met her
husband again. Professor Ogarek-Czoj retained her surname in honour of
her husband. She died in 2004 and was buried in Warsaw. Ogarek-Czoj is
considered the founder of Korean studies in Poland.
Another example is Dorota Kudlak. Wife to Choi Mi Ja since 1960, they lived
happily and in 1961, their daughter was born in Pyongyang. In 1962, Kudlak
visited the Polish embassy in Moscow asking for support regarding her marriage
to Choi Mi Ja, who had been sent to a labour camp, leaving her alone with the
child. Later they were legally separated and Kudlak and her daughter repatriated
to Poland.
e third example is Krystyna Li. She met her husband in Poland in the
1950s. Later, they moved to North Korea. In 1959, after a few months of living
in Hungnam, she was forced to return to Poland.
e fourth case involved a woman with the last name Rzepko-Łaska who tried
to commit suicide because she couldn’t live with her husband.
e last known case in the dossier is Hanna Marchwicka, who married a North
Korean writer named Ri Jon Ho, a member of the WPK CC.²²
A similar situation occurred with other mixed-nationality families in other
communist countries. In the mid-1950s, an unidentied North Korean woman
was studying in Poland. Her father was a erce WPK member who had served as
the mayor of a city near Pyongyang. Due to her background, she was allowed to
study abroad and arrived in Poland in 1955. ere, she remained in touch with
a Bulgarian citizen who worked at the Bulgarian embassy in Warsaw. However,
their relationship was never formalised.²³ We can also note the case of a Romanian
woman, Georgeta Mircioiu (1936–2015), and her husband, Jo Jung Ho, a former
North Korean orphan sent to live in Romania. Some North Korean citizens who
married abroad (with a Soviet woman in this case), such as Kim Ji Il, a former
student of the University of Technology of Kharkov (former USSR, present-day
Ukraine) who managed to ee to South Korea in the 1990s. ere is also the
²¹ is second PhD was supervised by Wiesław Kotański, the founder of Japanese studies in
Poland.
²² Notatka dotycząca ograniczeń stosowanych przez władze Koreańskiej Republiki Ludowo-
-Demokratycznej z dnia 7 czerwca 1963 r. 1963; Notatka A. Morskiego z 11 grudnia
1963 r. 1963.
²³ I Sok Ju 2016: 350.
83
case of a North Korean citizen who met a Pole in Ukraine in the 1950s. Later,
he went back to North Korea, managed to defect, and returned to Poland. He
married there and remained in the Silesia region.
6.2.
DEFECTION OF NORTH KOREAN CITIZENS
IN POLAND
In the rst half of the 1980s, there was a clear trend toward establishing and
maintaining contacts with various South Korean commercial, industrial, academic,
cultural, sport, and non-government organisations (NGOs). Yet, many of these
initiatives were blocked by the government in Warsaw because of its relations
and cooperation with North Korea, which were, by that time, reaching a zenith,
especially after the visit of Kim Il Sung in 1984. His visit to Poland led to a revival
of North Korean students in Poland, who had practically disappeared from the
country in the 1970s until 1983.
e opening of European communist countries to the world in the 1980s may
have an impact on the North Korean students based there. Two North Korean
citizens, Kim Un Hak (김운학) and Dong Yong Jun (동 영준), defected while
they were students in Poland. Kim Un Hak, born in 1962, came to Poland in
1985 to study at the University of Technology of Warsaw. He came from Yanggak
province (양강도) from the Pongso area (풍서 군). His family belonged to the
upper classes of North Korean society. Kim Un Hak’s father was the director
of the administrative and economic committee of the Phonso area (행정 경제
지도 위원회 부위원장).
e second student is Dong Yong Jun, born in 1961 and hailing from North
Hamgyung province (함경북도) from the Dokseong area (덕성 군). Before he
came to Poland as a third-year student in international logistics at the economics
faculty of the University of Gdańsk, he was keenly learning in one of Pukchong’s
high schools. His family was among North Korea’s elites because his father
worked in the organs of the North Korean security services, and one member
of his family was a member of the SPA, the North Korean National Assembly.
roughout his youth, Dong was also convinced about the superiority of Kim Il
Sung and after arriving in Poland in 1985, he could not believe that the North
Korean authorities had given him such a false image of foreign countries, which
were much richer than what was shown to the North Korean population. While
in Poland, he met Kim Un Hak. Like other students from North Korea, both
had Polish friends, some of whom were even aliated with the ‘Solidarność’
84
labour union.² As these North Korean students spoke Polish to a certain extent,
they were able to be in touch with other Polish students. Some, such as Ro Jong
Nam and Im Kwan Sik, dressed like Poles, even having similar long hair as their
Polish counterparts.²
Owning a North Korean passport, they travelled to some other Eastern
European countries. ese two students also were able to watch the Olympic
Games in Seoul in 1988 on Polish media. ey were astonished by the level of
prosperity of the ‘evil’ South Korea. Being informed of the opening of the South
Korean embassy in Budapest and the repatriation of North Korean students
based in Hungary in response, the two North Korean students started to make
up their mind about defecting. e South Korean authorities established their
embassy in Poland in May 1989. Dong and Kim then left Poland at the same
time, afraid that they would face the same fate as the North Korean students in
Hungary. ey defected initially to the South Korean embassy in Budapest and
then to the South Korean embassy in Vienna. After relocating to Seoul, Dong
was involved in some business projects and later was married and had one son.²
In 1989, a North Korean professor working in the Korean Faculty of the
University of Warsaw refused to return to his country, and went missing.²
at same year, Kwak Ro Song, who studied at the University of Technology of
Warsaw, also disappeared. During the summer of 1989, he went to the North
Korean embassy in Warsaw and was never seen again. A few days later, a diplomat
from the North Korean embassy in Warsaw came to the dormitory where he
lived to collect his things.
ese North Koreans were not the only students and scholars who wanted
to defect or refused to go back to their native country. When the Berlin Wall
collapsed on November 11, 1989, Chang Yong Chol and Jong Chol Wu, two
North Korean students based in East Berlin defected to West Berlin on the
same day. Chang was continuing his education in a mining school while Jong
was nishing a degree in Dresden. Another example is two students who were
completing a dentistry degree at the Charles University of Prague – Kim Un
Chol and Cho Sung Gun. Interestingly, both had dierent social backgrounds,
which indicates that not only people with a loyal background were able to study
abroad but also those with higher intellect. Cho Sung Gun came from a loyal
² Solidarność is a labour union that contributed to the collapse of communism in Poland in 1989.
e leader was Lech Wałęsa, who became the Polish head of state in 1990.
² Compilation of data collected during interviews by the author with Stanisław Tokarski, professor
of philosophy. Interviews were hold on October 8 and 28, and November 12, 2019. Some of
the information was also provided by Waldemar Sikorski, a former national coach of the Polish
Judo team. Another source was the Polish judoka Kazimierz Jaremczak, who gained a bronze
medal at the European Championship of Judo in 1965.
² Martin 2004: 379–380.
² See Mok 2010.
85
family living in Pyongang and Kim Un Chol had worker-class parents and lived
in the industrial city of Kanggye.
e North Korean students who defected from Central Europe were not the
rst cases of this kind. A North Korean student in Budapest, Choi In Hwan,
defected to Yugoslavia during the Hungarian Revolution in October 1956. Later,
he emigrated to Switzerland and then Yugoslavia, where he obtained South Korean
citizenship. During a trip to Budapest in the mid-1960s, he was repatriated to
Pyongyang by the North Korean embassy in Hungary.² It must be noted that
the arrests of Choi In Hwan and some North Korean students in Central Europe
were carefully consulted with the MFAs of those countries. e North Korean
government explicitly asked the Hungarian MFA whether it could spy on Choi
In Hwan. After getting approval, a North Korean diplomat in Budapest, Kim
Tae Hwa, spied on Choi and nally captured him. In the late 1950s, some North
Korean students in Warsaw wanted to ask for asylum at the French embassy in
Warsaw, which instead informed the North Korean authorities about this situation.
ese students disappeared and were never seen again.
In each case, we may remark that the relative disorder in the three communist
countries mentioned – Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland – led to the defection
of North Korean students. Nevertheless, some North Korean students continued
to study in Poland but were removed without prior notice by the North Korean
government. For instance, in the late 1990s, some North Korean students studying
at the Polish Maritime Academy of Gdynia were recalled to North Korea, including
their minders, under the pretext of some military obligation.
Despite these events, the actions of the North Korean authorities abruptly
changed in the rst half of 1989 when the head of the Korean Faculty of the
University of Warsaw, Halina Ogarek-Czoj nished a book related to the study
of the North Korean language, in cooperation with two North Korean scholars,
Kim Jong Gun and Ri Dong Bin.² e book was published one year later but
constitutes an exception to the freezing atmosphere between Poland and North
Korea.
In the late 2000s, the Polonicum Centre of Polish Language and Culture for
Foreigners oered Polish language courses. During some of these lectures, there
were students from both Koreas. e South Korean students decided to leave
the lectures.
e repatriation of North Korean students based in Poland was highly associated
with the political changes that happened over those years. From a more global
perspective, a similar situation occurred in the USSR in the late 1950s. Some
North Korean citizens in Moscow studying at the Gerasimov Film Institute
² Baev, Kim 2017: 12.
² Teksty do nauki języka koreańskiego. Rozmówki koreańskie 1990.
86
were inuenced by the more liberal Soviet political climate in the rst years of
de-Stalinisation and openly expressed their disgust with North Korean policy
and went so far as to ask for asylum from the Soviet authorities. e events took
place during a conference of North Korean students in Moscow on November 27,
1957. During it, Han Dae Yong, Ho Ung Pae, Kim Jong Hun, Kim Sun Ja,
and Ri Kyong Jin criticized Kim Il Sung’s policy related to the August purge
of 1956. On February 4, 1958, they ocially wrote to the Soviet authorities
expressing their satisfaction with de-Stalinisation under Khrushchev. Fearing
further developments, the North Korean embassy in Moscow wanted these
students to return to their home country as soon as they received their degree.
e students obtained their degree and then secretly left Moscow for Central
Asia, to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Meanwhile, they married, settled there,
and some worked in cultural institutions.
6.3.
NORTH KOREAN WORKERS IN POLAND
One of the goals of the North Korea regime was to systematically collect
foreign currencies to ensure the survival of the leadership in case of the collapse
of North Korea. One of the methods used was the utilisation of labour overseas,
that is, workers whose salary was not only paid in a foreign currency but also
mostly conscated by the North Korean regime. According to the UN Special
Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in North Korea, the country earns
between EUR 1 bln and 2 bln a year from such laborers’ salaries. A UN report
notes that more than 50,000 citizens from the DPRK are working abroad,
including 20,000 people in Russia.² ese workers equate to 0.25% of the entire
population of North Korea. Interestingly, hundreds of North Korean workers
were also sent to Poland.
e export of labour migrants from North Korea was enacted in 1945 as
ocial policy of the government to combat domestic unemployment and to serve
as a source of foreign currency. is policy is supported by several government
agencies, such as the Ministry of Construction and Building Materials Industry,
the Ministry of Forestry, and numerous North Korean companies, which are
described below. North Korean workers were recruited to Poland until 2018.
Based on UN Council Resolution, as of December 31, 2019, all North Korean
workers shall be removed from Poland.
² Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic
of Korea 2015.
87
e beginning of North Korea’s programme to dispatch laborers to foreign
countries was a group of woodcutters sent to the USSR after the Korean War. Most
of them were convicted criminals, so they were shipped to Siberia. To manage the
laborers, the North Korean authorities created the Foreign Construction Agency
under the control of the Ministry of Foreign Trade in 1975. e rst mass group
of construction laborers was sent to the Middle East as demand in factories
increased. After then, the sending of North Korean laborers increased and was
connected to construction aid to African countries since the mid-1970s, projects
in the USSR then Central Europe after the end of communist socialism,²¹ and
expansion to the Middle East after the Gulf War in 1991.²² Starting from the
1970s, laborers were able to keep part of their remuneration or to exchange it for
vouchers as compensation for their job and used to acquire goods from a ‘supply
centre’. e North Korean authorities stepped up the practice during the 1990s
as the country slipped into economic crisis. e practice expanded again starting
from the end of the 1990s.²³
e main North Korean company instrumental in sending laborers abroad
is the state-run Rungrado Trading Company (릉라도무역총회사), a North
Korean conglomerate trading mainly in daily goods but also responsible for
training institutes where prospective laborers are prepared for their work
abroad. Two additional companies are also involved: the Korea South-South
Cooperation Corporation (조선남남협력총회사),² and the Korea Chonsan
General Corporation (조선전산회사봉화 총회사). e process is also managed
by the relevant ministry for the industry in which the North Korean are employed.
For example, those working in forestry are under the guidance of the Ministry of
Forestry, people working in the construction sector are aliated to the construction
ministry, manual laborers in manufacturing plants are aliated to the Ministry of
Trade, and so on.² State security ocers responsible for the security and control
of these North Korean overseas laborers at their workplaces are employed by the
State Security Department (국가안전보위부).
Job announcements are usually not made public. Instead, they are available
through oces of the Laborers’ Party of Korea and aliated organisations such
as ministries and companies. e recruitment process is a multistep issue that
involves a check on party aliation and later, qualications and physical checks.
²¹ Yu Ji Hye 2017.
²² Cho Jong Ik 2011.
²³ Countries where North Korean laborers used to be hosted: Algeria, Angola, China, Equatorial
Guinea, Ethiopia, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Oman, Poland,
Qatar, Russia, and the UAE. In the past, North Korean laborers were also employed in Bulgaria,
Czechia, Germany, Iraq, Malta, the Netherlands, Romania, and Syria.
² e company is also known as Nam Nam General Corporation, and Nam-Nam (South-South)
Cooperative General Company.
² Yoon, Lee 2015: 30.
88
e recruitment process also includes checking the worker’s Songbun. If a North
Korean is supposed to go abroad, he/she will have to undertake preliminary
training, including knowledge useful in the future job and political education.
e rst North Korean overseas laborers arrived in Central Europe in the late
1990s. In Czech Republic, some arrived in 1998,² and in Poland, around the
year 2000, according to ocial statistics. North Korean authorities dispatched
hundreds of construction and agricultural workers to Poland, sending them to
sites in several cities, mainly in the northwest and southeast of the country, and
in the suburbs of Warsaw.² In 2008, the embassy of Poland in Pyongyang
issued about 200 visas to Poland to citizens of North Korea. As of 2017, they
were living in dierent parts of Poland (Gdansk, Łódź, Piotrowice, Szczecin,
and Warsaw, among others). eir wages are deposited into a communal bank
account controlled by the North Korean government and denominated in dollars
or zlotys. More than half of their wages are deducted for the cost of food or so-
called ‘voluntary contributions’. As far back as 2006, the Polish newspaper Gazeta
Wyborcza covered the story of North Koreans working as welders in the Gdańsk
shipyards and in Kłeczanów, which were suering a stang crisis.²
e period of assignment for North Korean laborers is usually three years²
but it may be terminated earlier for personal reasons, such as health issues.²
In the past, there were some North Korean companies that directly exported
laborers to Poland. ese include the Pyongyang Horticulture Central Bureau
(양원예총회사), and Pyongyang General Construction Corporation. As of now,
in addition to the state-run Rungrado Trading Company, Korea South-South
Cooperation Corporation, and the Korea Cholsan General Corporation, the North
Korean authorities create companies in Poland responsible for the employment
of North Korean laborers. e rst was Redshield Sp. z o.o., a Polish company
managed by two Polish-speaking North Korean citizens (Pak Jong Ho, CEO,
and Jin Ok Ju, proxy). ²¹ e second one was Wonye Sp. z o. o.,²² on whose
board sat Jo Chol Yong²³ (CEO), Kang Hong Gu² (deputy CEO), and Kim
² Willoughby, Rosenzweig 2007.
² In the past, specialised NK doctors were supposed to be employed in the healthcare centre in
Człuchów.
² Kleczanów is a rural area close to the city of Sandomierz. e majority of workers come from
Puchon. Koreańscy niewolnicy w Kleczanowie 2006.
² Yoon, Lee 2015: 177.
² Yoon, Lee 2015: 81.
²¹ Current adress of the company: ul. Stołczyńska 100D, 71–869 Szczecin.
²² Current adress of the company: Kołdowo 4D, 77–300 Człuchów. ere is a strong habit among
North Koreans to create companies with names incorporating natural things. Wonye (원예) is
no exception as it means horticulture in Korean.
²³ Born in 1965.
² Born in 1961, Kang Hong Gu is supposedly a North Korean military ocer who also studied
in Poland.
89
Kil Nam (since June 2016). ² All of them coordinate directly the work of North
Korean laborers at construction sites. A former legal representative of Wonye was
Cecylia Kowalska (who resigned in the rst half of 2016). In the past, she worked
at Selena FM SA, a company that also employed North Korean laborers.² Other
North Korean citizens were involved in the management of the two previously
mentioned companies (including, Choe Ha Rim,² Choe Jong Chol, Ho Bong
Myong, Jo Jong Su,² Jo Ung Son, Kim Myong Chol, O Hwan Ryong, Om
Chang Ryol,² Pak Myong Hui,² Pak Yong Su, Ryu Yong Jong).
As of 2016, work permits for North Korean laborers represented 0.3% of all
permits for foreigners in Poland – 420 out of 139,119 work permits. at number
dropped to just 99 due to the UN sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear and
missile programmes.
Historically speaking, North Korean laborers are working in several types of
companies. e rst one consists of companies managed by people connected to
North Korea or attached to communist regimes. e second category are Polish
companies looking for cheap labour but with no prior connections to North
Korea. e third category includes branches of international major groups used
to recruit foreigners.
In the rst category, we have companies where people employing North Koreans
are those with deep connections to that country, which underlines the North’s
reliance on local networks as partners. For instance, North Koreans employed at
Doktor Krasicki Sp. z o.o. started work there because the founder of this entity,
Dr Jarosław Krasicki, worked in North Korea during two periods (1972–1974,
1980–1981) and had deep knowledge of Korean medicine. Consequently, all
North Korean doctors employed at his clinics are graduates of the Massage and
Acupuncture Clinic Koryo in Pyongyang. ose doctors were also supposed to
be employed in public healthcare centres, such as the hospital in Bytów, but the
authorities of the city refused to employ them. Furthermore, despite the doctor’s
death in 2014, his clinic continues to operate using Korean medicine.²¹ Another
example of a company belonging to the rst category, is the rm managed by
Stanisław Dobek, a member of the management board of the Polish-Korean
Society and the president of the Polish-Korean Society’s branch in the Opatów-
-Sandomierz area. is rural entrepreneur used to employ some North Korean
laborers in the 2000s. Dobek met NK diplomats at the Museum of Popular
² Born in 1974, Jo Chol Yong obtained a degree of Engineering studies from the University of
Science and Technology of the University of Kraków in the late 80’s and is uent in Polish.
² See Levi 2009.
² Born in 1961.
² Born in 1967.
² Born in 1966.
² Born in 1965.
²¹ Medycyna Dalekiego Wschodu 2016.
90
History in 1997 where they discussed the North Korean food situation. He
supplied the embassy with 300 euros and then started a cooperation project.
In 2005, Dobek was awarded the First Class Friendship Medal from the North
Korean government.²² Interestingly, in the same period, a Polish rural delegation
was in Pyongyang.²³
Figure 1. Number of work permits for North Korean laborers in Poland
16
9
189728 44
90
104
518
362
501
365 377
466
420
99
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Source: Polish Ministry of Family, Labour, and Policy.
Figure 2. Work permit applications and permits granted to North Korean
laborers
362
501
365 377
466
420
99
335
509
304
342
482
364
191
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Number of applications Number of granted WP (including extensions)
Source: Polish Ministry of Family, Labour, and Policy.
²² Kowalski, Głuchowski 2006.
²³ Leader Kim Jong Il was presented with a gift by the delegation of the National Farmers’ Union
of Poland [National Union of Farmers, Agricultural Circles and Organizations] on a visit to
North Korea [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea].
e gift was conveyed to North Korean ocial by the chairman of the union, Władysław
Seran, who was leading the delegation. Polish union delegation visits North Korea 2005.
91
Concerning the second category of companies, North Korean laborers are also
employed in Polish-owned construction companies.
Regarding the third category, some North Koreans used to be employed in
branches of major international companies, such as Borgwarner Poland Sp. z o.o.
(automotive spare parts) or HBSC Service Delivery Sp. z o.o. (data management).
e employment of North Koreans is also creating a problem for Poles employed
in the same company. For instance, in the ceramic factory (‘Przedsiębiorstwie
Ceramiki Budowlanej’) in Odonów near Kazimierza Wielka, Poles were supposed
to be replaced by North Koreans, which created some misunderstanding among
the existing workers.²
Humanitarian organisations used to very often criticise the behaviour of
the Polish authorities toward the North Korean laborers in Poland, claiming
that the Poles do not inform the North Korean workers of their rights and that
their security is not ensured. Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged thatPolish
Labour Inspections are not only conducting regular inspections of places that
employ North Korean laborers but also giving security lectures to them.² e
same organisations conducted 23 inspections of workplaces where North Korean
laborers used to be employed. e organisations mentioned that the North Koreans
were usually under very little control at their working place. at’s an issue that
may be debated. e degree of freedom was dierent according to the working
places. For instance, those working in the Odonów ceramic factory² used to
go alone on a walk, or regularly went shing.² ose based in Kleczanow used
to play football with Poles and to go to Polish political meetings despite not
understanding the Polish language. ey were also visited several times by North
Korean diplomats based in Warsaw.²
Despite internal and external pressure, the question of North Korean laborers
is not only avoided, but remains partially unsolved by the Polish authorities.
279
As
of February 8, 2019, there were still 37 North Korean workers in Poland.280 e
² See Ligiecki 2010.
² Employees from Korea also watched a lm about principles of working safely at heights, produced
by PIP, and received informational materials in a pictorial version (without text and subtitles in
Korean), presenting in an accessible way safe work methods at a construction site. Bezpieczna
praca na budowie – szkolenie dla koreańskich pracowników 2015.
² For instance, 20 of them were also living in Harasiuki, a village in Nisko County, Subcarpathian
Voivodeship, in southeastern Poland.
² See Ligiecki 2010.
² See Wojniak 2006.
² In June 2016, a conference focused on the situation of workers from North Korea in Poland
was co-organised by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and the Database Center for
North Korean Human Rights (NKDB) on June 27, 2016. Among the invited speakers were
representatives of the National Labour Inspectorate, the Border Guard Headquarters, and
experts on Korean aairs, including the author of this monograph.
² See Sokołowa 2019.
92
Polish authorities probably did not remove all of them because they were afraid of
the reaction of the North Korean authorities, which may have decided to remove
Polish diplomats based in Pyongyang and then reduce Polish interests in North
Korea. What follows is only a supposition but the Polish authorities may believe
that these North Korean laborers in Poland, as some of them are working for the
Polish authorities, are some kind of agents inltrating on behalf of North Korea.
In 2019, the Polish authorities tried to remove the North Korean workers from
Poland. e majority left the country but some women remained in the south
of Poland. When the Polish authorities sent translators to these North Korean
workers, the women refused to cooperate.281
6.4.
THE KOREAN EXPERIENCE OF ANDRZEJ FIDYK
In September 1988, a Polish media production team went to North Korea.
As Polish and North Korean media had signed a cooperation agreement, getting
a visa to North Korea was not complicated for the Polish team. ese three Poles,
Andrzej Fidyk, Kola Nesterowicz, and Krzysztof Kalukin, went to North Korea
under the pretext of the 40th anniversary of the founding of North Korea. In
North Korea, they aimed to make a lm based on its propaganda to demonstrate
the absurdity of the regime. When the Polish team returned to Poland in late
September 1988, they completed their production, entitled Delada (Parade), in
time for a screening at the Krakow Film Festival, which was supposed to be held
in May 1989. e lm also passed through the censorship process.282 e movie
was awarded at the Lipsk Festival in 1989. An award was also supposed to be sent
from Pyongyang, however the North Korean diplomats based in Warsaw clearly
understood that the movie constituted an attempt to criticize the North Korean
regime. Andrzej Fidyk was eventually made persona non grata in North Korea but
the Korean Peninsula remained in the mind of Fidyk. erefore, he returned to
Korea, but to its southern side, in November 2004. In Seoul, he met Jung Sung
San, a producer who had defected from North Korea. With the support of Joanna
Hosaniak, the Polish deputy director at Citizens’ Alliance for Human Rights in
North Korea, Fidyk recruited defectors for a broadcasting project entitled Yodok
Stories, describing North Korean concentration camps. is documentary lm
featuring North Korean defectors was nished in 2008 and received several
awards in Poland and abroad.
²¹ For instance, these women do not want to understand the word Hwajansil, and preferred to
use wijangsil, despite having a clear understanding of the South Korean version of the Korean
language.
²² Fidyk, Szarłat 2017: 18–29.
93
6.5.
DISPUTES INVOLVING THE NORTH KOREAN EMBASSY
IN WARSAW
e nancial diculties of the North Korean embassy in Poland started with
the collapse of communism in socialist countries. Until the 1980s, the North
Korean embassy in Poland was able to full its needs, for instance, organising major
events in the top premises of Warsaw, such as the Palace of Culture and Science
in 1960. In the 1990s, due to the economic diculties in North Korea, the wages
and benets of the North Korean diplomats were reduced to a minimum, forcing
them to nd new sources of income. One of them was renting their premises to
business partners. However, at the bilateral level, in accordance with the 1966
agreement between Poland and North Korea, the embassy premises cannot be
used for commercial purposes.283 At a global scale, according to paragraph 18 of
resolution 2321 (2016) of the UN Security Council, member states shall prohibit
North Korea from using real property for any purpose other than diplomatic
activities. e European Union acknowledged it prohibited the lease of North
Korean real property situated outside the territory of North Korea, directly or
indirectly, by persons, entities, or bodies of the government of North Korea. is
earning method, though, was already used by other foreign countries, including
Poland, which rented a part of its embassy in Mongolia to companies.
In 2002, the Polish authorities began discussing this issue in its National
Assembly, underlining that it may jeopardise the activities of the Polish embassy
in North Korea. e North Korean embassy in Poland was also renting some of
its premises for special events, such as a Bacardi night in August 2011, despite
criticism from the National Assembly.
284
A former candidate for president has his
headquarters within the embassy premises.
