740.00119 Control (Korea)/4–1448
The Political Adviser in Korea (Jacobs) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 23.]
Sir: I have the honor to enclose a proclamation issued by Lieutenant General John R. Hodge on April 5, 1948,1 outlining the rights of the Korean people in view of the forthcoming elections.
[Page 1179]General Hodge’s proclamation may be considered as a new source of law governing fundamental rights in South Korea. It is a compound of civil rights provided for in the Japanese constitution and liberties guaranteed by the Bill of Rights of the American constitution. It was promulgated largely to meet the insistent queries of the United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea, in connection with that Commission’s interest in the maintenance of a free atmosphere for elections to be observed by it, as to the substantive legal basis for civil liberties in South Korea. Some vagueness had existed on this subject in view of the presumptive inapplicability of the Japanese Constitution to Korea by virtue of the Potsdam Declaration, of SCAP proclamation No. 2 of September 7, 1945, of U.S. Army Military Government ordinances declaring all Japanese laws still in force unless repealed, et cetera.
Respectfully yours,
- Not printed.↩