{"id":131637,"date":"2023-03-06T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-06T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/devrri.freshlemon.ro\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/romanian-north-korean-relations-131637.html"},"modified":"2024-02-19T13:39:49","modified_gmt":"2024-02-19T11:39:49","slug":"romanian-north-korean-relations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/features-and-reports\/the-history-show\/romanian-north-korean-relations-id131637.html","title":{"rendered":"Romanian-North Korean relations"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

The relation Socialist Romania had with North Korea,
\nfrom the 1970s to 1989, was quite good. There are two explanations for the
\npositive trend of the relations between two countries that were so far away
\nfrom one another. The first explanation has to do with the two communist
\nleaders, Nicolae Ceau\u0219escu and Kim Ir Sen, being in mutual harmony in terms of
\nopinions and personality. The second explanation pertains to the two communist
\ncountries’ economic interest. Romania had to expand its economic relations beyond
\nEurope, while North Korea sought to approach a European country. <\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

Colonel Emil
\nBurghelea was appointed military attach\u00e9 in 1970 and spent a couple of years
\nin North Korea. In 2000, Colonel Burghelea was interviewed by Radio Romania’s
\nOral History Centre. Back then he gave an account of what the level had been,
\nof the economic exchange between Romania and North Korea, prior to the departure to his position in North Korea. In the Asian country, Romania mainly exported Bucegi
\ntrucks, made in the Steagul Rosu\/The Red Flag plants in Brasov, spare parts and
\ninformation on the service. North Korea was hungry for any kind of technology
\nand intended to set up a national industry. Colonel Burghelea reminisced Koreans’
\nperformances, carried in primitive conditions, but also their unfair commercial
\npractices. <\/span>Emil Burghelea:<\/span><\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

They made special steels for their heavy
\nweaponry, and we were taken aback because of that: how in God’s name something
\nlike that could come along, while we, back home, were required expertise from
\nthe West, all the time, which meant investments and a lot of money. The second
\nissue was about the Koreans’ mobilization, they were caught fourfold between a
\nrock and a hard place, they were caught between the four empires: the Russian,
\nthe Chinese, the Japanese and the American one. From us, they received
\nautomatic lathes, made in Arad or Brasov. And we saw them removing the
\nRomanian-language labels from the lathe, reading Made in…., they replaced
\nthem with other labels, in Korean, they shipped them to South Korea saying they
\nhad been made by them. And we didn’t object to that in any way. They were
\ntrying to mobilize their forces, to create. There they had many cement lines,
\nmade by us.<\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

North Koreans’ interest was largely in the military and
\nthe military capabilities, while their economy was subordinated to the doctrine
\nof militarization. Emil Burghelea:<\/span><\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

They took an interest in anything, they even
\nvisited our shipyards in Mangalia. In aviation, in tanks, artillery, they were
\nvery interested in that. They structured their coastal artillery and your hair stood
\non end as to when and how they took it out. You couldn’t see anything from the
\nshore, neither could you see where it was hidden. They managed to put up a very
\nadvanced defense system, which was even nuke-proof. At a certain time, we,
\nRomanians, were a step ahead so to say. We had a tradition in terms of military
\ntechnology and equipment that we were building at our Plants in Resita, such as
\nthe formidable 75 anti-tank gun or the device made by inventor Bungescu. We had
\nthe aircraft plant in Brasov, which was building helicopters and ran a contract
\nwith the USSR for building a Katyusha-type rocket launcher. For this reason,
\nthey used to visit us a lot back then and whenever they went to Ceausescu they
\nusually asked for another type of weapon. And Ceausescu gave them everything
\nthey asked for. We took them on tours around our weapon factories and whenever
\nthey get there, officers would pull out their notebooks and start taking notes.
\nThey came to study the Army House in Brasov, and when they started building
\ntheir own, we sent them experts. <\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But you need more than weapons to build a strong army,
\nyou also need training. North Koreans started training their troops at a very
\nearly age. Emil Burghelea:<\/span><\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

