.jpg)
Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington, N.Z. Vol. 13, No. 21. Spetember 14, 1950
The UN View
The UN View
Now that the first wave of hysteria has passed over a little and some information has drifted in, the situation may now be reviewed with a little more calm. The following brief account is fully substantiated by (in fact drawn from) UN sources and may be accepted as true beyond question.
On June 25 midnight the first rumours of the outbreak of hostilities in Korea reached the Secretary-General of UN, Trygve Lie, who immediately cabled to the United Nations Commission in Korea for a report which was on hand a few hours later and read to an emergency meeting of the Security Council held at 2 p.m., together with a statement received from the US Ambassador to Korea at 3 a.m.
The UN Commission on Korea consists of members drawn from Australia, China, El Salvador, France, India, the Philippines and Turkey and was established to deal with the problems of unifying Korea and conducting elections by the General Assembly in November 1947.
Its report to the Security Council on June 25 stated that during early morning about 4 a.m. on June 25 (Korean time) a full-scale invasion was launched by North Korean forces all along the 38th parallel. At 11 a.m. (9 p.m. N.Y.T.) a declaration of war was rumoured over the North Controlled Pyongyang Radio but no confirmation was available. At 1.35 p.m. (K.T.) the Pyongyang Radio broadcast an accusation of an attack by Southern forces during the night. This charge was denied by the President and Foreign Minister of the Republic and likewise has remained unconfirmed.