165. Editorial Note
On April 9, the Foreign Ministry of the People’s Republic of China conveyed a note concerning Korea to the British Chargé d’Affaires in Peking for transmission to the 16 governments which comprised the United Nations Command. The note contained a proposal, made on behalf of the People’s Republic of China as well as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, which called for the reconvening of a conference of the nations concerned to discuss the related questions of the withdrawal from Korea of all foreign forces and the peaceful unification of Korea. On May 28 the Chargé returned a reply to the Foreign Ministry from the British Government, acting on behalf of the governments of the United Nations Command. The British note indicated that the governments of the United Nations Command were not aware of any change in the position of the Chinese and North Korean Governments regarding Korea which might make the reconvening of a conference to consider Korea fruitful. The governments of the United Nations Command reiterated, however, that they were prepared to discuss the unification of Korea on the basis of established United Nations objectives. Texts of the Chinese and British notes are printed in Department of State Bulletin, June 11, 1956, page 970.