Editorial Note
At 3 a. m. on June 25, Ambassador Gross telephoned United Nations Secretary-General Trygve Lie and read to him the formal United States request that the Security Council be convened immediately to consider the aggression in Korea (Korean Conflict). The request, subsequently confirmed in writing later in the morning (U.N. document S/1495), read as follows:
“The American Ambassador to the Republic of Korea has informed the Department of State that North Korean forces invaded the territory of the Republic of Korea at several points in the early morning hours of June 25 (Korean time).
“Pyongyang Radio under the control of the North Korean regime, it is reported, has broadcast a declaration of war against the Republic of Korea effective 9 p. m. EDT June 24.
“An attack of the forces of the North Korean regime under the circumstances referred to above constitutes a breach of the peace and an act of aggression.
“Upon the urgent request of my Government, I ask you to call an immediate meeting of the Security Council of the United Nations.”
At 4 a. m., Assistant Secretary of State Rusk spoke by telephone with William J. Sebald, Acting Political Adviser in Japan, and John Allison, Director of the Office of Northeast Asian Affairs, who had accompanied Mr. Dulles on the latter’s visit to Korea (see page 107) and Japan, both of whom were in Tokyo. Mr. Rusk informed them of the intention of the United States to take the Korean question to the United Nations and asked them for further information, which they were unable to give, on the military situation and on the reported North Korean declaration of war. (Korean Conflict)