Just want to see it documented. I've never heard this before and find it funny that Ian McCollum never mentioned it with regards to why the VZ 58 was allowed to be different.
Why the Czechs were free to act differently seems to be their own manufacturing capability. I've just never read about them needing to meet "performance requirements" the same as the AK - and obviously it would have been based on the AK 47, because the AKM was a parallel development. They seem to be fielded relatively in parallel.
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Generally speaking, Ian McCollum's weapon-specific understanding is equivalent to wikipedia regurgitations... Anything of his I've viewed where I have extensive source-material knowledge, I've found his "expertise" severely lacking... The only thing I find valuable is him getting his hands or rare physical examples and then displaying them well on video. That said, I now actively avoid his videos for other reasons...
Regardless, I believe the full documentation of the Vz58's adoption is in untranslated Czech documents (IIRC, you should be able to find at least discussion regarding by searching the forum archives here), but there are some high-level english summary of translated material available -- and as I noted above weapon-system tests/trials in other com-bloc countries aroundabout the time of the Vz58's adoption (see Yugo reference) show the Vz58 performed similarly to the AK47... And common-sense should tell you the Soviets, in preparing for WW3, wouldn't allow a subservient com-bloc country to develop their own weapon system if it was broadly and demonstrably inferior.
One example of a high-level discussion available here:
https://www.czforthosewhoknow.com/blog/2022/08/29/sa-vz-58-certainly-not-an-ak-clone/ (emphasis mine and forum was throwing errors on longer excerpt so abbreviated below -- more at link)
The new design using a short-stroke gas piston combined with a unique striker-fired system, and a rather compact size was prepared for testing in the Soviet Union by autumn of 1956. The rifle passed all the tests and was deemed comparable with the AK-47 in all aspects. The Soviets were particularly surprised by its accuracy.
