Aide Memoire

EMBASSY OF FRANCE Washington, May 6, 1952. AIDE_MEVOIRE (Setting forth views of French Foreign Office on U.S. Draft Resolution for Post-Armistice GA Action.) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has the following comments to offer on the Draft Resolution proposed on March 26 by the Department of State to be submitted to the UNGA, following an armistice in Korea. From the time when an armistice will be signed, if new progress toward peace is desired, it is necessary, in the absence of a sort of provocation with regard to the USSR, to take account of a situation where the opposing parties meet on an equal footing. That is to say, whatever the reactions of the Soviets to the envisaged demarche may prove to be, it seems imopportune to have in mind an alternative which, depending upon the attitude of the Russians, would aggravate the terms of the resolution, notably by a reference to the resolutions of the Security Council which the USSR has constantly rejected. It would be desirable, therefore (to abandon alternative B) and to put forward only alternative A for which the following revisions are suggested: (a) The proposed conference should be considered as a conference of all the parties involved assisted by qualified members of the United Nations, meeting on an equal footing in a common task. There should be no discriminatory distinctions between the Govern- ments which have acted for the benefit of the United Nations, and the other participating governments, especially the USSR. The Assembly should limit itself to organizing and convening a conference of Governments with a view toward peace and it is this conference 4