Foreign Relations of the United States, 1951, Korea and China, Volume VII, Part 1

795.00/5–2551

Memorandum of Conversation, by Windsor G. Hackler of the Bureau of Far Eastern Affairs

secret

[Washington,] May 25, 1951.

Subject: Briefing of Ambassadors on Korea

Participants:	Australia	—Mr. McNichol, Second Secretary
	Belgium	—Ambassador Silvercruys and Mr. Rothschild, Counselor
	Canada	—Ambassador Wrong and Mr. Ignatieff. Counselor
	Colombia	—Dr. Mejia-Palacio, Minister Counselor
	Ethiopia	—Absent
	France	—Mr. Millet, Counselor
	Great Britain	—Mr. Tomlinson, Counselor
	Greece	—Ambassador Politis
	Luxembourg	—Mr. LeGallais
	Netherlands	—Mr. van Boetzelaer, First Secretary
	New Zealand	—Mr. Corner, First Secretary
	Philippines	—Mr. de Castro, First Secretary
	Thailand	—Mr. Kridakon, Counselor
	Turkey	—Mr. Esenbel, Counselor
	Union of South Africa	—Mr. Jarvie, Counselor
	United States	—FE, Mr. Rusk
		UNA, Mr. Hickerson
		BNA, Mr. Raynor
		R, Mr. Trueheart
		EUR Mr. Allen
		FE, Mr. Hackler
		FE, Mr. Lockhart
		Army, Captain Fischgrund

Captain Fischgrund reported that in the past few days the “second phase” of the enemy offensive had ended in failure due to heavy casualties inflicted by UN forces. The 8th Army is continuing its advance northward and is meeting scattered light resistance. An air report that UN forces now hold the town of Inje has not been confirmed. Captain Fischgrund stated that the success of the current UN offensive lay in that it had caught the enemy off-guard while they were on the offensive, and not disposed in depth as has been the case in previous UN attacks which were blunted and absorbed by the familiar leap-frog tactics. FEC now estimates that the enemy will probably not provide strong resistance until UN forces reach the Imjin River. Enemy casualties from the beginning of hostilities to May 16 were listed as follows:

NK battle casualties	—336,663
Non-battle casualties	—80,561
Prisoners of war	—  144,922
	562,146
Chinese Communist battle casualties	—311,325
Non-battle casualties	—38,319
Prisoners of war	—  3,964
	373,608

From May 16 through May 23, unadjusted casualty figures bring the total enemy casualties to 1,025,000.

Mr. Rusk said that he had been encouraged by the ability of the 8th Army to return immediately to the offensive after having been heavily hit by the enemy during the “second phase” offensive which started on May 16. The UN forces in Korea are in good shape, he said, and are inflicting very heavy losses on the enemy at remarkably low costs to themselves. Emphasizing the secret nature of the information, Mr. Rusk revealed that the immediate objective of the present UN offensive is probably the line previously held by the UN along the Imjin River and eastward along the Hwachon Reservoir and that there did not appear to be any political difficulty at this stage. Current newspaper speculations about unlimited objectives should be disregarded, he said.

Mr. Rusk said that General Collins under questioning this morning by the Joint Congressional Committees had summarized the main points which the United States had proposed some time ago as the report to be issued by the President of the United States as Chief Executive of the Unified Command.¹ Mr. Rusk assumed that the revelation of this draft statement would not cause any difficulty, but he wished the representatives present to be aware of the situation in case their Governments would need to be informed. He suggested that in answer to any newspaper inquiries it would be appropriate to state that the summary which General Collins made was based on United States views, which did not necessarily represent or reflect the comments of the other Governments which have fighting forces in Korea. Mr. Rusk agreed with Ambassador Silvercruys that the substance of the proposed presidential report had now been made public and that the enemy would have the opportunity to study it and perhaps take this opportunity to respond.

In response to a question by Ambassador Wrong, Mr. Rusk stated that the Department had been unable to find anything substantial behind the newspaper stories concerning peace feelers. He said that he was confident that if the enemy decided to give up his intention of driving UN forces out of Korea, the news of this change of intention would reach us very quickly.

Mr. Rusk and Mr. Hickerson agreed that a special report from General Ridgway to the UN might be made at any time in order to reflect the new military situation and that any special announcement would, of course, be discussed with representatives of those countries whose forces are fighting in Korea.

Mr. Rusk repeated his request of the last meeting that any indication received by anyone present concerning the attitudes or intentions in Moscow or Peking be passed on to the United States Government as quickly as possible.

Mr. Hickerson agreed with Ambassador Silvercruys that the publication of the essence of the proposed presidential report eliminated the possibility of its being used but did not preclude the possibility of making some other suitable report at a propitious moment.

1. See Hearings, p. 1193.