FOREIGN RADIO REACTIONS TO THE KOREAN SITUATION AND THE PRESIDENT'S DECISION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000500730181-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 3, 2003
• Sequence Number: 181
• Publication Date: November 11, 1998
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2008/03/03: CIA-RDP80-00809A000500730181-7
CIASSIFi4ATION RESTRICTED
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY 25X1
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS
COUNTRY Fereiga
SUBJECT FOREIGN RADIO RZACTIOOB TO THE KOISZA
SITUATION AL.) THE FREBIDENT'8 DECISION
HOW
WHERE
PUBLISHED
DATE
PUBLISHED
THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS INFONNATION APPSCTINS THE NATIONAL DAENNS
Of TNN UNITED STATEN WITHIN THE NNANIN? of EUIONANI ACT NS
S. ^. C.. NI AND NE. AN ANENDND. ITS TNANSNIASION ON TNN NmuT10A
OP ITS CONTEN. IN ANT HARMER TO AN UNAUTHORIZED PERSON IN PRO
SUITED ST LAW. REPRODUCTION or THIS PORN IN PROHIBITED.
SUM MARY: During the last
DATE DISTY. yuly
1950
SUPPLEMENT TO oo_P-3.11, 112,
REPORT NO. 1~3
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
24 hours, the only new elements that have been added to
Radio Mosoow'a relevant propaganda line are: (1) the official Sov et reply to the
American note, whloh hoe been Riroadoaat without comment; and (2) the use of PRAVDA's
"direct-aggression" theme In onjunotion with the campaign, begun Inside the US8I today,
for Russian signatures to the
Stockholm "Peace" Appeal. Nothing oieontially new
be been
monitored from moot of the Como>uniet souroea outside the Soviet Union. Monolith.oally,
they continue to inlet that the South Koreans first Invaded the rth, that this "invsaion"
bud been long prepared and planned by the American imperialists, and that the President's
deoieion elgnalizoa the exte ton of American policy fral '"preparation for aggression"
The Peking radio bas
to "acts of diroot aggression'; some fearawngeriag also continues.
begun to pubiloize the Chineel'Communiste' claim that "liberation's of Formosa Is still
on the agenda; but they have not yet used their previous aneertion that this wound take
place "noon." Pyon&ang oontinuee to broadcast communique e, apps le, and relevant TABS
dispatohea; although there are references to American air operati9nr, includingreporta
of a "brutal raid" against th? "peaceful citizens" of Pyongyang, 1ha President's'
A Wentoi'n breathing ape11, is suggested by the reduced number
of oommonte in m+ouitored
broadcasts from Western-omen ad sources. Reactions to the Preeident'a motion sire still
predomiaamtly favorable; but here in some critical opinion, eepooially from India.
Oooaoion*l expressions of oonera about the effectiveness of American action in Ursa,
without the use of American troops, continue to appear. optimism regarding the prospect$
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for current world peace is gcn?,n11, cber;!ctyrietic of tsz .first few comments about Moscow's
reaction to date. But one conrnentator romiad.e' that :.Mover ha:;:pons in Korea "one should not
think that the Soviet Union will surrender its, plans for a world domination of Communism.
KOREA AND THE SOVIET -CCHMUNIST "PEACE CAMPAIGN": Last week, the Soviet radio devoted
a greater proportion 7 of its foreign-affairs ccn::.ont to the Stockholm-Appeal "peace
aampr gn" than has been the case since this c"ptiga was first launched. That the propaganda
efforts of Moscow and its "peace partisans" will not be relaxed as a result cf the Korean
situation I. suggested by their almost immediate: incorporation of the "direct-aggression"
theme Kato their "peace" line. Currently, the'tESR is the ^oene of a Stockholm-Appeal
signature drive, dust announced, during which Moscow expects "unanimous support (of the
Stockholm Appeal) by the entire Soviet people'."' "As developments .n Korea go to show," says
an of"tcial statement on the drive, "the American ruling circles already do not , confine them-
aelves' to preparation of aggression, but have, gone over to outright acts of aggression. (Thus),
to the Soviet people, the enormous importancelofthe Stockholm Appeal is evident. "* As yet,
how.V.7, ?ksoov has not mentioned atom weapons! in the context of its references, to the Korean
situation. The only Communist source which doles!is the Soviet-controlled Gerr.~ia proem service.
