197Appendix
U.S. INTELLIGENCE REPORT REGARDING KHAN CHAN GOL (OGPU)
AND THE KOREANS IN THE OKDVA (RED ARMY OF THE RFE). REPORT
COMPILED AF TER PO W E L L’ S SOVIET TRIP WA S COMPLETED IN JANUARY 1936.^1
[Transcribed below in its entirety]
Memorandom of Remarks of Mr. J. B. Powell, Correspondent of The Chicago Tribune,
to Vice Consul Allison
Mr. Powell has just returned from three months in Rus sia, about half of
which was spent in Siberia. He stayed for a time in Novo Sibirsk [sic], Chita,
Habarovsk [sic], and Vladivostok, as well as in Moscow. The following is a
resume of his comments.
The feeling in Moscow, as well as in Siberia, with regard to war with
Japan is much easier. The Rus sians are convinced that Japan has waited too
long and does not dare attack now, and even should they do so, Rus sia is not
afraid. There is not so much tension along the Manchu- Siberian border as
formerly. How long this will last is uncertain. The direct cause of this easy
feeling was the seeming success of the negotiations for the sale of the Chi-
nese Eastern Railway.
The Rus sians are starting another of their periodical movements toward
Asia. They have been doing this ever since they first appeared east of the Urals
and it has been this extension of Rus sian influence into Siberia and thus
through Manchuria and China that Japan has always been trying to prevent.
Tens of thousands of Rus sians are streaming toward Eastern Siberian today,
some voluntarily, but most of them forced. And all of them armed. What
the final result will be cannot be predicted. Will Japan continue to sit by and
watch this movement?
Rus sia is a completely militarized nation, the most militarized of any
in the world. In addition to the over 500,000 in the standing army, there are
some two millions in the Young Communist League, all armed. All the
members of the labor unions are armed and receive military drill. Mr. Powell