Telegram from Secretary of State Dean Acheson to the Department of State

INCOMING TELEGRAM Department of State 4-1 SECRET SECURITY INFORMATION Action Control: 4950 Rec'd: UNA November 14, 1952 FROM: New York Info 12:10 a.m. TO: Secretary of State SS G NO: EUR DELGA 189, November 13, 10:43 p.m. NEA PRIORITY LIMITED DISTRIBUTION Kus 1952-54 y (618-62) Re Korea Reps of 21 co-sponsors of joint draft resolution on Korea met at US mission this afternoon for discussion of situation which has developed since joint draft submitted Oct 24. Gross opened meeting by summarizing in very general terms negotiations with Menon. Gross stated Menon had advised US this morning that he had fairly firm instructions to table A resolution unilaterally possibly Nov 14. Gross stressed fact we had not seen anything in writing from Menon, but stated that from our conversations with him it seemed fairly clear Menon had in mind three basic points: (1) There should be in some form a ref to the principle of non-forcible repatriation. We were in some doubt re question of how precisely or clearly this principle would be stated in Menon's draft. The statement would in some way be based on stipulations of Geneva convention. (2) A Comm for repatriation of POW's would be established. Menon proposed a two-for-two composition--Poland, Czechoslovakia, Sweden and Switzerland--based on his feeling that such a Comm would be acceptable to the Commies because they had already agreed on it for another purpose. Menon envisaged the appoint- ment of an umpire by the Comm itself. (3) The resolution would spell out the functions of the Comm, and provide for "de jure" repatriation of POW'S through transfer of custody to Comm. It was not clear who would have responsi- bility for POW'S thereafter. The Comm would act in some way analagous to the concept of a protecting power; it would have access to POW'S, receive communications from them, and have function of facilitating their repatriation. A para would be included in the resolution to insure that no force would be used upon the POW'S and there would be no affront to their dignity. This wld carry the implication of a guarantee against forcibly detaining or forcibly repatriating prisoners. Finally, REPRODUCTION FROM THIS -124 SECRED SECURITY INFORMATION COPY, IF CLASSIFIED, IS PROHIBITED 120