the General Assembly. The Group met almost immediately afterwards and decided to associate the Secretary-General of the United Nations with its work.

3. A copy of the resolution was sent on 15 December to General Wu, the representative of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China, who was then in New York.

4. On 15 December, as a first step in carrying out its task, the Group consulted the representatives of the Unified Command as to what they considered to be a satisfactory basis for a cease-fire. The suggestions which emerged from this consultation, and which in the circumstances the Group felt constituted a reasonable basis for discussion, are summarized below:

(a) All governments and authorities concerned, including the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China and the North Korean authorities, shall order and enforce a cessation of all acts of armed force in Korea. This cease-fire shall apply to all of Korea.

(b) There shall be established a demilitarized area across Korea of approximately twenty miles in depth with the southern limit following generally the line of the 38th parallel.

(c) All ground forces shall remain in position or be withdrawn to the rear; forces, including guerrillas, within or in advance of the demilitarized area, must be moved to the rear of the demilitarized area; opposing air forces shall respect the demilitarized zone and the areas beyond the zone; opposing naval forces shall respect the waters contiguous to the land areas occupied by the opposing armed forces to the limit of three miles from shore.

(d) Supervision of the cease-fire shall be by a United Nations commission whose members and designated observers shall ensure full compliance with the terms of the cease-fire. They shall have free and unlimited access to the whole of Korea. All governments and authorities shall co-operate with the cease-fire commission and its designated observers in the performance of their duties.

(e) All governments and authorities shall cease promptly the introduction into Korea of any reinforcing or replacement units or personnel, including volunteers, and the introduction of additional war equipment and material. Such equipment and material will not include supplies required for the maintenance of health and welfare and such other supplies as may be authorized by the cease-fire commission.

Prisoners of war shall be exchanged on a one-for-one basis, pending final settlement of the Korean question.

(g) Appropriate provision shall be made in the cease-fire arrangements in regard to steps to ensure (i) the security of the forces; (ii) the movement of refugees, and (iii) the handling of other specific problems arising out of the cease-fire, including civil government and police power in the demilitarized zone.

(h) The General Assembly should be asked to confirm the cease-fire arrangements, which should continue in effect until superseded by further steps approved by the United Nations.

5. The Group then attempted to consult the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China and, for this purpose, sent a message by hand to General Wu and repeated it by cable to the Minister for Foreign Affairs in Peking. The text of this message is reproduced below:

"16 December 1950

"As you have already been informed by resolution 384 (V) a copy of which was sent to you yesterday, a Committee was set up by the General Assembly of the United Nations on the previous day, 14 December, consisting of myself and my two colleagues, Sir Benegal Rau of India and Mr. L. B. Pearson of Canada, charged with the duty of determining whether it is possible to arrange appropriate and satisfactory conditions for a cease-fire in Korea. The purpose of this cease-fire in Korea will be to prevent the conflict from spreading to other areas, to put an end to the fighting in Korea, and to provide an opportunity for considering what further steps should be taken for a peaceful settlement of existing issues, in accordance with the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

"The above Committee has now met representatives of the Unified Command in Korea, and has discussed with them, in an exploratory manner, possible conditions upon which a cease-fire might be established. Since the Government of the Communist People's Republic of China has expressed strong views on the future of Korea and about the present state of warfare in that country, and since Chinese are participating in that warfare, the Committee wishes also to discuss with your Government or its representatives, and with the military authorities in command of the forces operating in North Korea, possible conditions upon which a cease-fire might be established. For this purpose, we desire to see you at your earliest convenience, and we should be grateful to know when a meeting can be arranged.

"We realize that your Government which sent you here with other objects in mind, may prefer other arrangements by which a ceasefire can be discussed with them. We wish your Government to know that, in the interest of stopping the fighting in Korea and of facilitating a just settlement of the issues there in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Charter, we are prepared to discuss cease-fire arrangements with your Government or its representatives either here or elsewhere, as would be mutually convenient. We urge only that arrangements for these discussions should be made with the least possible delay. With this in mind, we are sending the text of this communication directly to your Government by telegram.

"Nasrollah ENTEZAM"

6. On 18 December, Mr. Pearson, on behalf of the Group, submitted a brief preliminary account of its activities to the First Committee, hoping that a fuller report would be made in the near future.

7. On 16 December, the President, acting on behalf of the Group, had availed himself of the good offices of the Swedish delegation to transmit, through the Swedish Embassy in Peking, a request to the Central People's Government that General Wu should be instructed to stay on in New York and discuss with the Group the possibility of arranging a cease-fire. The reply to the request, communicated to the President on 21 December through the same channel, was as follows:

"The Central People's Government acknowledges receipt of a message dated 18 December 1950 from Mr. Entezam, President of the General Assembly, transmitted via the Swedish Government and asks the Swedish Government to transmit the following reply to Mr. Entezam, President of the General Assembly:

"The representative of the People's Republic of China neither participated in nor agreed to the adoption of the resolution concerning the so-called three-man Committee for Cease-Fire in Korea by United Nations General Assembly. The Central People's Government has repeatedly declared that the Central People's Governmentwould regard as illegal and null and void all major resolutions, especially those concerning Asia, which might be adopted by the United Nations without the participation and approval of the duly appointed representatives of the People's Republic of China. Therefore, the Central People's Government cannot instruct its representative General Wu to continue to remain in Lake Success for negotiations with the above-mentioned three-man illegal Committee. After the Security Council unreasonably voted against the complaint against the United States armed aggression against Taiwan raised by the People's Republic of China, General Wu was instructed by the Central People's Government to continue to stay at Lake Success for participation in the discussion of the complaint of United States aggression against China submitted by the U. S. S. R. representative;2 although he has waited for a long time and until the United Nations General Assembly was declared adjourned, he was still not given the opportunity to speak. Under such circumstances, the Central People's Government deems that there is no more necessity for General Wu and his staff to remain at Lake Success and has therefore instructed him to start their homeward journey on 19 December.

