795B.00/11–1350
Memorandum by the Acting Director of the Office of Foreign Military Affairs, Department of Defense (Murdaugh)
Memorandum for the Record
Subject: Interview between Secretary of Defense Marshall and Ambassador Muccio.
- Present: Secretary Marshall
- Ambassador Muccio
- Mr. U. A. Johnson, Department of State
- Captain A. C. Murdaugh, USN
Ambassador Muccio thanked Secretary Marshall for the excellent cooperation received by him in Korea from all military personnel with whom he had dealings. Conversation then turned to the question of UN rehabilitation plans for Korea and Mr. Muccio noted the tendency to progress too fast and to attempt to raise the Koreans too quickly from a primitive and agrarian economy.
[Page 1141]Mr. Muccio described the effective work of KMAG. Through previous training efforts there now exist in the Korean Army a large number of officers whose primary loyalty is to the Government and not to any individuals. This is the result of discarding the older Japanese-trained officers.
Secretary Marshall expressed satisfaction at learning of this and discussed briefly the problem of a country the size of Korea supporting a ten-division army as proposed in current studies on the subject. While an establishment of that size would be necessary for the immediate future after the cessation of hostilities, he considered it essential not to overburden the country with too large an army which would either collapse or become a threat to civil authority and to financial stability of the country. The problem therefore to be solved is to adjust downward from ten divisions to some plan which can endure for a long time involving perhaps a truly strong quickly-mobilized unit on a national reserve basis. Our own National Guard does not become available quickly enough and should not be a pattern.