U.N. PLANS IN KOREA

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26441, 7 June 1951, Page 7

U.N. PLANS IN KOREA

Evidence By Mr Acheson (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 9 p.m.) WASHINGTON, June 5. The United States would consult the United Nations before arranging any armistice in Korea, said the Secretary of State (Mr Acheson) to-day. He was testifying before the Senate Committees Inquiring into General MacArthur’s dismissal and America’s Far Eastern policies. Mr Acheson said that the United Nations commander in the field had the right to bring about an armistice but the other United Nations members would be consulted first. A majority of the Security Council would vote with the United States to keep Communist China out of the United Nations, Mr Acheson said. • The United States relied on convincing other nations that the Commun1t ■* S a ?r no F stl °ot their way” into the United Nations. He disclosed that the United States, at one time, planned to pursue enemy planes into Manchuria. This plan, drafted last November, was not put into operation because no support came from the other allies. No effort was being made, Mr Acheson said, within the United Nations to obtain agreement on a naval blockade of Communist China Admira! Forrest Sherman, Chief of Naval Operations, had suggested such a blockade, but Mr Acheson said that it had never been formally recommended by the Joint Chiefs of Staff "We believe we are more likely to get our results by increasing economic restrictions rather than by asking the nations to go further in a military way than they are prepared to go in an economic way," he added. Mr Truman's right to send American a °9P S 1° Korea was defended by Mr Acheson, and he said that all the facts available indicated that the present United Nations strategy would force the Chinese Communists to give up the fight.

The Peiping Government did not care about individual lives. “But I think it will be concerned about the destruction of its trained armies and the loss of material." Buffer Zone Plan He revealed that General MacArthur last November rejected a proposal for a demilitarised zona below Korea’s Manchurian border.

Britain, France, Canada, and other Allies had suggested such a zone before the Chinese Communists intervened in force.

It was thought that the creation of a . bu^e F zone would make it clear that the United Nations forces had no aggressive intentions against Communist China.

However, General MacArthur did not think the suggestion a good one. and disapproved of it. Mr Acheson said that General MacArthur s demand for the bombing of Manchurian bases carried “the gravest risk of spreading the war throughout the Far East and very possibly throughout the world."