HC Deb 19 February 1954 vol 523 cc246-8W
Brigadier Prior-Palmer

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what progress has been made towards the conclusion of an agreement on the status of United Nations forces stationed in Japan

Mr. Dodds-Parker

An agreement defining the status of United Nations forces in Japan was signed in Tokyo today by Her Majesty's Ambassador and by the representatives of other countries, whose contingents to the United Nations Command are based in Japan. This agreement incorporates the provisions of the Protocol on criminal jurisdiction signed on 26th October, 1953. It also regulates the outstanding administrative and financial questions affecting our forces in Japan. It thus constitutes a complete agreement to cover the status of our forces who are in Japan for the purpose of the United Nations action in Korea.

It confers on our forces in Japan a status as favourable as they would enjoy in a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation country. It also ensures that they will receive substantially the same treatment as United States forces in Japan. It gives our forces the right to hold and operate all the facilities which they require for the conduct of operations in Korea.

The signatories of the agreement are the Governments of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the Philippines, the Union of South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States acting as the Unified Command and Japan. The agreement entered provisionally into force upon signature.