DEPARTMENT OF STATE Memorandum of Conversation
DATE: July 17, 1950
SUBJECT: Recent Korean Developments as they affect the International Situation
PARTICIPANTS: The French Ambassador The Secretary
COPIES TO: S/S EUR FE
Ambassador Bonnet called today at his request. He said that Mr. Schuman had asked him to touch base with me regarding Korea and its effect on the situation in general. I gave him a brief résumé of the most recent military developments and indicated to him the line some sixty miles south of Seoul which we had been endeavoring to hold and the one where we would next make our stand. I stressed to him our conviction that as soon as we got reinforcements into South Korea the military situation would become stabilized and a successful counter-offensive could be set in motion. I added that President Truman would shortly announce the steps which he proposed to take to strengthen the country militarily.
Mr. Bonnet said that the new French cabinet was anxious to know what effect our military operations in Korea would have on European rearmament. I assured him that the Korean situation had made it seem all the more important for us to proceed energetically and rapidly to the rearmament of the Atlantic Pact nations and that this was one of the questions to which the permanent group of Deputies in London would address itself.
The Ambassador asked what information I could give him on the "negotiations" between the British and the Russians on the subject of Korea. I told him that Ambassador Kelly had seen Gromyko and had expressed to him the British view that Russia intercede to put a stop to the North Korea aggression, that Mr. Gromyko had countered by asking him if the British Government had any suggestions to offer and that the British Ambassador had said that his government's suggestion was the one made above.
Mr. Bonnet then referred to the exchange of notes between Nehru and Stalin and asked whether we intended to make a reply to the note. I said that we were preparing a reply but that, of course, we wished to see the Korean case decided on its merits in the United Nations or the Security Council rather than be tied in with extraneous issues such as the admission of the Chinese Communists to the Security Council. I added that we were firmly convinced that the Korean affair should be handled by the United Nations and that the issue should be kept localized.
I asked Mr. Bonnet what progress was being made on the Schuman Plan negotiations. He replied that they were proceeding satisfactorily and smoothly with the Germans and Italians and that only the Benelux countries had raised some questions which now seemed by way of being ironed out. The participants were now studying a method to establish organic cooperation between the High Authority and the governments.
We briefly discussed the formation of the new French Government. Mr. Bonnet pointed out that the key Ministry of National Defense was in the very able hands of Mr. Jules Moch and that otherwise the government bore a striking resemblance to its predecessors. He also expressed satisfaction that the Socialists were in it. He was rather vague as to its possible duration.
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