e NEW YORK TIMES: “DISPATCH REVEALS SOUTH KOREAN ASSEMBLYMEN PETITIONED UN MP’s opposing By BERNARD BURTON NEW YORK Three months before the Korean war broke out, 18 members of the South Korea National Assembly were jailed by Syngman Rhee for opposing an invasion of North Kor- ea by South Korean forces, a search of New York Times files reveals, The dispatch filed from Seoul by Walter Sullivan, and dated March 14, noted also that one of the charg- es against the 13 jailed South Kor- ean legislators was “petitioning the United Nations for withdrawal of | foreign troops (both Russian and American, including advisers).” This exposure of the corrupt, war- minded Rhee regime came in the course of an article in which Sulli- van wrote that a move in the South Korea National Assembly for a con-!_ stitutional amendment to limit Rhee’s dictatorial powers lost by three votes. But “13 Assembly members who presumably would have voted for the amendment were in jail,” the Times story said, “They were found guilty today on charges of violating the National Security Act and sentenced to prison terms rang- ing from one and a half to 10 years.” ‘And what were the specific “vio- lations” in the indictment? Sulli- van listed them as the petition to the UN for withdrawal of foreign troops, “attempting to bring about the fall of the cabinet by exposing malfeasance on the part of its mem- bers, seeking out unnecessary items in the budget in ordér to fight the budget bill in the Assembly, oppos- ing invasion of North Korea by South Korean forces, pressing for a constitutional revision.” “Question for the UN Security / Council: Why should 13 top South | Korean legislators be jailed for “opposing invasion of North Kor- €a by South Korean forces” if such an invasion was not actually being planned—and was not final- ly attempted?” : Sullivan observed that. the vote to limit Rhee’s powers was not lost attack on Korea jailed for a lack of majority \in the Assem- _NANAIMO DIRECTORY Greetin 4 Eddie’s Fish Market Next to Walls and Bradshaw gs from NANAIMO, B.C. LUT ee Te eC MEE OY 0 C0 00 da GREETINGS Labor Day - 1950 Harvey Murphy > > Greetings to All Workers From Hackwood Bros. yah aida dat i BULLE ULUR TLL SMART WEARING APPAREL FOR MEN NANAIMO, B.C. Nanaimo, B.C. - Phone 313 Haliburton St. - Phone 765 4 « BO MEE GC Tt tt it Tn Tt fit at BEAUTIFUL UP Newly Renovated NANAI ue WL eee eee ea MEET YOUR FRIENDS EVERETT LE the Balmoral Hotel TO DATE ROOMS for Your Comfort MO, B.C. EERE RE REE ‘ Ti iil | LU PEM OULU TT MUR UAT th t LABOR DAY GREETINGS WALL & BRADSHAW NANAIMO - B.C. i ry EETINGS TO LABOR G SS SSSSOSSS SOS OS SSOP POSES ALL OUR “Everything for the Home.” FURNITURE & HARDWARE etch RsRy Ayn nyeyaiainitayaonaneieinaie sunauennninniny WHERE FRIENDLY PEOPLE MEET at the PATRICIA HOTEL Nanaimo, B.C. SSESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS FRIENDS DAY, 1950 Newcastle Hote! — NANAIMO, B.C. > > bly. The vote was actually 79 for the amendment, 13 against. But a two-third vote was needed. Two thirds of 123 would be 82 votes. If the 13 jailed Assemblymen had been permitted to vote, the amend- ment would have passed by a large margin—and it might have chang- €d the course of events in Korea. ‘Sullivan also reported that “proceedings against them (the 13) were instituted following their submission of a petition to the United Nations requesting that all foreign troops be withdrawn from Korea.” “The trial’, Sullivan wrote, “had been likened by some to that of the 11 American Communist party lea- ders and by others to that which followed the Reichstag fire.” The 13 were members of the South Korea Labor Party, which Rhee opposed as bitterly as he fought and persecuted South Korean trade un- ionists, Sullivan concluded his report with the observation: “Two points of in- terest to observers here which do not appear to have been dealt with by the prosecution are: (1) the question of the Assemblymen’s con- Stitutional immunity for actions in the Assembly; (2) the protection under international law of those making a plea to a United Nations Commission within that Commis- sion’s term of reference.” Apparently these are also “two curity Council as well as the UN Korean Commission. The Commis- sion must have known about the case, Either the Commission conceal- ed these facts from the Security Council or the Security Council received the information but did nothing about it. Yet the UN Commission was supposed to be protecting democratic rights and preserving peace in Korea, points of interest” for the UN Se-| Nonetheless on the unsupported assertion of that same Commission, the U.S.