71. Telegram 6021 From the Mission to the United Nations to the Department of State, December 18, 1974, 0118Z.1 2
TELEGRAM
Department of State
USUN 6021
O 180118Z DEC 74
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8561
INFO
AMEMBASSY LONDON
AMEMBASSY PARIS
AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
AMEMBASSY
TOKYO
AMEMBASSY SEOUL IMMEDIATE
AMEMBASSY VIENNA
AMEMBASSY
FREETOWN
USLO PEKING
AMCONGEN HONG KONG
USUN 6021
E.O. 11652: N/A
TAGS: PFOR UNGA KS
KN
SUBJ: KOREA IN 29TH UNGA: PLENARY APPROVAL OF FRIENDLY RES
REF: USUN
5849 (NOTAL)
SUMMARY: UNGA CONCLUDED CONSIDERATION OF KOREA ITEM MORNING DEC 17 WITH PLENARY ADOPTION OF FRIENDLY RES BY VOTE OF 61 (US)-43-31. ONLY CHANGE IN VOTING PATTERN FROM FIRST COMMITTEE VOTE DEC 9 (REFTEL) WAS SIERRA LEONE’S SWITCH FROM ABSTENTION TO NEGATIVE VOTE. USSR AND PRC SPOKE AGAINST OUR RES BEFORE THE VOTE BUT MADE NO ATTEMPT TO REINTRODUCE HOSTILE RES IN PLENARY. UNGA PRES BOUTEFLIKA ANNOUNCED ADOPTION OF RES AND NO MENTION MADE OF WHETHER ARTICLE 18 OF CHARTER (IMPORTANT QUESTION) APPLIED TO RES. END SUMMARY.
1. PRC PERMREP HUANG HUA, IN A SHORT SPEECH DELIVERED IN A LOW VOICE WITHOUT APPARENT EMOTION, STATED THAT THE PROLONGED STATIONING OF US TROOPS IN SOUTH KOREA AND US INTERFERENCE IN SOUTH KOREA ARE THE KEY OBSTACLES TO PEACE AND REUNIFICATION OF THE KOREAN PEOPLE. HUANG HUA NOTED THAT THE KOREA DEBATE THIS YEAR PLAYED AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN EDUCATING THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD AND IS AN IMPORTANT VICTORY FOR THE KOREAN PEOPLE. HE REPEATED HIS ARGUMENTS THAT THE FRIENDLY RES WAS DESIGNED BY THE US TO DELAY THE WITHDRAWAL OF US TROOPS FROM SOUTH KOREA, TO PERPETUATE THE DIVISION OF KOREA INTO TWO PARTS, AND TO REIMPOSE THE ILLEGAL SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTIONS PASSED BEFORE THE PRC TOOK ITS SEAT IN THE UN. HE DECLARED THAT THE FRIENDLY RES WAS ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE TO THE KOREAN PEOPLE AND THEREFORE NULL AND VOID. HE WENT ON TO STATE THAT PRC SUPPORT OF THE KOREAN PEOPLE IS UNSWERVING.
2. USSR PERMREP MALIK GAVE SHORT SHRIFT TO THE KOREA ISSUE, DEVOTING MOST OF HIS SPEECH TO AN ATTACK ON CHARTER REVIEW AND ITS SUPPORTERS, CLAIMING THAT DENIAL OF THE VETO WOULD INFLICT PARTICULAR SUFFERING ON HE SOCIALIST COUNTRIES. HE NOTED THAT MANY THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES VOTED FOR THE FRIENDLY RES IN SPITE OF CLAIMS BY CERTAIN BIG POWERS OF “TYRANNY OF THE MAJORITY” MALIK MENTIONEC COLOMBIA AND PHILIPPINES AS BEING IN THIS CATEGORY. HE LINKED THE TWO ISSUES BY NOTING THAT MANY WHO VOTED AGAINST NORTH KOREA IN FIRST COMMITTEE ARE IN FAVOR OF CHARTER REVIEW, AND DREW THE CONCLUSION THAT SINCE SOCIALIST COUNTRIES FIND IT IMPOSSIBLE TO COUNT ON THE OBJECTIVITY OF SOME THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES, IT ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY FOR USSR TO MAINTAIN VETO POWER IN SC. HE CONCLUDED BY STATING THAT THE USSR WOULD VOTE AGAINST “THE UNWARRANTED ATTEMPT TO UNDERMINE THE UN CHARTER,” AND ADDED, ALMOST AS AN AFTER THOUGHT, THAT USSR WOULD ALSO VOTE AGAINST THE FRIENDLY DRAFT RES ON KOREA.
3. AUSTRIAN PERMREP JANKOSTISCH, IN ONLY EXPLANATION OF VOTE AFTER THE VOTE, NOTED THAT THE RESOLUTION JUST PASSED BY THE GA TOUCHED ON TWO PROBLEMS: THE PROBLEM OF FINDING PEACEFUL WAYS TO BRING THE TWO KOREAS CLOSER TOGETHER, AND THE PROBLEM OF THE UNITED NATIONS COMMAND. AUSTRIA STATED THAT THE UNGA SHOULD REEXAMINE THE KOREA QUESTION NEXT YEAR FOR SIGNS OF PROGRESS ON THESE TWO PROBLEMS. AUSTRIA ALSO TOOK THIS OCCASION TO ANNOUNCE RECOGNITION OF THE DPRK. SCALI
- Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy Files. Unclassified; Immediate. Repeated Immediate to Seoul, and repeated to London, Paris, Moscow, Tokyo, Vienna, Freetown, Beijing, and Hong Kong. ↩
- The Mission reported on the successful outcome of votes at the United Nations on items concerning Korea favored by the United States. ↩