Editorial Note
On the evening of May 22, following dinner at Molotov’s residence. Smith and Molotov held a long conversation dealing with Indochina and a range of other subjects. Smith reported the meeting to the Department of State in telegram Dulte 101, May 23, from Geneva: for the complete text, see page 895. The portion of the telegram dealing with the Korean phase of the Conference follows.
“I then mentioned Korea, pointing out that discussion in plenary session today had again emphasized deep cleavage and bitterness of feeling between North and South Korea. Molotov agreed and said that this was obviously a matter which would require a great deal of time [Page 316] to produce a solution. He thought that political settlement in Korea would come about possibly as a result of some years of living together. I mentioned a recent statement of Nehru’s, saying that while I did not by any means subscribe to most of his statements, his recent one regarding Korea had interested me. Mr. Nehru, I understood, had said, in effect, that he did not expect a political solution for Korea to arise from Geneva conference, but that it might be that some loose association as a result of trading together would, after a period of time, reduce the tension and produce some form of agreement. The interpretation I gave this was, I now understand, a good deal different from what Nehru actually proposed. Molotov repeated that a period of “living together” and some form of commercial or other contact over a period of time might reduce the bitterness and permit some political solution. He obviously expects none here.” (751G.00/5–2354)