No.78

January 13, 1960

Excellency,
I have received two cables from the Foreign Ministry informing me that the Japanese will shortly deport our people numbering more than one thousand and also that the ICRC representatives in Tokyo handed a not to the JRC, saying that the Japanese side had violated certain rules in regard to the deportation.
The ICRC here told me that their representatives in Tokyo strongly reminded the JRC that no political demonstration should be allowed in connexion with the so-called repatriation. According to the ICRC, even loud-speaker was employed by the Korean Communist League for their demonstration at Niigata port.
At the end of last December, as I reported to the Government, I strongly pointed out that our people in Japan were under political pressure and that the ICRC 's work to confirm tho will of each individual would be unable to carry out under such circumstances. Since then, they instructed their Tokyo representatives to be more watchful about the Japanese way of handling of deportation. Thus, Mr. Durant sent the note to the JRC.
The Japanese side promptly announced through press that they would abide by the appeal which had been made by the ICRC people in Tokyo.
In their work in Japan, the ICRC seemed to have realized difficulty to some extent: that is, except two or three cases, none of the so-called would-be-repatriate had changed the will at the embarkation port, in spite of the ICRC representatives' so-called confirmation of will. Even though they did not admit that their efforts were futile, it seemed to me that they have found some good reasons in our arguments. In this week when I renewed my efforts to make them withdraw from Japan, they told me that they had to study the situation further.
However, the ICRC 's attitude, under the present moment, toward the current issue seems to remain without remarkable change and, furthermore, it is still premature to expect that the ICRC representatives will withdraw from Japan with the following observation:
Firstly, the ICRC feels that, even if the ICRC decide to withdraw from Japan, Japan might continue to undertake this deportation:
Secondly, their presence in Japan, in their views, helps to protect the individual will of the would-be-repatriates
Thirdly, the ICRC knows very well that the views taken by the U.S. are different from that of ours, and that the U.S. is, more or less, endorsing the Japanese plan: and
Fourthly, the deportation issue, according to the ICRC 's evaluation, would not cause any international crises in the Orient,
However, on account of our continuous representation to the ICRC and of the fact that the Communists capitalize this case for their political game, the ICRC has some sympathy with the stand of our side.
Therefore, I would like to recommend the following stops which I deem appropriate at the present stage:
i) We should convince the State Department that the deportation issue would lead to the deterioration of the relations between Korea and Japan and that the sending a large number of Koreans to the Communist occupied torriatory would bring adverse effects to the entire free world and also place eventually the U.S. in a difficult position in the light of the Communist propaganda.
In my opinion, we should mention that the Japanese are planing to send huge number of our people to the north, and make them alarm the figures - in last November when number of people who registered reached more than one thousand every day, when the State Department was very unhappy and the American Ambassador in Japan invited the attention of the Japanese Government that "confirmation of will" should be conducted strictly in order to minimize the number. Therefore, we should point our the seriousness of the issue to the U.S.
ii) As I have already pointed out, European public opinion is influenced, to a great extent, by the British opinion. Favorable articles in some London newspapers such as Times, Observers or Manchester Guardian will help us.
iii) I feel we still need more data concerning the Japanese way of handling of our people, paticularly, in regard to the pressure applied to our people. If possible, I do like to have data of some individual cases. The information supplied by the Foreign Ministry have been presented to the ICRC, but the more we have specific data, the better our position would be, in making representation to the ICRC. I have not received the detailed information on how the ICRC confirmed the will at Niigata port and what kind of questions put on our people and so on. These will be quite useful for us.

With the sentiment of loyalty and esteem, I remain, Your Excellency's obedient servant,

His Excellency President Syngman Rhee
Office of the President,
SEOUL