December 22, 1957

TO: Ambassador Yu Taik Kim
FROM: Minister of Foreign Affairs
This is to acknowledge receipt of your letter No.38 addressed to the President dated December 19, 1957, in which you have reported on Japan's latest proposals: a) that Japan will accept the Korean amendment proposal to the Japanese draft documents of June 14, 1957 concerning the points other than the property claims issue; b) that Korea will accept the Japanese draft documents of the same date regarding the property claims issue without modification; and c).
It is considered that the above-mentioned Japanese proposals are in line with my instructions No.Woijung 4010 dated November 11, 1957, and that they are the same effect, in principle, with my instructions No.Woijung 4355 dated December 12, 1957, though in the latter instruction you were additionally instructed to obtain a secret statement to be signed by the Japanese Prime Minister or Foreign Minister commiting the Japanese on the point "the U.S. Memorandum does not affect substantially the Korean claims."
In view of the present stage of the negotiations, however, you are now instructed to negotiate further with the Japanese keeping in your mind the following points:
1. The proposed statement to be signed by the Japanese Prime Minister or Foreign Minister may be superseded by a personal letter to the President from the Japanese Prime Minister setting forth the same written commitments;
2. If issued, this letter may contain some words of mere greetings but nothing else except a clear statement that the Japanese side positively intends that the so-called U.S. Memorandum does not impair substantially the Korean claims;
3. Being written in English, this letter, if issued, should be signed personally by the Japanese Prime Minister in the presence of you and Minister Yiu.
The Japanese commitment on the above stated point in the form of a personal letter is suggested now not because it will obligate the Japanese Government legally to abide by the terms set forth therein, but because it will place on the Prime Minister as a responsible political official an obligation to honor the terms to which he agrees by this letter. If the Japanese Government later does not fully comply with the terms of the letter the Prime Minister's political integrity will be endangered. Such being the value of the proposed personal letter, you may assure the Japanese that our Government will be most careful to keep the very existence of the letter, if issued, in top secret.
If you succeed in obtaining a draft of the above mentioned letter from the Japanese Prime Minister, please report to the Government for final approval of the proposed letter. You will then be authorized to receive the letter after the wording has been approved, to accept the so-called Japan's last proposals and thereafter to sign the necessary documents to finalize the present Korea-Japan preliminary talks.
CHUNG W. CHO Minister