Office of the Historian

259. Memorandum for the Record by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (Harr)1

Washington, December 23, 1957.

SUBJECT

  • Reduction of Republic of Korea Army Forces

State-Defense cables 892 of 18 June 1957 and 229 of 16 September 19572 transmitted to CINCUNC and the Ambassador a plan for ROK Army force reductions in implementation of a national policy decision on U.S. objectives in Korea.

After consideration of the U.S. plan, officials of the Republic of Korea offered a counter-proposal which was cabled to Washington by CINCUNC on 6 November 1957 (DA IN 689972).3 During the next two and one-half weeks the Washington staffs of the Departments of State and Defense studied the ROK drafted plan.

On Monday, 25 November, a meeting with Assistant Secretary of State Walter Robertson, attended by Mr. Irwin, Mr. Harr, Capt. Robbins, and Mr. McCormick of DOD and Mr. Parsons and Mr. Barbis of State, was held to discuss a draft reply, prepared by DOD, which was a response to the ROK counter-proposal.

This DOD draft rejected the ROK reduction plan—which called for a removal of 61,500 authorized spaces, not actual personnel, from a base of 658,460 authorized spaces (as opposed to an actual ROKA strength of only 618,369)—because such a reduction did not meet the requirements stipulated in cables 892 and 229. These two cables had requested a reduction of four ROKA active divisions with their supporting units or an equivalent reduction in personnel. Further, the proposed DOD reply stated the modernization of U.S. forces in Korea was contingent upon the reduction of ROK forces. Mr. Robertson of State took issue with this latter clause because seemingly it gave President Rhee a veto over modernization of our forces. Consequently, the clause was deleted. Secretary Robertson then agreed to review the draft with Mr. Dulles and to advise the Defense Department of State’s concurrence or non-concurrence.

Subsequent to this meeting, Mr. Robertson of State and Mr. Sprague of Defense discussed the text of the DOD draft. It now was Mr. Sprague’s opinion, after a trip to Korea, that a reduction of 4 division-slices in ROKA forces equated in the draft reply to a 100,000–120,000 men reduction, would not be negotiable; he suggested, [Page 530] rather, that perhaps a compromise reduction of 61,500 troops from actual count rather than authorized strength should be the new terms dispatched to the field for presentation to the ROK Government.

As a result of the Sprague–Robertson discussion, State contacted Defense on 10 December, requesting our participation in re-drafting the instructions to the field. Mr. McCormick and Mr. Sweet, both of the OSD/ISA Far East Region, represented Defense in this task. The revised proposal, which expressed the mutually agreed views of Secretaries Sprague and Robertson (1) authorized the field to tell President Rhee the Honest John and 280mm guns soon will be introduced into Korea and (2) informed CINCUNC and the Ambassador that the minimum acceptable plan is a reduction by 30 June 1958 of 61,500 men from ROKA actual strength.

[1 paragraph (6 lines of source text) not declassified]

On the morning of 11 December, Mr. Howard Parsons of State, North Asia, Far Eastern Affairs, called Mr. McCormick to advise him that both Secretary Dulles and Mr. Robertson had concurred in the two State–Defense working-group drafts outlined above and had hoped the proposals would be dispatched promptly. Mr. Parsons also agreed that Secretaries Dulles and Robertson’s concurrence in these drafts, coupled with Mr. Sprague’s approval, gave sufficient authority for CINCUNC to take immediate steps to effect introduction into Korea of the Honest John and 280mm gun [less than 1 line of source text not declassified]. Mr. Parsons further stated that action on the introduction of these weapons is a matter of internal planning and execution by CINCUNC and the Department of the Army.

Accordingly, two cables incorporating the State–Defense positions were prepared for Mr. Sprague’s signature. After receiving his approval, the Far East Region ISA, transmitted the cables (DEF 9338504 and 933889 of 11 December5) to the field as Joint State–Defense messages, signed by Mr. Sprague.

Karl G. Harr, Jr.6
  1. Source: Washington National Records Center, OASD/ISA Files: FRC 61 B 1672, 320.2 Korea. Top Secret.↩
  2. Documents 223 and 247.↩
  3. Printed as telegram UK 977475, Document 253.↩
  4. Document 257.↩
  5. Not found.↩
  6. Printed from a copy that bears this stamped signature.↩