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

Matthews files, lot 53 D 413: Telegram

The Joint Chiefs of Staff to the Commander in Chief Far East (Clark)

top secret
priority

Washington, February 27, 1953—3:54 p.m.

JCS 932457. From JCS reur C 61283.¹

1. Re part 1. Comment on statement withheld pending final dec to implement course of action outlined in para 2 of JCS 931311.²

2. Re part 2. To facilitate diplomatic consultation State has queried JCS re possibility obtaining pertinent oblique aerial photos of Kaesong area as documentation for charges of Commie buildup. If you have available oblique photos with appropriate interpretive notations indicating location of mil facilities that would be useful this purpose, request they be provided ASAP.

3. Re part 3. Statement approved subject to deletion first sentence para E and words “tolerated this military buildup and” in second sentence of same para.

1. In this telegram, Feb. 19, 1953, Clark concurred with the views of the JCS as set forth in paragraph 2 of JCS 931311, Feb. 13, p. 776, and included a proposed letter announcing to the Communists his intention to remove the immunity of the Kaesong and Munsan-ni restricted areas, should that decision be made in Washington. (Matthews files, lot 53 D 413)
2. See footnote 1, above.