They took the training of their soldiers very
\nseriously, under the motto ‘One against one hundred’. They believed their
\nenemies had more troops and they wanted their soldiers to be able to stand up
\nto more enemy soldiers. They laid emphasis on martial arts and trained their
\ntroops extensively. They provided weapon training to children with ages between
\n12 and 14, like boy-scouts, you know. Their boy scouts were called pioneers at
\nthat time and the Pioneer House in Pyong Yang as well as in other cities were
\nfitted with special classes and workshops providing military training, teaching
\nchildren how to use infantry weapons like machine guns and rocket
\nlaunchers. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The high level of mutual trust was benefitting both sides and
\nRomania gained access to North Korea’s raw materials. Emil Burghelea:<\/span><\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

We didn’t give them technology for free, you
\nknow. Their country had great deposits of anthracite and we needed their
\nanthracite. They exported many things to Romania, like tobacco, anthracite,
\nfish and Ceausescu wasn’t that generous without a purpose, apart from the
\npolitical ones. We even imported iron ore from them, because we had developed
\nour plants and we were in need of iron ore. So, it wasn’t only the military
\nfield. <\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The bilateral relations diminished considerably after
\nthe fall of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu’s regime back in 1989, when Romania
\ndiscarded communism to embrace democracy. (EN&bill)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Romania and North Korea enjoyed special relations back in the time of the Iron Curtain<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":123226,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41141],"tags":[35248,42974,34540,29745,42976,30320,35096,42975,30709],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-131637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-history-show","tag-ceausescu","tag-ir","tag-kim","tag-korea","tag-machine-gun","tag-military","tag-north","tag-sen","tag-weapons"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRomanian-North Korean relations - Radio Romania International<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/features-and-reports\/the-history-show\/romanian-north-korean-relations-id131637.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Romanian-North Korean relations - Radio Romania International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Romania and North Korea enjoyed special relations back in the time of the Iron Curtain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/features-and-reports\/the-history-show\/romanian-north-korean-relations-id131637.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Radio Romania International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-06T12:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-19T11:39:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/logo-rri-fundal-alb-dunga-bleu.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steliu Lambru\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steliu Lambru\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/features-and-reports\\\/the-history-show\\\/romanian-north-korean-relations-id131637.html#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/features-and-reports\\\/the-history-show\\\/romanian-north-korean-relations-id131637.html\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Steliu Lambru\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/32dfff47877fea659b3b498015876c1d\"},\"headline\":\"Romanian-North Korean relations\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-06T12:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-19T11:39:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/features-and-reports\\\/the-history-show\\\/romanian-north-korean-relations-id131637.html\"},\"wordCount\":880,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/features-and-reports\\\/the-history-show\\\/romanian-north-korean-relations-id131637.html#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/10\\\/logo-rri-fundal-alb-dunga-bleu.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Ceausescu\",\"Ir\",\"Kim\",\"Korea\",\"machine gun\",\"military\",\"North\",\"Sen\",\"WEAPONS\"],\"articleSection\":[\"The History Show\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/features-and-reports\\\/the-history-show\\\/romanian-north-korean-relations-id131637.html\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/features-and-reports\\\/the-history-show\\\/romanian-north-korean-relations-id131637.html\",\"name\":\"Romanian-North Korean relations - Radio Romania International\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/features-and-reports\\\/the-history-show\\\/romanian-north-korean-relations-id131637.html#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/features-and-reports\\\/the-history-show\\\/romanian-north-korean-relations-id131637.html#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/10\\\/logo-rri-fundal-alb-dunga-bleu.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-06T12:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-19T11:39:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/32dfff47877fea659b3b498015876c1d\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/features-and-reports\\\/the-history-show\\\/romanian-north-korean-relations-id131637.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/features-and-reports\\\/the-history-show\\\/romanian-north-korean-relations-id131637.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/features-and-reports\\\/the-history-show\\\/romanian-north-korean-relations-id131637.html#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/10\\\/logo-rri-fundal-alb-dunga-bleu.