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(e) Because of the attitude of the northern governments toward the Committee, it had been unable effectively to fulfil its conciliation role but believed that it should continue to be invested with that function.

Greek Case in Third Regular Session of Assembly

More time was spent by the First Committee of the General Assembly on the Greek problem than on any other question, the discussion continuing from October 25 through November 11. It produced a sharp cleavage between the views of the overwhelming majority of the Members of the United Nations and those of the minority consisting of the Soviet Union, the Ukraine, Byelorussia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia, the latter group contending throughout that UNSCOB Was an illegal, incompetent, and even dangerous body. The same group attempted without success to have representatives of the Markos (Greek guerrilla) regime appear before Committee 1, claiming that only thus could the Assembly obtain a reliable picture of the Greek situation. The Governments of Albania and Bulgaria, nonmembers, were granted a hearing before the Committee on the same basis as that provided for them at the 1947 session.

In presenting the United States views before the Committee, John Foster Dulles stated that the violent effort, on the part of the Greek guerrillas assisted by Albania, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia, to overthrow the Greek Government "is but part of a general effort to extend the power of Soviet Communism throughout the world." The Assembly should expose methods of violence, he said, "gradually developing a world opinion so condemnatory of such methods, so disposed to suppress them, that violent methods will gradually fall into disuse as ineffectual and dangerous to those who employ them." Greece was a case in point. Mr. Dulles admitted that the Balkan Committee had been unable to fulfil its conciliation role because of the refusal of Albania, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia to cooperate with it, but pointed out that the Assembly's action in 1947 had been "one of the indispensable factors that have, so far, preserved for Greece the integrity and sovereignty which it was hoped this Organization could secure for all time for all of its Members." Reviewing the evidence submitted by UNSCOB, Mr. Dulles asserted that the Assembly's efforts must go on so as to assure a continuing exposure of violations of the Charter, at the same time keeping open the avenues of conciliation toward an ultimate peaceful solution. The United Kingdom, French, Chinese, and United States Delegations then introduced before the First Committee a joint draft resolution which continued UNSCOB with both observation and conciliation functions and which expressed the conclusion that

the behavior of the northern countries toward Greece was contrary to the purposes and principles of the Charter and endangered peace in the Balkans.

In the debate the Eastern European minority sought throughout to impugn the constructive efforts of UNSCOB and the integrity of its members. The Soviet and Yugoslav Delegates, in particular, made lengthy statements claiming that UNSCOв was useless and even harmful, that it had been illegally created, and that it was only a screen for attempted Anglo-American domination of the Balkans. They denied that it had been proved that Albania, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia were actively aiding the guerrillas, blamed the Greek Government for the Balkan situation, and demanded that the United Nations discontinue UNSCOB.

In contrast to this position, the great majority of the Members held that Greece's independence and integrity were definitely threatened because of the material assistance to the Greek guerrillas on the part of Albania, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia. They had confidence in the findings of the Special Committee and in the reliability of its border observers. Greece had cooperated with UNSCOB, and the unwillingness of the northern governments to do so could hardly be used as an argument for regarding UNSCOB as lacking in impartiality. The majority expressed the view that the United Nations must continue to maintain the Committee and that the latter had already made a positive contribution to the cause of peace.

On November 10 the First Committee began final consideration of the four-power draft resolution, as well as of resolutions proposed by the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Poland, and Australia, respectively. The Polish and Yugoslav drafts were similar in that they proposed nonacceptance of the reports of UNSCOв and the dissolution of that body. The Soviet draft called for the immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops and military personnel from Greece, the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between Greece on the one hand and Albania and Bulgaria on the other, the renewal or the negotiation of frontier conventions, the settlement of refugee and minority problems, and the termination of UNSCOB.

An Australian proposal was presented as a wholly new suggestion. It called for a meeting of the representatives of the four Balkan states to be held in Paris while the Assembly was in session, under the auspices of the President of the Assembly and the SecretaryGeneral, with a view to exploring possibilities of composing the differences between those countries. There was also a separate resolution before the Committee presented by Belgium, based on an earlier Greek proposed amendment to the four-power resolution, calling for

the return of the Greek children who had been removed to various countries to the north by the Greek guerrillas.

The four-power resolution, with several amendments by Australia which were accepted by the sponsors, was approved by the Committee on November 10 by a vote of 48 to 6, with no abstentions. Several noncontroversial sections of the Soviet Union draft, the substance of which was already contained in the original Assembly resolution of October 21, 1947, were approved by 48 to 0, with one abstention, and were incorporated into a second resolution. Other provisions of the Soviet resolution were rejected. The Committee then adopted the separate Australian proposal providing for conciliation talks in Paris, after it had been agreed that the chairman and rapporteur of Committee 1 should be included as conciliators along with Assembly President Evatt and Secretary-General Lie. The Yugoslav proposal for the dissolution of UNSCOB was withdrawn, and the Polish resolution to the same effect was rejected by a vote of 38 to 6. On November 11, the Political and Security Committee unanimously adopted the amended Belgian proposal calling for steps, with the assistance of the International Red Cross, to secure the return to Greece of the children who had been removed from their homes.