285
Within the last 10 years, the North
Korean embassy has rented its premises to commercial companies (Ciszewski
Public Relations, 4Fun Media, e Venue, etc.)286 and NGOS (e.g., ‘Czas na
²³ Odpowiedź sekretarza stanu w Ministerstwie Spraw Zagranicznych – z upoważnienia ministra – na
interpelację poseł Anny Sobeckiej w sprawie działalności Ambasady Koreańskiej Republiki Ludowo-
-Demokratycznej w Warszawie, Warszawa, dnia 19 sierpnia 2011 r. 2011: 177–178.
² Odpowiedź sekretarza stanu w Ministerstwie Spraw Zagranicznych – z upoważnienia ministra – na
interpelację poseł Anny Sobeckiej w sprawie działalności Ambasady Koreańskiej Republiki Ludowo-
Demokratycznej w Warszawie, Warszawa, dnia 19 sierpnia 2011 r. 2011: 177–178.
² e author of this publication met Ryszard Petru. He did not know that his organisation was
headquartered on the North Korean embassy premises.
² As of November 15, 2019, the following are registered at the address of the North Korean
embassy in Poland: the NGO “Czas na Muzykę” and the companies 4Fun Media Ambasada
Studio (whose ocial address is in the centre of the city, but its mailing address is registered at
the North Korean embassy in Poland), AC Solutions, Arres Sp. z o.o. (a South Korean company),
Bistro Bobrowiecka 1a, Biuro Rachunkowe A&K s.c., DB Sound Studios, Hasco Lek Polska
94
Muzykę’). Interestingly, the Tax Administration of the Mokotów District of
Warsaw was also supposed to be erected on the premises of the North Korean
embassy in Poland. As of 2019, the Polish authorities had informed the Polish
National Court Register to not record any further entities at the embassy.
e North Korean embassy in Warsaw employed several diplomats who have
had a good knowledge of Poland, mostly because they were educated in that
country. Some of the North Korean diplomats with knowledge of Polish realities
include Kim Ju Dok (a student at the University of Warsaw in the 1970s),287
Ri Um Rim (a student in Poland in the late 1960s), Pak Sung Chol (a student
at the University of Warsaw in the early 1980s),288 Ri Chun Su (a student at the
University of Technology of Wroclaw in the late 1970s), and Om Sung Chol
(a former political advisor until 2002). When they end their duties in Poland, the
North Korean diplomats return home where they work in the second department
of the North Korean MFA. Among them were Pak Sung Chol (who left Poland
in 2012 and as of December 2018 was working in the North Korean MFA) and
Ri Chun Su (who left Poland in 2015 and as of December 2018 was working in
the North Korean MFA).
e nancial diculties of the North Korean embassy in Poland can also be
illustrated through the following example. In 2013, Andrzej Kompa, the owner
of Kompa Investment Co., lent more than USD 2 million to the North Korean
government through the embassy to carry out work on the building in 2005.
e North Korean government did not fully repay the Polish businessman.289
e North Korean embassy in Poland was also considered a channel of
distribution for counterfeit US currency. In 2005, the American authorities
accused North Koreans in Poland of manufacturing high-quality counterfeit
USD 100 notes. Some of these notes were supposedly manufactured under the
auspices of the government of North Korea and were exported through North
Korean diplomatic representations. According to American ocials, one of these
diplomatic representations might be the North Korean embassy in Poland, which
the Americans claim provided counterfeit USD 100 notes to potential customers,
including Sean Garland, the leader of the Marxist-Leninist Worker’s Party, an
(Department of Registration and Clinical Drug Research), PrOgram Sp. z o.o., Principes 2
sp. z o.o., 4Fun Media, and XS events sp. z o.o. sp.k. Biznes z Wrocławia i dyktatura z Azji
2010.
² Kim Ju Dok studied at the Faculty of Polish Philology of the University of Warsaw. In the
1980s, he worked in the North Korea MFA and served as a translator for Polish delegations in
the late 1980s in North Korea. In the rst decade of the 2000s, he moved to Poland where he
served as a political counsellor to the North Korean embassy in Poland until 2018.
² Pak Sung Chol is the son of Pak Sang Am, a diplomat who served twice as the North Korean
ambassador to Poland. Pak Sung Chol served as a translator for Polish delegations in the early
1980s in North Korea.
² Kuc 2013.
95
arm of the Ocial Irish Republican Army, who regularly visited North Korean
missions in Russia and Poland and then distributed the fake currency to terrorist
organisations.290 is information was never totally veried.
In May 2011, three North Korean citizens were arrested in Ukraine for trying
to smuggle 20,000 packs of cigarettes into Poland. ey were supposed to be
working at the North Korean embassy in Poland. All of them were protected
by diplomatic immunity.291
Some more anecdotal evidence includes an incident from July 11, 1997, when
a soldier from the Vistula Special Forces was attacked on duty outside the North
Korean embassy in Warsaw.292 Another case came in 2017 after a North Korean
diplomat posted in London defected, several South Korean citizens called the
North Korean embassy in Warsaw to encourage them to do the same.293
In 1998, a Polish citizen sent a letter to Japan written by Toru Iskioki,
a Japanese citizen abducted by North Korea. is Polish citizen did not know
that this letter was prepared by the Japanese citizen.294
² Warsaw Trail of Terrorist Dollars Meetings 2000.
²¹ Diplomats arrested for cigarette smuggling 2001.
²² Soldier Attacked Outside Embassy 1997.
²³ 태영호 따라 탈북하라우’… 北 대사관에 장난전화: 2016.
² Stefanicki 2002.
97
Chapter 7
e humanitarian and cultural cooperation
between Poland and North Korea in the 2000s
7.1.
HUMANITARIAN COOPERATION
With the activation of the Lisbon Treaty, signed by the EU Member
States on December 13, 2007, the EU became a political unit with
a dened strategy as a whole concerning North Korea. From that year,
Poland has had to follow EU directives regarding North Korea in some subjects,
such as the nuclear crisis or human rights. However, there are some elds in which
Poland can act alone. is covers some of the bilateral interactions between the
countries. Despite the nature of the North Korean regime, a win-win game can
be imagined through humanitarian and cultural cooperation.
Cultural diplomacy can be dened as a set of actions based on the exchange
of ideas, values, and traditions that aim to strengthen socio-cultural cooperation
or promote national interests. Cultural diplomacy can be practiced by either the
public sector, private sector, or civil society.
Poland is materially supporting North Korea on humanitarian issues (including
nancial support and dealings with humanitarian rights) but also informing the
North Korean authorities through the Polish embassy in Pyongyang or the Polish
MFA, on its position on human rights. For example, in May 2008, when the
North Korean deputy foreign minister visited Poland for consultations, Krzysztof
Ciebień, a former Polish consul to China and the current Polish ambassador
to North Korea, said that North Korean diplomats were open to its criticism
of the human rights situation in their country. On a more global perspective,
on May 7, 2017, a meeting with the heads of mission of EU countries and Cataliny
Devandas Aguilar, the special rapporteur for human rights for disabled people,
was also held at the Polish embassy in Pyongyang.295
² Pjongjang: Spotkanie HoMs EU z delegacją Biura Wysokiego Komisarza ds. Praw Człowieka ONZ
2017.
98
Regarding humanitarian assistance, Polish humanitarian organisations, such as
Polska Akcja Humanitarna (Polish Humanitarian Organisation), were present in
North Korea until 2011. In 2005, its head, Janina Ochojska, visited the previously
mentioned Polish Hospital in Hungnam. In 2010, some funds were collected
for the modernisation of its infrastructure. e support was, however, partially
monitored by North Korean entities and the Polish Humanitarian Organisation.
Nutritional humanitarian support has a historical background. Since 1952, Poland
has been assisting North Korea in some eorts to grow its own capabilities of
food production. Polish organisations sent large quantities of rural technologies
and fertilisers and trained North Koreans.
North Korean diplomats in Poland were also interested in humanitarian
issues, especially with the food crises in North Korea in the 1990s. Among other
things, medicines with a short shelf-life or meat that could have been frozen were
researched by North Korean diplomats in Poland, such as Ri Um Rim, then
collected before being sent to North Korea.
296
Medicine was also collected by the
North Korean embassy in Poland.
e humanitarian cooperation was not only based on Polish support to North
Korea but also on a critical approach toward the North Korean authorities. During
the last 30 years, several international events took place in Poland, among others,
focused on the situation of human rights in North Korea.297 e previously
mentioned event was organised by Joanna Hosaniak. She is the most prominent
Polish human-rights activist on North Korea. She is a senior programme ocer
with the activist group Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights,
dealing with these issues and based in Seoul since 2004. She organised visits by
some North Korean defectors to Poland during the summer 2017, among other
initiatives.
Poland also accepts North Korean defectors, but on an individual basis. One
of the problems lies in the fact that some of the North Korean defectors do not
speak Polish and therefore can nd only manual labour jobs. e South Korean
community in Poland is also not interested in providing full-time jobs to potential
North Korean defectors.
North Korean foreign policy denitely changed with the nomination of Kim
Jong Un as its new head of state in 2012. etraditional North Korean plannedand
military-based economy is now moreof a reform-orientedprocess. erefore,
we can imagine that the North Korean leadership will promote some economic
changes that may open North Korea and change the nature of the regime. e
² Interview with Mieczysław Dedo was held on April 4, 2010 by the author.
² Konferencja na temat naruszeń praw człowieka w Korei Północnej 2004 [Conference on human
rights violations in North Korea] 2004, February 29 – March 2, 2004. is conference was
the rst event in which many Poles heard about North Korea’s concentration camps.
99
lack of economicexpertise in the North due to a loss of knowledge transfer for
60 years has now combined with the long relations between Poland and North
Korea and may have an impact on the nature of their relations. Furthermore,
since 2002, North Korean bureaucrats have been authorised to receive training
from abroad in some economics-related subjects.298 What is Poland’s role in such
a conguration? In addition to the NGO activities, some Polish universities may
opt for expanding their engagements with North Korea. We can also imagine
that Polish economists may educate the future leadership of North Korea. Some
Polish specialists such as Grzegorz Kołodko, a Polish professor of economics and
a former nance minister between 2002 and 2003, who went to North Korea
for an education project, or Jacek Miroński, who was an active participant in
the conference ‘Economic Reform and the Development of Economic Relations
between the EU and North Korea’, which took place in Pyongyang in October
2005, may participate in the elaboration of the new North Korean leadership.
ese specialists may be motivated to educate on entrepreneurship, free markets,
and the links between economic and societal liberalisation at the relatively open-
minded Pyongyang University of Sciences and Technology. e aim of Poland
would be to provide some knowledge to North Korean specialists in order to
enable them to change their country. In exchange, we can imagine that North
Korea may give Poland access to raw materials through concessions.
7.2.
CULTURAL COOPERATION
In terms of culture, there is a dynamic cooperation between both countries.
Poland participates in an important number of cultural events in North Korea, and
North Koreans are also visible through contests in Poland. Polish lm companies
participate on a regular basis in the International Festival of Cinema in Pyongyang,
including the 17th edition, which took place in September 2019. During previous
years of the festival, Polish lms were awarded several times. In 2000, the prize for
best lm was given to U Pana Boga za piecem (‘At the Lord God Behind the Stove’).
Some Polish production companies, such as Chronos and Poltel, also participated
in these events (Chronos and Poltel). e Polish embassy in Pyongyang is also
organising exhibitions promoting Polish culture. Unfortunately, these events are
forbidden for most of the North Korean population.299 On March 23, 2017, the
² Beck, Reader 2010: 45.
² ere was an exhibition of the Polish press on the premises of the Polish embassy in Pyongyang.
Invited were people from the MFA, journalists from Rodong Sinmun and Minju Jeoson, and
delegates from the Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, and delegates
100
Polish embassy in Pyongyang organised an exhibition of lm posters. e event
was made available to diplomats and MFA workers.300 ese kinds of events are
not only made public on North Korean television
301
but also open to North Korean
journalists. Some exhibitions are made public. For instance, between August
26 and 27, 2010, an exhibition of Polish art was held in a cultural centre in the
city of Wonsan. e exhibition presented photographs by Czesław Czapliński.
ese works were related to the topic ‘In the steps of Chopin in Warsaw and
Mazovia’. e exhibition was organised within the framework of the Chopin year
in North Korea. e exhibition was jointly arranged by the Polish embassy in
North Korea and the North Korean Committee of Foreign Cultural Cooperation.
In September 2017, the exhibition was shown in Pyongyang.302
Meanwhile, many North Koreans were educated at the famous Leon Schiller
National Higher School of Film, Television, and eatre in Łódź. Some of them
participated in conceptions of Polish cartoons such as Rex and Przygody Kapitana
Clippera (e Adventures of Captain Clipper). ese North Korean citizens
included Chon Song Chol, Kim Dog Jong, Kim Kwan Son, Kim Un Chun,
Kwon Jon Kil, and a scenographer named Pak Gwang Hyon, who worked on
the preparation of the Polish cartoon Rex. Many North Korean companies are
also still subcontracted to work for European producers of children’s lms.303
ere is also a Polish-North Korean Friendship Association with branches
all over Poland. Members of this association defend the North Korean political
model. ey also translate into Polish the propaganda sent from Pyongyang. is
association has branches all over Poland, which were mainly inaugurated in the
1970s. However, members of this association are sometimes considered to some
extent ‘useful idiots’, in the communist parlance.
To the spring festival in Pyongyang, which gathers artists from all over the
world, Poland has been sending some delegations (in 2002 from the Frederic
Chopin University of Music of Warsaw and from the University of Music of
Wrocław in 2003). During the 25th Spring Friendship Festival in April 2007, Polish
singer Danuta Stankiewicz won the contest. In 2012, Poland was represented by
Joanna Ławrynowicz, who participated in the spring festival on April 10–18, 2012.
On the other side, Poland promotes young North Korean scholars who want
to get an education in Poland, especially in music. 2012 marked the start of new
cooperation between Poland and North Korea in musical elds. Several North
from other embassies in Pyongyang. e public is not invited to such events. Wystawa polskiej
prasy w budynku Ambasady 2006.
³ Wystawa plakatu lmowego w Ambasadzie RP w Pjongjangu 2017.
³¹ Polish diplomats based in North Korea visit once a year the DPRK-Poland Jangsuwon
Cooperative Farm.
³² Dom Kultury Miasta Wonsan–Korea Północna 2010.
³³ Park Song Jo 2010: 287.
101
Korean students participated in the Chopin Contest in Warsaw and won several
prizes in May 2012.304 According to Łukasz Graban, a Polish ocial responsible
for Korean aairs at the Polish MFA, a soccer match between Poland and North
Korea was also planned.305 A North Korean delegation visited Poland in 2016,
2018, and 2019.306
Regarding educational exchanges, some projects have been completed between
both countries. For example, a 530-page Polish-North Korean dictionary was
published in 7,500 copies in 2012. is dictionary was jointly prepared by Polish
koreanists Małgorzata Terlecka, Tadeusz Korsak, and Magdalena Hornung and
North Korean scholars Kim Song Il, Kim Min Chol, and Kim Jong Ho. is
project was supported by the Polish Humanitarian Organisation (Polska Akcja
Humanitarna) and the Polish MFA. e North Korean scholars who were involved
in the project were students from the Polish Faculty of the University of Foreign
Languages of Pyongyang, which was established in 2005. Jo Song Mu, the head of
this faculty, received a Polish award as an expert in the Polish language in 2010.
307
Jo Song Mu is a former North Korean orphan who was educated in Poland in
the 1950s during his high school and university). Some North Koreans were also
granted facilities to study the Polish language at the Warsaw Centre of Polish
Language and Culture for Foreigners. North Korean is also sometimes exhibited
in Poland. Between September 2 and 6, 2008, there was an exhibition in Warsaw
dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the opening of diplomatic relations between
Poland and North Korea. Other exhibitions were held mainly in Gdańsk, where
there is a major University Centre of Asian Studies. Another one was held in
December 2009. e last one was held in September 2014. Some North Korean
paintings from the sansuhwa (art of painting mountains and water) are also present
in the collection of the Asia and Pacic Museum. ese paintings were drawn
³ Sukces młodych pianistów z KRLD 2012. At the 20
th
Fryderyk Chopin International Piano
Competition for Children and Youth held in Warsaw, the following North Korean children
were awarded: the rst prize and EUR 600 went to Choe Jang Hung (7 years old); Ri Yu Jong
received a distinction in the rst age group; rst prize of EUR 1,000 and a computer in the
second age group went to Han Si Nae (13 years old); second prize of EUR 500 in the fourth age
group went to Mi Yong Pak (18 years old). e young pianists together with Prof. Kim Hyang
Suk and two representatives of the Committee for International Cultural Communication were
in Poland as part of a study visit held at the Adam Mickiewicz Institute’s villages by the Polish
MFA and the AMI. e North Koreans had the opportunity to visit places related to the life
and work of Fryderyk Chopin and the University of Music in Warsaw.
³ e quote was related during an open meeting with students of the University of Warsaw on
November 12, 2014.
³ 조선의 어린이들 제7차 쇼뺑국제뽈스까 그랜드피아노음악경연 및 축전에서우수한 성적
쟁취 2018. In 2018, Ri Kwon Yun and Kim Yae Seong were sent to Poland, 사회주의교육제도의
혜택아래 꽃펴난 재간둥이들 2016. In 2016, Su Ryo Han and Sin An Ma were sent to Poland,
북한 마신아, 쇼팽 국제 청소년 피아노 콩쿠르에서도 1등 차지(연주장면 포함).
³ Wojnarowski 2010.
102
by the most important artists from North Korea, including Hwang Pyong Ho,
and an exhibit called Diamond Mountain (Kumgangsan). e North Korean
collection of paintings numbered 140.308 Earlier, a North Korean art exhibition
took place in Bialystok in February 2005.309
Regarding this exhibition, it was proposed by the Polish scholar Marceli
Burdelski, who regularly travels to North Korea, such as in 2013, October 3
and 8. In 2012, between August 18 and 25, he participated in an international
seminar related to the situation on the Korean Peninsula. He was also invited
to Pyongyang between the October 11 and 15, 2011, where he visited the Polish
Faculty of the Foreign Languages University of Pyongyang and met Kim Ju
Dok, a former rst advisor at the North Korean embassy to Poland. Between
November 23 and 30, 2010, he was in Pyongyang meeting with MFA ocials,
including Ri Chun Su, a former North Korean diplomat to the North Korean
embassy in Poland.
Within the last several years, some events focused on North Korean orphans
took place. On March 15, 2019, there was a conference focusing on North Korean
orphans in Lwówek Śląski.
In terms of education cooperation, the number of North Korean students
in Poland is limited. Seven North Korean students were supposed to study in
Poland during the 2016–2017 academic year.310 In 2015–2016, they were only
three North Korean students based in Poland.
7.3.
POLISH MOVIES IN NORTH KOREA
Despite being a closed country, the North Korean authorities regularly screen
foreign movies. Unfortunately, these screenings are not made available beyond
a selected segment of North Koreans. A similar issue was observed at a May 19,
2017, event displaying Czech movies within the framework of a Foreign Cultures
Meeting, regularly organised at the Polish embassy in Pyongyang.311 is event
was open only to foreigners and selected North Korean guests.
It also must be outlined that some Polish movies participated in the Pyongyang
International Film Festival (평양영화축전). e Pyongyang International
Film Festival (PIFF) began in 1987. According to the organisers, the idea of the
³ Wawrzyniak 2008: 78–83.
³ Sztuka koreańska – wystawa w Zachęcie 2005.
³¹ Studenci obcokrajowcy w Polsce 2016.
³¹¹ Pjongjang: Wieczór Filmowy w Ambasadzie RP 2017. e Polish embassy in North Korea is the
only embassy among the 24 based in Pyongyang that has a cinema.
103
festival is to promote exchange and cooperation between lmmakers based on
the principles of friendship, independence, and peace.
e movie Miasto z morza (‘City from the sea’), produced by Andrzej Kotkowski,
obtained a special award at the 12th edition of the PIFF.312 Furthermore, the
movie Mój Rower (‘My Bike’), produced by Paweł Pluciński and Marta Plucińska,
received a special award, the Silver Pigeon, during the 14th edition of the PIFF,
which took place between September 17 and 27, 2014.
313
Two years earlier,
this movie had been shown to Kim Pyong Il, the North Korean ambassador to
Poland. In September 2018, a Polish cartoon was shown at PIFF.314 e Polish
embassy in Pyongyang also organises lm screenings at its premises, like that of
January 29, 2016, when the movie Bogowie (‘e Gods’) by Lukasz Palkowski
was screened at the Polish embassy. is movie was screened within the FFSM
festival,315 which also featured lms from Bulgaria, Czechia, Germany, and the
UK. Bogowie also participated in the 15th edition of the PIFF, which took place
between September 16 and 23, 2016. On November 10, 2017, the Polish embassy
in Pyongyang screened the Polish FilmGenerał Nil (‘General Nil’), inaugurating
the 4th edition of the FFSM. An exhibition related to Polish art was also shown
to the foreign community based in Pyongyang.316 e Polish movie industry
was already featured in North Korea in the mid-1950s, especially Polish hospital
lms, which were screened for the population.317
In North Korea, the only centre for teaching Polish and distributing knowledge
about Poland and Polish culture among academic-age youth is the Department
of Polish Studies of the Pyongyang University of Foreign Languages. e group
studying Polish in the academic year 2016–2017 is composed of ve fourth-year
Korean students. e next recruitment for Polish studies took place in September
2018. Since the establishment of the Pyongyang University of Foreign Languages
in 2007, students are looked after by the MFA of Poland and institutions, mainly
by providing teaching materials and scholarships for summer language courses
organised in Poland (the last batch of didactic materials about Poland, including
contemporary history, publications about Polish culture, and atlases, were given by
the Polish embassy to the Faculty of Polish Studies in 2015). e Polish embassy
in Pyongyang is also sponsoring visits to Poland by North Korean students
learning Polish. Since 2014, a Polish conservatory has been run by an employee
of the Polish embassy, limited to 90 minutes per week, which is the only form of
³¹² 12 Międzynarodowy Festiwal Filmowy w Pjongjangu 2010.
³¹³ Stocki 2016.
³¹ Wełniaki podbijają Europę i… wyruszają w świat 2018.
³¹ e FFSM started in 2013.
³¹ Festiwal Filmowy w Ambasadzie RP w Pjong jangu rozpoczęty 2017.
³¹ Letter from the Polish Ambassador in the DPRK to the Polish Ministry of Foreign Aairs 1955.
104
direct contact with a contemporary Polish speaker for students and lecturers.318
e Polish MFA sponsored books, computers, CDs, and dictionaries for the
Faculty of Polish Language at the Foreign Languages University in Pyongyang
and for Kim Chaek University.
319
e rst year of study started on April 1, 2007.
Eight students were enrolled, and some of them became tourist guides for Polish
groups.
³¹ Zajęcia na Polonistyce Uniwersytetu Języków Obcych w Pjongjang 2016.
³¹ Martin 2004: 347.
105
Chapter 8
A review of Polish literature related to North Korea
8.1.
NORTH KOREAN STUDIES IN POLAND BETWEEN
1950 AND 1980
N
orth Korean studies in Poland emerged in parallel with Polish literature
devoted to the Korean War, which constituted the driver for increasing
knowledge about the Korean Peninsula among the Polish population.
Before the Korean War, only a few authors wrote about the Korean Peninsula.
e most famous was Wacław Sieroszewski, who wrote about the subject in the
1920s, but with no linguistical knowledge. ere was also a Polish poet, Remigiusz
Kwiatkowski, who dealt with some kind of Korean literature and translated it
into Polish in the 1910s.
Publications related to the Korean War were skewed in favour of the PRL’s own
historiography, claiming that the Korean War was provoked by South Korea and
‘American Imperialists’.320 e North Korean orphans mentioned in the second
chapter of this monograph inspired many books, poems, and articles.
321
is topic
was widely covered, for instance, the second edition (1954) of Dom Odzyskiwanego
Dzieciństwa (‘e Home of Recovered Childhood’) was published in 90,000
copies, the fth (1956) in 10,000 copies, and the sixth (1957) in 20,000 copies.
A short version, entitled Koreańczycy z Golotczyzny (‘Koreans of Gołotczyzna’)
(1954), was printed in 10,000 copies in 1954.
e second topic covered by North Korean studies in Poland was the Polish
Red Cross Hospital. Andrzej Braun, a writer who worked there wrote a fantastic
book of 486 pages entitled Blask ciemności (Glow of Darkness) in which he
described his nearly one year journey in North Korea.322 Some other books were
published in Poland as translations. ey were related to the Korean Peninsula
³² Góralski 1979: 30; Kojlo, Dikij 1975: 55; Kunstler 1986: 139; Kim 1996.
³²¹ e chapter referred exhaustively to these publications.
³²² During their journey, 567 North Korean soldiers were returned home, 570 were operated on,
and 7,543 received an X-Ray examination. Braun 1956: 483.
106
as a whole, such as Zeszyt znaleziony w Sunczen (‘A Copybook Found in Sunchon’),
a book written by Roman Kim, a Russian author with Korean roots, or the book
entitled Prawda o Chinach i Korei (‘e Truth about China and Korea’), related
to the Korean War and written by Yves Farge.323 It was translated in 1951 by
Janusz Przymanowski, a famous Polish translator who passed away in 1998.
Polish authors also look for similarities between Poland and North Korea. For
instance, Andrzej Braun, a Polish writer, compared the Sino-Korean bridge on
the Yalu river as the Kierbiedza Bridge in Warsaw, the Warsaw Ghetto, or the
Wisłostrada road in Warsaw.
324
e geographical and environmental comparisons
were also shown within the framework of the Korean-Polish Friendship Song,
which underlined the beauty of Mansudae Hill in North Korea and compared
it to the Vistula.325 In fact, these comparisons were the only ones that could be
made, as both nations had to a certain extent a diametrically dierent history.
e rst Polish institute that published works related to North Korean studies
during the Cold War era was the Faculty of Korean studies of the University of
Warsaw. According to Christoph Janasiak, a former researcher with the faculty,
the history of Korea as a subject of university study in Poland began in 1953.
e most famous Polish researcher on Korean issues was Halina Ogarek-Czoj
(1931–1963), whose background and biography were discussed in the previous
chapter. She wrote and translated dozens of books related to the Korean Peninsula
with a focus on its literature. She passed away in 2004.
In 1957, the WPK Publishing House published a book focused on the success
of the Polish economy.326 is book was divided into four chapters. e rst
chapter is the history of the PUWP, Chapter Two focused on the construction
of friendly relations between Poland and North Korea, Chapter ree deals with
the economic history of Poland, and the last chapter discuss some social issues.
is book is also completed with a map of Poland, with North Korean versions
of the names of cities in Poland.
