Memorandum, State Department Summary of Telegrams

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE DECLASSIFIED 12065, Sec. 3-402 WASHINGTON State E.O. Guidelines, March 6, 1982 Dept. DEB NLT, Date 7-26-86 June 13, 1952 By. SECRET SECURITY INF OR MATION SUMMARY OF TELEGRAMS KOREA Ambassador Muccio called on President Rhee yesterday. Dur - ing the conversation Muccio's statement of our support of the UN Commission's latest letter to Rhee (of June 7) touched off an irra- - tional explosion on the part of the President, who claimed that the US had been too drastic and did not understand his purposes, inveighed heatedly against the UN Commission's interference and fervently de - scribed the plot against him. Muccio left with the impression that Rhee was both physically and mentally exhausted and did not know to whom to turn. Since his return to Korea our Ambassador has come to feel that we cannot expect effective leadership from President Rhee. Muccio also feels that the extremist group around Rhee, led by the present Home Minister, has practically taken him over completely. Muccio warms of the probability of a rapid deterioration of the situation which may even take the form of a violent move by the Home Minister's group, to eliminate all opposition. TUNISIA With regard to the intention of the Asian-Arab group in the UN to make another attempt toward the calling of a special General Assembly session on the Tunisian question, we have informed our UN Mission that our position on Tunisia remains predicated on the hope that the problem will be solved by the French coming out with reform proposals. In view of the fact that the French proposals are ex- pected shortly we cannot support UN action now, and if a poll of members on the subject is made by the UN Secretary General we would be obliged to reply that we do not favor a special session at this time. Our UN Mission reports that when our position was presented to the Pakistani member of the Asian-Arab group, the latter stated that the group feels that for several reasons they must make a renewed move despite their opinion that they will not be able to find a majority to support a call for a special session. Our mission reports that it is probable that a letter from the group to the Secretary General requesting a special session will go forward within the next three or four days. SECRET SECURITY INF 'ORMA TION