HC Deb 22 November 1950 vol 481 c325
34. Mr. Emrys Hughes

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he has yet received from the United Nations an estimate of the number of casualties suffered by Korean nationals as a result of the operations in Korea up to 1st November, 1950; the loss of civilian life; and the number of schools, hospitals, churches and houses destroyed.

Mr. Bevin

No, Sir.

Mr. Hughes

When the Minister receives this information, will he consider publishing it in a White Paper so that we can have a full picture of what a country undergoes when it is liberated by modern war?

Mr. Paget

Is not my right hon. Friend of the opinion that strategic bombing on the scale carried out in Korea is liable to make the process of liberation a little unpopular among the liberated?

Mr. S. Silverman

Does not my right hon. Friend think it worth while, in view of the widespread anxiety on this subject, to obtain information from the United Nations so that we shall have the facts before us, which will make it unnecessary and unjustifiable to draw any wrong inferences or make any wrong assumptions? Until we have that information people will do both.

Mr. Bevin

And they may do it after they have got the information.

Mr. S. Silverman

Is my right hon. Friend afraid of it?

Mr. Bevin

Not a bit.

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