OFFICIAL USE ONLY DEPARTMENT OF STATE Office of the SPECIAL AssiSTANT TO THE SECD'II 'r r -- To The Under y 'r etary' c Vi S S From R - Hugh S Cumming Jr Subjectz Intelligence Note 1 Initial Reaction to Weapons M dernization in South Korea The June 21 announcement that the US would no longer consider itself bound by the provisions of the Korean Armistice agreement banning importation of new weapons apparently caught Communist representatives in the Military Armistice Conmrl ssion off balance After reserving the right to reply to the US statement at a later date the Connnunists reiterated such time- orn cliches as UN forces were attempting to make South Korea an atomic base and prepare for a new war the Communists were ttvehemently opposed to equipping UN forces rith new types of weapons wrecking the armisti ce a reement and US allegations of Communist truce violations were made only to cover up Allied violations -- - A ' As of 3 p m June 21 Washin on time Communist propaganda media had J not yet commented an the US announcement On June 20 however North Kore commentaries on US plans to transfer the United Nations Command Headquarters ' from Tokyo to Seoul attempted to relate this move to recent US official indications that it was considering modernizing its forces in South Korea and supplying them with atomic weapons and guided missile s An editorial in the l North Korean party newspaper Nodong S inmun1 and a broadcast by the Communist Korean Central News Agency alleged further that the cOIIJiland shift was for the purpose of putting the Republic of Korea ROK Government under direct 1'- J US control and for converting South Korea into a guided missile base tt The editorial claimed that the sirlft revealed that the Syngman Rhee regime could not exist without the protection of American bqonets Communist reaction to the statement can be expected to develop rapidly probably along the lines already laid down in the Nodong Sinmun editorial and previous similar statements As expected the ROK hailed the US decision as long overdue n and hoped it would be only a first step which would lead to the abrogation of the agreement itself A aiidlar memorandum has been addressed to the Secretar y Copies tor G C SP FE DRF WSherman eb eg omCIAL t5l c m y I oEC 1 ' ' Authonty GBP1 t - - ----- - This document is from the holdings of The National Security Archive Suite 701 Gelman Library The George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington D C 20037 Phone 202 994-7000 Fax 202 994-7005 nsarchiv@gwu edu