Foreign Relations of the United States, 1951, Korea and China, Volume VII, Part 1

795.00/12–1251

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Johnson)

top secret

[Washington,] December 12, 1951.

Subject: Meeting with JCS on Korea

Participants:	JCS:	General Bradley	State:	Mr. Matthews, G
		General Collins
		General Vandenberg		Mr. Bohlen, C
		Admiral Duncan		Mr. Bonbright, EUR
		General Bolte
		Admiral Lalor		Mr. Johnson, FE

There was a general discussion of the problem of membership and organization of the neutral inspection body and it was determined that there should be preliminary consultation with Switzerland, Sweden and Norway to ascertain whether they would be willing to serve on such a body. It appeared that from the standpoint of the JCS the extent and nature of inspection was not of major importance if agreement could be reached on a “greater sanction” statement. In general it was the conclusion of the meeting that under Agenda Item 3 the important question was whether agreement could be obtained for the “greater sanction” statement, and that Agenda Item 4 on prisoners of war assumed greater importance. It was agreed that General Bolte and Mr. Johnson would draft a message along these lines. The message drafted by General Bolte and Mr. Johnson, subsequently approved and dispatched to General Ridgway, is JCS 89473, December 12, 1951.¹

There was also discussion of General Ridgway’s CX 59155² and CX 59176,³ a reply to which was drafted by Admiral Lalor and Mr. Johnson in light of the discussion at the meeting, subsequently approved and dispatched to General Ridgway as JCS 87474 [89474].⁴

1. Post, p. 1319.
2. See footnote 2, p. 1306.
3. Dated December 12, 12:45 p. m., but received in Washington early on December 12 due to the time difference between Tokyo and Washington, p. 1311.
4. Dated December 12, p. 1321.