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/10\\\/logo-rri-fundal-alb-dunga-bleu.png\",\"width\":640,\"height\":480},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/features-and-reports\\\/the-history-show\\\/romanian-north-korean-relations-id131637.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Homepage\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Features and Reports\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/features-and-reports\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"The History Show\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/features-and-reports\\\/the-history-show\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Romanian-North Korean relations\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/\",\"name\":\"Radio Romania International\",\"description\":\"Totul despre Rom\u00e2nia \u015fi rom\u00e2ni, \u00een 13 limbi\\\/dialecte!\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/32dfff47877fea659b3b498015876c1d\",\"name\":\"Steliu Lambru\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/author\\\/steliu-lambru\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Romanian-North Korean relations - Radio Romania International","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/features-and-reports\/the-history-show\/romanian-north-korean-relations-id131637.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Romanian-North Korean relations - Radio Romania International","og_description":"Romania and North Korea enjoyed special relations back in the time of the Iron Curtain","og_url":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/features-and-reports\/the-history-show\/romanian-north-korean-relations-id131637.html","og_site_name":"Radio Romania International","article_published_time":"2023-03-06T12:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-02-19T11:39:49+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":480,"url":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/logo-rri-fundal-alb-dunga-bleu.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Steliu Lambru","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Steliu Lambru","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/features-and-reports\/the-history-show\/romanian-north-korean-relations-id131637.html#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/features-and-reports\/the-history-show\/romanian-north-korean-relations-id131637.html"},"author":{"name":"Steliu Lambru","@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/#\/schema\/person\/32dfff47877fea659b3b498015876c1d"},"headline":"Romanian-North Korean relations","datePublished":"2023-03-06T12:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2024-02-19T11:39:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/features-and-reports\/the-history-show\/romanian-north-korean-relations-id131637.html"},"wordCount":880,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/features-and-reports\/the-history-show\/romanian-north-korean-relations-id131637.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/logo-rri-fundal-alb-dunga-bleu.png","keywords":["Ceausescu","Ir","Kim","Korea","machine gun","military","North","Sen","WEAPONS"],"articleSection":["The History Show"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/features-and-reports\/the-history-show\/romanian-north-korean-relations-id131637.html","url":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/features-and-reports\/the-history-show\/romanian-north-korean-relations-id131637.html","name":"Romanian-North Korean relations - Radio Romania International","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/features-and-reports\/the-history-show\/romanian-north-korean-relations-id131637.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/features-and-reports\/the-history-show\/romanian-north-korean-relations-id131637.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/logo-rri-fundal-alb-dunga-bleu.png","datePublished":"2023-03-06T12:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2024-02-19T11:39:49+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/#\/schema\/person\/32dfff47877fea659b3b498015876c1d"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/features-and-reports\/the-history-show\/romanian-north-korean-relations-id131637.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/features-and-reports\/the-history-show\/romanian-north-korean-relations-id131637.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/features-and-reports\/the-history-show\/romanian-north-korean-relations-id131637.html#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/logo-rri-fundal-alb-dunga-bleu.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/logo-rri-fundal-alb-dunga-bleu.png","width":640,"height":480},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/features-and-reports\/the-history-show\/romanian-north-korean-relations-id131637.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Homepage","item":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Features and Reports","item":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/features-and-reports"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The History Show","item":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/features-and-reports\/the-history-show"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Romanian-North Korean relations"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/","name":"Radio Romania International","description":"Totul despre Rom\u00e2nia \u015fi rom\u00e2ni, \u00een 13 limbi\/dialecte!","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/#\/schema\/person\/32dfff47877fea659b3b498015876c1d","name":"Steliu Lambru","url":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/author\/steliu-lambru"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131637"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=131637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}