890.20/4–849
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Director of the Office for Far Eastern Affairs (Butterworth)
| Participants: | Dr. John M. Chang, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea |
| Mr. Niles W. Bond, Assistant Chief, Division of Northeast Asian Affairs | |
| Mr. W. Walton Butterworth, Director of the Office for Far Eastern Affairs |
During the course of a courtesy call today by the Korean Ambassador, the latter raised the question of a Pacific counter-part to the Atlantic Pact.
I pointed out to the Ambassador that the Atlantic Pact was the product of a specific set of circumstances which are peculiar to Europe and the Atlantic community and which are not even closely duplicated in the Pacific area. While granting the very real threat posed by Soviet intentions and capabilities in the Far East, I emphasized that conditions in that area do not at the present time lend themselves to the type [Page 1142] of approach embodied in the Atlantic Pact. To demonstrate this point, I went on to underline the variety of difficulties—the fluid situation in China, the attitude of Pandit Nehru, etc.—which would be involved in drawing in the Far East a firm line beyond which any further Soviet penetration would be regarded as aggression against the entire community of signatory powers.
The Ambassador said that he recognized these difficulties, and had raised the subject merely because his Government had expressed interest in the conclusion of a Pacific pact.