"As to the question of how the United Nations may get in touch with the Korean Democratic People's Republic, the Central People's Government is of the opinion that the United Nations should address direct inquiry to the Government of the Korean Democratic People's Republic."

8. On 19 December, acting on a recommendation from the sponsors of the twelve-Power draft resolution (A/C.1/642) introduced in the

1 Action of Nov. 30, 1950; U.N. Security Council, Official Records, Fifth Year, No. 72. See also United States Participation in the United Nations: Report by the President to the Congress for the Year 1950 (Department of State publication 4178; 1951), pp. 51-56.

2 Ibid., pp. 56-58.

First Committee on 12 December, the Group sent another message to the Foreign Minister of the Central People's Government. This was intended to remove any possible misunderstandings which may have arisen out of the separation of the twelve-Power resolution from the thirteen-Power resolution [384 (V)] adopted by the General Assembly on 14 December. The text of the message is given below:

"Mr. Chou En-lai,

"Minister for Foreign Affairs,

"Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China "Peking, China

"In the consideration which you are giving to our earlier message, we are anxious that there should be no misunderstanding as to the relationship between the United Nations resolution establishing a cease-fire group and the resolution proposed by twelve Asian governments recommending appointment of a committee to meet as soon as possible and make recommendations for a peaceful settlement of existing issues in Far East. It is our clear understanding and also that of the twelve Asian sponsors, that once a cease-fire arrangement had been achieved, the negotiations visualized in the second resolution should be proceeded with at once. Indeed, the preamble to the cease-fire resolution states specifically that steps should be taken for a peaceful settlement when fighting in Korea is ended. It is also our view, as well as that of the twelve Asian governments sponsoring the second resolution, that the Government of the People's Republic of China should be included in the negotiating committee referred to in that resolution. We feel that this committee could become an effective channel for seeking peaceful solution of existing issues in the Far East between the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and China. For that purpose, in our opinion, it should be set up with a minimum of delay, but to make that possible a "cease-fire" arrangement must be put into effect. This point of view has been communicated to your delegation which left New York today, and we express the hope that you will give full weight to it.

"Nasrollah ENTEZAM "President of the General Assembly "Sir Benegal RAU "Lester B. PEARSON"

9. On 23 December, the President of the General Assembly, in his capacity as such, received from the Foreign Minister of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China the text of a statement issued by the latter in Peking on 22 December explaining the attitude of the Central People's Government on the resolution constituting the Group on Cease-Fire in Korea and on the peaceful settlement of the Korean question. This document is

reproduced as an Annex.1 It appears to be in the nature of an answer to the Group's message of 16 December.

10. In these circumstances, and in spite of its best efforts, the Group regrets that it has been unable to pursue discussion of a satisfactory cease-fire arrangement. It therefore feels that no recommendation in regard to a cease-fire can usefully be made by it at this time.

36. PRINCIPLES ADOPTED BY THE UNITED NATIONS GROUP ON A CEASE-FIRE IN KOREA, JANUARY 11, 1951 2

The objective shall be the achievement, by stages, of the programme outlined below for a cease-fire in Korea, for the establishment of a free and united Korea, and for a peaceful settlement of Far Eastern problems.

1. In order to prevent needless destruction of life and property, and while other steps are being taken to restore peace, a cease-fire should be immediately arranged. Such an arrangement should contain adequate safeguards for ensuring that it will not be used as a screen for mounting a new offensive.

2. If and when a cease-fire occurs in Korea, either as a result of a formal arrangement or, indeed, as a result of a lull in hostilities. pending some such arrangement, advantage should be taken of it to pursue consideration of further steps to be taken for the restoration of peace.

3. To permit the carrying out of General Assembly resolution [376 (V)] that Korea should be a unified, independent, democratic, Sovereign State with a constitution and a government based on free popular elections, all non-Korean armed forces will be withdrawn, by appropriate stages, from Korea, and appropriate arrangements, in accordance with United Nations principles, will be made for the Korean people to express their own free will in respect of their future government.

4. Pending the completion of the steps referred to in the preceding paragraph, appropriate interim arrangements, in accordance with United Nations principles, will be made for the administration of Korea and the maintenance of peace and security there.

5. As soon as agreement has been reached on a cease-fire, the General Assembly shall set up an appropriate body which shall include representatives of the Governments of the United Kingdom, the United States of America, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the People's Republic of China, with a view to the achievement of a settlement, in conformity with existing international obligations

1 Not printed here. See U.N. General Assembly, Official Records, Fifth Session, Annexes, Agenda Item 76, pp. 8-10.

Ibid., p. 13.

Supra, doc. 23.