Due to the political symbiosis, until the 1980s, a portion of North Korean
studies was aimed at describing the North Korean communist regime as a ‘friendly
country’ to Poles. e main authors, Marceli Burdelski, Waldemar J. Dziak,
Sławomir Guzowski, and Stefan Kojło, used to write propaganda texts. All of
them were only able to provide a statistical approach to the North Korean regime
due to ideological reasons. All of these authors visited North Korea and some were
sent as Polish delegates to the International Congress of Juche Ideology. Guzowki
is also a member of the board of the Polish-Korean Friendship Association.
³²³ Farges 1953.
³² Braun 1956: 17, 277, 279.
³² A translation of this song is available in the appendices of this monograph.
³² Kim 1956. e book was transferred from Beijing on April 16, 1957.
107
e main studies of these authors were related to the causes of the Korean War
(including the rhetorical question: who started the war), North Korean orphans
in Poland, relations between the countries, and North Korean ideology, such
as the article entitled ‘KRLD Kraj “Dżucze”’ [e DPRK is the ‘country of the
‘Juche’], prepared by Waldemar J. Dziak.327
8.2.
NORTH KOREAN STUDIES IN POLAND AFTER 1980
e oldest generation of Korean analysts (Waldemar J. Dziak, Marceli Burdelski)
was working during and after the communist era. During the communist era,
bilateral relations between Poland and North Korea were extremely good and the
majority of Polish researchers were able to get access to North Korea.
erefore, these researchers were able not only to go on a regular basis to
North Korea but also to be in touch with dierent groups of North Koreans.
Both of them also regularly assisted the World Juche Congress and had access
to the top North Korean leadership, including Hwang Jang Yop.328 A switch
occurred with the initialisation of relations between Poland and South Korea on
the November 1, 1989. Interest in North Korean studies decreased, for instance,
starting in 1992, North Korean literature stopped being studied at the University
of Warsaw, and was replaced by South Korean literature. Lecturers from North
Korea were replaced by South Korean citizens. Interestingly, some of them travelled
or studied at Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang. But North Korea was barely
mentioned by these lecturers.
Since the mid-2000s, Dziak was not allowed to travel to North Korea because
of his biography of Kim Jong Il, published in Poland in 2004.329 Dziak also
changed his position on Juche ideology, balancing from devotion to Juche ideology
in the 1980s to a more pragmatic approach in the 2000s.
330
Regarding Burdelski,
he’s still travelling to North Korea, but his last book was published in 2004. He
underlined that his ability to travel to North Korea was made possible because
he had not published any more books for the general public.
Between 1967 and 2018, many North Korean publications were translated into
Polish. ey usually were published as books or booklets. North Korean books
translated into Polish were mainly made available in the 1970s when the North
³² Dziak 1979.
³² Hwang Jang Yop is a former Secretary of International Aairs in the WPK who defected to
South Korea in 1997 and died in December 2010.
³² Dziak 2004.
³³ Dziak 1983: 65–80; Dziak 2018.
108
Korean authorities wanted to forge the identity of their country as the leader of
non-aligned states. Of the 85 books mentioned in Annex 7,54 were published
in the 1970s. As a comparison, since 2006, only six books were translated into
Polish, which demonstrates the lack of interest in North Korean propaganda on
the Polish side. When analysing the authors of these published books, we are not
surprised. e most published author is Kim Il Sung (59 publications), Kim Jong
Il (15 publications), and Kim Jong Un (four publications), and one book each
published by other authors (Coj Hen and Pak Du Kiong). However, it must be
underlined that if Kim Jong Un stays in power for a period of time similar to his
grandfather, the number of publications he has authored will increase. e books
usually constitute the product of translations of publications prepared in Russian.
In recent years, except for a few books theoretically written by Kim Jong Un, the
North Korean embassy prepares a regular newsletter known as Biuletyn Ambasady
Korei Północnej. is document is either freely distributed during meetings at
the North Korean embassy in Warsaw or available online at Polish pro-North
Korea websites. In the 1970s, these newsletters had a higher number of pages,
regularly a dozen or even several dozen, but they have decreased to about three
pages. ese newsletters are usually translated into Polish by Polish supporters of
North Korea, although they are not specic to the Polish market, rather, while
varying to some extent, can be found in other North Korean embassies.
Figure 3. Distribution of printed North Korean publications translated into
Polish between 1967 and 2018
Source: Based on the documents possessed by the author.
109
e change of ideology in Poland brought with it many changes in the
analysis of North Korea. Starting from 1989, the political developments turned
North Korean studies more objective. A considerable portion of new books
on North Korean issues started to criticise the regime or at least provide some
dierent views on North Korea. Some researchers, such as Dziak and the author
of this monograph, have provided an approach to North Korea based on the
individual behaviour of the North Korean leadership. A considerable portion
of new books related on North Korea aim to describe the communist regime
as ‘totalitarian’. Many defectors’ testimonies were also translated into Polish.331
Currently, many researchers of the youngest generation (Mateusz Danielewski,
Oskar Pietrewicz, Agnieszka Śmiatacz) may face diculties in analysing North
Korea. Furthermore, like in the case of North Korean studies in South Korea,
Polish research centres are not supporting North Korean studies. On the other
side, Polish literature on Korean studies is very extensive, as demonstrated
in the bibliography of this monograph, and Polish research centres possess
a large collection of publications related to both Koreas that were publish in these
countries. Also, many South Korean researchers are visiting European former
communist countries. ey observe the region and try to assess the development
of North Korea (now, also a former communist country). Based on this, they
try to draw some potential future scenarios for the development of the northern
part of the Korean Peninsula. Within the same framework, several conferences
have been held in recent years with a focus on North Korea. Two noticeable
events can be mentioned. e rst was a conference entitled Cultures and politics
on the Korean Peninsula, held at the Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental
Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences on November 22, 2016, which was
highly focused on North Korean studies. Another event was the symposium
on the role of Poland in the NNSC, which took place on November 18, 2019,
at the Veterans’ Centre in Warsaw.
³³¹ Demick 2012; Jang Jin Sung 2015; Kim 2012; Lee 2015; Morillot 2008; Park 2012.
111
Conclusion and ndings
T
he purpose of this book has been to present an outline of relations between
Poland and North Korea over the 70-year period from 1948 to 2018. e
rst part of this monograph aimed to show how the relations between these
ideologically and culturally distant countries looked like and whether their belonging
to the socialist community meant they could really rely on each other. Between
1953 and 1989, the cooperation between the countries was especially concentrated
on cultural exchange and some minor bilateral trade. Poland and North Korea
were in the same ideological family but the actions of the North Korean authorities
reduced the advantages Poland could take from relations with this country.
In this case, it can be stated that North Korea focused on its interests and not
on the interests of fraternal nations. e size, type and scope of Polish-North
Korean cooperation was largely decided by Pyongyang. It decided that the
movements of Polish diplomats in North Korea would require ocial approval
of the North Korean MFA starting from 1978. It was Pyongyang that did
not support the Polish embassy when it was ooded in 1967.332 It was again
Pyongyang that decided when the Polish envoy could meet Kim Il Sung.
It was Pyongyang that dictated payment rules in economic transactions. Such
policy changes were justied by the ideological battle against imperialism and lack
of funds on the North Korean side. From a dierent perspective, it can be noted
how much eort the Polish side made to improve mutual relations, sometimes
regardless of their relative interest. From North Korea, we can denote a major
calculation on the part of its leadership. is led to a negative image of the North
Korean authorities among the Polish leadership and automatically to negative
views concerning the North Korean population among Poles. On the other hand,
the memory of people who came from North Korea during the communist era is
especially present in the mind of people who were in touch with them. A perfect
example illustrating this situation are the memories of the citizens of cities where
North Korean orphans used to live. To a lesser extent, a similar situation can be
described for those who lived closely to the Polish hospital in Hamhung.
³³² After this event, the Polish embassy changed address and moved to Pyongyang North in August
1969. Levi 2012: 93.
112
e importance of cooperation between Poland and North Korea on the issue
of orphans was a driver for the deepening of relations between both countries
for the next 50 years. In a hermetic society like North Korea, these Polish and
North Korean adoptees who lived or travelled abroad played the role of civilian
messengers and informal diplomats. Documents released from Polish historical
les in recent years have proven that North Korean citizens living in Poland
were clearly in communication with Polish citizens. It has also been proven that
these people were discussing their experience of living abroad after they returned
to North Korea. is element is crucial as it provides a better understanding of
the penetration of foreign cultures in the isolated North Korea. e past and
European values were then absorbed, to a certain scale, in the consciousness
of the North Korean orphans who lived in Central Europe. erefore, there is
a constant imperative to learn and debate, and to have a better chance of nding
the right balance when discussing the isolation of North Korean society.
Given the uncertainties surrounding top personnel (nominations for the head of
North Korea, for example) and events (the potential collapse of the North Korean
system), which may inuence the prospects of North Korea-Poland relations, the
conclusions are split into two parts. e rst is dedicated to the cultural policy of
Poland toward North Korea while the second one provides two possible scenarios
for how relations might develop between the countries.
First, Poland may not have a large cultural policy strategy but looking at the
scope and variety of Polish cultural diplomacy and considering how many of these
actions there are, we cannot but conclude that Poland is doing well and is even
ahead of many Western countries in terms of cultural diplomacy toward North
Korea. Most of the Polish cultural diplomacy is government-controlled. is
allows the Polish authorities to carefully design their actions. On the other hand, it
hampers the development of a cultural policy based on a network of independent
actors. From a private perspective, there is no visible initiative to promote dialogue
between Poland and North Korea but rather a wave of opposition against the
North Korean government in Poland at the societal level.³³³ An exhibition related
to the dicult situation of North Korean workers was held in October 2018 in
the Polish city of Gdansk. In 2014, there was a misunderstanding regarding the
recreation of the north Korean opera Sea of Blood by Kim Il Sung. is opera was
supposed to be a performance prepared by left-wing cultural organisations and
co-sponsored by the North Korean embassy in Poland. e controversy about
the opera’s staging was over its attempt at defending Juche ideology.³³
³³³ In November 1999, in cooperation with the now-defunct Krakowska Foundation of Journalists
Mercury, North Korean cultural days were organised in Krakow. e famous Polish chef Robert
Makłowicz was invited to participate in the event by writing a few words about Korean cuisine,
but in the end he politely declined, as he refused to be associated with the North Korean regime.
³³ See Szpala, Zubik 2014.
113
It should be underlined that a deep knowledge of the other’s culture can be
the rst step towards the improvement of international relations. From the North
Korea side, this may involve the former North Korean students who passed
through Polish education centres, numbering in the thousands.
Secondly, regarding the future of relations between the countries, we may
apply two potential scenarios. e rst is stagnation: North Korea continues to
pursue provocations and practice a nuclearization policy that will rebu Polish
eorts to develop long-term economic cooperation between the countries. In
this scenario, the cooperation may be limited to some kind of cultural exchange.
Unfortunately, by discouraging progress on nuclear talks, withdrawing from
international treaties (such as the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
Weapons, NPT), the North Korean authorities are discouraging any important
progress in their relations with foreign partners like Poland. e second scenario
is harmonisation: after a period of North Korean aggressive policy, this country
would withdraw from its nuclear ambitions. is development may lead to the
diplomatic engagement of North Korea and cooperation with various partners.
e cooperation between North Korea and Poland may be improved in political,
cultural, and economic matters. Chapter 7 demonstrated that economic relations
between Poland and North Korea have a substantially greater non-commercial
component through cultural cooperation.
Globally speaking, despite the misunderstandings between the North
Korean and Polish authorities discussed in Chapter 6, and because of the minor
consequences of these issues, economic relations between the countries have real
potential. In the current situation, Polish companies face many challenges and
must nd new markets. North Korea is an interesting option because its local
taris are lower than China’s and North Korea’s population of wealthy people
is increasing.
e emotional factor is a determinant of deepening relations between countries.
It has been demonstrated several times in this monograph that the organisation
of joint events between these nations was made possible through the initiative of
Poles involved in relations between the countries. In other words, we can risk the
conclusion that with no support from the Polish side, several of the mentioned
exhibitions would never have taken place. In the past, this emotional factor was
justied within the framework of a similar state-level ideology. Now, as of 2020,
there is no longer a common ideology, so we must consider that the number
of joint events may decrease over the coming years.
In other words, due to historical and constructive relationships and its
experience, Poland should be a pioneer in terms of prosperous relations with North
Korea. Investment in North Korea should be considered not a risky venture or bet,
rather it should be envisioned as a kind of new frontier for business development
by Polish companies. However, major obstacles to this include North Korea’s
aggressive behaviour, its nuclear activities, internal legal instability, and issues
regarding human rights. Nevertheless, we can hope that under Kim Jong Un
and the profound economic changes he is enacting through a more open policy,
we will see a new path concerning relations between North Korea and foreign
countries. I believe, these relations may result in a bright future for the North
Korean nation.
115
List of Acronyms
CPVA Chinese People’s Volunteers Army
DPRK Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
DMFA Deputy Minister of Foreign Aairs
DMZ Demilitarised Zone
EBA European Business Association
EU European Union
FLPH Foreign Languages Publishing House
FMFS Festival of Movies of the Foreign Society
KFA Korean Friendship Association
MFA Minister of Foreign Aairs
MOFA Ministry of Foreign Aairs
NNRC Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission
NNSC Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission
PIFF Pyongyang International Film Festival
PLN Polish New Zloty
PLZ Polish Old Zloty
PRP People’s Republic of Poland
PUWP Polish United Workers’ Party
SUPS Socialist Union of Polish Students
SUR Soviet Rouble
ROK Republic of Korea
SPA Supreme People’s Assembly
USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
WPK Workers’ Party of Korea
117
Additional documents
1. CHRONOLOGY OF NORTH KOREAN
AMBASSADORS TO POLAND
Identity Korean
transcription
Diplomatic position Period
Choe Il 최일 Ambassador 1951–1953
Choe Bin 최빈 Ambassador 1953–1954
Ho Guk Bon 허국본 Ambassador 1954–1958
Jae Myong Su 제명수 Chargé d’aaires
ad interim 1958–1959
Kim Hak In 김학인 Ambassador 1959–1962
Ri Dok Hyon 리덕현 Ambassador 1962–1968
Kwon Bong Ryong 권봉령 Ambassador 1968–1970
Kim Hi Sun 김히순 Ambassador 1970–1973
Jeon Ju Ji 전주지 Chargé d’aaires
ad interim 1973
Jong Jong Ryu 정정류 Chargé d’aaires
ad interim 1973–1974
Paek Nam Sun 백남순 Ambassador 1974–1979
O Man Sok 오만석 Ambassador 1979–1987
Pak Sang Am 박상암 Ambassador 1987–1989
No information
available
No information
available
Chargé d’aaires
ad interim 1989–1997
Pak Sang Am 박상암 Ambassador 1997
Kim Pyong Il 김평일 Ambassador 1998–2015
Ri Gun 리근 Ambassador 2015–2020
Source: Prepared by the author based on Polish MFA information.
118
2. CHRONOLOGY OF POLISH AMBASSADORS
TO NORTH KOREA
Identity Diplomatic position Period
Stanisław Dodin Chargé d’aaires ad interim 1948–1950
Juliusz Burgin Ambassador 1950–1951
Marcin Drewniak Chargé d’aaires ad interim January 1951
Ryszard Deperasiński Chargé d’aaires ad interim April 1951
Stanisław Kiryluk Ambassador 1952–1954
Jerzy Siedlecki Ambassador 1954–1959
Józef Dryglas Ambassador 1959–1964
Władysław Napieraj Ambassador 1964–1968
Józef Dryglas Ambassador 1968–1971
Tadeusz Białkowski Ambassador 1971–1978
Jerzy Pękała Ambassador 1978–1981
Leon Tomaszewski Ambassador 1981–1985
Mieczysław Dedo Ambassador 1986–1990
Ryszard Baturo Ambassador 1991–1995
Mieczysław Dedo Chargé d’aaires ad interim 1996–2001
Wojciech Kałuża Ambassador 2001–2005
Roman Iwaszkiewicz Ambassador 2005–2009
Edward Pietrzyk Ambassador 2010–2014
Krzysztof Ciebień Ambassador 2014–2019
Source: Prepared by the author based on Polish MFA information.
3. BIOGRAMS OF NORTH KOREAN AMBASSADORS
TO POLAND
Choe Il (unk.)
Born in the 1920s. Educated in China. North Korean ambassador to Poland
between 1951 and 1953.
Choe Bin (unk.)
North Korean ambassador to Poland between 1953 and 1954.
119
Ho Guk Bon (unk.)
North Korean ambassador to Poland between 1954 and 1958.
Jae Myong Su (unk.)
North Korean Chargé d’aaires ad interim to Poland between 1958 and 1959.
Jeon Ju Ji (unk.)
North Korean Chargé d’aaires ad interim to Poland 1974.
Jong Ryu (unk.)
North Korean Chargé d’aaires ad interim to Poland between 1973 and 1974.
Kwon Bong Ryong (unk.)
North Korean ambassador to Poland between 1968 and 1970.
Kim Hak In (unk.)
North Korean ambassador to Poland between 1959 and 1962. Deputy minister
of Finance in the 1970s.
Kim Hi Sun (unk.)
North Korean ambassador to Poland between 1970 and 1973.
Kim Pyong Il (1955–…)
Born in Pyongyang. Graduated from Kim Il Sung University and Kim Il
Sung military academy. Military attaché at the North Korean embassy in
Yugoslavia. North Korean ambassador to Hungary. North Korean ambassador to
Bulgaria. North Korean ambassador to Finland between 1989 and 1997. North
Korean ambassador to Poland between 1998 and 2015. North Korean ambassador
to Czechia since 2016. Kim Pyong Il denitely left Prague in July 2019 and
returned to Pyongyang.
O Man Sok (unk.)
Diplomat at the North Korean mission in Singapore in the 1970s. North Korean
ambassador to Poland between 1979 and 1987.
Paek Nam Sun (1929–2003)
Graduated from Kim Il Sung University. Deputy chairman of the Foreign
Culture Liaison Committee and president of foreign language publishers in the
late 1960s. He served as Ambassador to Poland from 1974 till 1979. Minister of
Foreign Aairs from 1998 till 2007.
120
Pak Sang Am (unk.)
Counsel at the North Korean embassy in Warsaw in 1981. North Korean
ambassador to Poland between July 1987 and October 1989. Pak Sang Am was the
North Korean ambassador to Hungary for one month in March 1989. Between
February 1990 and December 1997, North Korean ambassador to Romania, and
roaming ambassador to Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Croatia. In 1997,
nominated for a few months as the new ambassador to Poland. In March 1998,
appointed as the North Korean ambassador to Hungary.
Ri Dok Hyon (unk.)
In the 1940s, Ri Dok Hyon was a member of the Kapsan faction, the communist
group led by Kim Il Sung. North Korean ambassador to Poland between 1962
and 1968.
Ri Gun (1946–…)
Graduate of the Faculty of German language of Kim Il Sung University. In the
mid-1970s, Director of the Department of Foreign Aairs of the People’s Armed
Forces. In the 1980s, employee at the North Korean embassy in Zimbabwe.
Between 1993 and 1996, carrier at the US department of the North Korean
MFA. Between 1997 and 2002, North Korean representative to the United
Nations. Between 2003 and 2006, jointly with his position as director of US
aairs at the North Korean MFA, Ri Gun was the North Korean representative
on the six-party nuclear talks. Since 2015, Ri Gun has been the North Korean
ambassador to Poland. He completed his mission in Poland in 2020. Ri Gun
was replaced by Choe Il.
4. BIOGRAMS OF POLISH AMBASSADORS TO NORTH
KOREA
Baturo, Ryszard (1933–1996)
Born in Vilnius (Lithuania). Graduate of the former School of Foreign Protocol.
PhD in Law obtained at the Institute of Law of the Polish Academy of Sciences
in 1968. Starting from 1975, Baturo worked at the Polish MFA. Director of
Archives of the Polish MFA between 1988 and 1991. Ambassador of Poland to
North Korea between 1991 and 1995. Died in 1996. Buried in Warsaw.
Białkowski, Tadeusz (1920–2010)
Born in Jaworów. Graduate of the Maritime Faculty of the High School of
Economics and of the Central Party School of Łódź. After World War II, he made
121
a career in the political structures of the Polish communist party. Ambassador of
Poland to North Korea between 1971 and 1978. Died in 2010.
Burgin, Juliusz (1906–1973)
Born in Otwock. Graduate of the Free Polish University. Communist family
background. Later, a Polish communist activist and high-ranking ocer in the
Ministry of Public Security (including director of the minister’s cabinet). Military
ocer. In 1947–1948, he was the editor-in-chief of Głos Ludu (‘e Voice of the
People’), he organised the rst Wyścig Pokoju (‘Peace Race’), a race. In the years
1948–1949, he was the director of the Cabinet of the Minister of Public Security,
then from 1949 to 1950, the head of the First Inspectorate of the Ministry of
National Defence. From February 1950 to July 1951, he was the rst ambassador
of the PRL to the People’s Republic of China, and from September 1950, he was
appointed the Polish ambassador to North Korea. From July 1951 to February
1957, he was the deputy minister of road and air transportation. From 1959 to
1963, the president of the publishing house Książka i Wiedza in Warsaw. Author
of the book Wielki Skok Chiny (‘Great Leap Forward’), which focused on the
campaign in China.³³ He was a co-founder and secretary-general of the Polish-
-Chinese Friendship Society and a member of the presidium of the Association of
Atheists and Freethinkers. Retired in June 1971. Died in 1973. Buried in Warsaw.
Korean medal awarded (unknown date).
Ciebień, Krzysztof (1955–…)
Born in Lublin. Graduate of the faculty of political science of the University of
Warsaw. Employed at the Polish MFA since 1981. Diplomat at the Polish embassy
in Beijing between 1986 and 1990. From 1992, he was the head of the Consulate
General in Hong Kong. Since 2000, deputy head of the Embassy of the Republic
of Poland in Bangkok. Since 2005, the deputy head of the Polish Embassy in
Beijing. In 2009–2014, he was the Consul General of the Republic of Poland
in Guangzhou. Nominated as the ambassador of Poland to North Korea in 2015.
He was removed from his position on January 31, 2019.
Dedo, Mieczysław (1931–2014)
Born in Żołków. Graduate of the Catholic University of Lublin. He also obtained
a degree in oriental studies from Jagiellonian University (1955). He obtained
an additional qualication at the Foreign Service College of the Higher School
of Social Sciences of the Central Committee of the PUWP in 1979. He was
a translator in the Foreign Division of the Central Committee of the PUWP.
³³ Juliusz Burgin, Wielki Skok Chiny, Warszawa: ‘Książka i Wiedza’, 1959.
122
From 1954 to 1955, he worked at the International Commission of Supervision
and Control in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, and then was the attaché of the
Embassy of Poland in Turkey (1956–1958), attaché, second and then rst secretary
of the Embassy in Iraq (1959–1962) and chargé d’aaires ad interim (1962–1963).
Between 1964 and 1967, he was the head of the Department of Cultural and
Scientic Cooperation of the Polish MFA. In 1967, he was nominated as the
Polish ambassador to Nigeria, then ambassador to Zaire (1979–1982). From 1986
to 1990, he served as the Polish ambassador to North Korea. He represented
Poland in North Korea again between 1996 and 2002. Died in 2014. Buried in
Jasło (Poland).
Dodin, Stanisław (unk.)
Polish ambassador to North Korea between 1950 and 1951 (Poland’s rst
diplomatic representative to North Korea). Diplomat at the Polish embassy in
Berlin in the 1950s.
Dryglas, Józef (1926–…)
Polish ambassador to North Korea between 1978 and 1981.
Iwaszkiewicz, Roman (1950–…)
Born in Jarosław. Graduate of the Military University of Technology (Warsaw)
in 1979 and from the Military Academy of Engineering and Aircraft of
Moscow in 1982. Later, he continued his career as a military ocer. Among
others, he was the deputy commander (head of logistics) of the Air Forces and Air
Defences in Warsaw in 1997, and the director of the Department of Armament and
Military Equipment with the Ministry of National Defence in Warsaw between
1997 and 1999. Later, he was deputy director of the Department of Armaments and
Resources of the International Military Sta of the IMS in Belgium until 2002.
Between 2002 and 2005, he obtained the position of director of the Armament
Policy Department with the Ministry of National Defence in Warsaw. Between
2005 and 2009, he served as the Polish ambassador to North Korea.
Kałuża, Wojciech (1948–2010)
Born in Ryczeń. Graduate in political science from the Moscow State Institute
of International Relations, where he obtained a doctoral degree. In 1971, he
started work at the Ministry of Foreign Aairs. He was, among others, head
of the Department for South and Southeast Asia. He had stints at consulates
in Guangzhou and Shanghai, the embassy in Beijing (1972–1982), including
during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. He was deputy ambassador to Australia
(1985–1989). In 1992–1998, he was delegated to the UN mission. From
123
September 6, 2001 to 2005, he was the ambassador to North Korea. He was
the rst ambassador after a six-year period of lowering representative oces
to the level of chargé d’aaires. Died in 2010 in ailand. Buried in Warsaw.
Kiryluk, Stanisław (1911–1997)
Born in Ostrówek. From 1924, he joined the communist youth. Soldier in the
Red Army during World War II. Student at a military academy in the USSR.
Member of the PUWP in 1948. Cadre in the Polish army between 1948 and
1950. From 1952 to 1959, he was ambassador of Poland to the PRC and, until
1954, to North Korea as a roaming ambassador. Between 1959 and 1963, rst
deputy director of the State Institute of International Aairs. From 1963 until
1969, ambassador to Iran. Died in 1997. Buried in Warsaw.
Napieraj, Władysław (1929–…)
In the mid-1950s, he was a diplomat at the Polish embassy in the USSR. From
1964 to 1968, the Polish ambassador to North Korea. In the 1970s, chargé d’aaires
at the Polish embassy in Moscow and then director of the rst Department of
the Polish MFA between 1980 and 1986. Polish ambassador to Bulgaria between
1986 and 1990.
Pękała, Jerzy (1929–…)
Born in Wieprz. Graduate of the Faculty of Political Economy of the University
of Nicholas Lomonosov in Moscow. Polish politician, mayor of Krakow, deputy
to the Sejm of the 6th parliament. Member of the PUWP. In 1973, nominated as
the president of the city of Krakow, where he led several urbanisation projects.
After dismissing the function of the chairman of the presidium of the National
Council of the city of Kraków, he was re-directed to diplomacy. Served as Poland’s
ambassador to North Korea between 1978 and 1981.
