CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1952/01/15

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02698151
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: May 24, 2019
• Document Release Date: May 30, 2019
• Publication Date: January 15, 1952

Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2698151
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SECU1TY INFORMATION
15 January 1952
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Copy No.
47
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO.
NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
II DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: 1-3 3
NEXT REVIEW DAM 4
AUTH: 'R 70.-/
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DATE. REVEWER
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Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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SEC3JRT INFORMATION
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SUMMARY
FAR EAST
1. Communists continue airfield construction program in Korea (page 3).
2. Communists accumulate considerable food stockpile in eastern North
Korea (page 3).
3. Peiping allocates imports from USSR (page 4).
SOUTH ASIA
4. India continues to raise problems regarding Kashmir (page 4).
5, Afghanistan considers drilling for oil near Soviet frontier (page 5).
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
6. Iranian troops receive part pay in government bonds (page 6).
LATIN AMERICA
7. Chilean position on copper may be firmer than previously believed (page 6
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FAR_ EAST
L Communists continue airfield construction program in Korea:
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The Far East Command reports that photographE3.3(h)(2)
taken of enemy airfields at Uiju, Sinanju, and
Pyongyang during December and early Sanuary
indicate the continued construction of new facili-
ties and the repair of bomb-damaged runways., The three-field complex of
Namsi-Taechon-Saamcham in the Chongchon river area, however, has had no
work done on it since early November.
Comment: Jet aircraft operated from Uiju air-
field, on the Manchurian border, during November and December. While no
operational aircraft have been sighted on the fields in the Pyongyang and
Sinanju area, it is possible that they are bases for night interceptor or
harassing flights.
2. Communists accumulate considerable food stockpile in eastern North Korea:
39,490 tons of rice, millet, and beans at one of
the principal east coast supply depots. These
supplies, transported by truck, were accumulated during one week's time.
Comment: This quantity of food is sufficient to
supply all the Communist troops in Korea for almost two months or troops
in the eastern sector alone for six months.
A very short truck haul is indicated by the
quantity of material moved during this period, possibly indicating movement
from an eastern or central Korean railhead to the supply depot.
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3. Peiping allocates imports from USSR:
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Items on the 1952 Soviet "production materials
list"
These items were designated as "thick hard-3.3(h)(2)
see p s, � ack and galvanized iron pipe, triangle steel, I-bar steel,
channel steel, steel wire rope, high carbon steel, copper rods, copper pipes,
gasoline generators, gasoline, diesel oil, machine oil, and motor oil for cars."
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Comment:
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e quantities are large and that the USSR is probably China's
major supplier of the items specified. Communist China's imports in 1951
were at record levels and, according to Peiping, about half of the shipments
originated in the USSR. Approximately one-fourth came from other Orbit
countries and the remainder from Western sources of supply.
SOUTH ASIA
4. India continues to raise problems regarding Kashmir:
Shortly before Ambassador Bowles' departure 3.3(h)(2)
for Washington, Prime Minister Nehru and the
Secretary General of the Indian Ministry of Ex-
ternal Affairs again indicated to him a willing-
ness to expedite settlement of the Kashmir
dispute.
The Secretary General hinted at the possibility
of an Indian compromise on demilitarization, but at the same time brought up
the explosive subject of partition, which has not yet been openly discussed in
the UN Security Council. He also questioned how former residents of Kash-
mir could be repatriated and establishtheir eligibility to vote prior to a
plebiscite.
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Comment: The Indian technique of raising
tangential questions or of accompanying propositions with conditions im-
possible for Pakistan or the Security Council to accept has successfully de-
layed a settlement of the Kashmir diispute for over three years. Even if the
Indian Government makes certain concessions in the near future on such
matters as demilitarization, there is still no reason to believe that a final
solution is anywhere in sight.
5. Afghanistan considers drilling for oil near Soviet frontier:
An Afghan Cabinet Minister told the French
Ambassador in Kabul on 10 January that there is.
considerable anxiety in Afghanistan over possible
Soviet reaction to the development of oil fields
in northern Afghanistan, near the Soviet
frontier. "Our oil resources," the Minister remarked, "are, fortunately or
unfortunately for us, more abundant than we had thought until now." He
added that a national company would, nevertheless, be established to
manage the oil industry and that the Afghan Cabinet was studying pertinent
reports submitted by the UN technical assistance mission currently in
Afghanistan,
The French Ambassador states that four oil
companies -- three American and one French -- are competing for the con-
tract. He believes that Afghanistan, aware of the inherent dangers in the
situation and of its own weakness, will decide to postpone its decision for a
year.
Comment: The UN mission in Afghanistan in-
cludes a Dutch oil expert who has identified six potential oil basins. The
most promising area is presumably in north-central Afghanistan near the
Soviet frontier and close to a proven Soviet oil field.
Afghanistan, dependent on Pakistan and the
USSR for its oil, has long wished to develop an oil industry sufficient to take
care of its domestic market. Lack of finances and technical personnel, as
well as fear of Soviet reaction, has delayed the project. No tests have been
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drilled. Afghanistan currently appears to be interested in operating its own
company, and in recruiting foreign personnel for exploratory drilling.
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
6. Iranian troops receive part pay in government bonds: 3.3(h)(2)
The US Army attache in Tehran reports that
officers and some enlisted men of the Iranian
Army were paid partly in government bonds for
the month of December. Dissatisfaction is not
yet serious, although it may become so later.
Comment: The government is attempting by
this maneuver to keep the troops paid, conserve its rapidly dwindling cash
reserve, and stimulate the lagging sale of government bonds.
LATIN AMERICA
7, Chilean position on copper may be firmer than previously believed:
The Chilean Foreign Office "confidentially" 3.3(h)(2)
informed its Embassy in Washington on 2 January
that President Gonzalez Videla is "ready to take
over the entire copper production the very
moment that Chile's withdrawal from the Inter-
nationalMaterials Conference becomes inevitable, whatever may be the
consequences. The Foreign Minister stated that if an attempt is made to
fix the price of copper without Chilean consent, Chile would be obliged
to change its entire copper poliCy.
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Comment: This indicates that the Chilean
position may be firmer than was previously believed.
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