740.00119 Control (Korea)/12–3045: Telegram
Lieutenant General John R. Hodge to General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, at Tokyo
Tfgcg 208. Quoted herein is a message from Mr. Kim Koo, nominal head of the so-called Korean Provisional Government which he requests be forwarded to the Head of State of each of the four great nations (President Harry Truman, White House, Washington; Marshal Joseph Stalin, Kremlin, Moscow; Prime Minister Clement Attlee, Downing Street, London; Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek, Chungking, China).68 I strongly recommend that it be dispatched as per Kim Koo’s request.
“We oppose the decision reached at the Moscow Conference on trusteeship of Korea for the following reason[s]:
- 1st.
- It is against the desire of the entire people of Korea who uphold the principle of national self determination.
- 2nd.
- It is against the assurance given repeatedly by your nation during the 2nd World War.
- 3rd.
- None of the three articles relating to the trusteeship contained in the United Nations Charter is applicable to Korea.
- 4th.
- Any trusteeship applied to Korea will eventually destroy peace in the Far East.
For immediate independence of Korea as well as for world peace we hereby declare in advance our attitude of noncooperation toward the said trusteeship and we urgently request your immediate reconsideration.”
- In a letter of January 18, 1946, to Assistant Secretary of War Petersen, Mr. Acheson “suggested that the War Department may wish to inform General Hodge that the message from Kim Koo has been brought to the attention of the President but that it would be inappropriate for the United States. Government to transmit Mr. Kim’s message to the heads of other states. Mr. Kim is, of course, at liberty to address communications directly to the heads of other governments.” (740.00119 Control (Korea)/1–546)↩