HC Deb 27 July 1953 vol 518 cc865-7
8. Mr. Benn

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will arrange for the publication of the agreement reached between Mr. Robertson, on behalf of the United Nations Command, and President Synghman Rhee on the truce negotiations.

17. Mr. Lewis

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will now make a further statement on the message he received on 22nd July from Mr. Dulles concerning the attitude of President Synghman Rhee to the truce negotiations in Korea.

Mr. Selwyn Lloyd

I would refer the hon. Members to the answer given by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the hon. Member for Aston (Mr. Wyatt) on 22nd July, and to the speech of my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary in the foreign affairs debate later on the same day, to which I have nothing to add.

Mr. Benn

Would the Tight hon. and learned Gentleman tell the House whether Her Majesty's Government themselves know the details of this agreement, whether the agreement was committed to paper, and, if not, how any claim that it has been violated can be dealt with in the event of neither of these things?

Mr. Lloyd

We do know the substance of the agreement, which has been submitted to us, but these were negotiations between the United States Government and the Government of South Korea, and, therefore, the publication of the details is a matter for these two Governments.

Mr. Lewis

Does that mean that the Government have no idea at all of the detailed information? Are we to take it that they do not intend to ascertain exactly what is contained in the document?

Mr. Lloyd

We do know the nature of the assurances given, but I think that, today of all days, it would be better to leave the matter where it is.

27. Mr. Driberg

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he has now received full reports on the various recent official statements made by President Synghmam Rhee and the South Korean Foreign Minister, on their attitude to a truce; if he will publish in HANSARD, or as a White Paper, the full texts of these statements and of the communications on this subject which have passed between the South Korean and the United States Governments; and what steps Her Majesty's Government have decided to take in the event of the infringement of a truce by the South Korean Government.

Mr. Selwyn Lloyd

The recent statements by the President and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Government of the Republic of Korea on their attitude to a truce have been published already in the Press, and no useful purpose would be served by repeating them in the form of a White Paper or in HANSARD. The question of the publication of communications which have passed between the South Korean and United States Governments is one for those Governments to decide.

Her Majesty's Government hope that the South Korean Government will abide by the assurances which they have given that they will respect an armistice. If these hopes were, unhappily, to prove false, the steps which would be necessary to restore the situation would depend so much on the circumstances at the time that it would not be profitable to hazard any forecast of them in advance.

Mr. Driberg

While there is, naturally, profound relief and thankfulness at this morning's news of the cease-fire, would not the right hon. and learned Gentleman agree that that news in itself makes it all the more urgent and important that there should be a fairly exact record of what has been said and agreed between those two Governments? In this matter are the United States Government not acting on behalf of the United Nations? If so, have we not a right to know what has passed?

Mr. Lloyd

I do not think that in this matter the United States Government were acting on behalf of the United Nations, and I believe that, so far as the President of South Korea is concerned, the situation has to be taken as it develops. All I can say is that we hope that his assurances will be kept and that we shall do all in our power to see that they are kept.

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