795.00/6–3051: Telegram
The Ambassador in Korea (Muccio) to the Secretary of State
priority
1103. Immed upon receipt Dept’s 10041 I phoned President Rhee that I had draft msg wished to deliver at once. Upon arrival his residence I found he had already summoned Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Defense Minister. He read General Ridgway’s communiqué [Page 605] aloud. For the next hour there was great deal of talk, far fetched and irrelevant, mainly by the President but also by the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. For instance, President Rhee said he wld call an immediate Cabinet meeting and decide terms under which they wld take part in the conversations. I took occasion to caution against hasty decisions and particularly public pronouncements and suggested advisability of talking matter over with UNCURK. The Foreign Minister mentioned he had called a press conference for 10 o’clock. The President instructed him to call this off. The Prime Minister remarked we should not talk to Commies until all had been driven from Korea. I thereupon called attention to the adverse reaction to the many statements against cease-fire by Korean officials and expressed feeling better line wld be willingness to explore armistice possibilities at the same time urging all proper guarantees against further aggression.
Sent Dept 1103, rptd info Tokyo 202.