164. Editorial Note

On August 15, the Representative at the United Nations conveyed to the Secretary-General a report submitted by the Unified Command on the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission in Korea. Attached to the report were the text of the note received by the British Chargé in Beijing on April 9, the text of the note delivered by the British Chargé in Beijing on May 28, and copies of the statements made by the U.N. Representative in the Military Armistice Commission at Panmunjom on July 5, 1955, July 14, 1955, and May 31, 1956.

The report by the Unified Command presented the decision taken on May 31 to provisionally suspend the performance of those provisions of the Armistice Agreement governing the operations of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission as a “remedial step” taken by “one party to a contract with certain provisions of which the other party has failed to comply”. The suspension would last, the report emphasized, “during the time the Communist side continued in default”. The Command took note of the Chinese proposal of April 9 to treat the problem of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission as an aspect of the overall problems of the unification of Korea and the withdrawal of foreign forces from Korea, but dismissed [Page 300] the suggestion as an attempt “to close negotiations for solution of the Neutral Nations Supervisory problem”. Under the circumstances, the United Nations Command argued that it “was left with no alternative but to assert its rights”. The report and attachments were circulated to the General Assembly on August 16 as U.N. doc. A/3167.