Pietrzyk, Edward (1949–2021)
Born in Rawa Mazowiecka. Graduate of the Military University of Technology
of Warsaw and the Military Academy of Artillery of Moscow, and later from the
General Sta Academy of Moscow. In 1988, he became the deputy commander of
Polish artillery and rocket forces of the Warsaw Military Area. In 1990, nominated
as deputy chief of operations of the General Sta. Between 1998 and 2000, he
was the deputy commander of the Multinational Corps North East composed
of forces of Poland, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania,
and Slovakia. Between 2000 and September 2006, he was the commander of the
Land Forces of Poland. In 2000, he graduated from the National War College
in Washington. Between April 2007 and January 2010, Pietrzyk served as Polish
124
ambassador to Iraq. From January 2010 to 2014, he served as the ambassador of
Poland to North Korea.
Siedlecki, Jerzy (1907–1996)
Born in Warsaw. Member of the Communist Party of Western Ukraine in the
1930s. Member of the PUWP starting in the 1940s. Between 1944 and 1954, he
worked as an ocer with Polish Secret Policy. Between August 1953 and February
1954, member of the Polish delegation to the NNRC. Polish ambassador to North
Korea between 1954 and 1959. Siedlecki cooperated with Prof. Halina Ogarek-
-Czoj, making pictures for her book Pradzieje i legendy Korei (‘Korean Prehistory
and Legends’). Died in 1996. Buried in Warsaw.
Tomaszewski, Leon (unk.)
Served at the General Consulate to Kiev between 1975 and 1978. Polish ambassador
to North Korea between 1981 and 1985.
5. LIST OF AGREEMENTS SIGNED BETWEEN POLAND
AND NORTH KOREA
Type of agreement
(original title in Polish)
Type of agreement
(English translation)
Signing
date
Implemen-
tation date Issue
Umowa między Rządem
Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej
Ludowej a Rządem
Koreańskiej Republiki
Ludowo-Demokratycznej
w sprawie utworzenia
szpitalu Polskiego
Czerwonego Krzyża
w Korei Północnej.
Agreement between
the Government of
the People’s Republic
of Poland and the
Government of the
Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea on
the establishment of the
Polish Red Cross hospital
in North Korea.
[Signed in Warsaw]
8 May 1953 8 May 1953 Medical
Assistance
Umowa między Rządem
Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej
Ludowej a Rządem
Koreańskiej Republiki
Ludowo-Demokratycznej
w sprawie transportu
poczty i komunikacji.
Agreement between
the Government of
the People’s Republic
of Poland and the
Government of the
Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea on
postal transportation and
communication.
[Signed in Warsaw]
30 May
1955
30 May
1955
Economy
125
Type of agreement
(original title in Polish)
Type of agreement
(English translation)
Signing
date
Implemen-
tation date Issue
Umowa o współpracy
kulturalnej między
Rządem Polskiej
Rzeczypospolitej
Ludowej a Rządem
Koreańskiej Republiki
Ludowo-Demokratycznej.
Agreement on cultural
cooperation between
the Government of the
Polish People’s Republic
and the Government of
the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea.
[Signed in Pyongyang]
11 May
1956
31 January
1957
Culture
Porozumienie
o współpracy naukowo-
-technicznej zawarte
między Rządem
Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej
Ludowej a Rządem
Koreańskiej Republiki
Ludowo-Demokratycznej.
Agreement on scientic
and technical cooperation
concluded between
the Government of the
Polish People’s Republic
and the Government of
the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea.
[Signed in Pyongyang]
17 April
1957
17 April
1957
Technology
Porozumienie między
Rządami PRL i KRLD
o wzajemnym przyznaniu
praw do użytkowania
działek przeznaczonych
pod budowę budynków
Ambasad.
Agreement between the
Governments of the PRL
and the DPRK on the
mutual granting of rights
to use plots of land
intended for the
construction of embassies
10 May
1966
10 May
1966
Diplomacy
Umowa między Rządem
Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej
Ludowej a Rządem
Koreańskiej Republiki
Ludowo-Demokratycznej
w sprawie utworzenia
Komisji Konsultacyjnej ds.
kwestii naukowo-
-technicznych
i ekonomicznych.
Agreement between
the Government of
the People’s Republic
of Poland and the
Government of the
Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea on the
establishment of
a Consultative
Commission for
Economic and Scientic-
-Technical Aairs.
[Signed in Warsaw]
4 October
1972
12
February
1973
Trade
Umowa między Rządem
PRL a Rządem KRLD
o komunikacji lotniczej.
Agreement between the
Government of the PRL
and the Government
of the DPRK on air
transportation
[Signed in Warsaw]
28 August
1978
27 January
1979
Air
Transpor-
tation
126
Type of agreement
(original title in Polish)
Type of agreement
(English translation)
Signing
date
Implemen-
tation date Issue
Konwencja Konsularna
między Polską
Rzeczpospolitą Ludową
a Koreańską Republiką
Ludowo-Demokratyczną.
Consular convention
between the People’s
Republic of Poland and
the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea.
[Signed in Warsaw]
3 August
1983
30 June
1983
Diplomacy
Umowa między Polską
Rzeczpospolitą Ludową
a Koreańską Republiką
Ludowo-Demokratyczną
o współpracy w produkcji
śmigłowców MI-2 w Korei
Północnej.
Protocol between the
Government of the Polish
People’s Republic and
the Government of the
Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea on
the supply of goods and
payments related to the
production of MI-2
helicopters
[Signed in Warsaw]
27 March
1986
27 March
1986
Military
Umowa między Polską
Rzeczpospolitą Ludową
a Koreańską Republiką
Ludowo-Demokratyczną
o pomocy prawnej
w sprawach cywilnych,
rodzinnych i karnych.
Agreement between the
Polish People’s Republic
and the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea
on legal assistance in civil,
family and criminal cases
[Signed in Pyongyang]
28
September
1986
20 June
1987
Law
Umowa o handlu
i płatnościach między
rządem Rzeczypospolitej
Polskiej a KRLD.
Trade and Payment
Agreement between
the Government of the
Republic of Poland and
the DPRK.
[Signed in Warsaw]
12 May
1992
3 June
1994
Trade
Umowa między Rządem
RP a Rządem KRLD
o współpracy w dziedzinie
rybołówstwa.
Agreement between
the Government of the
Republic of Poland and of
the DPRK on co-
-operation in the shery
industry.
[Signed in Pyongyang]
2 October
1997
3 February
1998
Trade
127
Type of agreement
(original title in Polish)
Type of agreement
(English translation)
Signing
date
Implemen-
tation date Issue
Protokół między Rządem
Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej
a Rządem Koreańskiej
Republiki Ludowo-
-Demokratycznej
w sprawie obowiązywania
dwustronnych umów
międzynarodowych
w stosunkach między
Rzeczpospolitą Polską
a Koreańską Republiką
Ludowo-Demokratyczną.
Protocol between the
Government of the
Republic of Poland and
North Korea on validity
of bilateral international
agreements in relations
between the Republic
of Poland and the
Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea.
[Signed in Pyongyang]
1 February
2007
27
February
2014
Diplomacy
Umowa między Rządem
Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej
a Rządem Koreańskiej
Republiki Ludowo-
-Demokratycznej
w sprawie uregulowania
zadłużenia Koreańskiej
Republiki Ludowo-
-Demokratycznej wobec
Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej.
Agreement between
the Government of the
Republic of Poland
and the Government
of the Democratic
People’s Republic of
Korea regarding the
settlement of the debt of
the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea to the
Republic of Poland.
[Signed in Warsaw]
1 June 2011 1 June 2011 Debt
Protokół między Rządem
Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej
a Rządem Koreańskiej
Republiki Ludowo-
-Demokratycznej
w sprawie obowiązywania
dwustronnych umów
międzynarodowych
w stosunkach między
Rzeczpospolitą Polską
a Koreańską Republiką
Ludowo-Demokratyczną.
Protocol between the
Government of
the Republic of Poland
and North Korea on
validity of bilateral
international agreements
in relations between the
Republic of Poland and
the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea.
[Signed in Pyongyang]
15 June
2015
– Diplomacy
128
Type of agreement
(original title in Polish)
Type of agreement
(English translation)
Signing
date
Implemen-
tation date Issue
Umowa między Rządem
Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej
a Rządem Koreańskiej
Republiki Ludowo-
-Demokratycznej
o współpracy w dziedzinie
nauki, edukacji i kultury.
Agreement between
the Government of the
Republic of Poland and
the Government of the
Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea for
cooperation in the eld
of science, education and
culture.
[Signed in Pyongyang]
17 June
2015
– Culture
Source: Prepared by the author based on Polish MFA information.
6. BIOGRAMS OF POLISH RESEARCHERS FOCUSED
ON NORTH KOREAN STUDIES
Burdelski, Marceli (1952–…)
Assistant professor at the National Defence University of Warsaw. Graduate
of the Faculty of Journalism and Political Science at the University of Warsaw.
Consultant and former adviser to the minister of foreign aairs. Regularly invited to
events held at the North Korean embassy in Warsaw. Burdelski travels regularly
to North Korea. Author of three books related to the Korean Peninsula.
Dziak, Waldemar (1952–2019)
Professor at the Institute of Political Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
Graduate of the Faculty of Journalism and Political Science at the University of
Warsaw. In 2004, his political biography of Kim Jong Il made him permanently
forbidden to enter North Korea. Author of eleven books related to the Korean
Peninsula. Died in 2019. Buried in Warsaw.
Levi, Nicolas (1981–…)
Assistant professor at the Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures of
the Polish Academy of Sciences. Graduate of the Institute of Political Studies
of the Polish Academy of Sciences. A graduate of the Korean Unication for
Junior International Experts Expert Programme conducted by the South Korean
Ministry of Unication. Member of the management board of the Boym Institute.
Consultant for private and governmental organisations. He is the editor-in-
-chief of Acta Asiatica Varsoviensia. Author of seven books related to the Korean
Peninsula.
129
7. SELECTED PRINTED NORTH KOREAN PUBLICATIONS TRANSLATED INTO POLISH
a-Books
Publica-
tion Year
Author (origi-
nal spelling) Title in Polish Translated title in
English
Additional
remark(s)
Publishing
House
City of
Publication Pages Subject
1 1967 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Dzieła wybrane. 1 Selected works. 1 – Book
– First edition FLPH Pyongyang 732 Kim Il
Sung’s
biography
2 1969 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Koreańska
Republika Ludowo-
-Demokratyczna –
sztandarem wolności
i niepodległości
naszego narodu,
potężnym orężem
w budownictwie
socjalizmu
i komunizmu
Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea
– the banner of our
nation’s freedom
and independence,
a powerful weapon
in the construction
of socialism and
communism
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 106 Socialism
3 1970 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Jeszcze
konsekwentniej
wcielimy w życie
rewolucyjnego ducha
samodzielności,
niezależności
i samoobrony
we wszystkich
dziedzinach
działalności
państwowej
We will implement
the revolutionary
spirit of self-reliance,
independence, and
self-defence, in
all areas of state
activity even more
consistently
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 93 North
Korean
ideology
130
Publica-
tion Year
Author (origi-
nal spelling) Title in Polish Translated title in
English
Additional
remark(s)
Publishing
House
City of
Publication Pages Subject
4 1970 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Obecna sytuacja
i zadania naszej
partii: referat
wygłoszony na
konferencji Partii
Pracy Korei
5 października 1966
roku
e current situation
and tasks of our
party: a paper
delivered at the
conference of the
Workers’ Party of
Korea on 5 October
1966
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 133 WPK
5 1970 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) O budownictwie
socjalistycznym
i rewolucji południo-
wo-koreańskiej
w KRL-D
On socialist
construction and
the South Korean
revolution in the
DPRK
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 77 Socialism
6 1970 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Odpowiedzi na
pytania zadane
przez dziennikarzy
zagranicznych
Answers to questions
asked by foreign
journalists
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 85 International
aairs
7 1970 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) O niektórych
teoretycznych
problemach
socialistycznej
ekonomiki
About some
theoretical
problems of socialist
economics
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 38 North
Korea’s
economy
8 1970 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Wielki
antyimperialistyczny
czyn rewolucyjny
narodów Azji, Afryki
i ameryki Łacińskiej
jest niezwyciężony
e great anti-
imperialist
revolutionary act of
the peoples of Asia,
Africa, and Latin
America is invincible
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 22 International
aairs
9 1970 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Wzmożemy walkę
antyimperialistyczną
i antyamerykańską
We will intensify
the anti-imperialist
and anti-American
struggle
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 14 International
aairs
10 1971 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Ideowe wychowanie
młodzieży,
podstawowe
zadania organizacji
Demokratycznego
Związku Młodzieży:
przemówienie
na III zjeździe
Demokratycznego
Związku Młodzieży
Korei Północnej
13 listopada 1948 r.
Ideological
upbringing of
young people,
the basic tasks of
organising the
Democratic Youth
Union: speech at
the ird Congress
of the Democratic
Youth Union of
North Korea on 13
November 1948.
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 15 North
Korean
ideology
11 1971 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) O dalszym
wzmożeniu
wychowania
klasowego wśród
członków partii:
referat na plenum
KC Partii Pracy
Korei, 1 kwietnia
1955 roku
On further
intensication of
class education
among party
members: paper at
the Plenum of the
CC of the Workers’
Party of Korea on 1
April 1955
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 35 WPK
131
Publica-
tion Year
Author (origi-
nal spelling) Title in Polish Translated title in
English
Additional
remark(s)
Publishing
House
City of
Publication Pages Subject
4 1970 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Obecna sytuacja
i zadania naszej
partii: referat
wygłoszony na
konferencji Partii
Pracy Korei
5 października 1966
roku
e current situation
and tasks of our
party: a paper
delivered at the
conference of the
Workers’ Party of
Korea on 5 October
1966
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 133 WPK
5 1970 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) O budownictwie
socjalistycznym
i rewolucji południo-
wo-koreańskiej
w KRL-D
On socialist
construction and
the South Korean
revolution in the
DPRK
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 77 Socialism
6 1970 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Odpowiedzi na
pytania zadane
przez dziennikarzy
zagranicznych
Answers to questions
asked by foreign
journalists
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 85 International
aairs
7 1970 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) O niektórych
teoretycznych
problemach
socialistycznej
ekonomiki
About some
theoretical
problems of socialist
economics
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 38 North
Korea’s
economy
8 1970 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Wielki
antyimperialistyczny
czyn rewolucyjny
narodów Azji, Afryki
i ameryki Łacińskiej
jest niezwyciężony
e great anti-
imperialist
revolutionary act of
the peoples of Asia,
Africa, and Latin
America is invincible
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 22 International
aairs
9 1970 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Wzmożemy walkę
antyimperialistyczną
i antyamerykańską
We will intensify
the anti-imperialist
and anti-American
struggle
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 14 International
aairs
10 1971 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Ideowe wychowanie
młodzieży,
podstawowe
zadania organizacji
Demokratycznego
Związku Młodzieży:
przemówienie
na III zjeździe
Demokratycznego
Związku Młodzieży
Korei Północnej
13 listopada 1948 r.
Ideological
upbringing of
young people,
the basic tasks of
organising the
Democratic Youth
Union: speech at
the ird Congress
of the Democratic
Youth Union of
North Korea on 13
November 1948.
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 15 North
Korean
ideology
11 1971 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) O dalszym
wzmożeniu
wychowania
klasowego wśród
członków partii:
referat na plenum
KC Partii Pracy
Korei, 1 kwietnia
1955 roku
On further
intensication of
class education
among party
members: paper at
the Plenum of the
CC of the Workers’
Party of Korea on 1
April 1955
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 35 WPK
132
Publica-
tion Year
Author (origi-
nal spelling) Title in Polish Translated title in
English
Additional
remark(s)
Publishing
House
City of
Publication Pages Subject
12 1971 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) O polityce
naszej partii
ukierunkowanej
na dalszy rozwój
rolnictwa:
przemówienie
końcowe na Plenum
KC Partii Pracy
Korei 3 listopada
1954 roku
On our party’s
policy aimed at
further agricultural
development: nal
speech at the Plenum
of the CC of the
Workers’ Party of
Korea on
3 November 1954
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 39 North
Korea’s
economy
13 1971 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) O problemach
okresu przejściowego
od kapitalizmu
do socjalizmu
i dyktatury
proletariatu:
przemówienie
do pracowników
prowadzących
działalność partyjno-
-ideologiczną,
25 maja 1967
On the problems of
the transition period
from capitalism to
socialism and the
dictatorship of the
proletariat:
a speech to
employees engaged
in party and
ideological activities
on 25 May 1967
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 17 Socialism
14 1971 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) O wykorzenieniu
dogmatyzmu
i formalizmu i
ustanowieniu
Dżucze w pracy
ideologicznej:
przemówienie
do pracowników
propagandy i agitacji
partyjnej 28 grudnia
1955 roku
On the eradication
of dogmatism and
formalism and the
establishment of
Juche in ideological
work: a speech to
the employees of
propaganda and
party agitation on
28 December 1955
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 40 North
Korea’s
ideology
15 1971 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Referat
sprawozdawczy
Komitetu
Centralnego Partii
Pracy Korei na V
zjazd partii,
2 listopada 1970 r.
Report of the
Central Committee
of the Workers’ Party
of Korea for the
5th Party Congress
on 2 November 1970
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 173 WPK
16 1971 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Tezy w sprawie
socjalistycznej
kwestii agrarnej
w naszym kraju:
przyjęte na VIII
plenum KC Partii
Pracy Korei czwartej
kadencji 25 lutego
1964 r.
eses on the
socialist agrarian
question in our
country: adopted at
the 4th term of the
8th Plenum of the
CC of the Workers’
Party of Korea on
25 February 1964
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 72 North
Korea’s
economy
17 1971 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Triumfują wielkie
idee Lenina o
narodowo-
-wyzwoleńczej
walce w koloniach
Wschodu: artykuł
opublikowany
z okazji 100-lecia
urodzin W. I. Lenina
w organie KC KPZR
Prawdzie z dnia
16 kwietnia 1970 r.
Lenin’s great ideas
about national
liberation struggle
in the colonies of
the East triumph: an
article published on
the occasion of the
100th anniversary
of the birth of V.I.
Lenin in the CC of
the CPSU Pravda of
16 April 1970
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 17 Marxism
133
Publica-
tion Year
Author (origi-
nal spelling) Title in Polish Translated title in
English
Additional
remark(s)
Publishing
House
City of
Publication Pages Subject
12 1971 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) O polityce
naszej partii
ukierunkowanej
na dalszy rozwój
rolnictwa:
przemówienie
końcowe na Plenum
KC Partii Pracy
Korei 3 listopada
1954 roku
On our party’s
policy aimed at
further agricultural
development: nal
speech at the Plenum
of the CC of the
Workers’ Party of
Korea on
3 November 1954
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 39 North
Korea’s
economy
13 1971 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) O problemach
okresu przejściowego
od kapitalizmu
do socjalizmu
i dyktatury
proletariatu:
przemówienie
do pracowników
prowadzących
działalność partyjno-
-ideologiczną,
25 maja 1967
On the problems of
the transition period
from capitalism to
socialism and the
dictatorship of the
proletariat:
a speech to
employees engaged
in party and
ideological activities
on 25 May 1967
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 17 Socialism
14 1971 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) O wykorzenieniu
dogmatyzmu
i formalizmu i
ustanowieniu
Dżucze w pracy
ideologicznej:
przemówienie
do pracowników
propagandy i agitacji
partyjnej 28 grudnia
1955 roku
On the eradication
of dogmatism and
formalism and the
establishment of
Juche in ideological
work: a speech to
the employees of
propaganda and
party agitation on
28 December 1955
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 40 North
Korea’s
ideology
15 1971 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Referat
sprawozdawczy
Komitetu
Centralnego Partii
Pracy Korei na V
zjazd partii,
2 listopada 1970 r.
Report of the
Central Committee
of the Workers’ Party
of Korea for the
5th Party Congress
on 2 November 1970
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 173 WPK
16 1971 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Tezy w sprawie
socjalistycznej
kwestii agrarnej
w naszym kraju:
przyjęte na VIII
plenum KC Partii
Pracy Korei czwartej
kadencji 25 lutego
1964 r.
eses on the
socialist agrarian
question in our
country: adopted at
the 4th term of the
8th Plenum of the
CC of the Workers’
Party of Korea on
25 February 1964
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 72 North
Korea’s
economy
17 1971 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Triumfują wielkie
idee Lenina o
narodowo-
-wyzwoleńczej
walce w koloniach
Wschodu: artykuł
opublikowany
z okazji 100-lecia
urodzin W. I. Lenina
w organie KC KPZR
Prawdzie z dnia
16 kwietnia 1970 r.
Lenin’s great ideas
about national
liberation struggle
in the colonies of
the East triumph: an
article published on
the occasion of the
100th anniversary
of the birth of V.I.
Lenin in the CC of
the CPSU Pravda of
16 April 1970
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 17 Marxism
134
Publica-
tion Year
Author (origi-
nal spelling) Title in Polish Translated title in
English
Additional
remark(s)
Publishing
House
City of
Publication Pages Subject
18 1971 Coj Hen, Pak
Du Kiong Wspomnienia
antyjapońskich
partyzantów
Memories of anti-
-Japanese partisans – Book Institute of
the History
of the Party
of the CC
WPK
Pyongyang 134 North
Korean
history
19 1971 – Zarys historii
działalności
rewolucyjnej
towarzysza Kim Ir
Sena
Outline of
the history of
revolutionary activity
of comrade Kim Il
Sung
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 277 Kim Il Sung
biography
20 1972 – O aktualnych
wytycznych
politycznych
i ekonomicznych
Koreańskiej
Republiki Ludowo-
-Demokratycznej
i o niektórych
problemach
międzynarodowych
On current political
and economic
guidelines of
the Democratic
People’s Republic
of Korea and on
some international
problems
– Newsletter North
Korean
Embassy in
Poland
Warsaw 30 International
aairs
21 1972 – Towarzysz Kim
Ir Sen, wielki
wódz prowadzący
rewolucję
i budownictwo do
zwycięstwa
Comrade Kim Il
Sung, a great leader
leading revolution
and construction to
victory
– Special
newsletter to
celebrate the 60th
anniversary of the
birth of Kim Il
Sung
North
Korean
Embassy in
Poland
Warsaw 34 Kim Il Sung
biography
22 1973 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Dzieła wybrane. 1 Selected works. 1 – Book
– Second edition FLPH Pyongyang 732 Kim Il Sung
biography
23 1973 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Jeszcze bardziej
umocnimy ustrój
socjalistyczny
w naszym kraju:
przemówienie na
I Sesji Najwyższego
Zgromadzenia
Ludowego KRL-D V
kadencji, 25 grudnia
1972 roku
We will further
strengthen the
socialist system in
our country: speech
at the First Session
of the 5th term of
the Supreme People’s
Assembly of the
DPRK, on
25 December 1972
– Book – Warsaw 66 Socialism
24 1973 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Konsekwentnie
rozgromimy
agresję i ingerencję
imperializmu
amerykańskiego
w Azji
We will consistently
crush the aggression
and interference
of American
imperialism in Asia
– North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Pyongyang 15 International
aairs
25 1973 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) O aktualnych
wytycznych
politycznych
i ekonomicznych
KRL-D i niektórych
problemach
miedzynarodowych
On current political
and economic
guidelines of the
DPRK and some
international
problems
– Book North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Warsaw 30 International
aairs
26 1973 Kim Il Sung Przemówienie
noworoczne
towarzysza Kim Ir
Sena
New Year’s speech of
the comrade Kim Il
Sung
– Book North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Warsaw 9 North
Korean
ideology
27 1973 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Zapobiegamy
rozbiciu narodu,
zjednoczymy
Ojczyznę
We will prevent the
nation from being
broken up, we will
unite the homeland
– Book North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Warsaw 11 Korean
Unication
135
Publica-
tion Year
Author (origi-
nal spelling) Title in Polish Translated title in
English
Additional
remark(s)
Publishing
House
City of
Publication Pages Subject
18 1971 Coj Hen, Pak
Du Kiong Wspomnienia
antyjapońskich
partyzantów
Memories of anti-
-Japanese partisans – Book Institute of
the History
of the Party
of the CC
WPK
Pyongyang 134 North
Korean
history
19 1971 – Zarys historii
działalności
rewolucyjnej
towarzysza Kim Ir
Sena
Outline of
the history of
revolutionary activity
of comrade Kim Il
Sung
– Book FLPH Pyongyang 277 Kim Il Sung
biography
20 1972 – O aktualnych
wytycznych
politycznych
i ekonomicznych
Koreańskiej
Republiki Ludowo-
-Demokratycznej
i o niektórych
problemach
międzynarodowych
On current political
and economic
guidelines of
the Democratic
People’s Republic
of Korea and on
some international
problems
– Newsletter North
Korean
Embassy in
Poland
Warsaw 30 International
aairs
21 1972 – Towarzysz Kim
Ir Sen, wielki
wódz prowadzący
rewolucję
i budownictwo do
zwycięstwa
Comrade Kim Il
Sung, a great leader
leading revolution
and construction to
victory
– Special
newsletter to
celebrate the 60th
anniversary of the
birth of Kim Il
Sung
North
Korean
Embassy in
Poland
Warsaw 34 Kim Il Sung
biography
22 1973 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Dzieła wybrane. 1 Selected works. 1 – Book
– Second edition FLPH Pyongyang 732 Kim Il Sung
biography
23 1973 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Jeszcze bardziej
umocnimy ustrój
socjalistyczny
w naszym kraju:
przemówienie na
I Sesji Najwyższego
Zgromadzenia
Ludowego KRL-D V
kadencji, 25 grudnia
1972 roku
We will further
strengthen the
socialist system in
our country: speech
at the First Session
of the 5th term of
the Supreme People’s
Assembly of the
DPRK, on
25 December 1972
– Book – Warsaw 66 Socialism
24 1973 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Konsekwentnie
rozgromimy
agresję i ingerencję
imperializmu
amerykańskiego
w Azji
We will consistently
crush the aggression
and interference
of American
imperialism in Asia
– North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Pyongyang 15 International
aairs
25 1973 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) O aktualnych
wytycznych
politycznych
i ekonomicznych
KRL-D i niektórych
problemach
miedzynarodowych
On current political
and economic
guidelines of the
DPRK and some
international
problems
– Book North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Warsaw 30 International
aairs
26 1973 Kim Il Sung Przemówienie
noworoczne
towarzysza Kim Ir
Sena
New Year’s speech of
the comrade Kim Il
Sung
– Book North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Warsaw 9 North
Korean
ideology
27 1973 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Zapobiegamy
rozbiciu narodu,
zjednoczymy
Ojczyznę
We will prevent the
nation from being
broken up, we will
unite the homeland
– Book North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Warsaw 11 Korean
Unication
136
Publica-
tion Year
Author (origi-
nal spelling) Title in Polish Translated title in
English
Additional
remark(s)
Publishing
House
City of
Publication Pages Subject
28 1974 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Główne sprawy w
pracy partyjnej –
wychowywać,
reedukować
i zespalać wszystkich
ludzi: przemówienie
na ogólnym zebraniu
organizacji partyjnej
wsi Richenri
w dzielnicy Syncha
miasta Phenian,
23 stycznia 1961 r.
e main issues in
the party’s work –
educate, re-educate
and unite all people:
a speech at a general
meeting of the party
organisation of the
village of Richenri
in the Syncha
district of the city of
Pyongyang, on
23 January 1961
– FLPH Pyongyang 40 WPK
29 1974 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Niezawodnie
odniesie zwycięstwo
wielkie dzieło
rewolucyjne
narodów Trzeciego
Świata kroczących
naprzód wznosząc
wysoko sztandar
samodzielności
e great
revolutionary work
of the nations of the
ird World, moving
forward raising
high the banner of
independence, will
win without fail
– North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Pyongyang 18 International
aairs
30 1974 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Odpowiedzi na
pytania delegacji
Narodowego
Stowarzyszenia
Dziennikarzy
Senegalu: 21 sierpnia
1974 r.
