Memorandum of Conversation with Ambassador Percy Spender and Others

Test 33 DEPARTMENT OF STATE Memorandum of Conversation DATE: August 15, 1951 SUBJECT: Korea and the San Francisco Conference PARTICIPANTS: Australian Ambassador, Mr. Spender Mr. David McNicol, First Secretary, Australian Embassy New Zealand Ambassador, Sir Carl Berendson Mr. Frank Corner, First Secretary, New Zealand Embassy Canadian Minister, Mr. W. D. Matthews Mr. F. S. Tomlinson, Counselor, British Embassy Mr. Basil Jarvie, Counselor, South African Embassy FE - Mr. Rusk NA - Mr. Johnson BNA - Mr. Shullaw Copies to: FE, NA, UNA, EUR (2), EUR/Mr. Allen, BNA is S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 6-1120-1 At the request of the Australian Ambassador, Mr. Spender, I met with him and with other Commonwealth representatives today to discuss the situation in Korea and the forthcoming San Francisco Conference. Mr. Spender took the initiative in arranging this meeting (memorandum of my conversation with Mr. Spender August 9, 1951, subject Korea). I read to the group the directive of August 11 from the Joint Chiefs of Staff to General Ridgeway on the conduct of the Kaesorg negotiations. In the discussion which followed no one present registered any dissent from our present course of action in the negotiations nor from the view that we should continue along these lines, at least for the next week. The Australian Ambassador expressed the opinion it was not generally understood that there was a distinction between a military cease-fire line along present battle lines and the 38th parallel as a political dividing line. He sug ested that it might be helpful if the Secretary or some one else were to make this distinction clear in a public state- ment. In commenting on the Ambassador's suggestion, I said that no one had ever recognized the 38th parallel as a political dividing line, it was merely the line used in determining who would receive the surrender of Japanese forces in Korea at the end of the war. Furthermore, the Communist negotiators have no standing on the question of the 38th parallel, the Chinese have no legitimate interest in it and the North DECLASSIFIED Koreans Authority FRUS Vol. M.817-814 By DEB NLT Date 2-28-15