Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Korea, Volume XV, Part 2

Matthews files, lot 53 D 413: Telegram

The Commander in Chief, United Nations Command (Clark) to the Joint Chiefs of Staff

top secret
operational immediate

Tokyo, July 15, 1953—6:55 p.m.

CX 63715. Refs: A. CX 63702 (HNC 1824).¹ B. AmEmb Seoul DTG 091315Z.²

1. A careful study of the ref A permits the conclusion that the Communists may have narrowed their basic questions down to one pnt which is included in the fol ques: “We would like to know whether your side assures that the South Korean Government and forces will abide by all the provisions of the armistice agreement for the entire period when the armistice will be effective in accordance with the agreement or only assume that Syngman Rhee will only temporarily abide by the armistice agreement within a certain time limit.” The Communists have rqstd that we give explicit and definite ans to this ques and I consider they are entitled to such an ans.

2. I propose at tomorrows session, 16 Jul 53,³ to have Harrison ans this ques substantially as fol: “Your side has rqstd assurances that the Republic of Korea Government and forces will abide by all the provisions of the armistice agreement for the entire period when the armistice will be eff and not for a temporary period until a certain time limit. Such assurances have already been given to your side, but I now restate the official assurances of the UNC that the terms of the armistice agreement will be observed by the UNC including the ROK forces, for the period stipulated in para 62 of the draft armistice agreement unless abrogated earlier by the action of your side. I can also assure you that we have written assurances from President Rhee that the ROK Govt will not obstruct the armistice. There is no reason why you should not, here and now, accept these assurances from the UNC commander, in lieu of the misrepresentations appearing in the press to the effect that the ROK Govt would support an armistice for only a limited period; if not the UNC proposes a 2-day recess to permit you to fully study the contents and meaning of this statement.”

3. This ans is based largely on the qualified assurance contained in Rhee’s ltr to Robertson on 9 Jul ref B and my recollection of Rhee’s ltr to the President of the United States which Robertson is delivering. The contents of this ltr were transmitted to the President by radio by Robertson prior to his departure from here.

4. The principal purpose of Robertson’s msg was to secure assurances from Rhee to the effect that Rhee and the Republic of Korea would not oppose an armistice. He obtained such assurances, yet we have failed completely to capitalize on them in our effort to achieve an armistice and have not taken full advantage of the material aval to us. In view of the fact that Rhee has taken no steps to elaborate on the press misrepresentation of his interview on the exchange of views between Robertson and Rhee (and I doubt if he will) I feel it essential that we must take the lead in clearing up these press misrepresentations with the Communists. The material contained in the joint statement of Robertson–Rhee is expressed in far too general terms to use effectively in replying to the Communists ques posed in para 1 above. If I am authorized to use the statement quoted in para 2 above, it would appear appropriate and extremely helpful if the President of the United States could fol with a statement which includes the assurances given him in Rhee’s ltr.

5. If the Commies cont their stalling tactics tomorrow in spite of Harrison’s reassurances he will unilaterally recess for 2 days.

6. If you do not concur in the ans I have proposed in para 2 above, rqst I be furnished one which can be effectively used to reply to the Communists ques. I do not recall the exact wording of the assurances given to President Eisenhower in President Rhee’s ltr to him and we must be certain that the ans given does not lay us open to later repudiation by Rhee.

7. Rqst reply⁴ in time for use at tomorrows meeting at 1100 hours.

1. Not printed, but see footnote 3, supra.
2. In this telegram, Rhee’s letter of July 9 to Robertson was transmitted to Washington; for text, see p. 1357.
3. A summary of this session can be found in telegram CX 63731, Clark to JCS, July 16, 1952. (Matthews files, lot 53 D 413)
4. See telegram JCS 943913, infra.