RECONSIDERATION OF REQUEST FOR TRANSLATION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85-00024R000400450003-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 23, 2007
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: March 19, 1982
• Content Type: MEMO

Approved For Release 2007/10/23: CIA-RDP85-00024R000400450003-5
' N M
19 March 1982
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director, Foreign Broadcast
Information Service
Director of Central Reference
SUBJECT : Reconsideration of Request for Translation
REFERENCE : Chief, Translation Services Staff's Memo dated,
23 February 1982, Subject: Reduction in FBIS
Translation Support
1. Citing budgetary reductions imposed by the DDS&T Comptroller,
the Chief of your Translation Services Staff has rejected an OCR request
for a translation of a 1981 Who's Who on the top government, party, and
military leaders in North Korea. In rejecting the request, he has proposed
that we transfer $7,500 in OCR funds if the translation is needed. I find
this request difficult to understand since FBIS provides a service of common
concern for Agency elements, not unlike what OCR provides to the rest of the
Agency. This Office has never considered charging users for its service. 25X1
2. I would appreciate if you would reconsider the decision because of
the importance and uniqueness of the book. The translation has much wider
application than just use by OCR. We have determined that there is signifi-
cant Agenc and Intelligence Community interest in having it available in
English. 25X1
3. There is only a limited amount of basic biographic data on North
Korea. Its current leader,.Kim Il-song, celebrates his 70th birthday on
15 April, and he has medical problems. In any post-Kim era, there is a
strong possibility of power sharin ng the North Korean leadership, as
well as policy shifts or changes. 7 25X1
4. Nothing similar to the current Who's Who has been published in
almost a decade. The 1973 Who's Who which was in Korean and never trans-
lated, could be used only by Korean language specialists. El 25X1
5. OCR analysts have consulted various Agency and Community analysts
about the value of the 1981 Who's Who. The OEAA analyst,.who will shortly
become the DDI Representative in Seoul, believes that a translation would be
useful in his office, even though he and several other OEAA people speak
CO F UE TI .
Approved For Release 2007/10/23: CIA-RDP85-00024R000400450003-5
 Approved For Release 2007/10/23: CIA-RDP85-00024R000400450003-5
SUBJECT: Reconsideration of Request for Translation
Korean. The other offices that would find an English translation useful
include DDO/EA, DIA/DB-2B2, State/EA, and NSA/T-5222. (NSA believes it could
use 30 copies of any translation that it receives.) 0
6. A translation of the North Korean Who's Who would represent a
valuable Community resource and appears to be within the FBIS mission for
supporting the Agency and the Community. If FBIS is curtailing its open
literature exploitation, it is running against Congressional and Community
pressures for more and better exploitation.
7. If the refusal of this request represents a basic change in FBIS
services, I recommend we meet to discuss the impact of such a change. If
FBIS has not changed its basic mission, I ask that you reconsider the decision
or that analysts from these offices meet to discuss possible alternatives. fl
C0 I E lTI L
25X1
25X1
Approved For Release 2007/10/23: CIA-RDP85-00024R000400450003-5