Foreign Relations of the United States, 1950, Korea, Volume VII

795.00/10–1650

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Acting Officer in Charge of Korean Affairs (Emmons)

confidential

[Washington,] October 16, 1950.

Subject: Extension of the Authority of the Republic of Korea into North Korea and the Holding of Elections

Participants:	Colonel Ben C. Limb, Korean Foreign Minister
	Mr. Arthur B. Emmons, 3rd, Officer in Charge of Korean Affairs

Colonel Ben C. Limb, Korean Foreign Minister, called me at 11 o’clock this morning from New York concerning his interest in sending of a Korean GI to the Herald Tribune forum in New York on October 24. I assured him that the Department was aware of the problem and would support in principle his interest in the matter.

Colonel Limb then stated that he was going to talk with the members of the Interim Committee on Korea tomorrow morning at 10 o’clock, and wished to give me certain impressions before so doing.¹ He stated that his Government was very perturbed over the attitude of a number of the foreign delegations to the United Nations (including Mr. Spender of Australia, with whom he had talked at length over the weekend) in supporting the thesis that new elections should be held throughout Korea. He also pointed out that the Republic of Korea was very concerned over the resolution of the Interim Committee of October 12 which would institute civil administration in North Korea under the Unified Command and apparently without consultation with the Republic of Korea. (In this connection, I referred to Seoul’s telegrams Nos. 254 and 255 of October 13² sent to the Department for the Korean Foreign Minister.)

I pointed out to the Foreign Minister that, while the Interim Committee Resolution of October 12 did not specifically require consultation between the new UNCOK Commission and the Republic of Korea, the General Assembly Resolution of October 7 so provides, and that the latter resolution was, of course, controlling. I told the Foreign Minister furthermore that as we had stated (Ambassador Austin’s speech to the General Assembly of September 30)³ the position of the United States Government was that the previous elections in South Korea should not be invalidated but that they should be considered to have full force and effect with respect to the status of the Government of the Republic of Korea south of the 38th Parallel, and that we had consistently argued for this position.

I then pointed out that as regards North Korea, it was our belief that since ultimate integration of Korea north of the 38th Parallel into the Republic was a United Nations matter, it was up to the United Nations itself to decide upon what steps would be taken toward the holding of elections in that area and the subsequent extension of the authority of the Republic of Korea north of the Parallel. I added that within this context, the position of the United States was in consonance with the Resolutions of the General Assembly of October 7 and of the Interim Committee of October 12, and that these resolutions were not mutually inconsistent. I pointed out that the Interim Committee would naturally be guided by the General Assembly Resolution of October 7, and that the Republic of Korea should not allow itself to become alarmed over the terms of the Interim Committee Resolution, about which they had evidently been misinformed.

I told the Foreign Minister that I believed considerable harm could be clone to the cause of the Republic of Korea in the United Nations deliberations upon the scope of elections to be held in Korea, and on the question of the political integration of Korea into the Republic of Korea if, at this time, statements similar to those in body [embodied] in the Seoul telegrams, referred to above, were made the basis for official Republic of Korea protests to the United Nations or appeals in the press. I added that I hoped that the Government of the Republic of Korea would be patient and restrained in prejudging the actions of the United Nations at this time in respect to the integration of Korea and would await a full exposition of the position of the United Nations on this problem. I solicited his support in endeavoring to moderate any unduly precipitate reaction, at least publicly, of the Republic of Korea at this time, emphasizing that this particular moment was of great importance in United Nations deliberations on Korea, and suggested that he request his Government to refrain from “rocking the boat” at such a critical juncture. The Foreign Minister agreed to telegraph his Government along these lines immediately. (See Department’s telegram No. 203, October 16, 1950.⁴) I assured him that the United States and its delegation at New York were fully in sympathy with the aspirations of the Koreans for a unified Korea, and that we felt that the best way to accomplish this was through a series of orderly steps under the auspices of the United Nations. I also pointed out that decisions on the future of Korea involved the participation and support of all other friendly delegations at Lake Success and that their views would be of vital consequence to his government.

The Minister thanked me for my frank exposition of the foregoing point of view, and stated that he would modify his approach to these questions in his conversations with the Interim Committee and other delegations at Lake Success. He said he would telegraph his Government requesting that moderation be shown in prejudging any questions relating to a future solution to the problem of unifying Korea. He added, however, that he wished that a clarification could be made of the Interim Committee Resolution of October 12 with respect to consultation between the Unified Command, the United Nations Commission, and the Republic of Korea, which would tend to ameliorate the natural fears of the Koreans that the United Nations contemplates arbitrary action in North Korea without reference to the views or desires of the Government of the Republic of Korea.

1. For a summary of the meeting, see U.N. document A/1881, p. 15.
2. Neither printed. They transmitted, respectively, statements by the Cabinet of the Republic of Korea and the Acting Foreign Minister commenting on the U.N. General Assembly resolution of October 7 and the Interim Committee resolution of October 12 (795B.00/10–1350)
3. Text in Department of State Bulletin, October 9, 1950, p. 579.
4. Not printed.