-dominated Security Coun- cil rubber-stamped the decision to preserve that kind of democracy and “peaceful” government. Is it any wonder then that. Warren Austin and the delega- tions of those countries which subserviently follow his lead on the Council are flustered by and fight against the Soviet Union's ers to call both sides in orea to the Security Council? Mexicans score - U.S. state dept. action in Cuba By A. B. MAGIL MEXICO CITY Strong protests have been arous- ed in this country by the grave de- velopments in Cuba where, under pressure of the U.S. state depart- ment, the government is attempt- ing to outlaw the Popular Socialist party, Marxist party of the work- ing class, close down the influen- tial progressive daily, Hoy, and smash the independent trade un- ion movement. Reactionary mobs, working close- ly with the government, are, ac- cording to reports received here, {/threatening to assassinate Juan Marinello, chairman, and Blas Ro- ca, general secretary of the Popu- lar Socialist party; Lazaro Pena, general secretary of the Confedera- tion of Labor of Cuba; Nicolas Guillen, Cuba’s great poet, and oth- er anti-imperialist leaders. On August 9 a delegation of more than 50 outstanding Mexican public figures presented a protest to the Cuban Embassy here. Among those who participated in the delegation were the world-famous painters, Diego Rivera and\David Alfaro Si- queiros; Aguston. Guzman, general secretary of the Union of Work- ers and Peasants of Mexico, one of the country’s leading labor fed- erations; Camilo Chavez, leader of the Miners and Metal Workers Un- ion; Leopoldo Mendez, Mexico's foremost woodcut artist; Xavier Guerrero and Jose Revueltas, nove- list and playwright. French have lost 150,000 troops “Five years ago today, people led by General Ho Chi Minh, (rose in general revolution. Then after ousting the Japanese sup- ported puppet Hanoi government, the National Liberation Committee formally announced establishment of the Vietnam Democratic Repub- lic on September 2,” writes the newspaper, : “The victory of the-August Re- volution of the Vietnam people was not only a starting point for over- all victory of the Vietnam people in struggle for national liberation, but also gave great encouragement to other oppressed peoples of Asia in their struggles for liberation, “The Vietnam People’s Liberation Army has grown with each engage- ment it has fought since the French imperialists broke the ‘Franco- Vietnam agreement’ in December, 1946, and launched its “armed at- tack against the Vietnam people. “Today, over 90 percent of the entire territory of Vietnam and 20 million of population have been completely liberated. The armed strength of the Vietnam Demo- cratic Republic has grown more than ten times the original force of over 10,000 regulars and 30,990 guerillas.” é Stating that the Vietnamese peo- ple have been enthusiastically car- rying, out a general mobilization order, giving wide support to the troops and donating funds to the government, the paper continues: “Since the victorious conclusion of the spring and summer offen- 4 Sives, the Vietnam People’s Lib- eration Army. has succeeded in blockading and isolating the French forces within their city limits in Laichau, Laokay, Caobang and Hailing the 5th anniversary of the victory of th Revolution of the Vietnam people, the Pe declares that “the present inte in Vietnam war | PEKING e August king People’s Daily rnational situation is obviously favorable” for Vietnamese liberation forces. at the | time when Japanese imperialism | bangson, where the French army was crushed by the armed might |20w has to rely on air supplies.” of the Soviet Union, the Vietnam | The paper points out that “since the French colonial army started : its slaughter and pillage, suffering _ defeat after defeat in the course : of it, it has expended 115 billion francs on field operations annual- _ ly and in three years it has lost — 150,000 treops. To hold few cities along the coast and railroads Bes further 150,000 French troops are tied down.” o Discussing the perspective for Vietnam in the light of American aid to French colonial forces, the | People’s Daily stated “the Ameri- can imperialists have directed a further aggressive blow at the lic. Shamelessly and openly, Tru- man has been sending arms and areas and is recruiting troops from _ Japan and Western Germany as | cannon fodder for the French co-— lonial army. He has also sent an American military and economic cial representative department.” But, concluded the paper, the “present international situation is obvjously favorable to Vietnam peo- ple’s struggle for liberation, be- cause the Soviet Union, China and other people’s democracies, together _ with the democratic forces through- out the world including the work- _ ing people of France itself, are ‘unanimous in their support of Viet- nam people’s struggle.” : The People’s Daily echoes the confidence expressed by Vietnam _ President Ho Chi Minh in his re- cent statement, “The American im-_ China. They will be defeated in Vietnam. We will meet with many difficulties, but we are sure to win.” PACIFIC TRIBUNE—SEPTEMBER 1, 1950—PAGE 3 young Vietnam Democratic Repub- § . food supplies to French-occupied _ mission headed by John Melby, spe- of Us: a ee perialists have been defeated in _