It quotes Max Schmidt, CDU Secretary in Saxony to the effect that "the only possible interpre-
tation of the demand by the American Representative Rivers for the use of atomilboubs against
the Korean People's Republic" is that "the dollar needs blood."
WHAT IS THE USSR GOING TO DO? Although I no I Wes term -oriented sources hazard threat pre-
dictions about the Soviet course of action, a'', few of them make general allusions to the
subjec't. The MUNICH MERCURY, for example, feels that Soviet reaction to the President's
decis ion "is so weak that it does not appear', an if Stalin intends to got involved in a general
war." A Swiss paper expects "that the men in the Kremlin will s.c reason after being shown
that the West would rather risk a vat than put up with further breaches of peace." And there
are occasional observations that because the USSR has not firmly committed itself in Korea
and because the U.S. has limited its intervention to the 38th parallel, the "Russians can with-
draw without a loss of prestige." On the other hand, there are a few warnings ',that the Korean
war might be a "diversionary feint to cover up a truly big move that is planned by the Kranlin"
and th'.at "meanwhile, the attention of the U.S'.!,is drawn away from the other fronts of the cold
war." The only allusion from a Communist orllear-Communist source to the possible Soviet
courses of action appears in the Paris LIBERATION,' a leftist paper which has frequently taken a
pro-CO ~ais$ line. It contends that "if thel SR answered Truman in his own violent ton.,...
than certainly world conflict would be inevitable." But "the USSR'wr'ts peace" and it has
"given proof of this by keeping (its) calm and!es -frond in the face of the Mostvielent pro-
vooatieaa. This 1s not a alga, of weakness, but,of xisd.om."
II?IAN AND EGYPTIAN CRITICISMS: Both the Bombay TIMES OF INDIA and the Lueknow NATIONAL
HERO criticize the President's decision. I'I ThiITIMES argues: the Security Council s first
resolution "cannot conceal the fact that the U.S. Government took the intervention decision
on its own responsibility"; and the "hastily'obtained sanction of the Security Council cannot
oondon'e the armed intervention...." Further, 11 ii, opines that the U.N., "which did. , not, hesitate
to giv a hearing to Hyderabad;,.. has certainly' not added to its -reputation of fairness by
refusi!g oven to listen to North Korea's came.!,The HERALD takes exception to the President's
allege "far-fetched interpretation" which)"enlarged the issue from one of restoring the
^tatus~quo in Korea into one of fighting Commaunism along the Pacific arc." It argues for U.N.
partioipation by the USSR and Communist Chiaajsince without them world wars cannot be avoided.
A Radio Cairo commentator takes exception not to'' the President's decision but to the "big
powers' negligence in arming areas which are 9aaidered strategically important." For this
reason, the U.S. Itself is held "responsible" far the Korean blow. Warning that the Middle last
is next ea the Soviet timetable, the commentator'hopes ;,hat the Western world will learn a
lessonfrest Korea and that the U.S. will stop "wasting tire by protecting and reinforcing
Israel at the expense of the Arab countries. I!ITkis only widens the gap between lth:a U.S. and the
Arab states... (where) America is sowing seeds of resentment and hate while Russia goes on
with its unoesslag plan of expans ion."
* In eaneotioa with the question of the USSR' a! attitude toward the U.N. as the result of the
latterr'a Korean resolutions, it Is of some init neat that the statement pledged that the Soviet
Governmealt, in conformity with its "consistent" policy of peace and cooperation among nations,
would.take the necessary measures through the U.N. and use all other channels for assuring
univer al peace and international security."
** The TIl'H'.8 OF INDIA, the loading Eagl ish doily', of Western India, has recently, under a new
editor become anti-Ameriorn and anti-CongrosilParty? The NATIONAL HERALD reflects the attitude
of the left wing of the Congress Party.
RETRICTEAi REST PTI
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