Memorandum from General Omar Bradley to Secretary of Defense General George Marshall

(7/30)19875 Returnt NA- willias TOP SH 3 3 Copy 01 Copies COPY The Joint Chiefs of Staff PP-3 Washington 25. D.C. Room 3264 MS 31 August 1951 MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY CF DEFENSE SUBJECT: ashington Foreign Ministers Meetings (Tripartite Talks) Draft Position Paper (MFM T-10) Dated 18 August 1951, Entttled "United Nations Action in Korea. in Case of an Armistice." 1. The Joint Chiefs of Staff have formulated, from the military point of view, the following views on the Department of State draft position paper, subject 28 above. 2. The paper as a whole is not clear concerning the relation of the political conference following an armistice in Xorea to discussions of other Far Eastern problems. (See paragraphs 1, 2, and 5 b of the Position to be Presented.) The Joint Chieff of Staff consider that no other Fer Lastern problem should be taken up in connection with the contemplated political settlement and accordingly recommend that it be made clear that the conference will be strictly limited to discussion of matters pertaining solely to Korea. 3. Although the United Nations action in Korea is without precedent, the Joint Chiefs of Staff find it difficult to understand why non-belligerent nations are being considered other than in their status ag members of the United Nations for inclusion in the Korean political conference. Communist China has been consistent in maintaining that it is not a belligerent in the Korean War and that the Chinese forces in Korea are merely "volunteers". This fiction has been continued during the armistice negotiations. There is no evidence that forces of the USSR have participated.in the Korean War. Inasmuch as the USSR is a member of the United Nations, it should be assumed that its interests will be emply protected by the United Nations Delegation and, in any event, the USSR should not be accorded a voice in the two forums. The Joint Chiefs of Staff, from the military point of view, recommend that the political conference be limited to representatives of belligerent nations in addition to the delegation appointed by the United Nations. 4. In paragraph 5 b of the Position to be Presented it is suggested the conference be held at Kaesong or in the demilitarized zone of Korea. Difficulties already encountered at Kaesong would indicate that this location should not be used for the peace conference. The Joint Chiefs of Staff, therefore, recommend that reference to Kaesong as the location of conferences be deleted from the paper (See also peragraph 4 b of Courses of Action in Korea in Event the Armistice Nogotiations are Successful). DECLASSIFIED E.O. 12065, Sec. 3-402 TOP SECRET State Dept. Guideline, June 12, 1979 up SECURE 4 NLT NARS, Date