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fully be the first commercial agreement between an American company and
North Korea since before the Korean War. Our side agreed—without any
assistance from the U.S. government—to act as host and sponsor, includ-
ing paying all transportation and travel costs for the North Koreans, who
were, of course, strapped for hard currency.
The DPRK delegation arrived in New York about the middle of June and
was met at JFK Airport, assisted through customs and immigration, and
taken to a hotel to rest prior to beginning talks the next day. Our guests were
dressed conservatively in somewhat dated suits and ties, presumably of
North Korean manufacture. Some wore Kim Il Sung buttons.
The following morning we introduced ourselves, made the customary
opening statements, and exchanged relevant information. Our side included
the company president, the director for international business, our legal
counsel, representatives from operations and marketing, and myself. The
North Korean side’s senior representative and spokesman was Oh Tae Bong,
secretary general of the DPRK Committee for the Promotion of Interna-
tional Trade. Oh Hung Muk, vice president of the Korea Magnesia Export
Corporation, was the number-two man, and he was assisted by an older
gentleman who was introduced as an operations specialist. Two other North
Koreans attended, but they were given only brief introductions and did not
participate in the substance of any of the meetings. Eventually I deduced
that one was probably gathering technical information and that the other
was a security type whose function was to watch the rest of the delegation.
All were very serious and largely humorless, although Oh Tae Bong did
loosen up some later on when I was able to spend some time alone with him.
We had allowed four days for the meetings: two for the normal proceed-
ings and negotiations, one for a field trip to visit a steel plant in Pennsylva-
nia—which would demonstrate how the magnesite was to be used by the
company—and another to wrap up final details and issue a joint statement
and press release. As the initial meeting began, it became evident that things
might not go according to plan.
I had written an opening statement for the company president to deliver
that included some language that would translate well into Korean and was
designed to get things off to a good start. It seemed to work; the other side
nodded appreciably at the right times during the translation of the com-
ments and made all the right gestures. It was now time for Oh Tae Bong to
respond. Putting his prepared remarks aside for the moment, he looked at
his host directly and told him how much he appreciated his opening words,
which he said were much kinder and gracious than he had expected. Oh