MacArthur Report Sums Up
[Korea's Twelve Months.
Of Military Government
By International News Service
Creation of a provisional government for all Korea was blocked
j by the breakdown in the negotiations of the United States-Soviet
Joint Commission, Gen. Douglas MacArthur reported in his summation of the first year of activities of the American Military Govern-
I ment in Korea.
The Commission broke up in disagreement May 6 "over/ the .question
of interpretation of the rights of
free speech and opinion."
The summation noted, that "the
general tenor of political discussions
(in Korea) is far from conciliatory
toward the Military Government,'' It
reported thafc "Koreans want their
own government abolition of the
38th parallel dividing the country,
elimination of trusteeship, control of
their own economy and an end of
Military Government as indicated
by the* platforrns of various parties/"
Russian-American Correspondence
The summary of the year's occu-
nation activities was appended to
General Mac Arthur's regular monthly report on Korea for August which *
contained official correspondence between Lt. Gen. John R. Hodge.
American occupation commander,
and Col. Gen. I. M. Chistiakov, Soviet commanding general in northern Korea, reiterating the current
positions of the United States and
Russia on the quest-ion of setting up ,
a Korean provisional government.
On Aug. 6, Chistiakov replied to
Hodge's letter of June 15 concerning reconvening of the Joint Commission, stating he Was ready to
send representatives to Seoul when
assured that "the American delegation in the Joint Commission wlV
uphold the exact fulfillment of the
Moscow Decision and consult only
with those parties and organizations
and their representatives ' which
fully, without any reservations, support this Decision and did not compromise themselves by active opposition to this Decision."
General Hodge' replied 0n August
12 that the United States delegation
"cannot find any ba,sis for this interpretation of the Moscow DecSon."
Outstanding1 Achievement
Bringing under control of the almost nationwide cholera epidemic
this summer was hailed as "probably
the outstanding single achievement
of tbe military government."
Unification of most of the rightist
groups and some leftist organizations
Was completed, the report said, but
merger of the right- and left did not
appear immediately feasible as a
result of "increasing activity on the
part of Communist elements." j
Japanese police were replaced by
a newly recruited and trained Korean police force.
National Assembly
A plan t0 form an assembly to
enact legislation at the national level, approved by General Hodge,
will extend to Koreans valuable experience in administration, will introduce to Korea its first experiment
in electoral processes an,d is expected to help reconcile political factions/ the report said.
Vicious use by some elements of
the new freedom of the press brought
a warning,from the American commander against such propaganda
and restatement of American efforts
to encourage self-government reconstruct Korean economy and protect
I the livelihood and health of the
I Korean people.