Answers to questions
from the Senegalese
National Association
of Journalists:
21 August 1974
– North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Pyongyang 15 International
aairs
31 1974 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Odpowiedzi na
pytania redaktora
naczelnego
jugosłowiańskiego
dziennika Wieczorne
Nowości 22 lutego
1974 roku
Answers to questions
from the editor-in-
-chief of the
Yugoslav daily
newspaper Vecerne
Vesti on 22 February
1974
– North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Pyongyang 15 International
aairs
32 1974 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Odpowiedzi na
pytanie generalnego
sekretarza
Towarzystwa
Peruwiańsko-
-Koreańskiej
Przyjaźni i Łączności
Kulturalnej
Answers to
question from the
general secretary
of the Peruvian-
-Korean Friendship
and Cultural
Communication
Society
– North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Pyongyang 20 International
aairs
33 1974 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) O dalszym
zwiększeniu roli
nauk społecznych
zgodnie z obecnymi
wymogami naszej
rewolucji: rozmowa
z pracownikami
wydziału nauki
i oświaty KC Partii
Pracy Korei,
30 grudnia 1963 r.
On further
enhancing the role
of social sciences in
accordance with the
current requirements
of our revolution:
conversation with
employees of
the department
of science and
education of the CC
of the Workers’ Party
of Korea, on
30 December 1963
– FLPH Pyongyang 12 WPK
137
Publica-
tion Year
Author (origi-
nal spelling) Title in Polish Translated title in
English
Additional
remark(s)
Publishing
House
City of
Publication Pages Subject
28 1974 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Główne sprawy w
pracy partyjnej –
wychowywać,
reedukować
i zespalać wszystkich
ludzi: przemówienie
na ogólnym zebraniu
organizacji partyjnej
wsi Richenri
w dzielnicy Syncha
miasta Phenian,
23 stycznia 1961 r.
e main issues in
the party’s work –
educate, re-educate
and unite all people:
a speech at a general
meeting of the party
organisation of the
village of Richenri
in the Syncha
district of the city of
Pyongyang, on
23 January 1961
– FLPH Pyongyang 40 WPK
29 1974 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Niezawodnie
odniesie zwycięstwo
wielkie dzieło
rewolucyjne
narodów Trzeciego
Świata kroczących
naprzód wznosząc
wysoko sztandar
samodzielności
e great
revolutionary work
of the nations of the
ird World, moving
forward raising
high the banner of
independence, will
win without fail
– North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Pyongyang 18 International
aairs
30 1974 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Odpowiedzi na
pytania delegacji
Narodowego
Stowarzyszenia
Dziennikarzy
Senegalu: 21 sierpnia
1974 r.
Answers to questions
from the Senegalese
National Association
of Journalists:
21 August 1974
– North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Pyongyang 15 International
aairs
31 1974 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Odpowiedzi na
pytania redaktora
naczelnego
jugosłowiańskiego
dziennika Wieczorne
Nowości 22 lutego
1974 roku
Answers to questions
from the editor-in-
-chief of the
Yugoslav daily
newspaper Vecerne
Vesti on 22 February
1974
– North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Pyongyang 15 International
aairs
32 1974 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Odpowiedzi na
pytanie generalnego
sekretarza
Towarzystwa
Peruwiańsko-
-Koreańskiej
Przyjaźni i Łączności
Kulturalnej
Answers to
question from the
general secretary
of the Peruvian-
-Korean Friendship
and Cultural
Communication
Society
– North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Pyongyang 20 International
aairs
33 1974 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) O dalszym
zwiększeniu roli
nauk społecznych
zgodnie z obecnymi
wymogami naszej
rewolucji: rozmowa
z pracownikami
wydziału nauki
i oświaty KC Partii
Pracy Korei,
30 grudnia 1963 r.
On further
enhancing the role
of social sciences in
accordance with the
current requirements
of our revolution:
conversation with
employees of
the department
of science and
education of the CC
of the Workers’ Party
of Korea, on
30 December 1963
– FLPH Pyongyang 12 WPK
138
Publica-
tion Year
Author (origi-
nal spelling) Title in Polish Translated title in
English
Additional
remark(s)
Publishing
House
City of
Publication Pages Subject
34 1974 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) O osiągnięciu
nowego ożywienia
w budownictwie
gospodarczym
socjalizmu:
przemówienie na
Ogólnokrajowym
Zjeździe
Przemysłowym
7 marca 1974 r.
On achieving
a new recovery
in the economic
construction of
socialism: a speech
at the National
Industrial Congress
on 7 March 1974
– FLPH Pyongyang 39 North
Korea’s
economy
35 1974 Kim Il Sung Osiągniemy dalsze
utrwalenie i rozwój
wielkich zdobyczy
w budownictwie
wsi socjalistycznej:
przemówienie na
Ogólnokrajowym
Zjeździe Rolniczym
10 stycznia 1974 r.
We will achieve
further consolidation
and the development
of great gains in
the construction
of the socialist
village: a speech
at the National
Agricultural
Congress on
10 January 1974
– FLPH Pyongyang 40 Socialism
36 1974 Kim Il Sung Osiągniemy poprzez
walkę zjednoczenie
ojczyzny i pokój na
całym świecie
We will achieve
unication and
peace throughout
the world through
struggle
– North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Warsaw 15 International
aairs
37 1974 Kim Il Sung O stworzeniu
rewolucyjnej
literatury i sztuki:
wystąpienie na
spotkaniu
z pracownikami
w dziedzinie
literatury i sztuki
7 listopada 1964
On the creation
of revolutionary
literature and art: a
speech at a meeting
with employees in
the eld of literature
and art on 7
November 1964
– FLPH Pyongyang 28 North
Korean
ideology
38 1974 Kim Il Sung O wychowaniu
komunistycznym:
wystąpienie na
Ogólnokrajowym
Seminarium dla
agitatorów miejskich
i państwowych
komitetów
partyjnych,
20 listopada 1958 r.
On communist
education: a speech
at the National
Seminar for city
agitators and state
party committees,
20 November 1958.
– FLPH Pyongyang 38 WPK
39 1974 Kim Il Sung Przemówienie
noworoczne New Year’s speech – North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Warsaw 14 Other texts
40 1974 Kim Il Sung Zadania komunistów
koreańskich: artykuł
opublikowany
w organie
Koreańskiej Armii
Ludowo-
-Rewolucyjnej
Sogwan 10 listopada
1937
Tasks of the Korean
communists: article
published in Sogwan,
the organ of the
Korean People’s
Revolutionary Army,
10 November 1937
– FLPH Pyongyang 58 North
Korean
ideology
139
Publica-
tion Year
Author (origi-
nal spelling) Title in Polish Translated title in
English
Additional
remark(s)
Publishing
House
City of
Publication Pages Subject
34 1974 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) O osiągnięciu
nowego ożywienia
w budownictwie
gospodarczym
socjalizmu:
przemówienie na
Ogólnokrajowym
Zjeździe
Przemysłowym
7 marca 1974 r.
On achieving
a new recovery
in the economic
construction of
socialism: a speech
at the National
Industrial Congress
on 7 March 1974
– FLPH Pyongyang 39 North
Korea’s
economy
35 1974 Kim Il Sung Osiągniemy dalsze
utrwalenie i rozwój
wielkich zdobyczy
w budownictwie
wsi socjalistycznej:
przemówienie na
Ogólnokrajowym
Zjeździe Rolniczym
10 stycznia 1974 r.
We will achieve
further consolidation
and the development
of great gains in
the construction
of the socialist
village: a speech
at the National
Agricultural
Congress on
10 January 1974
– FLPH Pyongyang 40 Socialism
36 1974 Kim Il Sung Osiągniemy poprzez
walkę zjednoczenie
ojczyzny i pokój na
całym świecie
We will achieve
unication and
peace throughout
the world through
struggle
– North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Warsaw 15 International
aairs
37 1974 Kim Il Sung O stworzeniu
rewolucyjnej
literatury i sztuki:
wystąpienie na
spotkaniu
z pracownikami
w dziedzinie
literatury i sztuki
7 listopada 1964
On the creation
of revolutionary
literature and art: a
speech at a meeting
with employees in
the eld of literature
and art on 7
November 1964
– FLPH Pyongyang 28 North
Korean
ideology
38 1974 Kim Il Sung O wychowaniu
komunistycznym:
wystąpienie na
Ogólnokrajowym
Seminarium dla
agitatorów miejskich
i państwowych
komitetów
partyjnych,
20 listopada 1958 r.
On communist
education: a speech
at the National
Seminar for city
agitators and state
party committees,
20 November 1958.
– FLPH Pyongyang 38 WPK
39 1974 Kim Il Sung Przemówienie
noworoczne New Year’s speech – North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Warsaw 14 Other texts
40 1974 Kim Il Sung Zadania komunistów
koreańskich: artykuł
opublikowany
w organie
Koreańskiej Armii
Ludowo-
-Rewolucyjnej
Sogwan 10 listopada
1937
Tasks of the Korean
communists: article
published in Sogwan,
the organ of the
Korean People’s
Revolutionary Army,
10 November 1937
– FLPH Pyongyang 58 North
Korean
ideology
140
Publica-
tion Year
Author (origi-
nal spelling) Title in Polish Translated title in
English
Additional
remark(s)
Publishing
House
City of
Publication Pages Subject
41 1975 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Dzieła wybrane. 2 Selected works. 2 – FLPH Pyongyang 653 Kim Il Sung
biography
42 1975 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Dzieła wybrane. 3 Selected works. 3 – FLPH Pyongyang 660 Kim Il Sung
biography
43 1975 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Odpowiedzi na
pytania dziennikarzy
zagranicznych
Answers to questions
from foreign
journalists
– FLPH Pyongyang 183 International
aairs
44 1975 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) O ideach Dżucze
i zagadnieniu
zjednoczenia Korei
On Juche ideas
and the issue of the
unication of Korea
– FLPH Pyongyang 127 Korean
Unication
45 1975 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Wszystkie siły dla
zdobycia szczytu
ośmiu milionów ton
zboża: przemówienie
na Ogólnokrajowym
Zjeździe Rolniczym
15 stycznia 1975
roku
All forces to reach
the summit of eight
million tonnes
of grain: speech
at the National
Agricultural
Congress on
15 January 1975
– FLPH Pyongyang 31 North
Korea’s
economy
46 1976 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Przemówienie
noworoczne New Year’s speech – North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Warsaw 14 Other texts
47 1976 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Przemówienia
wygłoszone podczas
wizyty za granicą
Speeches delivered
during foreign trips – FLPH Pyongyang 75 International
aairs
48 1976 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Z okazji 30 rocznicy
utworzenia Partii
Pracy Korei: referat
na jubileuszowym
posiedzeniu
poświęconym
30-leciu Partii Pracy
Korei 9 października
1975 roku
On the occasion of
the 30th anniversary
of the creation of
the Workers’ Party
of Korea: a paper at
the jubilee meeting
devoted to the 30th
anniversary of the
Workers’ Party of
Korea on 9 October
1975
– FLPH Pyongyang 43 WPK
49 1977 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) O dżucze w naszej
rewolucji About the Juche in
our revolution – FLPH Pyongyang 572 North
Korean
ideology
50 1977 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Wywiad
z dyrektorem
generalnym –
redaktorem
naczelnym
japońskiej gazety
Jomiuri Simbun
i towarzyszącymi mu
osobami:
23 kwietnia 1977
roku
Interview with
the CEO – editor-
-in-chief of the
Japanese newspaper
Jomiuri Simbun
and accompanying
persons on 23 April
1977
– FLPH Pyongyang 16 International
aairs
51 1977 – Towarzysz Kim
Ir Sen, wielki
wódz prowadzący
rewolucję
i budownictwo do
zwycięstwa
Comrade Kim Il
Sung, a great leader
leading revolution
and construction to
victory
Special newsletter
to celebrate the
65th birthday of
Kim Il Sung
North
Korean
embassy in
Warsaw
Warsaw 21 Kim Il Sung
biography
141
Publica-
tion Year
Author (origi-
nal spelling) Title in Polish Translated title in
English
Additional
remark(s)
Publishing
House
City of
Publication Pages Subject
41 1975 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Dzieła wybrane. 2 Selected works. 2 – FLPH Pyongyang 653 Kim Il Sung
biography
42 1975 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Dzieła wybrane. 3 Selected works. 3 – FLPH Pyongyang 660 Kim Il Sung
biography
43 1975 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Odpowiedzi na
pytania dziennikarzy
zagranicznych
Answers to questions
from foreign
journalists
– FLPH Pyongyang 183 International
aairs
44 1975 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) O ideach Dżucze
i zagadnieniu
zjednoczenia Korei
On Juche ideas
and the issue of the
unication of Korea
– FLPH Pyongyang 127 Korean
Unication
45 1975 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Wszystkie siły dla
zdobycia szczytu
ośmiu milionów ton
zboża: przemówienie
na Ogólnokrajowym
Zjeździe Rolniczym
15 stycznia 1975
roku
All forces to reach
the summit of eight
million tonnes
of grain: speech
at the National
Agricultural
Congress on
15 January 1975
– FLPH Pyongyang 31 North
Korea’s
economy
46 1976 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Przemówienie
noworoczne New Year’s speech – North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Warsaw 14 Other texts
47 1976 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Przemówienia
wygłoszone podczas
wizyty za granicą
Speeches delivered
during foreign trips – FLPH Pyongyang 75 International
aairs
48 1976 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Z okazji 30 rocznicy
utworzenia Partii
Pracy Korei: referat
na jubileuszowym
posiedzeniu
poświęconym
30-leciu Partii Pracy
Korei 9 października
1975 roku
On the occasion of
the 30th anniversary
of the creation of
the Workers’ Party
of Korea: a paper at
the jubilee meeting
devoted to the 30th
anniversary of the
Workers’ Party of
Korea on 9 October
1975
– FLPH Pyongyang 43 WPK
49 1977 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) O dżucze w naszej
rewolucji About the Juche in
our revolution – FLPH Pyongyang 572 North
Korean
ideology
50 1977 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Wywiad
z dyrektorem
generalnym –
redaktorem
naczelnym
japońskiej gazety
Jomiuri Simbun
i towarzyszącymi mu
osobami:
23 kwietnia 1977
roku
Interview with
the CEO – editor-
-in-chief of the
Japanese newspaper
Jomiuri Simbun
and accompanying
persons on 23 April
1977
– FLPH Pyongyang 16 International
aairs
51 1977 – Towarzysz Kim
Ir Sen, wielki
wódz prowadzący
rewolucję
i budownictwo do
zwycięstwa
Comrade Kim Il
Sung, a great leader
leading revolution
and construction to
victory
Special newsletter
to celebrate the
65th birthday of
Kim Il Sung
North
Korean
embassy in
Warsaw
Warsaw 21 Kim Il Sung
biography
142
Publica-
tion Year
Author (origi-
nal spelling) Title in Polish Translated title in
English
Additional
remark(s)
Publishing
House
City of
Publication Pages Subject
52 1978 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Dzieła wybrane. 5 Selected works. 5 – FLPH Pyongyang 598 Kim Il
Sung’s
history
53 1978 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Jeszcze bardziej
umocnimy
władzę ludową:
przemówienie na
1 Sesji Najwyższego
Zgromadzenia
Ludowego KRL-D
VI kadencji:
15 grudnia 1977
roku
We will strengthen
the people’s power
even more: speech
at the 1st Session of
the Supreme People’s
Assembly of the
DPRK of the 6th
Term: 15 December
1977
– FLPH Pyongyang 31 North
Korean
ideology
54 1977 – Towarzysz Kim
Ir Sen, wielki
wódz prowadzący
rewolucję
i budownictwo do
zwycięstwa
Comrade Kim Il
Sung, a great leader
leading revolution
and construction to
victory
Special newsletter
to celebrate the
65th birthday of
Kim Il Sung
North
Korean
embassy in
Warsaw
Kim Il
Sung’s
history
34 North
Korea’s
economy
55 1978 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) O Kodeksie ziemi
przemówienie na VII
sesji Najwyższego
Zgromadzenia
Ludowego piątej
kadencji 29 kwietnia
1977 roku
Speech on the Code
of Land at the
7th session of the
Supreme People’s
Assembly of the 5th
term on 29 April,
1977
– 10,000 copies
– Printing
company: ZGPW
FLPH Pyongyang 19 North
Korea’s
economy
56 1978 Kim Il Sung Tezy o kształceniu
socjalistycznym:
opublikowane na
XIV Plenum KC
Partii Pracy Korei
piątej kadencji,
5 września 1977
roku
eses on socialist
education: published
at the 14th Plenum
of the CC of the
Workers’ Party of
Korea of the 5th
Term, 5 September
1977
– FLPH Pyongyang 63 Socialism
57 1980 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Referat
sprawozdawczy
Komitetu
Centralnego Partii
Pracy Korei na
VI Zjazd Partii
10 października
1980 roku
Report of the CC of
the Workers’ Party
of Korea for the 6th
Party Congress on
10 October 1980
– FLPH Pyongyang 128 WPK
58 1985 Kim Jong Il O ideach Dżucze:
artykuł skierowany
do uczestników
ogólnokrajowej
konferencji
naukowej,
poświęconej ideom
Dżucze i otwartej
z okazji 70-lecia
urodzin wielkiego
wodza towarzysza
Kim Ir Sena
31 marca 1982 roku
On the ideas of
Juche: an article
addressed to the
participants of
a national scientic
conference dedicated
to Juche ideas and
opened on the
occasion of the
70th anniversary
of the birth of the
great commander,
Comrade Kim Il
Sung, on 31 March
1982
– FLPH Pyongyang 81 North
Korean
ideology
143
Publica-
tion Year
Author (origi-
nal spelling) Title in Polish Translated title in
English
Additional
remark(s)
Publishing
House
City of
Publication Pages Subject
52 1978 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Dzieła wybrane. 5 Selected works. 5 – FLPH Pyongyang 598 Kim Il
Sung’s
history
53 1978 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Jeszcze bardziej
umocnimy
władzę ludową:
przemówienie na
1 Sesji Najwyższego
Zgromadzenia
Ludowego KRL-D
VI kadencji:
15 grudnia 1977
roku
We will strengthen
the people’s power
even more: speech
at the 1st Session of
the Supreme People’s
Assembly of the
DPRK of the 6th
Term: 15 December
1977
– FLPH Pyongyang 31 North
Korean
ideology
54 1977 – Towarzysz Kim
Ir Sen, wielki
wódz prowadzący
rewolucję
i budownictwo do
zwycięstwa
Comrade Kim Il
Sung, a great leader
leading revolution
and construction to
victory
Special newsletter
to celebrate the
65th birthday of
Kim Il Sung
North
Korean
embassy in
Warsaw
Kim Il
Sung’s
history
34 North
Korea’s
economy
55 1978 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) O Kodeksie ziemi
przemówienie na VII
sesji Najwyższego
Zgromadzenia
Ludowego piątej
kadencji 29 kwietnia
1977 roku
Speech on the Code
of Land at the
7th session of the
Supreme People’s
Assembly of the 5th
term on 29 April,
1977
– 10,000 copies
– Printing
company: ZGPW
FLPH Pyongyang 19 North
Korea’s
economy
56 1978 Kim Il Sung Tezy o kształceniu
socjalistycznym:
opublikowane na
XIV Plenum KC
Partii Pracy Korei
piątej kadencji,
5 września 1977
roku
eses on socialist
education: published
at the 14th Plenum
of the CC of the
Workers’ Party of
Korea of the 5th
Term, 5 September
1977
– FLPH Pyongyang 63 Socialism
57 1980 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Referat
sprawozdawczy
Komitetu
Centralnego Partii
Pracy Korei na
VI Zjazd Partii
10 października
1980 roku
Report of the CC of
the Workers’ Party
of Korea for the 6th
Party Congress on
10 October 1980
– FLPH Pyongyang 128 WPK
58 1985 Kim Jong Il O ideach Dżucze:
artykuł skierowany
do uczestników
ogólnokrajowej
konferencji
naukowej,
poświęconej ideom
Dżucze i otwartej
z okazji 70-lecia
urodzin wielkiego
wodza towarzysza
Kim Ir Sena
31 marca 1982 roku
On the ideas of
Juche: an article
addressed to the
participants of
a national scientic
conference dedicated
to Juche ideas and
opened on the
occasion of the
70th anniversary
of the birth of the
great commander,
Comrade Kim Il
Sung, on 31 March
1982
– FLPH Pyongyang 81 North
Korean
ideology
144
Publica-
tion Year
Author (origi-
nal spelling) Title in Polish Translated title in
English
Additional
remark(s)
Publishing
House
City of
Publication Pages Subject
59 1987 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Historyczne
doświadczenie
budownictwa Partii
Pracy Korei: wykład
wygłoszony dla
wykładowców
i słuchaczy Wyższej
Szkoły Partyjnej
imienia Kim Ir Sena
31 maja 1986 roku
z okazji 75 rocznicy
urodzin wielkiego
wodza towarzystwa
Kim Ir Sena
e historic
experience of the
construction of the
Workers’ Party of
Korea: a lecture
for lecturers and
students of the Kim
Il Sung Higher Party
School on 31 May
1986, on the 75th
birthday of the great
leader of society,
Kim Il Sung
– North
Korean
embassy in
Warsaw
Warsaw 137 WPK
60 1988 Kim Jong Il
(Kim Dzong Il) O ideach Dżucze
naszej partii About the ideas of
the Juche of our
party
– FLPH Warsaw 143 North
Korean
ideology
61 1989 Kim Jong Il
(Kim Dzong Il) Trwale ustanowić
oparte na Dżucze
poglądy na
rewolucję: rozmowa
z odpowiedzialnymi
pracownikami KC
Partii Pracy Korei
10 października
1987 roku
Permanently
establish Juche-
-based views of
the revolution:
an interview
with responsible
employees of the CC
of the Workers’ Party
of Korea held on
10 October 1987
– FLPH Warsaw 32 North
Korean
ideology
62 1989 Kim Jong Il
(Kim Dzong-Il) Wyżej wznosząc
sztandar walki
antyimperialistycznej,
energicznie
kroczymy naprzód
drogą socjalizmu
i komunizmu:
rozmowa
z odpowiedzialnymi
pracownikami KC
Partii Pracy Korei
25 września 1987
roku
Above raising the
banner of anti-
imperialist struggle,
we vigorously move
forward along the
path of socialism
and communism:
a conversation
with responsible
employees of the CC
of the Workers’ Party
of Korea on
25 September 1987
– – Warsaw 35 Socialism
63 1992 Kim Jong Il Historyczna lekcja
budownictwa
socjalizmu
i generalna linia
naszej partii:
rozmowa
z odpowiedzialnymi
pracownikami KC
Partii Pracy Korei
3 stycznia 1992 roku
A historic lesson in
socialist construction
and the general
line of our party:
conversation
with responsible
employees of the CC
of the Workers’ Party
of Korea on
3 January 1992
– – Warsaw 50 Socialism
145
Publica-
tion Year
Author (origi-
nal spelling) Title in Polish Translated title in
English
Additional
remark(s)
Publishing
House
City of
Publication Pages Subject
59 1987 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Historyczne
doświadczenie
budownictwa Partii
Pracy Korei: wykład
wygłoszony dla
wykładowców
i słuchaczy Wyższej
Szkoły Partyjnej
imienia Kim Ir Sena
31 maja 1986 roku
z okazji 75 rocznicy
urodzin wielkiego
wodza towarzystwa
Kim Ir Sena
e historic
experience of the
construction of the
Workers’ Party of
Korea: a lecture
for lecturers and
students of the Kim
Il Sung Higher Party
School on 31 May
1986, on the 75th
birthday of the great
leader of society,
Kim Il Sung
– North
Korean
embassy in
Warsaw
Warsaw 137 WPK
60 1988 Kim Jong Il
(Kim Dzong Il) O ideach Dżucze
naszej partii About the ideas of
the Juche of our
party
– FLPH Warsaw 143 North
Korean
ideology
61 1989 Kim Jong Il
(Kim Dzong Il) Trwale ustanowić
oparte na Dżucze
poglądy na
rewolucję: rozmowa
z odpowiedzialnymi
pracownikami KC
Partii Pracy Korei
10 października
1987 roku
Permanently
establish Juche-
-based views of
the revolution:
an interview
with responsible
employees of the CC
of the Workers’ Party
of Korea held on
10 October 1987
– FLPH Warsaw 32 North
Korean
ideology
62 1989 Kim Jong Il
(Kim Dzong-Il) Wyżej wznosząc
sztandar walki
antyimperialistycznej,
energicznie
kroczymy naprzód
drogą socjalizmu
i komunizmu:
rozmowa
z odpowiedzialnymi
pracownikami KC
Partii Pracy Korei
25 września 1987
roku
Above raising the
banner of anti-
imperialist struggle,
we vigorously move
forward along the
path of socialism
and communism:
a conversation
with responsible
employees of the CC
of the Workers’ Party
of Korea on
25 September 1987
– – Warsaw 35 Socialism
63 1992 Kim Jong Il Historyczna lekcja
budownictwa
socjalizmu
i generalna linia
naszej partii:
rozmowa
z odpowiedzialnymi
pracownikami KC
Partii Pracy Korei
3 stycznia 1992 roku
A historic lesson in
socialist construction
and the general
line of our party:
conversation
with responsible
employees of the CC
of the Workers’ Party
of Korea on
3 January 1992
– – Warsaw 50 Socialism
146
Publica-
tion Year
Author (origi-
nal spelling) Title in Polish Translated title in
English
Additional
remark(s)
Publishing
House
City of
Publication Pages Subject
64 1992 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Osiągnijmy wielkie
zespolenie naszego
narodu: rozmowa
z odpowiedzialnymi
pracownikami
Komitetu
Pokojowego
Zjednoczenia
Ojczyzny
i członkami Sztabu
Północnej strony
Ogólnonarodowej
Ligi Zjednoczenia
Ojczyzny
– 1 sierpnia 1991
Let us achieve the
great unication
of our nation:
an interview
with responsible
employees of the
Peace Committee of
the Unication of
the Fatherland and
members of the Sta
of the North Side of
the National League
of the Fatherland
Unication
– 1 August 1991
– – Warsaw 24 Korean
Unication
65 1992 Kim Jong Il Historyczna lekcja
budownictwa
socjalizmu
i generalna linia
naszej Partii,
rozmowa
z odpowiedzialnymi
pracownikami KC
Partii Pracy Korei
3 stycznia 1992 roku
A historic lesson in
socialist construction
and the general
line of our Party,
conversation
with responsible
employees of the CC
of the Workers’ Party
of Korea on
3 January 1992
– – Warsaw 50 Socialism
66 1992 Kim Jong Il Zwycięży socjalizm
naszego typu,
służący interesom
mas ludowych:
rozmowa
z odpowiedzialnymi
pracownikami KC
Partii Pracy Korei
5 maja 1991 roku
Our type of
socialism will
prevail, serving
the interests of the
masses: conversation
with responsible
employees of the CC
of the Workers’ Party
of Korea on 5 May
1991
– North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Warsaw 57 Socialism
67 1993 Kim Il Sung Dziesięciopunktowy
program Wielkiej
Konsolidacji
całego narodu
w imię Zjednoczenia
Ojczyzny (6 kwietnia
1993 r.)
