795.00/12–1150
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Acting Officer in Charge of Korean Affairs (Emmons)
Subject: Point of View of ROK Toward Present Situation in Korea.
| Participants: | Dr. John M. Chang, Korean Ambassador |
| Mr. Dean Rusk, Assistant Secretary | |
| Mr. Arthur B. Emmons, 3rd, Officer in Charge of Korean Affairs |
Ambassador Chang called on Mr. Rusk this morning at 11:30 at the Ambassador’s request. The Ambassador opened the conversation by saying that he had been instructed by his government to bring to the attention of the Department its complete and determined opposition to re-establishment of the 38th Parallel as any kind of frontier or any other form of compromise with or appeasement of the Communists. Dr. Chang repeatedly emphasized this point and stated that the Korean people would never accept such a solution in Korea and that after the terrible sacrifice and sufferings which they had undergone the Koreans were determined to fight to the bitter end for complete unification of their country, adding that no other solution, however temporary, would be acceptable to his Government.
Mr. Rusk pointed out that both the United States and the United Nations had never recognized the legitimacy of the 38th Parallel as a frontier, that they remained committed to the original principles of unification and independence for Korea, and were not now disposed to compromise these principles. He stressed, however, that the military situation was such that there might remain for the United Nations and for Korea only the undesirable alternatives of stabilizing the situation, through negotiation, at some line such as the 38th Parallel or of being driven entirely out of the peninsula by superior military forces. He asked the Ambassador which of these two disagreeable alternatives he thought would be considered the most desirable by his government, adding that because of its geographical location, Korea never could be free from having Communist China or the USSR on its borders.
The Ambassador replied that his instructions did not cover this particular point, that he would ask for further clarification of it but that in principal his government and the Korean people were determined not to accept any compromise with the Communists which would lead to a restoration, however temporary, of the 38th Parallel [Page 1514] or any other line south of the Yalu. The Ambassador said that at his recent visit to the White House, the President had assured him that the United States would not seek appeasement of the Communists in Korea nor abandon the basic principles which motivated our actions there, and that the United States was not disposed to withdraw from Korea unless forced to pull out by military action. The Ambassador believed that this statement by the President represented a close approximation of the position of the ROK which he had just described and that it would imply that the United States would never settle for even a temporary re-establishment of any artificial division of Korea such as the 38th Parallel. He asked Mr. Rusk to stress to the President, to the Secretary, and to the Department of Defense the position of the ROK which he had outlined.
Mr. Rusk stated that he had seen reports indicating that over 500,000 North Korean refugees were moving south from the area menaced by Communist re-occupation and asked the Ambassador if he had any information on this. The Ambassador replied that while he had no exact figures, reports from Seoul indicated a very extensive refugee movement into South Korea and remarked that over 2,000,000 refugees had come south after the occupation of North Korea by the USSR in 1945.
Mr. Rusk suggested that the Ambassador might wish to discuss the position of his government on any compromise solution to the Korean problem with his Asiatic colleagues and to bring to their attention the ROK opposition to such a solution. The Ambassador replied that he had done this on various occasions in the past but that these colleagues usually reacted by saying only that they would follow the United States lead. Mr. Rusk mentioned that frequently the same Asiatic representatives had taken with us a different and more critical view of United States leadership and that often we found that they were not fully keeping up with us.
The Ambassador raised the question of the group of Koreans in Los Angeles who had consistently tended to support the Communist line in relation to Korea and were now engaged in vicious propaganda against our current actions there. He asked if something could not be done to stop their activities. Mr. Rusk recalled that some time ago we had looked into the matter and said that we would follow up the question to see what the status of these individuals now is. He asked Mr. Emmons to investigate the matter and give him a report.