Editorial Note
On June 18, 1952, Yakov Malik, President of the United Nations Security Council for June, submitted a draft resolution calling for all states to accede to and ratify the Geneva Convention of 1925 on the prohibition of bacteriological warfare (for a text of the draft resolution and the relevant debate, see United Nations document S/PV.577). As the United States had not signed the Protocol and because of the propaganda success of the allegations that the United Nations forces in Korea had engaged in germ warfare, the United States Representative to the Security Council sought to seize the initiative with a draft resolution (United Nations document S/2671), submitted on June 20, requesting that the International Committee of the Red Cross investigate the charges against the United Nations in Korea and report to the Council (a text of the resolution can be found in the Department of State Bulletin, July 7, 1952, page 37). On June 25, after unsuccessful attempts by the Soviet Union to convince the Council to invite the People’s Republic of China and North Korea to participate in the discussion, the Security Council voted to include on its agenda the United States draft resolution calling for an investigation. On the next day, the Council rejected the Soviet Union’s draft resolution on the Geneva Protocol. The Representative of the Soviet Union refused to participate further in the ensuing debate on the United States draft resolution and on July 3 cast a veto against it. The United States Representative then introduced a new draft resolution (United Nations document S/2688, dated July 3, [Page 344] 1952) condemning the dissemination of false charges (a text of this resolution is printed in the Department of State Bulletin, July 28, 1952, page 159). On July 9, 1952, the Soviet Union, casting its 50th veto, defeated this resolution. For more information on the tactics followed in the Security Council and in the larger context of the question of bacteriological warfare, see files 695.0026 and 695A.0026.