e 10-point
programme of the
Great Consolidation
of the entire nation
in the name of the
Unication of the
Fatherland (6 April
1993)
– North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Warsaw 6 Korean
Unication
68 1993 Kim Jong Il O podstawowych
problemach
budownictwa partii
rewolucyjnej, artykuł
poświęcony
47 rocznicy
utworzenia Partii
Pracy Korei
10 października
1992
On the basic
problems of
revolutionary party
construction, an
article devoted to the
47th anniversary of
the founding of the
Korean Labour Party
on 10 October 1992
– North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Warsaw 54 WPK
147
Publica-
tion Year
Author (origi-
nal spelling) Title in Polish Translated title in
English
Additional
remark(s)
Publishing
House
City of
Publication Pages Subject
64 1992 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) Osiągnijmy wielkie
zespolenie naszego
narodu: rozmowa
z odpowiedzialnymi
pracownikami
Komitetu
Pokojowego
Zjednoczenia
Ojczyzny
i członkami Sztabu
Północnej strony
Ogólnonarodowej
Ligi Zjednoczenia
Ojczyzny
– 1 sierpnia 1991
Let us achieve the
great unication
of our nation:
an interview
with responsible
employees of the
Peace Committee of
the Unication of
the Fatherland and
members of the Sta
of the North Side of
the National League
of the Fatherland
Unication
– 1 August 1991
– – Warsaw 24 Korean
Unication
65 1992 Kim Jong Il Historyczna lekcja
budownictwa
socjalizmu
i generalna linia
naszej Partii,
rozmowa
z odpowiedzialnymi
pracownikami KC
Partii Pracy Korei
3 stycznia 1992 roku
A historic lesson in
socialist construction
and the general
line of our Party,
conversation
with responsible
employees of the CC
of the Workers’ Party
of Korea on
3 January 1992
– – Warsaw 50 Socialism
66 1992 Kim Jong Il Zwycięży socjalizm
naszego typu,
służący interesom
mas ludowych:
rozmowa
z odpowiedzialnymi
pracownikami KC
Partii Pracy Korei
5 maja 1991 roku
Our type of
socialism will
prevail, serving
the interests of the
masses: conversation
with responsible
employees of the CC
of the Workers’ Party
of Korea on 5 May
1991
– North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Warsaw 57 Socialism
67 1993 Kim Il Sung Dziesięciopunktowy
program Wielkiej
Konsolidacji
całego narodu
w imię Zjednoczenia
Ojczyzny (6 kwietnia
1993 r.)
e 10-point
programme of the
Great Consolidation
of the entire nation
in the name of the
Unication of the
Fatherland (6 April
1993)
– North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Warsaw 6 Korean
Unication
68 1993 Kim Jong Il O podstawowych
problemach
budownictwa partii
rewolucyjnej, artykuł
poświęcony
47 rocznicy
utworzenia Partii
Pracy Korei
10 października
1992
On the basic
problems of
revolutionary party
construction, an
article devoted to the
47th anniversary of
the founding of the
Korean Labour Party
on 10 October 1992
– North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Warsaw 54 WPK
148
Publica-
tion Year
Author (origi-
nal spelling) Title in Polish Translated title in
English
Additional
remark(s)
Publishing
House
City of
Publication Pages Subject
69 1993 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen)
Rękojmią zwycięstwa
wielkiego dzieła
samodzielności –
podnoszenie roli
mas ludowych:
przemówienie na
przyjęciu, wydanym
przez Rząd KRL-D
15 kwietnia 1992
roku
Guarantee of victory
of the great work
of independence –
raising the role of
the masses: speech
at a party issued by
the Government of
North Korea on
15 April 1992
– – Warsaw 11 Socialism
70 1994 Kim Jong Il Szkalowanie
socjalizmu jest
niedopuszczalne.
Wywiad udzielony
organowi KC
Partii Pracy
Korei czasopismu
KylŁódźa,
czasopiśmie
teoretycznym KC
PPK, 1 marca 1993
roku
Defamation
of socialism is
unacceptable.
Interview given
to the CC of the
Korean Workers’
Party, the magazine
Kulloja, a theoretical
journal produced by
the CC of the WPK,
1 March 1993
Published on the
occasion of the
52nd birthday
of Dear Leader
Comrade Kim
Jong Il
– Warsaw 31 Socialism
71 1994 Kim Jong Il Socjalizm – To
nauka Socialism – is is a
science is article
was initially
published in the
Nodon Shinmun
newspaper, a body
of the CC of the
Korean Workers’
Party, 1 November
1994
– – 32 Socialism
72 1996 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) W wirze stulecia:
pamiętniki.
1. [Antyjapońska
rewolucja]
In the whirl of the
century: diaries.
1. [Anti-Japanese
revolution]
– North
Korean
embassy
in Poland.
Prepared
by Jo Chol
Yong and
translated
from
Russian by
Aleksandra
Dominik
Katowice 419 Kim Il Sung
biography
73 1999 Kim Jong Il Urzeczywistnimy
zjednoczenie
ojczyzny w sposób
samodzielny
i pokojowy na
podstawie wielkiej
konsolidacji całego
narodu
We will realize the
unication of the
homeland in an
independent and
peaceful way on the
basis of the great
consolidation of the
entire nation
– North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Warsaw 22 Korean
Unication
74 2000 Kim Jong Il Partia Pracy Korei
– Partia Wielkiego
Wodza Towarzysza
Kim Ir Sena
Workers’ Party of
Korea – e Party
of the Great Leader
Comrade Kim Il
Sung
Printed by
Cieszyńska
Drukarnia
Wydawnicza
– – 28 Kim Il Sung
biography
149
Publica-
tion Year
Author (origi-
nal spelling) Title in Polish Translated title in
English
Additional
remark(s)
Publishing
House
City of
Publication Pages Subject
69 1993 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen)
Rękojmią zwycięstwa
wielkiego dzieła
samodzielności –
podnoszenie roli
mas ludowych:
przemówienie na
przyjęciu, wydanym
przez Rząd KRL-D
15 kwietnia 1992
roku
Guarantee of victory
of the great work
of independence –
raising the role of
the masses: speech
at a party issued by
the Government of
North Korea on
15 April 1992
– – Warsaw 11 Socialism
70 1994 Kim Jong Il Szkalowanie
socjalizmu jest
niedopuszczalne.
Wywiad udzielony
organowi KC
Partii Pracy
Korei czasopismu
KylŁódźa,
czasopiśmie
teoretycznym KC
PPK, 1 marca 1993
roku
Defamation
of socialism is
unacceptable.
Interview given
to the CC of the
Korean Workers’
Party, the magazine
Kulloja, a theoretical
journal produced by
the CC of the WPK,
1 March 1993
Published on the
occasion of the
52nd birthday
of Dear Leader
Comrade Kim
Jong Il
– Warsaw 31 Socialism
71 1994 Kim Jong Il Socjalizm – To
nauka Socialism – is is a
science is article
was initially
published in the
Nodon Shinmun
newspaper, a body
of the CC of the
Korean Workers’
Party, 1 November
1994
– – 32 Socialism
72 1996 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) W wirze stulecia:
pamiętniki.
1. [Antyjapońska
rewolucja]
In the whirl of the
century: diaries.
1. [Anti-Japanese
revolution]
– North
Korean
embassy
in Poland.
Prepared
by Jo Chol
Yong and
translated
from
Russian by
Aleksandra
Dominik
Katowice 419 Kim Il Sung
biography
73 1999 Kim Jong Il Urzeczywistnimy
zjednoczenie
ojczyzny w sposób
samodzielny
i pokojowy na
podstawie wielkiej
konsolidacji całego
narodu
We will realize the
unication of the
homeland in an
independent and
peaceful way on the
basis of the great
consolidation of the
entire nation
– North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Warsaw 22 Korean
Unication
74 2000 Kim Jong Il Partia Pracy Korei
– Partia Wielkiego
Wodza Towarzysza
Kim Ir Sena
Workers’ Party of
Korea – e Party
of the Great Leader
Comrade Kim Il
Sung
Printed by
Cieszyńska
Drukarnia
Wydawnicza
– – 28 Kim Il Sung
biography
150
Publica-
tion Year
Author (origi-
nal spelling) Title in Polish Translated title in
English
Additional
remark(s)
Publishing
House
City of
Publication Pages Subject
75 2002 Kim Jong Il Zachować charakter
oparty na ideach
Dżucze i narodową
specykę w rewolucji
i budownictwie
nowego
społeczeństwa:
19 czerwca 1997
roku
Maintain a character
based on Juche
ideas and national
specicity in the
revolution and
building a new
society: 19 June 1997
– North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Warsaw 45 North
Korean
ideology
76 2003 Kim Jong Il Filozoa Dżucze –
samoistna Filozoa
Rewolucji
Juche philosophy
– the independent
philosophy of the
revolution
Interview given
to Kulloja, the
theoretical journal
of the CC of the
Workers’ Party of
Korea on 26 July
1996
– – 23 North
Korean
ideology
77 2004 Kim Jong Il Konsekwentnie
wcielać w życie
testament wielkiego
wodza towarzysza
Kim Ir Sena
w sprawie
zjednoczenia
ojczyzny
Consistently put
into practice the
will of the great
leader Comrade
Kim Il Sung on the
unication of the
homeland
– – – 25 Kim Il Sung
biography
78 2005 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) W wirze stulecia:
pamiętniki.
2. [W latach
poszukiwania nowej
drogi]
In the whirl of the
century: diaries.
2. [During the years,
looking for a new
road]
– North
Korean
embassy
in Poland.
Prepared
by Jo Chol
Yong and
translated
from
Russian by
Aleksandra
Dominik
Katowice 415 Kim Il Sung
biography
79 Decem-
ber 2005 Kim Jong Il Szanować starsze
pokolenie rewolucji
– najwyższy
moralny dług
rewolucjonistów
Respect the older
generation of the
revolution – the
highest moral debt of
the revolutionaries
Interview given
to the body of the
CC of the Korean
Labour Party, the
newspaper Rodon
Shinmun,
25 December 1995
33 North
Korean
ideology
80 2009 Kim Jong Il Koreańska
Republika Ludowa
Demokratyczna
– państwo
socjalistyczne Juche
o niezniszczalnej
sile
Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea –
Juche socialist state
with indestructible
power
Interview
for the party
newspaper Rodong
Shinmun and the
government body
Minju Joson on
5 September 1997
[Juche 2008]
FLPH Pyongyang 30 North
Korean
ideology
151
Publica-
tion Year
Author (origi-
nal spelling) Title in Polish Translated title in
English
Additional
remark(s)
Publishing
House
City of
Publication Pages Subject
75 2002 Kim Jong Il Zachować charakter
oparty na ideach
Dżucze i narodową
specykę w rewolucji
i budownictwie
nowego
społeczeństwa:
19 czerwca 1997
roku
Maintain a character
based on Juche
ideas and national
specicity in the
revolution and
building a new
society: 19 June 1997
– North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Warsaw 45 North
Korean
ideology
76 2003 Kim Jong Il Filozoa Dżucze –
samoistna Filozoa
Rewolucji
Juche philosophy
– the independent
philosophy of the
revolution
Interview given
to Kulloja, the
theoretical journal
of the CC of the
Workers’ Party of
Korea on 26 July
1996
– – 23 North
Korean
ideology
77 2004 Kim Jong Il Konsekwentnie
wcielać w życie
testament wielkiego
wodza towarzysza
Kim Ir Sena
w sprawie
zjednoczenia
ojczyzny
Consistently put
into practice the
will of the great
leader Comrade
Kim Il Sung on the
unication of the
homeland
– – – 25 Kim Il Sung
biography
78 2005 Kim Il Sung
(Kim Ir Sen) W wirze stulecia:
pamiętniki.
2. [W latach
poszukiwania nowej
drogi]
In the whirl of the
century: diaries.
2. [During the years,
looking for a new
road]
– North
Korean
embassy
in Poland.
Prepared
by Jo Chol
Yong and
translated
from
Russian by
Aleksandra
Dominik
Katowice 415 Kim Il Sung
biography
79 Decem-
ber 2005 Kim Jong Il Szanować starsze
pokolenie rewolucji
– najwyższy
moralny dług
rewolucjonistów
Respect the older
generation of the
revolution – the
highest moral debt of
the revolutionaries
Interview given
to the body of the
CC of the Korean
Labour Party, the
newspaper Rodon
Shinmun,
25 December 1995
33 North
Korean
ideology
80 2009 Kim Jong Il Koreańska
Republika Ludowa
Demokratyczna
– państwo
socjalistyczne Juche
o niezniszczalnej
sile
Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea –
Juche socialist state
with indestructible
power
Interview
for the party
newspaper Rodong
Shinmun and the
government body
Minju Joson on
5 September 1997
[Juche 2008]
FLPH Pyongyang 30 North
Korean
ideology
152
Publica-
tion Year
Author (origi-
nal spelling) Title in Polish Translated title in
English
Additional
remark(s)
Publishing
House
City of
Publication Pages Subject
81 2012 Kim Jong Un Będziemy wcielać
w życie patriotyzm
Kim Jong Ila dla
przyspieszenia
procesu budowy
bogatej i potężnej
Ojczyzny
We will implement
the patriotism of
Kim Jong Il for the
acceleration the
process of building
a rich and powerful
homeland
Meeting with the
leadership of the
CC of the Korean
Workers’ Party
July 26, 2011
Juche (2012)
– Warsaw 19 Kim Jong Il
biography
82 2013 Kim Jong Un Wyżej wnosząc
sztandar songun,
prężnym krokiem
naprzód dojdziemy
do ostatecznego
zwycięstwa
Higher by raising the
songun banner, we
will come to
a nal victory with
a vigorous step
forward
Speech at the
military parade,
Dedicated to the
100th birthday
of Grand
Commander
Generalissimus
Kim Il Sung
15 April, 2011
Juche (2012)
– Warsaw 19 North
Korean
ideology
83 2014 Kim Jong Un Wielki Kim Il Sung
– Wieczny Wódz
naszej partii i narodu
Great Kim Il Sung –
e Eternal Leader
of our party and
nation
Article published
on the occasion
of the 100th
anniversary of
Kim Il Sung’s
birth on 20 April
101 (Juche 2012)
– Warsaw 32 Kim Il Sung
biography
84 2018 Kim Jong Un Okryjmy wieczną
chwałą wielkie idee
i zasługi towarzysza
Kim Jong Ila dla
Rewolucji Songun
Let us cover with
eternal glory the
great ideas and
merits of Comrade
Kim Jong Il for the
Songun Revolution
– – Warsaw 29 Kim Jong Il
biography
Source: Prepared by the author based on North Korean documents.
153
b-Selected Newsletters of the North Korean embassy in Poland
Publica-
tion Year
Author (origi-
nal spelling) Title in Polish Translated title in
English
Additional
remark(s)
Publishing
House
City of
Publication Pages Subject
1 1993 Kim Il Sung Odpowiedzi na
pytania dyrektora
japońskiej agencji
telegracznej ‘Kiodo
Tsusin’, 1 czerwca
1991
Answers to questions
of the director of the
Japanese telegraph
agency Kiodo
Tsusin, 1 June 1991
– – Warsaw 2 International
aairs
2 June
2003 – Wybitny polityk
Kim Dzong Il Prominent Politician
Kim Jong Il On the occasion
of the 39th
anniversary of
the beginning of
the employment
in the CC WPK
by Marshal Kim
Jong Il
2 – – Kim Jong Il
biography
3 July 2003 – Prezydent Kim Ir
Sen wiecznie żyje
razem z narodem
President Kim Il
Sung lives forever
with the people
On the occasion
of the 9th
anniversary of the
death of Kim Il
Sung
– – 2 Kim Il Sung
biography
4 October
2003 – Prezydent Kim Ir
Sen i Partia Pracy
Korei
President Kim
Il Sung and the
Workers’ Party
of Korea
On the occasion
of the 58th
anniversary of the
creation of the
Workers’ Party of
Korea
– – 2 Kim Il Sung
biography
154
Publica-
tion Year
Author (origi-
nal spelling) Title in Polish Translated title in
English
Additional
remark(s)
Publishing
House
City of
Publication Pages Subject
5 Decem-
ber 2003 Kim Jong Il broni
socjalizmu dzięki
niezwyciężonej
potędze militarnej
Kim Jong Il defends
socialism through
invincible military
force
– – – 2 Kim Jong Il
biography
6 Decem-
ber 2003 Bohaterska Kim
Jong Suk żyje
w pamięci narodu
Heroic Kim Jong
Suk lives in the
memory of the
nation
– – – 2 Kim family
7 February
2004 – Trzy aspekty wiary
Przywódcy Korei
Kim Dzong Ila
ree aspects of
the faith of Korean
leader Kim Jong Il
– – – 3 Kim Jong Il
biography
8 April
2007 75-letnia droga
rozsławiona
przez wybitnych
dowódców
A 75-year road
made famous
by prominent
commanders
– – – 2 North
Korea’s army
9 July 2010 Kim Ir Sen Obowiązki matek
w wychowaniu
dzieci
Obligations of
mothers in raising
children
Speech at the
National Mothers’
Meeting in
Pyongyang on
16 November 1961
– – 7 Social Issues
10 July 2010 – Kim Il Sung –
twórca Koreańskiej
Republiki Ludowo-
-Demokratycznej
Kim Il Sung –
founder of the
Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea
– – – 2 Kim Il Sung
biography
11 July 2010 – Nowe perspektywy
budowy mocarstwa
gospodarczego
New perspectives
for building an
economic power
– – – 3 North
Korea’s
economy
12 August
2010 – Kim Jong Il –
polityk wybitny Kim Jong Il – an
excellent politician – – – 3 Kim Jong Il
biography
13 Novem-
ber 2003 – Kto jest
prowokatorem? Who is the
provocateur? Edited by KFA
Polska – – 2 North
Korea’s army
14 April
2011 – Ojciec narodu
koreańskiego e father of the
Korean nation – – – 4 Kim Il Sung
biography
15 April
2012 Kim Jong Il O umocnieniu
Ludowej Armii –
stworzeniu
w społeczeństwie
atmosfery priorytetu
kwestii militarnej
Strenghtening
the People’s Army
– Creating an
atmosphere of giving
priority to military
issues in the society
Interview with
ocers of the CC
of the Workers’
Party of Korea on
4 February 1992
North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Warszawa 6 North
Korea’s
Army
16 March
2013 – Oświadczenie
rzecznika prasowego
Naczelnego
Dowództwa
Koreańskiej Armii
Ludowej
Statement by the
spokesperson of the
Supreme Command
of the Korean
People’s Army
Edited by KFA
Polska – – 4 North
Korea’s army
Source: Compiled by the author.
155
Publica-
tion Year
Author (origi-
nal spelling) Title in Polish Translated title in
English
Additional
remark(s)
Publishing
House
City of
Publication Pages Subject
5 Decem-
ber 2003 Kim Jong Il broni
socjalizmu dzięki
niezwyciężonej
potędze militarnej
Kim Jong Il defends
socialism through
invincible military
force
– – – 2 Kim Jong Il
biography
6 Decem-
ber 2003 Bohaterska Kim
Jong Suk żyje
w pamięci narodu
Heroic Kim Jong
Suk lives in the
memory of the
nation
– – – 2 Kim family
7 February
2004 – Trzy aspekty wiary
Przywódcy Korei
Kim Dzong Ila
ree aspects of
the faith of Korean
leader Kim Jong Il
– – – 3 Kim Jong Il
biography
8 April
2007 75-letnia droga
rozsławiona
przez wybitnych
dowódców
A 75-year road
made famous
by prominent
commanders
– – – 2 North
Korea’s army
9 July 2010 Kim Ir Sen Obowiązki matek
w wychowaniu
dzieci
Obligations of
mothers in raising
children
Speech at the
National Mothers’
Meeting in
Pyongyang on
16 November 1961
– – 7 Social Issues
10 July 2010 – Kim Il Sung –
twórca Koreańskiej
Republiki Ludowo-
-Demokratycznej
Kim Il Sung –
founder of the
Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea
– – – 2 Kim Il Sung
biography
11 July 2010 – Nowe perspektywy
budowy mocarstwa
gospodarczego
New perspectives
for building an
economic power
– – – 3 North
Korea’s
economy
12 August
2010 – Kim Jong Il –
polityk wybitny Kim Jong Il – an
excellent politician – – – 3 Kim Jong Il
biography
13 Novem-
ber 2003 – Kto jest
prowokatorem? Who is the
provocateur? Edited by KFA
Polska – – 2 North
Korea’s army
14 April
2011 – Ojciec narodu
koreańskiego e father of the
Korean nation – – – 4 Kim Il Sung
biography
15 April
2012 Kim Jong Il O umocnieniu
Ludowej Armii –
stworzeniu
w społeczeństwie
atmosfery priorytetu
kwestii militarnej
Strenghtening
the People’s Army
– Creating an
atmosphere of giving
priority to military
issues in the society
Interview with
ocers of the CC
of the Workers’
Party of Korea on
4 February 1992
North
Korean
embassy in
Poland
Warszawa 6 North
Korea’s
Army
16 March
2013 – Oświadczenie
rzecznika prasowego
Naczelnego
Dowództwa
Koreańskiej Armii
Ludowej
Statement by the
spokesperson of the
Supreme Command
of the Korean
People’s Army
Edited by KFA
Polska – – 4 North
Korea’s army
Source: Compiled by the author.
156
8. TRANSLATION OF THE TEXT OF THE NORTH KOREANPOLISH FRIENDSHIP SONG
North Korean Version Polish Version English Translation
Title 조선-뽈스까친선 의 노래 Pieśń Przyjaźni Koreańsko-Polskiej e Song of Korean-Polish Friendship
Content 친선의 노래 울리 여가네 조선-뽈스까. Rozlega się pieśń przyjaźni Korei i Polski. A song of friendship between Korea and
Poland is heard.
친선의 노래 울리 여가네 조선-뽈스까. Rozlega się pieśń przyjaźni Korei i Polski. A song of friendship between Korea and
Poland is heard.
만수대 언덕 에서 위슽라 강까지. Od wzgórza Mansudae, do brzegu Wisły. From Mount Mansudae to the banks of the
Vistula.
친선의 노래 울리 여가네 조선-뽈스까. Rozlega się pieśń przyjaźni Korei i Polski. A song of friendship between Korea and
Poland is heard.
친선의 노래 울리 여가네 조선-뽈스까. Rozlega się pieśń przyjaźni Korei i Polski. A song of friendship between Korea and
Poland is heard.
인류의밝은 미래 꽃퍼워나가며 W upiększaniu świetlanej przyszłości
ludzkości In embellishing the bright future of
humanity
하나도뭉친우리의 마음 조선-뽈스까. Zespolone są w jedno, nasze serca Korei
i Polski. ey are united into one, our hearts of
Korea and Poland.
단결의 노래 울리 여가네조선-뽈스까. Rozlega się pieśń przyjaźni Korei i Polski. A song of friendship between Korea and
Poland is heard.
세열은 훌러가고 강산은 변해도
반제의 길에 함께 있네
Chociaż upłynęły lata, zmieniły się
rzeki i góry, nadal są razem na drodze
antyimperialistycznej
Although years have passed, the rivers and
the mountains have changed but are still
together on the anti-imperialist path
조선-뽈스까. Korea i Polska. Korea and Poland.
영원한 노래 울리 여가네조선-뽈스까! Rozlega się wieczna pieśń Korei i Polski! e eternal song of Korea and Poland is
heard!
Source: e Polish translation was provided by Polish State Television. e North Korean-Polish Friendship Song was performed by the Mansudae
Art Group in Poland on April 15, 1988. e English translation was prepared by the author.
157
9. LINGUISTICAL ISSUES
English
version
Polish
version
North Korean
version
Pronunciation
in brackets
South Korean version
Pronunciation in brackets
Jaruzelski,
Wojciech
Jaruzelski,
Wojciech
보이쩨흐야루젤쓰끼
(Pojchehyarujaelski)
보이치에흐 야루젤스키
(Pojchehyarujaelski)
Poland Polska 뽈스까
(Ppolseukka)
폴란드
(Pollanteu)
Trybuna Ludu Trybuna Ludu 뜨리부나 류드
(TeulipunaLjudu)
뜨리부나 류드
(TeulipunaLjudu)
Warsaw Warszawa 와르샤와
(Wareusjawa)
바르샤바
(Palesjapa)
Source: Prepared by the author based on North Korean documents.
159
Bibliography
1. Polish Publications related to Poland-North Korea relations
1.1. BOOKS & MONOGRAPHS
1.1.1. General books
• Marszałek-Kawa, J. (ed.) 2008: Spotkania polsko-koreańskie, Wydawnictwo
Adam Marszałek, Toruń.
