BURCHILL REPLIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP70-00058R000300010063-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 13, 2000
• Sequence Number: 63
• Publication Date: June 27, 1966
• Content Type: NSPR

taivli 11M1, HERALD
JUN 2 7 1966 F~~~~ ,qq~~RR0U
Approved For Release 2001/08/20 : CIA -667RRV='058
CPYRGHT Burcltill Replies
o is , . e evi- an only a trickle of the funds
sionists," was a rather Intern. having been released at the
pcrate attack on a modest time of Dulles' speech to the
study paper which I published Korean Assembly. Few mem?.
last March -under the title, bers of that Assembly can'
"Chinese Aggression - Myth have had any doubts ai to the.
or Menace?" The purpose of meaning of his message..
,the paper was to show how it That doubt exists as to'
was possible, partly because whether the North or the'
of incomplete information, and South Koreans attacked first
partly because of nationalist on June 24-25, 1950. Official
bias, for reasonably honest statements of North and South;
Chinese, and Americans to Korea conflict. No impartial
view recent historical events observer was able to confirm
in very different lights, either version. The Security;
l ;Apart from the, personal at- Council, which could ,and,
.tack on my professional com- should have investigated, re-
petence and intellectual lion- fused to permit an investiga
esty, your .editorial attacks tion and accepted without cor-
three judgments which I sug- roboration the South Korean
gested that our opponents version. Of course a doubt
might make from the events exists; even Professor.. Fair
'of 1950: bank, whose opening sentence
That the government of your editorial quotes, in his
'Syngman Rhee suffered a de- Foreign Affairs article, Octo-
'feat in the election of May, ber 15, 1950, makes no attempt
,1950.-This is not only a judg- to deal with this doubt, or to,
ment which the Chinese determine who started the
might make; it was the judg- var. No historian of integrity:
ment of the United Nations can reach a definite conelu-
Commission which supervised sion on this point until more
the elections and monitored evidence than the. propaganda.
the campaign.and which con- statements of the governments
bluded that "The two leading involved is available.
:parties in the old- National Syngman Rhee's broadcast;
}Assembly suffered a heavy to 'his fellow-countrymen of
defeat, losing 70 per cent of the' North on May 6, 1950, in-
their strength in the Assem- cheated a definite intention on,
the part of the South Korean,
That (John ' Foster Dulles government . to 'attack the
had used American aid as a North, in a campaign to be
lever in the attempt to unite coordinated with an "all-out'
the newly-elected Assembly in rising" 'of sympathetic north-
`support of the President, Syng? erners directed by the South
rinan Rhee. y
Korean radio. He had already
Of' course Dulles didn't pledged himself in the previ
threaten to cut off American ous December to secure the.
:aid if the Assembly failed to unification of Korea, by force'
support Syngman Rhee; he if necessary, before the end',
only made it plain that 'con? i. of 1950. I think it very' doubt
tinuance of that aid depended ful that he actually attempted
on how the Koreans in gen., his proposed attack; that more
e'ral, and the Assemblymen in probably the North Koreans'
particular, behaved them- 'launched an ill-advised pre-'
!selves.* Meanwhile, as L. M. ventive war in' anticipation of
'Goodrich puts it in Korea; a this attack; but the evidence.
'Study of U.S. Policy ' in the to support either view is in'
United Nations: "The Admin- conclusive.
istration in Washington -' . C. S. BURCHILL,
since it saw no reasonably ' ' Study Group on china Policy.
5satlsfactory alternative to the Vancouver, Canada.
Rhee regime, it was unwilling' '"Editor's Note: Mr. Burchill's
to risk the uncertainty which, article contained the following
:would follow its discrediting, sentence: "JohnFogfer-Dulles
and defeat . . . To promote flew to Korea-,-and on June 19
this evolution,, the United addressedflie Soli, lCorean':a'
States had powerful means at tional Assembly, pledging con-,
its disposal in the form of eco- tint ed Atnerj an aid, but only
nomic and military assist if Syngman Rhee's minority.
ance." In fact, the $110 million , government c o n t i nu e d in,
App
o U.S. aid earmarked for Korea power," Jp FQtj~les..diol,
for the year ending June 30, - not say a word in this speech
'1950, was persistently delayed, about'p?'edica'tinn;American aid'
/1 ,120 tt CR-I R ile~9i Q;j'8j;
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given untili ebruary 14, Rhee povrnmen ,
10063-8