Tokyo, August 28, 1958

No.97
Excellency:
I beg to acknowledge with appreciation the receipt of letter No.50 of August 25 from the office of the President.
1. I received also Cable No.FT-095 of August 25 from the Foreign minister, instructing this office to immediately send a note verbale concerning the current detainee issue to the Japanese Foreign Office.
As a result of the delegates' meeting called to study the above Government instructions, it has been agreed that it is to our advantage to withhold such note verbale until the end of this week, in view of the Japanese attempt to work out a solution to the issue. Cable No.MT-016 of August 16 has thus been sent, containing the above recommendations, to which an approval has already been received from the Government.
As stated in Cable No.MT-016, there seem to be two factions in Japanese way of thinking, one favoring a strong attitude toward us on the current detainee issue and the other advocating a solution by compromise so that the overall talks would not be disrupted at this stage. It would, therefore, not be harmful to our side to give a few days for the Japanese side to decide finally on the matter,
3. As already reported, Minister Yiu again meet Asian Affairs Director Itagaki, urging Japan to reply to our aid memoire. without further delay. Itagaki replied that the delay in replying was caused due to his Ministry's efforts to adjust views of various Ministries concerned, such as Ministries of justice and Welfare, and that he would make his best to give a reply to the Korean side within this week.
4. As reported previously, Ambassador Sawada is also exerting efforts to work out some kind of solution and, therefore, we are now watching carefully the Japanese move in regard to our request. Any further development will be reported promptly.
With sentiments of loyalty and esteem, I remain,

Most respectfully,

M. T. K.