Memorandum of Conversation with Sae Sun Kim, John D. Hickerson, Arthur Emmons, Ruth Bacon, and Paul Jones

3447 DEPARTMENT OF STATE file ( Memorandum of Conversation CONFIT TIAL DATE: October 15, 1951 SUBJECT: Korean Application for Membership in the United Nations PARTICIPANTS: Mr. Sae Sun Kim, Charge d'Affaires, Korean Embassy Mr. John D. Hickerson, UNA Mr. Arthur Emmons, NA Miss Ruth Bacon, FE SECRETARY Mr. Paul Jones, UNP STATE COPIES TO: UNA - Mr. Hickerson OCT 18 1951 UNP - Mr. Wainhouse DE LASSIFIED FE - Miss Bacon E.O. 12065, Sec. 3-402 AFFAIRS State NA - Mr. Immons State Dept. Guidelines, March 6, USUN DC/R By DEB NLT, Date 4-24-95 1-1493 Mr. Kim called on me to continue a conversation which I recently had with Dr. Yang, Korean Ambassador, on the subject of membership of the Republic of Korea in the United Nations. Recalling that I had promised to look up the status of the Korean application, I told Mr. Kim that an application for the admission of the Republic of Korea was still pending before the Security Council and that no further step by the Republic of Korea was required for reconsideration. I explained that its application, submitted on January 19, 1949, was vetoed by the USSR and that the Security Council has not subsequently reconsidered the application. P I noted that in 1949 the General Assembly adopted, by large majorities, resolutions on each of the nine non-Soviet candidates, including the Republic of Korea, which have all been excluded from United Nations membership because of the Soviet veto. These resolutions stated that the applicant state was qualified for admission and requested reconsideration by the Security Council of its application. I also recalled that the USSR submitted a resolution to the Assembly recommending reconsideration of all the pending applications except that of the Republic of Korea, but this resolution was rejected by the Assembly. 5 I mentioned that the International Court of Justice, in response to a General Assembly resolution introduced by Argentina, gave an advisory opinion in 1950 that under the Charter, the General Assembly cannot admit a state to membership when the Security Council has made no recommendation for admission because of the failure of a candidate to obtain the required majority or because of the veto of a permanent member. While the United States strongly regretted that a veto of a permanent member could block the admission of an applicant, nevertheless, that was CONFIDENTIAL 059802