Between November 12 and the adjournment of the Assembly session the conciliation talks under the Australian resolution were carried on. These talks were of necessity kept private and centered around means for the re-establishment of normal diplomatic relations and for the conclusion of effective frontier conventions among the four Balkan states. After adjournment of the Assembly session, Dr. Evatt announced that the talks had made some progress but that a divisive factor had been a formal request that Greece acknowledge the existing boundary with Albania as definitive. As a matter of practice, the announcement stated, the existing boundaries were recognized de facto and "no party would seek to alter them contrary to the principles and purposes of the Charter".

In the meantime, on November 27, the General Assembly, despite further lengthy attacks on UNSCOB by several Eastern European countries, adopted the joint resolution by a vote of 47 to 6, with no abstentions. In the debate preceding the vote the American Representative, Mr. Dulles, alluded to a statement by the Yugoslav Representative.

"I want to refer," Mr. Dulles said, "to a phrase which was used by the representative of Yugoslavia as he finished his speech. He said: 'We know that we are hated because of our form of government.' I hope that Mr. Bebler does not really believe that and I do not think

he does believe it, because he has ample evidence of our personal respect and regard.

"It is quite true, speaking for the American people, that they do not want a Communistic form of government for themselves and that they doubt that that form of government is good for any people. But that opinion does not reflect itself in hate. We believe that men and nations are entitled to experiment freely, as directed by their reason and their conscience and their special conditions. We also believe that men and nations are entitled to seek to make their views prevail by appeal to the reason of others and by pointing to the good fruits that are borne by their own form of society. But we do not hate those of conflicting beliefs.

"What we do hate is the use of force, violence, terrorism and coercion as methods for making one's views prevail. We believe that is wrong-morally wrong-as violative of basic human rights, and we also believe that those methods, when used internationally, violate the United Nations Charter whereby the members have agreed to refrain, in their international relations, from the threat or use of force."

A second resolution, drawn from the original Soviet draft and unanimously approved in the plenary session, urged renewal of diplomatic relations between Greece and the northern countries, the conclusion of frontier conventions, and the settlement of the refugee problem. The portions of the Soviet proposal which had beer earlier defeated in Committee 1 and which would have exonerated the northern countries from the charges against them and would have abolished UNSCOB, were defeated by a vote of 47 to 6, with no abstentions. Finally, the Assembly unanimously approved the resolution concerning the repatriation of Greek children with the cooperation of the International Red Cross.

Continuance of Special Committee

The principal Assembly resolution on the Greek case, which is supplementary to the Assembly's original resolution of October 21, 1947, may be summarized as follows:

After noting the conclusions of the Special Committee as to the threatening character of the continued assistance to the Greek guerrillas from the northern countries, despite the Assembly's previous injunction, the General Assembly considers that such aid "endangers peace in the Balkans, and is inconsistent with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations".

Albania, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia are called upon to cease any further assistance to the guerrillas "in any form" and again are called upon to cooperate with the Special Committee, particularly in the latter's exercise of its conciliatory functions. All Members of the United Nations "and all other States" are asked to refrain from any action designed to assist any armed group fighting against the Greek Government. UNSCOB's reports are approved, and it is continued in being with duties of observation and conciliation. The Special Committee may utilize the services of one or more persons, "whether or not members of the Special Committee", in the good-offices phase of its work. The Committee's use of observation groups is endorsed. Finally, the Special Committee is authorized, in its discretion, to consult with the Interim Committee of the General Assembly on the carrying out of its task.

PROBLEM OF INDEPENDENCE OF KOREA

The General Assembly first took cognizance of the problem of the independence of Korea at its Second Regular Session in 1947. It adopted a resolution which provided for the establishment of a United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea, consisting of 11 members and having authority to observe elections to be held in that country for the purpose of selecting Korean representatives with whom the Temporary Commission might consult regarding the prompt attainment of the freedom and independence of the Korean people. The resolution further provided that the representatives so chosen, constituting a National Assembly, might establish a National Government of Korea. The Temporary Commission was directed to report to the General Assembly and was authorized to consult with the Interim Committee.

Commission Activities

The Temporary Commission arrived in Seoul on January 8, 1948, to undertake its task. It was accorded every facility by the United States occupying forces in south Korea, but access to north Korea, occupied by Soviet forces, was denied it. On February 6, therefore, the Temporary Commission voted to consult the Interim Committee as to whether, in view of the Soviet refusal to deal with its representatives, it should implement the program outlined in the General Assembly's resolution only in the part of Korea occupied by the armed forces of the United States. On February 26 the Interim Committee adopted a resolution in which it placed on record its view,

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