5w This document consists of 2 pages 56505555 No dL of 9 Copies series A DEPARTMENT OF STATE SECRETARY 6895 fr leagues IQI u - Mr mm Date BEcs 1955 FE - m Sebald n Disagreement with Defense on Action with Respect to Paragraph 13 d of the Kerean Armistice Agreement Tb From I - Subject On November 7 FE proposed to Defense a draft joint State-Defense instruction to CINCUNC attached authorizing the introduction of new equipment into Korea to replace obsolete equipment under a liberal interpretation of paragraph 13 d of the Korean Armistice Agreement paedn3 8 98 isnn uuemno The State draft was subsequently cleared in Defense and by all the services with only minor change but Admiral declined to concur unless it provided for introduction of the Honest JOhn and the 280mm gun The State draft deferred authorizing the introduction of these weapons which are primarily atomic weapons and which according to L the United States could not justify within the terms of the Armistice Agreement Mbreover the introduction of such weapons particularly at this juncture would almost surely create serious controversy in which the United States would undoubtedly be censured not only by the Communists and neutralist countries but also by the Swiss and Swedes and many of our Allies in Korea we have made a number of concessions to Defense on this issue recognizing that it is important to find procedures for replacing obsolete equipment Except for the Honest John and the 280mm gun we have accepted at face value the Defense statement that the new weapons are as close in effectiveness and type to the obsolete ones as is consistent with modern standards and production even though to a layman some of the new types appear far removed from those being replaced A number of the weapons listed for introduction have atomic capabilities we have taken exception only to those whose atomic capability is widely regarded as the primary feature of the weapon I do not believe it would be wise for us to agree with Admiral Redford that the Honest John and 280mm gun should be intro- duced particularly in this time of world tension we have attempted to justify our position and have explained the political and legal issues in detail during numerous discussions with Defense Folifwing a meefgng 1 812m DEPT a an 0 Em Elma M 11 L f7 CO 01 l E111352mahwzag__ 5' 6 x NARA DINI I7 - 2 - a meeting between Mr Phleger and Mr Sprague of Defense on November 28 1956 Defense indicated that Admiral Redford would approach you directly in the near future in a further attempt to obtain State concurrence to the addition of the 280mm gun and Honest John to the list of weapons authorized for introduction Recommendation That in any discussion of paragraph 13 with Defense officials F011 State that the Department of State will not agree to the intro- duction of atomic weapons such as the Honest John and the 280mm gun because such action would generally be regarded as a violation of the Armistice Agreement and the Department of State does not believe the United States should expose itself to such charges for the sake of these specific items of equipment Attachments a Draft State-Defense message to CINCUNC V5 Memorandum of conversation of November 28 attached by 3 L Mr Clearances in draft MM MM IO - Mr Walmsley EUR - Mr mmley - Mr Phleger Subject to views expressed in memorandum of ml conversation attached 12 5 56 DECLASSIFIED Authority This document is from the holdings of The National Security Archive Suite 701 Gelman Library The George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington D C 20037 Phone 202 994-7000 Fax 202 994-7005 nsarchiv@gwu edu