255. Editorial Note
On December 31, Japan and the Republic of Korea signed understandings on a number of questions which had been at issue between the two countries. They agreed to exchange detainees, to resume general negotiations in March 1958, and to be guided in reaching a property settlement by a United States interpretation of Article IV (of the Japanese Peace Treaty) which the United States had presented informally to both countries. Documentation indicates that the United States was frequently active in urging talks between the two countries, and in making substantive suggestions, but that United States officials did not serve either as formal mediators or informal go-betweens during the 1955–1957 period. Principal documentation is in Department of State, Central Files 295.9411 and 694.95B.