COMITE INTERNATIONAL DE LA CROIX-ROUGE

Geneva, December 3, 1957

Sir,
We have the honour to acknowledge receipt of the Memorandum enclosed in your letter of November 2, 1957, concerning the issue of Travel Documents to forty-eight Koreans resident in Japan who had asked to be returned to North-Korea. We have noted with careful attention the position taken by your Government in this matter.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has already had the occasion of explaining to the Government of the Republic of Korea -in particular by its Memorandum of July 24, handed to Mr. Soo
Young Lee, Charge d'Affaires a.i. at the Legation of the Republic of Korea in Paris - that its intervention in this matter had been made for humanitarian reasons only and that the issue of ICRC Travel Documents could have no effect on the legal status of those to whom they were issued. The situation was explained by the ICRC in the following terms:
48 people had freely expressed their desire to leave their place of residence on foreign soil in order to return to a home of their choice in their native land. The country which they wished to leave had given its consent to their departure; they had been assured that they would be accepted in the place which they had closen as their destination. Being unable, in actual practice, to procure an identity document issued by a government, all that they needed, in order to be able to make the journey, was a personal document bearing the necessary visas.
The ICRC concluded by requesting the Government of the Republic of Korea to understand that in giving assistance to these persons it had merely fulfilled (in application of the fundamental principles on which the whole of the Red Cross action is based) a duty which it could not avoid without failing in its traditional mission and betraying the confidence which is universally placed in it.
During the discussions of the representatives of the ICRC with those of the Government of the Republic of Korea at the New Delhi Conference, they had the opportunity of setting forth once more the reasons which led the ICRC to issue Travel Documents to the forty-eight Koreans who wished to proceed to North Korea and not to cancel these documents. It was nevertheless agreed that if the ICRC was again required to issue Travel Documents to Koreans resident in Japan, it would inform the Government of Korea, which we confirm by the present letter.

I have the honour to be, Sir,

Your obedient servant,

/s/

R. Gallopin

Executive Director