1.1.2. Economic issues between Poland and North Korea
•
Kojło, S., Dikij, A. 1975: Polska – KRLD: Gospodarka, współpraca, Państwowe
Wydawnictwo Ekonomiczne, Warszawa.
• Levi, N. 2018: A statistical analysis of the North Korean overseas laborers in
Poland during the period 2000-2017: Current Status and Prospects, Asian
Century, Warszawa.
1.1.3. North Korean orphans in Poland
•
Brandys, M. 1953: Dom odzyskanego dzieciństwa, Nasza Księgarnia, Warszawa.
•
Brandys, M. 1954: Koreańczycy z Gołotczyzny, Spółdzielnia Wydawnicza
Czytelnik, Warszawa.
• Krysowata, J. 2015: Skrzydło Anioła, Świat Książki, Warszawa.
•
Tropaczyńska-Ogarkowa, W. 1951: Mały łącznik Kim E-Cho, Biblioteka
Promyka, Warszawa.
1.1.4. Polish Hospital in North Korea
• Braun, A. 1986: Blask ciemności, Iskry, Warszawa.
160
1.1.5. Literature
• Dudek, A. 1987: Poszukiwacze, Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza, Katowice.
• Guzowski, S. 1985: Korea, Ambasada KRL-D w Warszawie, Warszawa.
• Guzowski, S. 1996: Korea i Przywódca narodu koreańskiego Prezydent Kim Ir
Sen, Warszawa.
• Konecka, K. 1989: Koreański koń Czhollima, Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza,
Białystok.
• Korotyński, H. 1952: Dziesięć tygodni w Korei, Książka i Wiedza, Warszawa.
• Korsak, T., Hornung, M. 2012: Mały słownik koreańsko-polski, Slawistyczny
Ośrodek Wydawniczy,Warszawa.
• Ogarek-Czoj, H. 1965: Korea Północna – kraj czhollima, Książka i Wiedza,
Warszawa.
• Reinberger, M. 2005: Wspomnienia z Korei, Wyd. ZD ZŻLWP, Wrocław.
1.2. SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES AND CHAPTERS IN BOOKS
1.2.1. General articles related to relations between Poland and North Korea
• Bobber, A. 2011: e Last Twenty Years of Relations between the Republic
of Poland and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea: Selected Aspects
(1989–2009), e Journal of East Asian Aairs 25/2, 21–38.
• Burdelski, M. 2010: e Relations between the Republic of Poland and the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. e Historical Analysis, Polish Political
Science 39, 226–240.
•
Hańderek, M. 2018, Poland and North Korea in the 1980’s – from Partnership
to Stagnancy, [in] Fedoto A., Kim, S. Y. (eds), Korean Society Today, Soa,
25–40.
•
Hańderek, M. 2019: North Korea Revelations from the Polish Archives:
Nukes, Succession, and Security, North Korea International Documentation
Project, 8 April.
•
Szyc, S. 2018: ‚Jesteśmy komunistami i przyjaciółmi’. Kontakty pomiędzy Polską
Zjednoczoną Partią Robotniczą a Partią Pracy Korei w latach osiemdziesiątych,
Pamięć i Sprawiedliwość 32, 346–369.
•
Szyc, S. 2016: Misja przyjaźni. Ocjalna wizyta Kim Ir Sena w Polskiej
Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej w lipcu 1956 r., [in] Kamiński, Ł., Szumski, J.
161
(eds), IX Letnia Szkoła Historii Najnowszej, Instytut Pamięci Narodowej,
Warszawa, 140–148.
•
Szyc, S. 2017: ‚Niech żyje przyjaźń między narodami’. Międzynarodowy
program pomocy odbudowy Koreańskiej Republiki Ludowo-Demokratycznej
w latach 1953–1961. Zarys problematyki, [in] Bułhak, W., Pazik, P. (eds),
X Letnia Szkoła Historii Najnowszej, Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, Warszawa,
70–80.
•
Szyc, S. 2015: Polscy ambasadorowie w Koreańskiej Republice Ludowo-
-Demokratycznej w latach 1950–1963, [in] Szumiło, M., Żukowski, M. (eds),
Elity komunistyczne w Polsce, Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, Uniwersytet Marii
Curie-Skłodowskiej, Warszawa-Lublin, 224–239.
•
Szyc, S. 2015: Program pomocy Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej dla
Koreańskiej Republiki Ludowo-Demokratycznej w świetle wybranych
dokumentów, Komunizm: System – Ludzie – Dokumentacja 4, 273–290.
•
Szyc, S. 2014: Stosunki polsko-północnokoreańskie w latach 80-tych w świetle
wybranych dokumentów, Komunizm: System – Ludzie – Dokumentacja 3,
221–237.
• Szyc, S. 2013: ‚Wieczna braterska przyjaźń’. Ocjalna wizyta Kim Il Sunga
w Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej w maju 1984 roku, Komunizm: System
– Ludzie – Dokumentacja 2, 109–121.
•
Wawrzyniak, A. 2008: Błękitne góry i nefrytowa woda. Pejzaż we współczesnym
malarstwie Koreańskiej Republiki Ludowo-Demokratycznej, [in] Marszałek-
-Kawa, J. (ed.), Spotkania polsko-koreańskie, Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek,
Toruń, 78–83.
1.2.2. e role of Poland in the Korean War
• Benken, P. 2014: Problematyka stosunków między Misją Polską do Komisji
Nadzorczej Państw Neutralnych a Sztabem Wojskowej Komisji Rozejmowej
strony Koreańskiej Armii Ludowej/Chińskich Ochotników Ludowych
w Kaesongu oraz wytyczne w tej sprawie, Pamięć i Sprawiedliwość 1/23,
439–451.
•
Birchmeier, C., Burdelski, M., Jendraszczak, E. 2003: 50-lecie Komisji
Nadzorczej Państw Neutralnych w Korei, Historia 1.
•
Kutte, W. 1973: Polska a Koreańska Republika Ludowo-Demokratyczna,
[in] Mojsiewicz, C. (ed.), Stosunki Polski z innymi państwami socjalistycznymi,
Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, Warszawa.
162
•
Łapeta, S. 2011: Ładuj trzema!, Przegląd Historyczno-Wojskowy 12/5, 103–106.
•
Levi, N. 2009: Zarys stosunków między Polską Republiką Ludową a Koreańską
Republiką Ludowo-Demokratyczną, [in] Żelichowski, R. (ed.), Świat i Polska
wobec globalnych wyzwań, Instytut Studiów Politycznych PAN – Collegium
Civitas, Warszawa, 345–262.
•
Neścioruk, P. 2014: Propagandowy obraz genezy wojny koreańskiej w świetle
‚Trybuny Ludu’, Teka Komisji Historycznej 11, 117–132.
•
Szyc, S. 2015: Propagandowy obraz wojny koreańskiej w wybranych polskich
utworach literackich realizmu socjalistycznego. Zarys problematyki, [in]
Jureńczyk, Ł., Szczutkowska, J., Trempała, W., Wenderlich, P. (eds), Wojna
jako źródło inspiracji w kulturze i sztuce – literatura, propaganda, tożsamość,
Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego, Bydgoszcz, 207–222.
1.2.3. North Korean orphans in Poland
• Krysowata, J. 2004: Sieroty koreańskie, Karta 42, 98–121.
• Kubrak, O. 2016: Pamięć i pozostałości po sierotach północnokoreańskich
na ziemiach polskich w latach 50. XX wieku – na przykładzie ośrodków
w Płakowicach i Otwocku, Prace Etnograczne 4, 387–396.
•
Szyc, S. 2014: Sprawa powrotu do ojczyzny dzieci oraz młodzieży
północnokoreańskiej przebywającej w Polsce 1951–1959 w świetle wybranych
dokumentów, Koło Historii 15, 155–164.
•
Szyc, S. 2014: Północnokoreańskie dzieci i młodzież w Państwowym Ośrodku
Wychowawczym w Płakowicach na Dolnym Śląsku w l. 1953–1959, [in]
Zimny, J. (ed.), Rodzina: powołanie, zadania, zagrożenia, Katedra Pedagogiki
Katolickiej, Stalowa Wola, 1045–1054.
1.2.4. Polish doctors in North Korea
• Cegielski, M. 1956: O pracy pierwszej ekipy szpitala PCK w Korei, Polski
Tygodnik Lekarski 11/5, 193–195.
• Daniłoś, J., Horzela, T., Oszacki, J. 1956: O pracy II ekipy szpitala Polskiego
Czerwonego Krzyża w Korei, Polski Tygodnik Lekarski, 11(5), 195–197.
• Frenkel-Czarniecka, A. 2014: Bratni Szpital, Karta 79, 2014, 106–115.
•
Knypl, K. 2014a: Polska misja medyczna w Korei. Wspomnienia uczestników
misji, Gazeta dla Lekarzy 5, 25–28.
163
•
Knypl, K. 2014b: Polska misja medyczna w Korei: Szpital Polskiego Czerwonego
Krzyża w Korei, Gazeta dla Lekarzy 6, 23–28.
• Kuczyńska-Sicińska, J. 1958: Wspomnienia z pracy w szpitalu PCK w Korei,
Polski Tygodnik Lekarski 13, 528–530.
•
Rolicka, M. 1994: Polacy a tajemniczy problem epidemii w czasie wojny
koreańskiej, Zeszyty Historyczne 108, 99–111.
1.2.5. Polish zoologists’ expeditions to North Korea
•
Pawłowski, J., Stworzewicz, E., Tomek, T. 2000: Activity of the Kraków
Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals of the Polish Academy of
Sciences in zoological investigation of North Korean provinces, e Bulletin
of Korea Association of Wildlife Conservation 2, 114–139.
• Pawłowski, J., Tomek, T. 1997: Zoological expeditions to the North Korea
organised in the years 1971–1992 by the Kraków Institute of Systematics
and Evolution of Animals of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Fragmenta
Faunistica 40, 231–246.
1.3. PRESS ARTICLES
1.3.1. History of North Korea
• 15 Rocznica wyzwolenia KRL-D 1960: Dziennik Polski, 13 August.
1.3.2. Korean War
• Kałuszko, J. 2004: Z Korei na otwockie wydmy, Linia Otwocka, 19 March,
http://krld.pl/krld/czytelniateksty/kom_osw//[niedatowany]%20Dwa%20
teksty%20z%20gazety%20%27%27Linia%20Otwocka%27%27,%20na%20
temat%20koreanskich%20sierot%20wychowywanych%20w%20Polsce%20
i%20wizyty%20Wielkiego%20Wodza%20Towarzysza%20Kim%20Ir%20
Sena%20w%20Polsce%20w%201956%20r.%20.pdf (accessed: 26.09.2020).
• Koreańska Armia Wyzwoleńcza sforsowała pozycje na rzece Naktong 1950:
Życie Warszawy, 8 August.
• Kronika Dyplomatyczna 1952: Słowo Ludu, 4 June.
• Wiec w kolonii polskiej w Phenianie 1957: Życie Radomskie, 18 April.
• Wojna w Korei 1950: Trybuna Ludu, 14 September.
164
•
Wróbel, J. 2003: Wojna koreańska w polskiej propagandzie, Gwiazda Polarna,
9 August.
1.3.3. North Korean orphans in Poland
• Cze, C. I. 1957: Wśród naszych przyjaciół, Nasz Świat, January.
• Koreański klub w Otwocku 1970: Trybuna Mazowiecka, 151.
• Nasze dzieci – sieroty, oary pożogi wojennej – wychowują się w Waszym
kraju, a naród otoczył je prawdziwą opieką rodzicielską. Spotkanie z delegacją
KRL-D 1956: Życie Radomskie, 7 July.
1.3.4. Polish state visits to North Korea
• Polscy parlamentarzyści w komunistycznej Korei 2002: Interia.pl, 30 June,
https://fakty.interia.pl/swiat/news-polscy-parlamentarzysci-w-komunistycznej-
korei,nId,791126 (accessed: 10.09.2019).
•
Wicepremier Fr. Waniołka udał się do KRL-D 1968: Dziennik Łódzki,
3 September.
1.3.5. North Korean diplomats in Poland
•
Ambasador KRL-D gościł w woj. skierniewieckim 1977: Dziennik Popularny,
8 September.
•
Burzyński, R. 1957: Rozmowa z panem Ho Guk Bon ambasadorem Koreańskiej
Republiki Ludowo-Demokratycznej, Przekrój 28, 7 July.
• Jak Korea Polsce... 1995: Gazeta Wyborcza, 77, 31 March.
• Kuc, J. 2013: Trudny Biznes z reżimem Kima: Korea Płn. oszukała Polaka,
MSZ bezsilny. Prawnik: szanse na zwrot długu minimalne, pukhan.pl,
30 January, https://pukhan.pl/2013/01/trudny-biznes-z-rezimem-kima-
korea-pln-oszukala-polaka-msz-bezsilny-prawnik-szanse-na-zwrot-dlugu-
minimalne/ (accessed: 11.12.2018).
• Myjak, J. 2017: Spotkanie z Koreańczykami, Wieści Lipnickie, 27/6.
• Spotkanie w ambasadzie KRLD 1977: Dziennik Bałtycki, 1 February.
• Spotkanie z Koreańczykami 1975: Echo Dnia 153/1084, 7 July.
•
Szpala, I., Zubik, M. 2014: Na Szmulkach wystawiono operę dyktatora
Korei Północnej, Gazeta Wyborcza, 3 July, http://warszawa.wyborcza.pl/
165
warszawa/1,34862,16261115,Na_Szmulkach_wystawiono_opere_dyktatora_
Korei_Polnocnej.html (accessed: 12.06.2019).
1.3.6. Poland-North Korea economic relations
• Kittel, B. 2006: Polskie interesy z Kim Dzong Ilem, Portalmorski.pl, 30 May,
http://www.portalmorski.pl/zegluga/2921-polskie-interesy-z-kim-dzong-ilem
(accessed: 12.06.2018).
1.3.7. Poland-North Korea cultural relations
•
Koreańska wystawa w sierpeckim Muzeum Wsi Mazowieckiej 2002: wyborcza.
pl, 17 September, https://plock.wyborcza.pl/plock/1,35681,1021271.html
(accessed: 07.11.2019).
1.3.8. North Korean workers in Poland
• Cho, J. I. 2011: Overseas North Koreans Work like Kim Jong Il’s Slaves,
DailyNK.com, 29 April.
• Głuchowski, P., Kowalski, M. 2008: Chiński żywy towar, Gazeta Wyborcza,
5 June.
• Głuchowski, P., Kowalski, M. 2006: Koreańscy niewolnicy w Kleczanowie,
Gazeta Wyborcza, 28 March.
•
Kowalski, M. 2013: Mały agent Kima stracił stanowisko, wyborcza.pl, 12 May,
http://wyborcza.pl/1,75398,13897225,Maly_agent_Kima_stracil_stanowisko.
html (accessed: 05.11.2019).
•
Ligiecki, A. 2010: 86 pracowników cegielni w Odonowie może pójść na bruk.
Ich miejsce mają zająć Koreańczycy. Szef przedsiębiorstwa milczy, Echo Dnia,
18 August.
• Miłość do Korei w Kleczanowie 2008: Gazeta Wyborcza, 10 July.
• Levi, N.: North Koreans Suer Around the World, DailyNK.com, June 3.
•
Sokołowa, A. 2019: Koniec importu do Polski pracowników z Korei Północnej,
https://pl.sputniknews.com/polska/201902089776944-import-Polska-Korea-
Polnocna-Sputnik/ (accessed: 15.02.2019).
• Wojniak, M. 2006: Korea w Kleczanowie, Słowo, 30 March.
166
1.3.9. Sport
•
Cichowicz, A. 1968: Dobra klasa piłkarzy koreańskich, Tempo, 16 September.
1.3.10. Arts
•
Dziś w Teatrze Wielkim zespół ‚Mansude’ 1978: Dziennik Popularny,
16 October.
•
Sztuka koreańska – wystawa w Zachęcie 2005: Gazeta Wyborcza, 5 February.
•
Wąs, M. 2015: Polscy misjonarze obrzuceni granatami w Korei, Gazeta
Wyborcza, 31 August.
1.4. DIPLOMATIC AND OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS
• Monitor Polski, 60, Rej. 157/94, 6 September 1994.
•
North Korean orphans in Hungary, Headquarters United States Army Japan and
United Nations Command – Eight United States Army (Rear), 18 September
1957.
• Notatka A. Morskiego z 11 grudnia 1963 r., Polish MOFA Archives: Dept V,
Group 32/66, Bundle 1, Folder 33.
• Notatka dotycząca ograniczeń stosowanych przez władze Koreańskiej Republiki
Ludowo-Demokratycznej z dnia 7 czerwca 1963 r., Polish MOFA Archives:
Dept V, Group 32/66, Bundle 1, Folder 0-557.
• Notatka z rozmowy z tow. Pieliszenko radcą Ambasady ZSRR z dnia 26.07.57.,
Polish MOFA Archives: Dept V, Group 12, Bundle 427, Folder 18.
•
Raport polityczny Ambasady Polskiej Rzeczpospolitej Ludowej w Koreańskiej
Republice Ludowo-Demokratycznej za okres od 1 maja do30 czerwca 1955 r.,
Polish MOFA Archives: Dept V, Group 12, Bundle 17, Folder 401.
•
Sprawozdanie z pobytu w Koreańskiej Republice Ludowo-Demokratycznej
w latach 1964–1968 Władysława Napieraja, Polish MOFA Archives:
Dept V, Group 15/73, Bundle 2, Folder 0-242-3-68.
• Uchwała nr 277/52 Prezydium Rządu z dnia 5 kwietnia 1952 r. w sprawie
szczepionek i środków leczniczych do zwalczania schorzeń zakaźnych dla
Koreańskiej Republiki Ludowej, Polish MOFA Archives: Dept V, Group 11,
Bundle 23, Folder 432.
167
•
Uzupełnienie notatki z 23 grudnia w sprawie byłych studentów koreańskich
w Polsce z dnia 2 stycznia 1963 r., Polish MOFA Archives: Dept V, Group
32/66, Bundle 1, Folder 0-557.
•
Wizyta Tow. Ministra E. Wojtaszek w KRL-D w dniach 26–29 czerwca
1977 r., Polish MOFA Archives: Dept V, Group 28/79, Bundle 3, Folder
220-3-77.
•
Relations de la Corée du Nord avec la Tchécoslovaquie. Copie d’une étude en date du
18 septembre dernier, établie par le service de la ‘guerre psychologique’ du quartier
général de l’armée américaine au Japon, Direction d’Asie Océanie no 973/AS
Communiqué à: secrétariat général no 974/SGL, Séoul le 18 octobre 1957.
•
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea 2015: UN Doc. A/70/362 (2015).
•
Wieczna braterska przyjaźń. ‚Ocjalna wizyta Kim Il Sunga w Polskiej
Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej w maju 1984’ : Wydawnictwo Literatury w Językach
Obcych, Phenian.
1.5. OTHER PUBLICATIONS
•
Akerlof, G. 1970: e Market for Lemons: Quality Uncertainty and the Market
Mechanism, e Quarterly Journal of Economics 84/3, 488–500.
•
Bezpieczna praca na budowie – szkolenie dla koreańskich pracowników, https://
krakow.pip.gov.pl/pl/dzialania/prewencja-i-promocja/budownictwo/2921,-
bezpieczna-praca-na-budowie-szkolenie-dla-koreanskich-pracownikow.html
(accessed: 04.10.2017).
• Rybak, M. 2010: Biznes z Wrocławia i dyktatura z Azji, Gazeta Wrocławska,
23 July, https://gazetawroclawska.pl/biznes-z-wroclawia-i-dyktatura-z-azji/
ar/285345 (accessed: 06.11.2019).
• Dom Kultury Miasta Wonsan–Korea Północna 26–27 VIII, 2010, http://
www.polishartworld.com/artistGallery/id/216.html (accessed: 22.11.2018).
• Fundacja Polska Akcja Humanitarna – Raport za rok 2005, https://www.pah.
org.pl/app/uploads/2017/06/2017_PAH_RAPORT_PL_2005.pdf (accessed:
13.03.2018).
•
Kojło, S. 1975: Współpraca KRLD z krajami socjalistycznymi, Państwowe
Wydawnictwo Ekonomiczne, Warszawa.
•
Korea wystrzeliła rakietę. Polski MSZ protestuje, Polskie Radio, 13 December
2012.
168
•
Letter from the Polish Ambassador in the DPRK to the Polish Ministry of
Foreign Aairs, September 28, 1955, https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/
document/114997.pdf?v=531f183014546129cd2de2873c4f (accessed:
10.07.2019)
•
Lipiński, P. 2016: Azjatyckie podróże Cyrankiewicza, rp.pl, 1 September
(accessed: 20.10.2018).
•
Medycyna Dalekiego Wschodu, http://www.drkrasicki.pl/medycyna-dalekiego-
wschodu.html (accessed: 24.09.2017).
•
Odpowiedź sekretarza stanu w Ministerstwie Spraw Zagranicznych –
z upoważnienia ministra – na interpelację poseł Anny Sobeckiej w sprawie
działalności Ambasady Koreańskiej Republiki Ludowo-Demokratycznej
w Warszawie, Warszawa, dnia 19 sierpnia 2011 r. (23582), [in] Sejm, R. P.
(2011). Sprawozdanie Stenograczne z 99 posiedzenia Sejmu Rzeczypospolitej
Polskiej w dniach 29, 30 i 31 sierpnia 2011 r. (Aneks), 177–178.
•
Pjongjang: Spotkanie HoMs EU z delegacją Biura Wysokiego Komisarza
ds. Praw Człowieka ONZ 2017: 8 May.
•
https://pjongjang.msz.gov.pl/pl/aktualnosci/spotkanie_z_delegacja_biura_
wysokiego_komisarza_ds__praw_czlowieka_onz (accessed: 4.12.2018).
•
Pjongjang: Wieczór Filmowy w Ambasadzie RP 2017: 22 May, https://
pjongjang.msz.gov.pl/pl/aktualnosci/pjongjang__wieczor_filmowy_w_
ambasadzie_rp?printMode=true (accessed: 20.08.2019).
•
Polacy w KNPN w Korei 2018: 15 January, https://cwdpgp.wp.mil.pl/pl/
articleshistoria-misji-3/2018-01-15e-polacy-w-knpn-w-korei/pdf/ (accessed:
20.09.2019).
• Polska Miedź w Korei Północnej 2004: Gazeta Wyborcza, 14 September.
•
Retour sur les relations entre la Pologne et la Corée du Nord, 2015:
16 September, http://www.amitiefrancecoree.org/2015/09/retour-sur-les-
relations-entre-la-pologne-et-la-coree-du-nord.html (accessed: 04.11.2019).
•
Stocki, T. 2016: Druga edycja Festiwalu Filmowego Społeczności
Międzynarodowej w Pjongjangu trwa!, 15 February, https://pjongjang.msz.
gov.pl/pl/p/pjongjang_kp_a_pl/aktualnosci/tytul_strony (accessed: 12.10.2018).
•
Wojnarowski, M. 2010: Pan Jo Song-mu i nagroda za promocję Polski
w Świecie!, pukhan.pl, 11 December, https://pukhan.pl/2010/12/pan-jo-song-
mu-i-nagroda-za-promocje-polski-w-swiecie/ (accessed: 10.07.2018).
169
•
Pjongjang: Wieczór Filmowy w Ambasadzie RP 2017, 22 May,
https://pjongjang.msz.gov.pl/pl/aktualnosci/pjongjang_wieczor_lmowy_
w_ambasadzie_rp?printMode=true (accessed: 20.08.2019).
• Wystawa koreańskiej sztuki w Gdańsku 2014: https://kfapolska.wordpress.
com/2014/09/17/wystawa-koreanskiej-sztuki-w-gdansku/ (accessed: 19.12.2014).
•
Wystawa plakatu lmowego w Ambasadzie RP w Pjongjangu 2017: 27 March,
http://www.pjongjang.msz.gov.pl/pl/aktualnosci/wystawa_plakatu_lmowego
(accessed: 4.12.2018).
•
Yukinori, K. 2008: Secrecy in US Foreign Policy: Nixon, Kissinger and the
Rapprochement with China. Farnham, Ashgate.
•
Zajęcia na Polonistyce Uniwersytetu Języków Obcych w Pjongjang 2016:
15 December, https://pjongjang.msz.gov.pl/pl/p/pjongjang_kp_a_pl/
aktualnosci/zajecia_na_polonistyce_uniwersytetu_jezykow_obcych_w_
pJongjangu (accessed: 10.09.2018).
•
Zaproszenie dla ambasadora Korei 2018: 12 September, http://www.kongresazja.
pl/aktualnosci/26/zaproszenie-dla-ambasadora-korei.html (accessed: 9.12.2018).
2. Other Polish publications related to North Korean issues
2.1. BOOKS
2.1.1. Defectors Testimonials
•
Demick, B. 2009: Światu nie mamy czego zazdrościć, Wyd. Czarne, Warszawa.
• Estabrooks, P. 2012: Ucieczka z Korei Północnej, Pojednanie, Lublin.
• Jang, J.S. 2015: Drogi przywódca, Albatros, Warszawa.
•
Kim, M. 2012: Z piekła do wolności. Ucieczki z Korei Północnej, Wydawnictwo
Naukowe PWN, Warszawa.
• Lee, H.S. 2015: Dziewczyna o siedmiu imionach, Prószyński, Warszawa.
•
Morillot, J. 2008: Uchodźcy z Korei Północnej. Relacje świadków, Wyd. W.A.B,
Warszawa.
• Park, Y.M. 2012: Przeżyć. Droga dziewczyny z Korei Północnej do wolności,
Czarna Owca, Warszawa.
170
2.1.2. Human Rights in North Korea
•
Rzepliński, A., Hosaniak, J. (eds) 2004: Korea Północna za zasłoną, Helsińska
Fundacja Praw Człowieka, Warszawa.
2.1.3. Kim family
• Dominik, A. 1995: Kim Ir Sen – Legenda Korei, Katowice.
• Dziak, W. 2001: Kim Ir Sen, Wiedza Powszechna, Warszawa.
• Dziak, W. 2004: Kim Ir Sen. Dzieło i polityczne wizje, ISP PAN, Warszawa.
• Dziak, W. 2013: Kim Jong Un: Kronika życia i walki, ISP PAN, Warszawa.
• Dziak, W. 2004: Kim Jong Il, ISPPAN, Wydawnictwo Trio, Warszawa.
•
Dziak, W. 2009: Korea Północna u źródeł rodzinnej sukcesji władzy, ISP PAN,
Collegium Civitas, Warszawa.
