Ambassadors Gleysteen and Miller discuss relations between North Korea and South Korea and the regional situation in Northeast Asia in 1978.

Update on UNCURK committee meetings, 19th preliminary Red Cross negotiations, ROK statement on preconditions for Korean settlement, and expedition of Japan-DPRK trade relationship.

Update concerning ROK outline on Korean question, Japan-DPRK 5-year trade agreement, 16th preliminary Red Cross negotiation, and North Korean leader Kim Byong Sik's statement in Time magazine.

Ozbudun sends Narasimhan a letter on Mr. Marshall Green's visit to the ROK, the doubling of Japan-DPRK trade during 1972, ROK-DPRK Red Cross talks: 3th working committee meeting, and USSR-DPRK contacts.

Ozbudun sends Narasimhan a letter on the 19th ROK-DPRK Red Cross preliminary meeting, the first session of the Commission for 1972, a briefing for UNCURK, Japan-DPRK trade and other "relations", and statement of the ROK Foreign Minister on pre-conditions towards a Korean settlement.

Ozbudun sends Narasimhan a report concerning the 17th preliminary meeting of the ROK and the DPRK Red Cross organizations, points of concession indicated at the 17th preliminary meeting of the North-South Red Cross organizations, the interview of Premier Kim Il Sung, and "Japan-DPRK trade agreement," etc.

The telegram comments on several changes and challenges to North Korea's 6 year plan (1971-76). Romanian sources report that Pyongyang set unrealistic goals and production quotas on North Korea's heavy industry that is burdened by the deficit of raw materials. The telegram also points out North Korea's growing foreign trade with capitalist nations, while export quotas to socialist countries have only been partially fulfilled. The author points to lagging in many of North Korea's industrial sectors and comments that Pyongyang's economic goals will require massive financial efforts over the short-term.