Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, The Far East, Volume VI

740.00119 Control (Korea)/8–2647: Telegram

The Acting Secretary of State to the Embassy in the Soviet Union ⁸⁵

restricted
us urgent

Washington, August 26, 1947—8 p.m.

1646. Please deliver following letter to FonOff. You may orally inform FonOff it is expected Asst. Secy Saltzman⁸⁶ will open conversations but will delegate day to day negotiations to a deputy. After receipt notification of delivery letter will be released to press.

“Dear Mr. Molotov: In your letter of August 23, 1947 to Secy Marshall the position of the Soviet Delegation to the Joint Commission has been set forth in terms which corroborate a recent report received by this Govt from the US Delegation to the Joint Commission. The report of the United States delegation was in compliance with the desire of Secretary Marshall as set forth in his letter to you of Aug 12 that a report from the Joint Commission should be submitted by August 21 in order that our governments might immediately consider what further steps may be useful to achieve the long-delayed unification and independence of Korea. The report of the United States Delegation makes it clear that the Joint Commission has been unable to reach agreement regarding the basis on which representatives of democratic Korean parties and social organizations shall be consulted by the Joint Commission. The United States delegation also reports that it has been unable to obtain the agreement of the Soviet delegation to any alternative method of completing the task of the Joint Commission.

As pointed out in your letter it was agreed in the interchange of correspondence in May of this year that ‘the Joint Commission should consult with those democratic parties and social organizations which fully support the Moscow Decision on Korea’. You will, however, recall that in your letter of May 7 you expressly agreed to the interpretation of the above phrase as proposed by the United States Commander in Korea that ‘signing the declaration in Communiqué No. 5 will be accepted as declaration of good faith with respect to upholding fully the Moscow Decision and will make the signatory party or organization eligible for initial consultation’. The parties and organizations mentioned by you as belonging to the Anti-Trusteeship Committee did sign Communiqué No. 5 and are, in the opinion of the United States Government, eligible for initial consultation. Your letter of May 7 also provided that any decision excluding individuals, parties and social organizations for active opposition to the work of the Joint Commission ‘shall be by agreement of the Joint Commission’. Accordingly, the United States delegation has repeatedly, but without success, attempted to obtain from the Soviet delegation agreement to criteria for consultation with Korean parties and social organizations applying for such consultation in accordance with the terms embodied in your letter. The Soviet delegation has insisted on the unilateral right to exclude parties which have expressed distaste for ‘trusteeship’, even though such parties have declared and reiterated their intention fully to support the Joint Commission and have in fact, since signing the declaration, not instigated active opposition to the work of the Commission. The Soviet position is not only contrary to the specific terms of the agreement between you and Secretary Marshall, it is also contrary to the democratic principle of freedom of opinion.

In Secretary Marshall’s letter to you of August 11, 1947 reference was made to the fact that the United States Delegation has several times offered to limit oral consultations to parties and organizations with membership in excess of 1,000, or any other reasonable figure proposed by the Soviet delegation. The United States delegation reports, however, that when the Soviet delegation proposed limiting consultation to parties of 10,000 or more, the Soviet Delegation submitted a list which omitted 24 such parties which claimed total membership of 15,200,000 and refused to consider any other list or alternative proposal.

The United States Government denies categorically that there has been oppression or persecution of Korean parties or individuals in the United States zone as charged in your letter. The arrests which you mention have been necessary to control subversive activities aimed at the destruction of constituted government and law and order in the American zone. United States forces are charged with the responsibility for maintaining law and order in south Korea without interference with democratic rights. That they have done so successfully is amply proven by the freedom with which all shades of political opinion are expressed and respected in the United States Zone.

It is noted that you have no objection to the proposal that the Joint Commission furnish an agreed report to our two governments. The United States delegation has accordingly been instructed to take immediate steps to reach agreement on a joint report of the status of the deliberations of the Joint Commission. In view of the position set forth in your letter and the report already rendered by the United States delegation, however, it is apparent that a joint report can accomplish little other than a formal delineation of the issues which have prevented the fulfillment of the Moscow Agreement.