•
Levi, N., Czop, E. 2016: Kim jest Kim Jong Un?, Wyd. Kwiaty Orientu,
Skarżysko-Kamienna.
2.1.4. International Relations
• Bayer, J., Dziak, W. 2006: Korea i Chiny, ISP PAN, Warszawa.
• Bayer, J., Dziak, W. 2002: Perspektywy rozwoju ekonomicznego KRLD, ISP
PAN, Warszawa.
2.1.5. Political issues
•
IV Zjazd Koreańskiej Partii Pracy: wrzesień 1961 1962: Spółdzielnia Wydawniczo-
-Handlowa ‘Książka i Wiedza’, Warszawa.
• Dziak, W. J. 2018: Anatomia władzy totalnej. Przypadek Korei Północnej, ISP
PAN, Warszawa 2018.
•
Dziak, W. J. 2010: Pjongjang rok 1956, ISP PAN, Collegium Civitas, Warszawa.
2.1.6. Unication issues
•
Bobber, A. 2012: Korea zjednoczona – szansa czy utopia?, Wydawnictwo Kwiaty
Orientu, Warszawa.
171
•
Burdelski, M. 1995: Czy Korea będzie zjednoczona do końca XX wieku?,
Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek, Toruń.
•
Burdelski, M. 2004: Czynniki warunkujące proces podziału i zjednoczenia Korei,
Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek, Toruń.
• Dziak, W. J. 2000: Korea – pokój czy wojna?, Świat Książki, Warszawa.
• Potocka, E., Gawlikowski, K. (eds) 2001: Korea: doświadczenia i perspektywy,
Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek, Toruń.
2.1.7. Other books
• Bajcar, A. 1998: Igrzyska XXIV Olimpiady Seul, Phenian, Korea: przewodnik,
Sport i Turystyka, Warszawa.
•
Bayer, J., Dziak, W.J. 2018: Korea Północna – atomowe mocarstwo. Chronologia
wydarzeń 1945–2017, ISP PAN, Warszawa.
• Dubrowski, J. 1961: Z „Mazowszem” w krajach Azji, Ludowa Spółdzielnia
Wydawnicza, Warszawa.
•
Levi, N. (ed.) 2012: Korea Północna. Poszukując prawdy, Kwiaty Orientu,
Warszawa.
•
Steiner-Gashi, I., Gashi, D. 2011: W służbie dyktatora – życie i ucieczka
północnokoreańskiego agenta, Bukowy Las, Wrocław.
2.2. OTHER POLISH PUBLICATIONS RELATED TO NORTH
KOREAN ISSUES
• Dziak, W. J. 2000: Kim Ir Sen – początki politycznej kariery, Azja-Pacyk:
Społeczeństwo, Polityka, Gospodarka 3, 99–122.
•
Dziak, W. J. 1983: Koncepcja ‘Dżucze’ Kim Ir Sena, Studia Nauk Politycznych,
1–2, 65–80.
•
Dziak, W. J. 2016: Od stalinizmu do rasizmu: kilka uwag o ewolucji idei Kim
Ir Sena, Studia Polityczne 1, 93–114.
• Levi, N. 2010: A biography of Kim Pyong-il: the second dauphin?, Parallax:
Journal of International Perspectives 7, 33–46.
•
Paduchowski, W. 2018: Potencjał wojenny Korei Północnej na przełomie
lat sześćdziesiątych i siedemdziesiątych XX w. w raportach Attachatu
Wojskowego przy Ambasadzie PRL w Phenianie, Przegląd Historyczno-
-Wojskowy 3, 159–190.
172
2.3. PHD. DISSERTATIONS
•
Kim, J. S. 1996: Rola Polski w wojnie koreańskiej, University of Warsaw, Faculty
of International Relations.
•
Kim, K. N. 2015: Stosunki Polski z państwami Półwyspu Koreańskiego w latach
1948–2013, University of Warsaw, Faculty of Journalism and Political Sciences.
•
Pietrewicz, O. 2018: Rola Chin i USA w kształtowaniu bezpieczeństwa
regionalnego w Azji Północno-Wschodniej na początku XXI w. Przypadek Półwyspu
Koreańskiego, University of Warsaw, Faculty of International Relations.
•
Weber, K. 2018: Trwałość reżimu Kim Jong Una w obliczu współczesnych
uwarunkowań polityki wewnętrznej i międzynarodowej Koreańskiej Republiki
Ludowo-Demokratycznej, University of Opole, Faculty of Political Sciences.
3. North Korean Publications
3.1. INTERNET SOURCES IN NORTH KOREAN
• 뽈스까에서 김일성주석의 고아원방문 50돐 기념집회 (ppolseukka-eseo
gim-ilseongjuseog-ui goawonbangmun 50dols ginyeomjibhoe – Memorial rally
for the 50th anniversary of President Kim Il Sung’s visit to an orphanage in
Poland) http://www.kcna.co.jp/calendar/2006/05/05-19/2006-0519-002.html
(accessed: 20.08.2014).
•
뽈스까대사관 성원들 장수원협동농장에서 친선로 (Ppolsŭkkadaesagwan
sŏngwŏndŭl changsuwŏnhyŏptongnongjangesŏ ch’insŏllo – Embassy members
at the Jangsuwon Cooperative Farm), 26 July 2017, http://www.rodong.rep.kp/
ko/index.php?strPageID=SF01_02_01&newsID=2017-07-26-0027 (accessed:
20.08.2019).
•
진형제의마음으로 (Jinhyeongjaeuimaeumeuro – With the Borther’s Heart)
1956: Kyuwon Sinmun, 23 June.
•
조선-뽈스까진선-힘있는시위 (Chosŏn-ppolsŭkkajinsŏn-himinnŭn shiwi
– A strong demonstration between Korea and Poland) 1984: Rodong Sinmun
152/13607, 31 May.
•
조선과 뽈스까사이의 외교관계설정 55돐에 즈음하여, (Joseongwa
ppolseukkasaiui oegyogwangyeseoljeong 55dols-e jeueumhayeo – On the
occasion of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and
China), https://www.kcna.co.jp%2Fcalendar%2F2003%2F12%2F12-
173
06%2F2003-12-06-011.html&usg=AOvVaw000TRzaH9ExXGhYaazV6EE
(accessed: 20.07.2018).
•
위대한 수령 김일성동지께서 조국해방전쟁시기 세계 여러 나라
인민들과의 국제적련대성을 강화하도록 현명하게 이끄신 불멸의 업적,
(Widaehan sulyeong gim-ilseongdongjikkeseo jogughaebangjeonjaengsigi segye
yeoleo nala inmindeulgwaui gugjejeoglyeondaeseong-eul ganghwahadolog
hyeonmyeonghage ikkeusin bulmyeol-ui eobjeog – e immortal achievement
that the Great Leader Kim Il Sung wisely wished to strengthen international
solidarity with the peoples of the world at the time of the national liberation
war), http://www.ryongnamsan.edu.kp/univ/success/social/part/1544 (accessed:
5.08.2018).
•
북한 마신아, 쇼팽 국제 청소년 피아노 콩쿠르에서도 1등 차지(연주장면
포함, (Pukhan Masina Syopaeng gugjae jeongsonyon Piano ggonggureuaeseodo
1deung tchaji yeonjujangmyon Boham – Ranked 1 in the International Chopin
Piano Contest) 2016: 31 May, http://jajusibo.com/sub_read.html?uid=27885
(accessed: 29.10.2019).
•
조선의 어린이들 제7차 쇼뺑국제뽈스까 그랜드피아노음악경연 및
축전에서우수한 성적 쟁취 (Joseon-ui eolin-ideul je7cha syoppaeng-
gugjeppolseukka geulaendeupiano-eum-aggyeong-yeon mich chugjeon-
eseousuhan seongjeog jaengchwi – Choson’s Children at the seventh Chopin
International Contest of Piano. e children of Hongdao and Cho, Mi-rae of
the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea participated in the seventh Show
International Pusan Grand Piano Music Competition and Festival), http://
naenara.com.kp/ko/society/?literary+6+5016 (accessed: 22.08.2018).
•
사회주의교육제도 의 혜택아 래 꽃펴난 재간둥이들 (1)
(Sahuijuuikyungyogjaedoui hyedaegarae ggotchbyeonan jaegandongideul(1) –
e ingenuity grows under the benets of the socialist education system), https://
www.dprktoday.com/index.php?type=2&no=40372 (accessed: 29.10.2019).
3.2. OTHER SOURCES IN ENGLISH
• DPRK ambassador to Poland appointed 1998: KCNA, 11 January.
• Polish Meeting Marks Kim Il Sung’s Birthday 1983: KCNA, 16 April.
• Polish union delegation visits North Korea 2005: KCNA, 21 August.
• Soldier Attacked Outside Embassy 1997: Polish News Bulletin, 27 October.
174
3.3. BOOKS
• Kim, Y. 1957: 파란인민공화국 사회주의건설위재성과 사회주의, (Paran
inmin konghwagug-esoui sahoejuui konsorui chesonggwa – e success of the
socialism construction in the Polish People’s Republic), Choson Rodongdang
Chulpansa Pyongyang.
3.4. PROPAGANDA NORTH KOREAN PUBLICATIONS USED
IN THIS MONOGRAPH
•
Kim, I.S. 1970: O budownictwie socjalistycznym i rewolucji południowokoreańskiej
w KRL-D, Wyd. Literatury w Językach Obcych, Phenian.
• Kim, I.S. 1977: O dżucze w naszej rewolucji, Wyd. Literatury w Językach
Obcych, Phenian.
•
Kim, I.S. 1976: Le mouvement de non-alignement est une puissante force
révolutionnaire anti-impérialiste de notre temps, Editions en Langues Etrangères,
Pyongyang.
3.5. OTHER PUBLICATIONS RELATED TO NORTH KOREA
3.5.1. Books
•
Baev, J., Kim, S.Y. 2017: Korea in the Bulgarian Archives, 1945–1995: An
Introduction, NKIDP, Seoul.
•
Dziak, W.J. 1979: KRL-D kraj ‘dżucze’, Ośrodek Pracy Politycznej, Warszawa.
• Fidyk, A., Szarłat, A. 2017: Świat Andrzeja Fidyka, Wyd. Znak Literanova,
Warszawa.
• Kim, Y., with Kim, S.Y. 2009: Long Road Home: Testimony of a North Korean
Camp Survivor, Columbia University Press, New York City.
• Loken-Kim, C. 2003: North Korea Handbook, ME Sharpe, New York.
• Szalontai, B. 2005: Kim Il Sung in the Khrushchev Era: Soviet-North Korea
Relations and the Roots of North Korean Despotism, 1953–1964, Stanford
University Press, Stanford.
• Yoon, Y.S., Lee, S.J. 2015: Human Rights and North Korea’s Overseas Laborers:
Dilemmas and Policy Challenges, e Database Center for North Korean
Human Rights, Seoul.
175
3.5.2. Scientic articles and chapters in books
•
Beck, P.M., Reader, N. 2010: Training for Economic Reform, [in] Park, M.K.,
Seliger, B., Park, S.J. (eds), Europe – North Korea. Between Humanitarianism
and Business?, Lit Verlag, Berlin, 43–59.
• Joon, Y.H. 2010: From Communist Cadres into Capitalistic Managers? e
Case of Western Business Schools, [in] Park, M.K., Seliger, B., Park, S.J. (eds),
Europe – North Korea. Between Humanitarianism and Business?, Lit Verlag,
Berlin, 307–320.
• Park, S.J. 2010: Software and Animation in North Korea, [in] Park, M.K.,
Seliger, B., Park, S.J. (eds), Europe – North Korea. Between Humanitarianism
and Business?, Lit Verlag, Berlin, 277–307.
•
Svamberk, A. 2013: Czechoslovakia in the Neutral Nations Supervisory
Commission, Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society Korea Branch 88.
•
You, J. 2013: Kim Jong-un’s Power Consolidation and Worsening China
DPRK Relations, East Asian Policy 5, 102–111.
3.5.3. Press articles
• A rare glimpse of Kim Pyong Il 2007: Joins.com, 11 May.
• Biuletyn Informacyjny Rektora Politechniki Białostockiej 2002 25, October.
• Gertz B. 2005: U.S. Accuses North Korea of $100 Bill Counterfeiting. e
Washington Times, 12 October.
•
Inne kierunki badań i aktywność pracowników Zakładu Mykologii, https://
botany.pl/instytut/mykolog/innekierunki.pdf (accessed: 10.08.2019).
• Kaczyński, S. 2019: Śladami koreańskich studentów, którzy w 1959 r. gościli
w Mogilnie, Gazeta Pomorska, https://plus.pomorska.pl/sladami-koreanskich-
studentow-ktorzy-w-1959-r-goscili-w-mogilnie/ar/13496601 (accessed: 10.07.
2019).
•
PRL 1984 Kim Ir Sen. Powitanie na Dworcu PKP, https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=yiLxNPFzUoM (accessed: 20.12.2019).
•
Kim, M.J., 멕시코·필리핀 이어 스페인도 ‘북한 대사, 30일까지 국외
추방 (Mexico, the Philippines, followed by Spain, ‘Ambassador to North
Korea, expelled by 30 days’), http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_
dir/2017/09/19/2017091900452.html (accessed: 04.10.2017).
176
• Komunikat końcowy z pobytu w Polsce delegacji rządowej KRL-D 1956: Życie
Warszawy, 7 July.
• Mok, Y.J. 2010: Poles Apart But Together on NK Human Rights, DailyNK.
com, 15 November, https://www.dailynk.com/english/poles-apart-but-together-
on-nk-hum/ (accessed: 15.07.2018).
•
사교행사 적극 참여… 유럽 北대사들 달라졌다, ‘donga.com’, http://
www.donga.com/news/Main/article/all/20180316/89126381/1 (accessed:
10.08.2019).
•
Séoul & Varsovie établissent des relations diplomatiques 1989: Le Monde,
2 November.
•
Stefanicki, R. 2002: Z kraju za drutami. List z Korei Północnej, który poruszył
Japonię, Gazeta Wyborcza, 281, 3 December.
•
Studenci obcokrajowcy w Polsce 2016: StudyinPoland.pl, http://www.
studyinpoland.pl/konsorcjum/images/stories/119_2016_newsletter/liczby-
studentow-ze-wszystkich-krajow-2016.pdf (accessed: 20.01.2019).
•
Wełniaki podbijają Europę i… wyruszają w świat, https://www.nowytydzien.
pl/welniaki-podbijaja-europe-i-wyruszaja-w-swiat/, 23 August 2018 (accessed:
15.06.2019).
•
Willoughby, I., Rosenzweig, A. 2007: «Twenty-rst century slaves» to return to
North Korea this year, Radio Praha, 6 February.
• Wojewoda, W., Heinrich, Z., Komorowska, H. 2004: Macrofungi in North
Korea: collected in 1982–1986, Polish Botanical Studies 18.
• W skansenie komunizmu, http://www.monikawitkowska.pl/2013-01-30-13-
11-46/127-korea-polnocna/561-189 (accessed: 10.07.2019).
•
Wspólny komunikat polsko-koreański, 1959: Gazeta Białostocka, 20 October.
•
Yu, J.H. 2017: 만명이 16시간씩 일해 번 2조원으로 김정은은 핵을
쥐었다…文 거론한 北 해외노동자 실태는 (Manmyeong-i 16siganssig ilhae
beon 2jowon-eulo gimjeong-eun-eun haeg-eul jwieossda…mun geolonhan bae
haeoenodongja siltaeneun – Kim Jong Eun grabbed the nuclear weapon with
2 trillion won for 16 hours working 10,000 people... e actual situation of
North Korean overseas workers), «Joongangilbo», 6 September.
177
4. OTHER PUBLICATIONS
4.1. BOOKS
• 1940–2015 – Damel 75 lat, Konkurent Światowych Liderów, https://damel.
pl/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/monograa-2015.pdf (accessed: 06.11.2019).
•
De Carvalho, P. 1990: Studenci obcokrajowcy w Polsce, Uniwersytet Warszawski
– Instytut Socjologii, Warszawa.
•
Glaser, C. 2010: Rational eory of International Politics: e Logic of Competition
and Cooperation, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
• Góralski, W. 1979: Problemy pokoju i bezpieczeństwa w Azji, Polski Instytut
Spraw Międzynarodowych, Warszawa.
• Harden, B. 2016: Le Grand Leader et le Pilote, Belfond, Paris.
•
I, S.J. 2016: 외교관의 창문 (Oegyugwanuijangmun- Window of the
Diplomacy), Hanaraechulpansa, Seoul.
• Иванов,Н.И. 1962: Економическое сотрудничество и взаимопомощь
стран социализма (Ekonomika i politika zarubieżnych stran socjalizma:
Koreańska Narodowa-Demokraticzeskaja Republika),Сотсэкгиз,Москва.
•
Kowalski, W. 1988: Polska w świecie 1964–1956, Książka i Wiedza, Warszawa.
•
Komine, Y. 2008: Secrecy in US Foreign Policy: Nixon, Kissinger and the
Rapprochement with China, Farnham, Ashgate.
• Kunstler, M. (ed.) 1986: Historia polityczna Dalekiego Wschodu 1945–1976,
PWN, Warszawa.
•
Martin, Bradley J. 2004: Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader – North
Korea and the Kim Dynasty, St Martin’s Press, New York.
•
Labudy, G., Michowicz, W. 2002: Historia dyplomacji polskiej w X–XX wieku,
Wydawnictwo Sejmowe, Warszawa.
• Pleskot, P., Rutkowski, T. 2009: Spętana akademia: Polska Akademia Nauk
w dokumentach władz PRL. Materiały Służby Bezpieczeństwa (1967–1987),
Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, Warszawa.
• Raia, H., Duncan, L. 1989: Games and Decisions: Introduction and Critical
Survey, Dover Publications, Mineola.
178
4.2. ARTICLES
•
Buczek, L. 2012: Podział Korei i próba zjednoczenia podczas Konferencji
Genewskiej w 1954 roku. Roczniki Nauk Prawnych 22(4), 57–74.
•
Drabik, S. 2018: Przymus Pracy w Polsce Ludowej w latach 1948–1956.
Władze Centralne PZPR wobec problemu osób bez stałego zatrudnienia na
przykładzie Warszawy [in], Pleskot, P. (ed.), Obrzeża Społeczne Warszawy w latach
1945–1989, Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, Warszawa, 139–153.
• Dziak, W. J. 2003: O północnokoreańskim stylu uprawiania polityki słów
kilka, Gdańskie Studia Międzynarodowe 2, 97–100.
• Kochanowski, J., Cudzoziemscy mieszkańcy Warszawy, [in] Pleskot, P. (ed.),
Cudzoziemcy w Warszawie 1945–1989, Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, Warszawa,
205–223.
•
Krzywickim, A. 2009: Cudzoziemcy i Polacy na V Festiwalu Młodzieży
i Studentów o Pokój i Przyjaźń – Warszawa 1955, [in] Pleskot, P. (ed.),
Cudzoziemcy w Warszawie 1945-1989, Instytut Pamięci Narodowej,Warszawa,
27–41.
•
Pawłowski, J. 2010: O latach współpracy z Andrzejem Szeptyckim (1939–2008).
Cz. II, Wiadomości Entomologiczne 3/29, 221–228.
•
Pleskot, P. 2009: Zagraniczni studenci w stalinowskiej Warszawie, [in] Pleskot,
P. (ed.), Cudzoziemcy w Warszawie 1945–1989, Instytut Pamięci Narodowej,
Warszawa, 13–27.
•
Pliszka, B., Nawała, P. 2019: Ideologiczna ewolucja Korei Północnej, Przegląd
Geopolityczny 27, 59–77.
4.3. REPORTS
• Centrum Edukacji w Zabrzu – Kalendarium 2017: http://www.ce.zabrze.pl/
dokumenty/historia_ce.pdf (accessed: 20.08.2019).
179
5. LIST OF INTERVIEWS
• Interview of the author with Felix Abt. Swiss businessman who was based in
North Korea for over 10 years between 1992 and 2002. e interview was
held on 18 December 2014.
•
Interview of the author with Krzysztof Darewicz. Former Beijing-based
correspondent for the Polish News Agency PAP in the 1990’s. e interview
was held on 9 September 2019.
• Interview of the author with Mieczysław Dedo. Former Polish diplomat who
was twice the Polish representative to North Korea. e interview was held
on 4 April 2010.
•
Interview of the author with Kazimierz Wróblewski. Mayor of the Polish
army, worked at the NNSC between 1993 and 1994. e interview was held
on 19 March 2010.
• Interview of the author with Kim Ju Dok. Counsel to the North Korean
embassy in Warsaw. e interview was held at the Asia and Pacic Museum
in January 2016.
•
Interview of the author with Stanislaw Tokarski. Professor of Philosophy.
Interviews were hold on 8, 20, 29 October and 12 November 2019.
6. Polish websites fully focused on North Korean issues
Website Addresses Description
http://krld.pl A propaganda website
http://nkreports.com A website focused on the North Korean leadership
and economy
http://pozdrzkrld.com A website focused on travels to North Korea
Illustrations
182
Illustration 1. e remaining building that served as an orphanage
for North Korean children in Otwock.
e photo shows one of the buildings that served as an orphanage for North
Korean orphans in Otwock at Komunardów 10. e pine trees in the picture
were planted by North Korean orphans in the orphanage garden.
Source: e photo was taken by the author.
183
Illustration 2. A monument commemorating the presence of North
Korean orphans in Poland.
is is a monument commemorating Polish-North Korean friendship.
e inscription can be translated as ‘We were living happily in this house
between 1951 and 1959. We will remember forever the motherly support of
the nation of Poland’. e stela was present in the building at 10 Komunardów
Street. In the 2010s, this stela was sold to a private person.
Source: e photo was taken by the author.
184
Illustration 3. A stela commemorating North Korean orphans in Poland.
Another stela commemorating the presence of North Korean orphans
in Otwock with several inscriptions in Polish and (North) Korean celebrating
the friendship between the two countries. e stela is still present in the garden
of a retirement house at 13 Bernardyńska Street in Otwock.
Source: e photo was taken by the author.
185
Illustration 4a. Cover pages of a Polish book dedicated to North Korean
orphans brought up in Poland.
Cover page of the book Dom odzyskanego dzieciństwa (‘e home of recovered
childhood’), authored by Marian Brandys. e cover page is from the 1957
edition.
Source: e photo was taken by the author.
186
Illustration 4b. Cover pages of a Polish book dedicated to North Korean
orphans brought up in Poland.
Cover page of the book Dom odzyskanego dzieciństwa (‘e home of recovered
childhood’), authored by Marian Brandys. e cover page is from the 1956
edition.
Source: e photo was taken by the author.
187
Illustration 4c. Cover pages of a Polish book dedicated to North Korean
orphans brought up in Poland.
Cover page of the book Dom odzyskanego dzieciństwa (‘e home of recovered
childhood’), authored by Marian Brandys. e cover page is from the 1954
edition.
Source: e photo was taken by the author.
188
Illustration 5. Korean street in Warsaw.
e Polish-North Korea friendship was reinforced by the inauguration
of Korean Street in Warsaw in 1963. e street is in the Saska Kępa district
of Warsaw.
Source: e photo was taken by the author.
189
Illustration 6. A North Korean stamp celebrating Poland (1/2).
is stamp celebrates the Polish ship Dar Młodzieży
(‘Gift of Youth’).
Source: e photo was taken by the author.
190
Illustration 7. A delegation of the Polish-North Korea cooperative
in North Korea.
A picture illustrating the visit of the Polish delegation of the Polish-North
Korea cooperative, which is visiting the Pyongyang metro. e translator
is Kim Ju Dok, who later served as the North Korean political council
in Warsaw between 2004 and 2017.
Source: e photo was provided by ‘Pacyna – ocalić od zapomnienia’ (‘Pacyna – to save
from oblivion’), an association for the remembrance of the county of Pacyna.
191
Illustration 8. A North Korean stamp celebrating Poland (2/2).
is stamp celebrates the visit of Kim Il Sung to Poland in May 1984.
Source: e photo was taken by the author.
192
Illustration 9. e work of the Polish brigade named after Kim Jong Il,
in Pyongyang in 1986.
is photo shows how young Polish people participated in construction
projects in Pyongyang in support of the solidarity between the Polish and
North Korean nations.
Source: 1986: 3rd Polish Youth Brigade named after KIM JONG IL here,
e Pyongyang Times, 4 October.
193
Illustration 10. Polish presence on Juche Tower.
is photo shows the stone added by the Poland-North Korea Friendship
Association to Juche Tower in Pyongyang.
Source: e photo was taken by the author.
194
Illustration 11. Advertisement for a Juche meeting in Warsaw.
is photo is an advertisement for a meeting inviting Warsaw residents to meet
with a North Korean diplomat based in Poland. ese meetings were usually
jointly organised by the Juche Association of Warsaw and the North Korean
embassy in Warsaw.
Source: e photo was taken by the author.
195
Illustration 12. North Korean art exhibition in Poland.
is photo is a poster for a North Korean exhibition that was held in Warsaw.
Despite the closed nature of the North Korean regime, several North Korean
exhibitions were held in Poland. ese events were often organised
by sympathizers of the North Korean regime.
Source: e photo was taken by the author.
196
Illustration 13. e cultural theatre of the North Korean embassy
in Poland.
is building served as a cultural centre at the North Korean embassy
in Warsaw. It played not only North Korean movies but hosted propaganda
meetings defending Juche ideology.
Source: e photo was taken by the author.
197
Illustration 14. Art painting at the North Korean embassy in Warsaw.
e North Korean embassy has also a mural illustrating North Korean
beaches. is mural was painted by North Korean artists in 1984.
Source: e photo was taken by the author.
198
Illustration 15. Human Rights demonstration in front of the North
Korean embassy in Poland.
A photo of a demonstration organised during the conference on human rights
violations in North Korea, held in Warsaw between February 29 and March 2,
2004. is demonstration took place in front of the North Korean embassy
in Warsaw.
Source: e photo was taken by the author.
199
Illustration 16. Kim Pyong Il and the author.
Kim Pyong Il was not only the North Korean ambassador to Poland between
1998 and 2015 but also a son of Kim Il Sung.
Source: e photo was taken during a reception at the North Korean Embassy
in Warsaw in 2005.
200
Illustration 17. Professor Waldemar Jan Dziak and the author.
Prof. Waldemar Jan Dziak was the Polish researcher who wrote the most
extensively about North Korea. Less commonly known was that
he used to be a member of the management board of a waste company
in Poland.
Source: e photo was taken during a projection of the movie Delada produced
by Andrzej Fidyk.
