25

Assembly which would set up a National Government and consult with the Commission concerning the prompt realization of Korean independence. The National Government should constitute its own security forces, and as soon as possible thereafter the occupation troops should be withdrawn. Member States were requested to give every assistance to the Commission in the performance of its task and to refrain from interfering in Korean affairs both before and after the attainment of Korean independence. Finally, the Commission should report, with its conclusions, to the next regular session of the General Assembly and might consult with the Interim Committee with respect to the application of the resolution in the light of developments. The representative of the Ukrainian S.S.R. declared that his country, although named as a member of the Temporary Commission, would not take part in its work. The Soviet Union maintained its objection to the Temporary Commission on Korea and refused it entry to the Soviet-occupied zone of Korea. The Commission thus found itself unable to apply the programme envisaged in the Assembly's resolution to Korea as a whole, and decided to consult the Interim Committee of the Assembly, asking it, in effect, whether it would be in order for the Commission to carry out the programme in South Korea only. The Interim Committee, from which Russia and the five States identified with her absented themselves, discussed the problem on 19 and 26 February. The Chairman of the Temporary Commission gave the view of most of the members of the Commission that the formation of a separate sovereign government in South Korea would not facilitate either the establishment of Korean national independence or the withdrawal of the occupying troops. The United States, however, submitted a proposal embodying the view that the Korean Commission should carry out the programme in such parts of Korea as were accessible to it. They proposed, further, that the resolution should be accompanied by a letter to the Commission stating the considerations which the Committee had in mind—namely, (a) that elections observed by the United Nations Temporary Commission should be held in a free atmosphere, wherein the democratic rights of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly would be recognized and respected; (b) the National Assembly to which the representatives were to be elected would be a stage in the formation of a Korean Government, the form of which was to be determined by the Korean people themselves ; (c) the Interim Committee recognized that the United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea itself had authority and discretion to discharge its duties in Korea wherever and to the extent that circumstances permitted.