For almost 2 years the Government of the United States has devoted its utmost efforts to carrying out the terms of the Moscow Agreement on Korea. The present stalemate in the Joint Commission negotiations and the failure of that Commission to accomplish even the first task of its mission have made it abundantly clear to all that bilateral negotiations on the subject of consultation with Korean political parties and organizations will only serve to delay the implementation of this agreement and defeat its announced purpose of bringing about early independence for Korea. The United States Government cannot in good conscience be a party to any such delay in the fulfillment of its commitment to Korean independence and proposes that the four powers adhering to the Moscow Agreement meet to consider how that agreement may be speedily carried out.

The United States Government therefore submits for the consideration of your government the enclosed outline of proposals designed to achieve the aims of the Moscow Agreement on Korea. The United States Government proposes that these suggestions be considered at an early date by the powers adhering to that Agreement. It is therefore hoped that the Soviet Chargé d’Affaires at Washington or an authorized deputy may be designated to participate in four power conversations on this problem at Washington beginning on September 8, 1947.

It is believed that the Joint Commission’s report on the status of its deliberations might be helpful in consideration of the United States proposals during these four power conversations. The United States delegation has accordingly been instructed to endeavor to reach agreement with the Soviet delegation on a joint report to be submitted not later than September 5, 1947.

Copies of this letter are being transmitted to the Foreign Ministers of the United Kingdom and China together with invitations to participate in the four power conversations referred to above.⁸⁷

Please accept, etc.”

Signed Robert A. Lovett

Enclosure to above:

“United States Proposals Regarding Korea

1. In both the USSR and US zones of Korea there shall be held early elections to choose wholly representative provisional legislatures for each zone. Voting shall be by secret, multi-party ballot on a basis of universal suffrage and elections shall be held in accordance with the laws adopted by the present Korean legislatures in each zone.

2. These provisional zonal legislatures shall choose representatives in numbers which reflect the proportion between the populations of the two zones, these representatives to constitute a national provisional legislature. This legislature shall meet at Seoul to establish a provisional government for a united Korea.

3. The resulting Provisional Government of a united Korea shall meet in Korea with representatives of the four Powers adhering to the Moscow Agreement on Korea to discuss with them what aid and assistance is needed in order to place Korean independence on a firm economic and political foundation and on what terms this aid and assistance is to be given.

4. During all the above stages the United Nations shall be invited to have observers present so that the world and the Korean people may be assured of the wholly representative and completely independent character of the actions taken.

5. The Korean Provisional Government and the Powers concerned shall agree upon a date by which all occupation forces in Korea will be withdrawn.

6. The provisional legislatures in each zone shall be encouraged to draft provisional constitutions which can later be used as a basis for the adoption by the national provisional legislature of a constitution for all of Korea.

7. Until such time as a united, independent Korea is established, public and private Korean agencies in each zone shall be brought into contact with international agencies established by or under the United Nations and the presence of Korean observers at official international conferences shall be encouraged in appropriate cases.”

Lovett

85. Repeated as No. 3705 to London, as No. 1071 to Nanking, and as No. 181 to Seoul, substituting following for first paragraph: “Following is text letter being sent Molotov today. This contains revision of Appendix D to SWNCC 176/30.” Text of letter was repeated in telegram 347, August 28, noon, to Tokyo.
86. Brig. Gen. Charles E. Saltzman succeeded General Hilldring on September 2 as Assistant Secretary of State for Occupied Areas.
87. Text of invitation was sent in telegrams 3704 to London and 1070 to Nanking, with instruction to inform the Foreign Office orally of the Department’s intention to have Mr. Saltzman open conversations and to delegate day-to-day negotiations to a deputy (740.00119 Control (Korea)/8–2647).