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which also included Dr. Joseph Churba, the president of the ISC; Generals
Raymond G. Davis and Robert Bazley, retired four-star generals of the Ma-
rine Corps and the U.S. Air Force respectively; Rear Adm. James Nance (ret.),
former deputy assistant to the president for national security affairs; Sol
Sanders, a distinguished journalist; Professors William R. Van Cleave and
A. James Gregor, two respected professors of political science; and myself. It
would be the first direct contact with North Korea by such a high-level group
since the Korean War, and we were eagerly anticipating this trip as the date
grew near.
Because the United States and North Korea had no official diplomatic
relations, our trip was considered to be an unofficial visit by private citizens.
Despite this nonofficial status, we were given extensive briefings in Wash-
ington about current policy and were well prepared before leaving. At one
point we were even personally briefed by Assistant Secretary of State for
East Asia Richard Solomon. So even though our official status was lacking,
we were expected to observe U.S. policy guidelines and to give an extensive
report to all appropriate government agencies upon our return from
Pyongyang.
We departed from New York, and while waiting in the VIP room at
Kennedy International Airport, we were visited by Mr. Ho Jung, the num-
ber-two man in the North Korean United Nations delegation. I had met Ho
before and considered him to be a clever man and a polished “barbarian
handler,” as we called those officials whose primary duty was to liaison with
the Americans and other foreigners. He was accompanied by a second North
Korean since DPRK citizens never went anywhere alone. Officially the North
Koreans claimed they went everywhere in pairs to avoid being kidnapped
or for some similar security reason, but actually it was probably also to pre-
vent the defection of one of their diplomats.
Since I had known Ho Jung previously, I introduced him to General
Stilwell. Stilwell was concerned about both the agenda and the level of per-
sons that we would meet, and he discussed these matters with Ho. At the
time I thought Stilwell was going to refuse to travel any further; in fact at
one point he seemed determined to return to Washington. Finally he was
persuaded otherwise, and we boarded the plane for Beijing. This was only
the beginning of several problems between Stilwell and the North Koreans.
The one-day stopover in Beijing was for the purpose of changing planes
and obtaining visas. Since the United States had no diplomatic relations with
North Korea, we had to receive our entry visa from the DPRK Embassy in
Beijing. These were supposed to be issued at : A.M., and we would then