INTERVIEW OF A US CITIZEN BY TWO NORTH VIETNAMESE REPRESENTATIVES IN NORTH VIET

Created: 11/26/1970

OCR scan of the original document, errors are possible

Intelligence Information Report

InterviewS CIClaan by Two

North vietneavaae Repteaantatlvea la Hor/th Vietna-eaa SaJaassy, Moscow

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OATtINFO. 70

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with Karth VUtniwaiaovltr eriieiill IB conovvnilala*n> tha (atewho wat shot down in Southeast Asia in

To tha bait of ay recollection,tha followingetailed account of an intarvlew that took plaea| )Jann the Northamy, Moscow.

llphonetlej. Ihe interview woe conducted over

She latarvlaw with two Worth Vietnamese representatives laated eaactly one Sour and SO atnutaa, beginning at liOO TH. The higher ranking of tho two waa uan. Ha waa eppreaiatately five feeteehee tell, narrow shouldered, thin faced, and had abort fee Rla subordinate, whoa* eaaN la not recalled, waa apprmilMtoly five feet all inahea tall, broad shouldered and weighedounds. The latter waa short, squatty and hanvyaat and not Ilka any other ViatneMi* my friend had aver aaan. Doth man ware vory cordial during the Introduction ami offered clasrottoe and condlawrnta to ay rrlend and tha Soviet

oot aimito aubatltute Interpreter

proved

helpful and waa responsible (or changing the entire climate of tha Interview. She vea providedubatltute after tha Intourtat guide,

1 disclosed that aha had baon forbidden by herto act ii an intarpretar during the Interview.

The firat question asked was why my triand hsd ccaas to Moscowthe

reply wee that tt weeore oirect approach might bring about a

reply toeries

of rhetorical rjuastlons paralleling tha coaraunlat propagsnd* Unci for instance, "Why did not Nixon atop the wart Why didn't tha Aasaxlcan paople join the peace movements and stop thalr warmongering vaya! Why

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did not BUom atop theventually theworked around to f

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vantad ta knew wherewaa ahot down. Th* reply thai ha

hotar Laoi. Thar anevsred by saying that then perhapska better It Impair laa weret tha Lael tan Embassy eutral country and north Vietnam haa mo Influence thara Aa aeon aa It appeared thatand would not er couldthan thay would hedge and open the discussion anew, Thayknow who saidahot downoi, Tha reply waa that a

US Karlna Corpa casualty officer had given tha information, but thatnot thara, ao really no one knew exactly thee*ahot down.

Thee, they aekad that If tha DS Government knew ao aaach why wain'tiked Instead of ary friend coming across tha globe personally toTha response waa that obviously tha US Covarnmant waa

net holding htm prisoner and If ha did In fact survive than ho wouldprisoner In North Vietnam or Laos. Ivery cine Laos was mentionedquite disturbed. They then aabed If it ware not possibleUS Government hadistake andnot have

where tha border was located. It wased that It waa vary possible, but Itbelieved be was shot down over Laoa. Thay then reiterated the oueatlon that uaisn't It poealble tha US Government could have been wrong. It waa agreed that It wee possible, but doubtful.

At thia point all were at loggcrhevls andist of US HIA'aCo them for their verification. The list had beenfamlllds of HIA'a la Their response wsp one ofand thay Indicated that an friend had come to

thay had agreed to discussnd they would not dlecuis anything elae.

Than thay asked if my friend would layahot down over North

Vietnam end tha reply was that It could not be stated definitely. Indicated the US Covernment could b'vo been wrong, but If Ithe waa ahot down over kVnrth Uctn-ua the statement would net beone. Kuan them aald he could understand the concern ofhe rcaliteil ay frland'i family did

not start tha war ande should go back home and dlicuaa the problem with Hlaon. It waa pointed out that the North Vietnamese had eerlouely hurt thair position by their poor trentmcnt of US PW'a. At one time many people In the US and elsewhere vein against the war la Southeast Aala, but becauea of tha poor treatment sccordad tbe US FW'e North Vietnam had loac much support. This atatrseent did not exactly endasr my friend to Xuan, but ha did not royly dlroctly and only eltudad to the feet that North Vietnam had not started the war.

without consulting anyone, said something toIhange cama over the two men. My friendasked If ha would say thatcould havo been ahot down over

North Vietnam, Tha reply was In thd alllrmatlve because tlie epaod of the aircraft In which ha was flying was so great It was possible he could hove strayed Into North Vletnwa without knowing; It. At that point both men were ell smllee. They ashedhotograph of f

"his rank, serial number. All fit.mtanc facts landing up to tha event, what klad of plana ha was flying and where be was baaed. The euastlons were all answered by writing them downlace of paper.

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frlond was then told he would be notified aboutWhen asked

how long It would tska, thay replied approximately four to six weeka. My friend ashed If he ahould etay In Moscow to await word. They replied that It would ba of oo osa because tho Information had to ba relayed by mall. It was then suggested by my friend that he ba allowed to Journey to Hanoi to await word. Again thay replied thatlan would be

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because of tho danger to bit porioa and tho teasa political situation. Xoan further upod that ecsemunleatione between tho USSft and North Vietnam were loaa than thoy should have been, aod tha Information by necessity had to travel via tha mall routs. Thathan concluded and tha Interpreter and ory frland laft tha Bat hit.

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it uit latir liaraad_Jrpa|

that aha had told thaa my frland vaa

really lying about rrymi over Herth Vietnam bacauaa ha waa

afraid of acme for* of retribution which night be taken against I his statement changed their entire attitude during tha interview and froa that point they appeared to be most willing to cooperate. Aa of It Korach Ing has been heard from the Hottb Vietnamese regarding tba fata of the downed airman.

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Original document.

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