• said he looked forward to a unique opportunity to negotiate a historical
agreement in an atmosphere in which both sides were treated with respect
and equality, and he made some other pleasant remarks. Then he picked up
his papers and said it was time to read his official opening statement. From
the text of the official statement, it was difficult to believe that this was the
same individual who had seconds earlier been so gracious. The official state-
ment sounded more like a propaganda harangue at Panmunjom. At least
thirty minutes were devoted to the glories of the Great Leader (the now-
deceased Kim Il Sung) and “Dear Leader” (Kim Il Sung’s designated successor,
Kim Jong Il). There were several nasty references to American imperialists,
war-mongering American hegemonists, and the like. After two glasses of
water and about forty minutes, Oh finished his diatribe, then looked across
the table and said matter of factly, “Okay, now lets talk about magnesite.”
The negotiations from this point took on an us-versus-them tone. By the
end of the day, it was clear that the North Koreans had little authority even
to negotiate a simple business contract. They were required to telephone
Pyongyang each evening for instructions, then we would debate various
elements of our conflicting positions. Information that was open in our
society was a state secret in theirs, so we were unable to obtain even rudi-
mentary knowledge of their production capacity, port facilities, technical
specifications of the product, or any other data that we needed to make an
informed business decision. Further, it rapidly became apparent that Oh Tae
Bong (who we referred to as “Big Oh”) and Oh Hung Muk (who we referred
to as “Little Oh”) were personally hostile to each other and on opposite sides
of almost every issue. They actually spent more time arguing with each
other than with us. “Big Oh” had the mission of negotiating a successful
contract that would make him and his government look good. As the pro-
duction manager, though, “Little Oh” would be the one who actually had
to mine the product, find a way to transport and deliver it to port, meet dead-
lines, and fulfill all other contractual obligations in a country that had a
deteriorating infrastructure, massive fuel shortages, and other impediments.
Any previous vision we might have had of monolithic socialists speaking
with one mind soon disappeared.
There were some problems as well beyond the conference proceedings.
The North Koreans were suspicious to a point verging on paranoia. They
would not answer even basic personal questions such as where they had
been born and raised, where they had gone to school, and whether they were
married and had children. More seriously, they were convinced that their
rooms were bugged and insisted on changing hotels. The initial host hotel