Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Korea, Volume XV, Part 1

320/11–652: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Department of State

secret
priority

New York, November 6, 1952—4:42 p.m.

Delga 144. Re: Korea. The following are the latest developments and present status of Menon’s proposals:

1. He has elaborated and refined them in the form of 10 points which wld be embodied in a res and which as points he presented orally to a Commonwealth mtg Thurs a.m. He now plans to submit a formal res on Mon Nov 10, and to speak in Comite 1 Tues p.m.

2. Menon is being actively encouraged by both UK and Canadian dels, the UK reportedly having asked him to table the res Monday in advance of Eden’s speech. Only members of the Australian del have raised with Menon serious doubts about his proposals.

3. A meeting was held at 5:30 p.m. Thurs¹ with Lloyd, Jebb, Casey, Spender, Martin (Canada) and Munro² (N.Z.) attended by Gross, Ross and Allen. Since Menon had apparently given the impression that US would accept our acquiesce in the proposals, Gross read the full account of his previous meeting with Menon as reported Delga 131.³ Gross also presented orally as US delegation views the indispensable elements of an acceptable arrangement as set forth Delga 133.⁴ He pointed out that Menon’s proposals fail to meet these conditions in important respects and raise several practical problems which are more than matters of detail. For example, the possibility of deadlock in the commission at the outset on appointment of umpire is inconsistent with the important condition that the post-armistice mechanism should be self-operating and nothing be left to post-armistice negotiation. This aspect of the proposal seems unsound. Referring to the appointment of the three ex-GA Presidents to arrange for the political conference, Gross pointed out we are uncertain as to what their task would be. They could in no event supplant the planned special GA session which would select the UN delegates and fix their terms of reference. Moreover, we dislike GA approval now of one specific article (60) of truce agreement out of context. Notwithstanding above other representatives present, except Spender, continue to be intrigued with Menon’s proposals.

4. A meeting of Lloyd, Menon and Gross under the aegis of Mr. Pearson, originally proposed by Lloyd for Friday a.m. has, at Gross’ insistence been postponed until late Friday afternoon.

Acheson

1. Presumably Thursday, Nov. 6, 1952. If this were the case, the meeting occurred after the telegram was sent and yet the results of the discussion were included in this cable. This telegram was not received at the Department of State until 5:25 p.m., Nov. 7, indicating that either it was misdated and should carry a dateline of Nov. 7, 4:42 p.m. or perhaps the telegram was held up prior to transmission so that the results of the 5:30 meeting could be included.
2. Leslie Knox Munro, New Zealand Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Ambassador to the United States.
3. According to Delga 131, Nov. 6, 1952, the main elements the U.S. Government sought in any resolution were: “(a) adherence to the principle of nonforcible repatriation; (b) separation of all pre-armistice and post-armistice problems; (c) no proposal to establish a post-armistice commission at this time; (d) no mechanism for repatriation of POW’s which could deadlock or stall execution of armistice agreement” (320/11–652).
4. Dated Nov. 6, p. 579.