December 13, 1957

Asked whether the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has received a letter from the International Committee of Red Cross proposing a plan for the release and repatriation of the detainees both in
Korea and Japan independently of the political question now under discussion between the Governments of the Republic of Korea and Japan, and if it did, what would be the position of the Government in reaction to the proposal, the Government's spokesman stated as follows:
ICRC proposal on this matter is nothing new as such, and on some occasions, the Government made clear its position.
The proposal, at this time, contains the following three points;
1. The Japanese fishermen detained at Pusan would be released and repatriated;
2. The Korean detained in the Omura and Hamamatsu camps who lived in Japan before August 15, 1945 would be released in Japanese territory;
3. The Government of the Republic of Korea would authorise the return to Korea of Korean nationals, interned in the Omura and Hamamatsu camps, who had emigrated illegally to Japan, and who wish to go back to their country.
In the view of the Korean Government, the suggestion of the Committee seems to be based obviously on same misunderstanding as to the complex nature of the problem from which the existing Korea -Japan detainee issue stems. Therefore, since long time ago, this Government felt it imperative to eradicate once for all the hotbed where the detainee issue was and would be fermented. It was along the line of this thinking that the Government of the Republic of Korea has patiently been seeking in its talks with the Japanese Government for the pending problems including the question of detainee.
Though the above-mentioned talks between the two Governments did not bear fruits up to date due to some reason for which the Government is not responsible in any away, it still remains the view of this Government that any question pending between the two Governments can best be solved by direct negotiations between the two parties concerned. Moreover, this view might be shared by the Japanese delegation to the XIXth International Red Cross Conference held in New Delhi in October-November, this year, who was understood to have finally considered it inappropriate to take up the detainee issue as anything related to Red Cross when they deleberately withdrew their draft resolution, apparently calling for release of Korean and Japanese detainees.
Such being the situation, this Government not only believes that an intervention by any third party in this matter would be of no help whatsoever for an early and satisfactory settlement of the issue but believes that such intervention might complicate further the situation.