Such a Korea should of course be a member of the United Nations and enjoy the added dignity and protection which membership may give. It may be recalled that the Republic of Korea applied for membership in the United Nations in 1949. It was prevented only by a Soviet Union veto in the Security Council. That is another of the wrongs which we should agree here to remedy.

There are those who feel that past experience and cold reason combine to show the futility of the task which we here undertake. I do not underestimate the difficulty of that task. But I still feel that we need not be discouraged, and that it is not a waste of our time to seek resourcefully to achieve our allotted goal.

We properly recall the failures of the past, so that we may profit by experience. But we can also remember that the future is never a mere repetition of the past.

We need not let cold logic chill our hopes. We know that those who live by faith prevail in the end over those who live by calculation. It is right that Korea should be united and should be a free and independent nation able to realize a destiny which conforms to the peaceful aspirations of its people.

It is right that the United Nations should be sustained as an authority to which all peoples, for all time, may turn to save them from the scourge of war and to assure the dignity and worth and equal rights of nations large and small.

Our duty is to pursue these goals with dedication, and with a purity of purpose which admits of no self-aggrandizement. Then we shall have done our part in serving principles of moral order, which impose themselves on men and nations.

90. SIXTEEN-NATION DECLARATION ON KOREA ISSUED AT THE GENEVA CONFERENCE ON KOREA AND INDOCHINA, JUNE 15, 1954 3

Pursuant to the resolution of August 28, 1953, of the United Nations General Assembly, and the Berlin communique of February 18, 1954, we, as nations who contributed military forces to the United Nations Command in Korea, have been participating in the Geneva

1 See United Nations Bulletin, Mar. 1, 1949, pp. 209-210.

2 The Soviet Union exercised its veto at the Security Council meeting of Apr. 8, 1949; ibid., May 1, 1949, pp. 457–458.

Department of State Bulletin, June 28, 1954, pp. 973–974. Signed by R. G. Casey of Australia, P. H. Spaak of Belgium, C. A. Ronning of Canada, Francisco Urrutia of Colombia, Z. G. Heywot of Ethiopia, Jean Chauvel of France, Jean Kindynis of Greece, J. Sturm of Luxembourg, A. Bentinck of the Netherlands, A. D. McIntosh of New Zealand, Carlos P. Garcia of the Philippines, Y. T. Pyun of the Republic of Korea, Wan Waithayakon of Thailand, M. C. Acikalin of Turkey, Anthony Eden of Great Britain, and Walter Bedell Smith of the United States.

Supra, doc. 85.

5 Supra, pp.2372-2373.

Conference for the purpose of establishing a united and independent Korea by peaceful means.

We have made a number of proposals and suggestions in accord with the past efforts of the United Nations to bring about the unification, independence, and freedom of Korea; and within the framework of the following two principles which we believe to be fundamental.

1. The United Nations, under its Charter, is fully and rightfully empowered to take collective action to repel aggression, to restore peace and security, and to extend its good offices to seeking a peaceful settlement in Korea.

2. In order to establish a unified, independent and democratic Korea, genuinely free elections should be held under UN supervision, for representatives in the national assembly, in which representation shall be in direct proportion to the indigenous population in Korea.

We have earnestly and patiently searched for a basis of agreement which would enable us to proceed with Korean unification in accordance with these fundamental principles.

The Communist delegations have rejected our every effort to obtain agreement. The principal issues between us, therefore, are clear. Firstly, we accept and assert the authority of the United Nations. The Communists repudiate and reject the authority and competence of the United Nations in Korea and have labelled the United Nations itself as the tool of aggression. Were we to accept this position of the Communists, it would mean the death of the principle of collective security and of the UN itself. Secondly, we desire genuinely free elections. The Communists insist upon procedures which would make genuinely free elections impossible. It is clear that the Communists will not accept impartial and effective supervision of free elections. Plainly, they have shown their intention to maintain Communist control over North Korea. They have persisted in the same attitudes which have frustrated United Nations efforts to unify Korea since

1947.

We believe, therefore, that it is better to face the fact of our disagreement than to raise false hopes and mislead the peoples of the world into believing that there is agreement where there is none.

In the circumstances, we have been compelled reluctantly and regretfully to conclude that so long as the Communist delegations reject the two fundamental principles which we consider indispensable, further consideration and examination of the Korean question by the conference would serve no useful purpose. We reaffirm our continued support for the objectives of the United Nations in Korea.

In accordance with the resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations of August 28, 1953, the member states parties to this declaration will inform the United Nations concerning the proceedings at this conference.1

1 See Results of the Korean Political Conference at Geneva: Letter, Report and Annex From Certain Members of the United Nations to the Secretary-General, Nov. 11, 1954; infra, doc. 92.

91. TRANSFER TO THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA OF ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL OVER THE REGION BETWEEN THE ARMISTICE DEMARCATION LINE AND THE 38th PARALLEL: Resolution of the United Nations Commission for the Unification and Rehabilitation of Korea, August 9, 1954 1

"The United Nations Commission for the Unification and Rehabilitation of Korea,

"Recalling the resolution of the Interim Committee on Korea of 12 October 1950,2 subsequently endorsed by UNCURK, which advised the Unified Command to assume provisionally all responsibilities for government and civil administration of areas north of the 38th parallel3 which might come under occupation by United Nations forces and over which the United Nations had not recognized any Government as having legal and effective control, pending consideration by UNCURK in the light of its responsibility for establishing a unified, independent and democratic Government of all Korea,

"Noting that the Unified Command has, through the United Nations. Command, administered in accordance with that resolution the small area north of the 38th parallel which has been under United Nations. control since 1951,

"Considering that the cessation of hostilities consequent upon the conclusion of the Armistice Agreement on 27 July 1953 has enabled the United Nations Command to develop civilian resettlement of that area, so far as possible with original inhabitants who have been living as refugees in South Korea, under a programme viewed favourably by the Commission as a means of relieving the refugee problem and assisting the economy,

"Recognizing that the civilian population has now grown to some 130,000 in this area of approximately 2,300 square miles and has created an increasingly large and complex administrative task which needs the facilities of civilian administration,

"Bearing in mind that the United Nations Command has in consequence indicated to the Commission that it now wishes to be relieved of responsibility for an administration which it considers it is not organized to carry out,

"Believing that in any event it is undesirable to keep a civil population under military administration for a prolonged period after hostilities have ceased.

