KOREAN TRUCE CONFERENCE

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27131, 29 August 1953, Page 7

KOREAN TRUCE CONFERENCE

India Unlikely To Take Part (Rec. 10 p.m.) NEW YORK, August 28. Diplomatic sources say that India will not be invited to take part in the peace conference on Korea. The Political Committee of the United Nations yesterday voted in favour of both India and Russia taking part in the conference, but Reuter’s United Nations correspondent says it is a foregone conclusion that when the General Assembly meets in plenary session today to consider the recommend* ation, India will fail to gain the two-thirds majority necessary to win endorsement.

The resolution sponsored by Britain, New Zealand, Canada and Australia recommending the participation of India in the conference, was passed by the Political Committee by only 27 votes to 21. There were 11 abstentions.

The Allied resolution sponsored by the 15 nations in Korea was approved as a whole by 42 votes to 5, with 12 abstentions. The Soviet group alone was against it.

The Allied plan, was first voted on paragraph by paragraph. The proposal that all the nations which represented the United Nations in Korea should be eligible to participate and act independently at the conference with full freedom of action, and being bound only to the decision to which they adhered, was approved by 42 votes to seven, with 10 abstentions. The provision that the United States Government should arrange with the other side for the conference to be held as soon as possible, but not later than October 28 at a place and on a date satisfactory to both sides, was approved by 42 votes to five, with 12 abstentions. The provision that the SecretaryGeneral of the United Nations, if this were agreeable to both sides, should provide the conference with services and facilities, was approved by 59 votes to nil. The provision that member States should inform the United Nations when agreement was reached at the conference, and keep the United Nations informed at other appropriate times, was approved by 41 votes to five, with 13 abstentions. The provision reaffirming the United Nations intention to carry out its programme for relief and rehabilitation in Korea, and appealing to all member governments to contribute to this task was approved by 59 votes to nil. The provisions (1) approving the conclusion of the armistice agreement; (2) reaffirming that the objective of the United Nations remained the unification of Korea by peaceful means; and (3) noting the recommendation in the armistice agreement for a political conference, were passed by successive votes of 58 to nil, 59 to nil, and 58 to nil, with the Soviet Union voting with the West. Soviet Participation

The Soviet amendment to delete the proviso “provided the other side desires it” from the Commonwealth resolution proposing the participation of the Soviet Union at the conference, was rejected by 36 votes to 15, with eight abstentions.

The committee then voted to recommend Soviet participation in the conference with the proviso. The vote was 55 to two.

The Soviet proposal for a 15-nation peace conference was voted on twice after being rejected as an amendment to the main Allied resolution. It came up again as a formal proposal on its own. In both cases it was rejected by 41 votes to five, with 13 abstentions.

The Soviet had proposed the attendance at the conference of the United States, Britain, France, the Soviet Union, Communist China, India, Poland, Czechoslovakia, North Korea, South Korea, Indonesia, Syria, Egypt, Mexico and Burma.

The resolution proposed by India, Burma, Indonesia and Liberia that the Secretary-General communicate the decision of the Assembly on the conference to the Communist side was passed by 54 votes to four, with two abstentions.

India did not take part in any of the day’s voting on the setting up of the conference.