501.BB Korea/11–448
The Assistant Secretary of State for Occupied Areas (Saltzman) to the Director of Plans and Operations, Department of the Army (Wedemeyer)
Dear General Wedemeyer: I have received your letter of November 4, 1948,1 referring to Under Secretary Draper’s letter of August 28, 19482 in which it was stated that “the Department of the Army will notify the Department of State shortly in advance of the time when in its opinion the reduction of forces in Korea if continued further would make impossible the successful continuation of the occupation mission”. In pursuance of that undertaking you state in your letter that, for reasons which you cite, November 15, 1948 is the date by which the Department of the Army should know whether or hot to continue the withdrawal of troops from Korea as planned.
It is the view of the Department of State in this regard that it would be premature and prejudicial to the interests of the U.S. to enter into the final and irreversible stages of troop withdrawal from Korea before the UN General Assembly has had an opportunity at its present session to consider and take action upon the Korea problem. Pending such action by the General Assembly, this Department consequently believes that the reduction of forces now being carried out in Korea should not be permitted to progress beyond the critical point referred to by Mr. Draper in his above quoted letter.
For its part, the U.S. Delegation to the General Assembly will make every effort to secure action in the General Assembly which will establish satisfactory conditions for early troop withdrawal. It is assumed that prior to the implementation of the final phases of the withdrawal plan the question of the definitive termination of the occupation will in any event be reviewed by the appropriate agencies here as envisaged in paragraph III F of the coordinated State-Army message set forth in WARX 88336 of August 27, 1948 to the Commanding General, U.S. Army Forces in Korea.3
In the meantime it is clearly not possible to provide any specific confirmation with respect to the date of termination of the occupation, a fact which need not, however, affect existing plans for the assumption of economic aid responsibilities in Korea by the Economic Cooperation Administration.
Sincerely yours,