"Considering that this problem can be appropriately resolved by transferring administrative control to the Government of the Republic of Korea, and

"Further considering that such transfer of administrative control will be without prejudice to the final disposition of the territory and will not adversely affect any future negotiations for a settlement of the Korean question,

1 U.N. General Assembly, Official Records, Ninth Session, Supplement No. 15 (A/2711), pp. 6-7.

2 For the full text of the resolution of Oct. 12, 1950, see ibid., Sixth Session Supplement No. 12 (A/1881), p. 13.

3 See map of Korea, supra, p. 725.

"Recommends that the Unified Command transfer, as soon as practicable, administrative control over the areas north of the 38th parallel and south of the Demilitarized Zone now under United Nations control to the Government of the Republic of Korea." 1

92. RESULTS OF THE KOREAN PHASE OF THE GENEVA CONFERENCE ON KOREA AND INDOCHINA: Letter, Report, and Annex From Certain Members of the United Nations to the U.N. Secretary-General, November 11, 1954 2

LETTER DATED 11 NOVEMBER 1954 FROM THE MEMBERS OF THE UNITED NATIONS WHICH PARTICIPATED IN THE UNITED NATIONS ACTION IN KOREA AND ATTENDED THE KOREAN POLITICAL CONFERENCE, AT GENEVA, ADDRESSED TO THE SECRETARY-GENERAL In paragraph 60 of the Korean Armistice Agreement signed on 27 July 1953 the military commanders of both sides recommended that, in order to ensure the peaceful settlement of the Korean question, a "political conference of a higher level of both sides" be held. The General Assembly, in its resolution of 28 August 1953,3 welcomed the holding of such a conference and recommended that "the side contributing armed forces under the United Nations Command in Korea shall have as participants in the conference those among the Member States contributing armed forces pursuant to the call of the United Nations which desire to be represented, together with the Republic of Korea". It also recommended that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics participate in the conference, "provided the other side desires it". The United States Government was requested to make the arrangements for the political conference with the other participants. Finally, the Assembly recommended that Member States participating in the political conference on the United Nations side should inform the United Nations when agreement was reached at the conference and keep the United Nations informed at other appropriate times.

Efforts by the United States to make arrangements for the conference in accordance with these resolutions were for long frustrated. However, the Foreign Ministers of France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the USSR, meeting in Berlin, proposed on 18 February 1954 that "a conference of representatives of the United States, France, the United Kingdom, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the Chinese People's Republic, the Republic of Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and the other countries the armed forces of which participated in the hostilities in Korea, and

1 The President of the Republic of Korea was informed by the United Nations Command, Aug. 12, 1954, of the latter's intent to effect this transfer; see the Department of State Bulletin, Sept. 6, 1954, p. 337.

2 U.N. General Assembly, Official Records, Ninth Session, Annexes, agenda item 17 (A/2786), Nov. 11, 1954,

3 Supra, doc. 85.

which desire to attend, shall meet in Geneva on 26 April for the purpose of reaching a peaceful settlement of the Korean question".

The Conference convened as scheduled on 26 April in accordance with the Berlin communiqué of 18 February 1954 with all eligible countries attending except the Union of South Africa. In our view this Conference was in effect the conference referred to in paragraph 60 of the Korean Armistice Agreement and the General Assembly's resolution of 28 August 1953. The Korean problem was discussed in fifteen plenary sessions and one special meeting over a period of seven weeks, from 26 April to 15 June.

Pursuant to the Assembly's resolution of 28 August 1953, the Members of the United Nations who participated in the United Nations action in Korea and attended the Geneva Conference believe it appropriate to inform the United Nations of their efforts to bring about, by negotiation, a peaceful solution of the Korean problem. It is requested that their report on the Conference, and this letter, be circulated to the Members of the United Nations. Copies of the records of the Conference have been transmitted to the United Nations Secretariat.

For Australia: Percy SPENDER

For Belgium: F. VAN LANGENHOVE

For Canada: Paul MARTIN For Colombia: Francisco URRUTIA For Ethiopia: Z. G. HEYWOT For France: H. HOPPENOT For Greece: Alexis KYROU

For Luxembourg: J.-P. KREMER

For the Netherlands: D. J. VON BALLUSECK
For New Zealand: L. K. MUNRO

For the Philippines: Felixberto M. SERRANO
For Thailand: Wan WAITHA YAKON
For Turkey: Selim SARPER

For the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland: Anthony NUTTING

For the United States of America: Henry Cabot LODGE, Jr. 1. Our Governments, which participated in the United Nations action in Korea, made every effort at the Korean Political Conference in Geneva to obtain agreement that would lead to the establishment of a unified, independent, and democratic Korea. To this end, our delegations made a number of proposals and suggestions, consistent with the authority and principles of the United Nations, to achieve the unification of Korea by peaceful means on a practical and honorable basis. Agreement was sought on the basis of the following two fundamental principles:

(1) The United Nations, under its Charter, is fully and rightly empowered to take collective action to repel aggression, to restore peace and security, and to extend its good offices to seeking a peaceful settlement in Korea; and

1 Supra, doc. 88.