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OCR Page 1 of 12Fn DC
TROWHY
KOREA - Synopsis G: Miscellaneous Developments,
(Page 1)
ARCHIVES SERVICE" RECORDS 'NATIONAL AND
February-June, 1951
The 38th Parallel As the line of battle became stabilized and the initiative passed
Again
back to UN forces in February, the question of crossing the 38th
parallel again became a public issue.
On February 2nd the State Department issued a statement in response
to published reports that Great Britain strongly opposed a recross-
ing of the 38th parallel in Korea by UN forces, and that the US
government also favored the halting of UN troops at the old
boundary. The statement said: "The present mission of the UN
forces in Korea is to repel the aggression and restore international
peace and security in the area. Repelling the aggression is a
military mission which will be vigorously pressed. The restoration
of peace in the area is before the UN; the process would not be
helped by speculation about the 38th Parallel at this time. "
A spokesman of the British Foreign Office said on the same day
that the British government would want a full discussion among all
nations having troops in Korea before any new decision was made
on crossing the 38th parallel, but he declined to say whether
this question had been a specific point of discussion with the US.
Attlee Comments
On February 12th Attlee told the House of Commons that it was the
British view that the 38th parallel "should not be crossed again
until there had been full consultations with the UN and in par-
ticular with those member states that were contributing forces
in Korea. " He said that it had to be remembered, however, "that
this was in no sense a military line and in deciding the line
account would have to be taken of military considerations.
Attlee said that the US already had been informed of this view
and had met the suggestion with the "fullest comprehension of
the political implications involved in crossing the 38th parallel. "
Also on the 12th, in reply to inquiries about crossing the
parallel, a spokesman of the State Department said that the US
had the matter "under consideration and. [was] consulting
other governments about it. "
MacArthur
MacArthur expressed his views in a statement issued on the 13th,
Comments
following an inspection tour of the western front in Korea. The
statement said, in part: "What the future has in store in Korea
continues to be largely dependent upon international considera-
tions, and decisions not yet known here. Meanwhile, the command
head. .
is doing everything that could reasonably be expected of it.
Our field strategy, initiated upon Communist China's entry into
the war, involving a rapid withdrawal to lengthen the enemy's
supply lines with resultant pyramiding of his logistical
difficulties and an almost astronomical increase in the destruc-
tiveness of our air power, has worked well. In the development
of this strategy the 8th Army has achieved local tactical
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