I met Peng Dehuai at the Embassy in North Korea | Oral History of Veterans of the Volunteer Army, Superior During the War of Resistance and Aid to Korea | Embassy of China in North Korea | Embassy of North Korea
Narrator: Zhao Jiyu, 90 years old, a radio operator at the Chinese Embassy in North Korea. He entered North Korea in April 1953
I am from Taiyuan, Shanxi. I registered to join the People's Liberation Army in April 1948 and was not yet 15 years old at the time. When I was a child, my family faced difficulties because we couldn't afford to have two children. My sister was sent to an orphanage. After the arrival of the People's Liberation Army, they were very kind to us ordinary people. Coincidentally, the radio school in the army recruited students, so I signed up. After studying newspaper publishing for a year, I followed the troops south to Guangzhou and Hainan, and then transferred to Beijing to study mechanical engineering.
In March 1953, ceasefire negotiations in North Korea were ongoing. One day, my superiors suddenly notified me and another comrade in arms to go to the North Korean Embassy in China. A representative from the embassy received us and conveyed a new instruction from our superiors, asking us to immediately set off to work as a telegraph operator at the Chinese Embassy in North Korea. I remember very clearly that the agent gave us each 350 yuan in funding to buy some new clothes. Because working in the embassy, one cannot wear clothes with the emblem of the People's Liberation Army.
In April 1953, we arrived in Pyongyang. At that time, our embassy was located in a mountain on the outskirts of Pyongyang, and there were also Soviet embassies and the headquarters of the Korean People's Army nearby. The concealment measures along the way were very strict, and vehicles were absolutely not allowed to enter or exit during the day. Because although this is not the frontline, American planes still occasionally fly in and drop bombs when there is any movement. As soon as the air raid alarm sounded, we ran towards the air raid shelter. The last time, a bomb exploded 3 meters away from the air raid shelter where I was hiding.
At that time, the volunteer army negotiation delegation was stationed in Kaesong, and they sent the negotiation content to Beijing and the headquarters of the Korean People's Army every day. I and another radio operator take turns on duty every day, sometimes the telegram only arrives at one or two in the morning, and we also have to work immediately. I used to post newspapers in the military, and the length of each article was not long, usually around one or two hundred words, but the ones sent by the delegation often consisted of four or five thousand words. I remember very clearly that a page of paper is 100 words, and it takes me 5 minutes to finish typing one page. I have to work continuously for four or five hours to complete it.
At that time, embassies were responsible for important liaison tasks, and leaders from both countries often came to the embassies. Once, a middle-aged man wearing a woolen coat walked in. I was on duty and quickly approached him to ask who it was and what was going on. He said, I am Peng Dehuai, and I need to contact the Volunteer Army Command if there is anything. At that time, our telephone and telegraph lines were the same. As soon as I listened, I quickly connected the telephone line and Mr. Peng called Zhisi.
During my time in North Korea, I witnessed firsthand the serious damage caused by the war to this country. At that time, there were almost no intact buildings in Pyongyang, all destroyed by enemy air raids. There were no houses, no shops, and the North Korean people lived in underground shelters. In order to avoid airstrikes, we have implemented the strictest air defense orders, staying inside the embassy and generally not going out unless it is to enter an air raid shelter.
So it was on July 27, 1953, when the ceasefire agreement was officially signed. We already knew the news beforehand, but we couldn't help feeling excited. At 22:00, the ceasefire agreement officially came into effect. My comrades and I opened the curtains in the room for the first time and looked out at the scenery. Yes, during the three months I have been in North Korea, there have always been two layers of curtains in my room, one black and one red, to ensure that even at night, there will not be any light leaking out. Before the ceasefire, we had almost no entertainment activities except for work and rest. After the ceasefire, we sometimes play basketball outdoors, and when winter comes, we still skate on the frozen lake surface.
In early 1955, I finished my work at the embassy and returned to Beijing. Although the treatment provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was slightly better than that of the military at that time, after the Korean War, I realized that there were still shortcomings in the construction of the military. Therefore, I chose to return to the military and went to the newly established and relatively weak navy. I first learned communication technology, then radar, and worked until retirement.
