In June 1970, North Korea’s nominal head of state, Choe Yong-gon, arrived at Pyongyang’s Sunan Airport ahead of a plane carrying Indian dignitaries. But neither President VV Giri nor Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was on board. Instead, it brought three senior leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M): former Kerala Chief Minister EMS Namboodiripad, Promode Dasgupta and Puchalapalli Sundarayya. Over the next two weeks, the trio received red-carpet treatment wherever they went in North Korea and were often accompanied by Choe.
The visit, and the importance accorded to it by the North Koreans, surprised both the Indian consulate in Pyongyang and the Soviet embassy. Soviet diplomats asked their Indian counterparts why the CPI(M) had been chosen over the Communist Party of India, which maintained close ties with Moscow. Indian diplomats had no clear answer.
Besides being granted the special privilege of staying at the State Guest House in Pyongyang, the CPI(M) delegation was treated to a cultural performance organised in its honour. During their two-week stay, the delegates also visited the military demarcation line and the port city of Wonsan. They were, however, absent from celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War. This prompted officials at...