740.00119 Control (Korea)/4–546: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Political Adviser in Korea (Langdon)
50. Dept appreciates full and informative reports made on meetings and issues Joint Commission, particularly summaries of position outlined in Tfurc 14 and 16.77 No useful purpose would be served by entering into debate now over trusteeship and we therefore concur in your view that Korean dislike for this provision of Moscow Agreement cannot be used as a criterion to exclude Korean parties from consultation. Final decision with regard to trusteeship rests neither with Commission nor with Koreans but with the four Govts to whom Commission’s proposals are submitted in accordance with second half of Para 3 of Moscow Agreement.
We feel that it can be usefully reemphasized to Russians, if it has not already been done, that the purpose of the Commission acting under Para 2 of Moscow Agreement is to make recommendations on the formation of a Korean democratic provisional Govt; that this Govt should be as nearly representative of the wishes of the Korean people as possible; that this purpose could be more readily carried out if the parallel 38 barrier were completely removed with regard to interchange of persons and info between areas; that we are prepared, if it would facilitate agreement in Commission for drawing up proposals, to undertake jointly with Soviets supervision of local elections to decide issue as to representative Korean parties; that, as stated in the Moscow Agreement, our sole objective in Korea is the development of democratic self-govt. and the establishment of an independent Korea which we might reasonably expect to maintain amicable relations not only with the USSR and the US but also with other United Nations; [Page 658] and that, while we are prepared to accommodate our views on reasonable procedural matters to those of the Soviet group on the Commission, we are not prepared to compromise on the objective and intend to persevere until that objective is achieved.
There is no question of our agreeing to a hasty, unsatisfactory settlement in order to relieve ourselves of responsibility which we fully intend to discharge and we therefore feel that your resolve not to prejudice fundamental objectives by anxiety and impatience to reach early agreement is very well taken. While desiring of course to reach a satisfactory solution as soon as practicable, we feel under no pressure to hasten matters and fully approve your attitude.78
- In despatch 11, April 11, from Seoul (not printed), papers for seven sessions as tabled by both sides were transmitted to the Department (740.00119 Control-(Korea)/4–1146).↩
- For press release of April 5 on Department’s position toward Korea, see Department of State Bulletin, April 14, 1946, p. 644.↩