740.00119 PW/10–145
Memorandum, by the Director of the Office of Far Eastern Affairs (Vincent) to the Under Secretary of State (Acheson)
A thirteen page telegram from General MacArthur’s headquarters to the War Department89 quotes a report on conditions in Soviet-occupied North Korea made by a representative of the Australian [Page 1067] Department of Information who accompanied an American prisoner of war recovery unit. The following is a summary:
The Russians are indulging in widespread and indiscriminate looting of both Korean and Japanese property, and are indulging in rape and robbery of both Koreans and Japanese.
In certain sections the Russians are substituting Russian roubles for Korean yen, the substitution being 1 for 1.
The excesses of the Russians are bringing together the Japanese and Koreans for the first time in 40 years.
The Russians are living off the land they have occupied seizing cattle and vegetables without payment, and are using only meager quantities of their own supplies.
Korean communists are taking advantage of the advent of the Russians to further their own ends.
The Russians are bringing south heavy armament and equipment, such as tanks, machine guns and heavy trucks.
Russian occupation is forcing thousands of Koreans and Japanese to flee southward toward the American zone. Another result is seen in the almost complete cessation of industrial enterprises.
American prisoners of war were allowed to run the camp themselves but were given little food by the Russians. The Russians did nothing to repatriate the prisoners until representations were made by the American recovery unit.
- Copy not found in Department files.↩