I wish, first of all, to pay a well-deserved tribute to the men who are fighting in Korea. In particular I wish to pay a tribute to those who not being of Korean nationality are not therefore fighting to defend the frontiers of their fatherland or to gain material advantages for their countries, and are not inspired by passion or by hate. Without anger and with friendly feelings towards the Korean people these men are sacrificing their youth and even their lives for an idea, the idea that violence shall be banished from the earth as a means of solving the problems that beset the peoples of the world; that aggression shall be crushed so that it shall never confront the world again, and the United Nations Charter, which has been accepted as the supreme rule of international law, shall prevail. Seldom have men taken up arms for a more noble or fruitful task.
2. It should be noted that in its report to this Assembly, the United Nations Commission on Korea, which is an international and impartial commission, has emphasized that the forces of the Korean Republic scarcely had the organization or arms for a purely defensive action; that the invasion was not the result of a provocative attack on North Korea across the 38th parallel as has been alleged; that the North Korean attack was deliberately prepared beforehand; that it formed an essential part of the policy of North Korea which was aimed at securing by force what it could not gain by other means, and that the North Korean authorities unleashed a war of aggression in order to further this policy.
3. International communists, and those who follow that political line without being or admitting they are communists, are well aware that this is the truth although they try to distort the facts and to present them in such a way as to make it appear that the Korean question is an imperialist adventure on the part of the United States. It is regrettable that in some countries their propaganda has convinced and deceived small groups of men of good faith and some young people who in their youthful fervour have allowed themselves to be blinded and swayed by the fallacies of international communist propaganda. The majority of the world, however, now realizes that the United Nations laid down an exemplary line of conduct in initiating collective action against aggression for the first time in history, and that the United Nations sought and desired, and still desires a free and unified Korea which shall work out its own destiny without pressure of any kind.
4. Those who have been deceived should be made to reflect on the fact that the fifty-three countries which endorsed the Security Council’s action to quell the North Korean aggression did so in accordance with the Charter, and in order to ensure that the United Nations will, in future, likewise repel any other aggression against one of their number.
5. Bearing all this in mind, the report of the Korean Commission is particularly important since it proves that events have once again justified the United Nations action, and the report gives the world irrefutable proof that the aggression against the Republic of Korea was premeditated.
6. We must emphasize that this alone is the true situation which drew the free nations together to support the Security Council’s action in different ways, according to their own means.
7. The Members of the United Nations know that in acting thus they have not been used as tools to assist or conceal a war of conquest or a colonial war, but have done so in order that the United Nations Charter, collective security and the repelling of aggression, may serve as a rampart today and become a vital and convincing reality in the future.
8. The statement made by the United States representative at our [279th] meeting on 20 September is therefore significant; he urged us to strengthen the system of collective security and told us: “Our best hope of peace lies in our ability to make it absolutely plain to potential aggressors that aggression does not succeed”.
9. This appeal to collective security however has one inevitable consequence: peace and collective security are indivisible. Aggression must be quelled by collective action whoever the aggressor may be, not only when it strikes in the north but also when anyone seeks to impose his will by force whether it be in the south, in the east or in the west.
10. Aggression must be quelled not only when it constitutes a threat to all or some of the Members of the United Nations but also when it violates the rights or integrity of any Member State. If, at some time in the future, we put down an act of aggression against some country, all other countries which love peace and have faith and confidence in it, will do everything in their power to help build up collective security. We must put down aggression against any country no matter how small that country may be; in fact, the smaller and weaker the country, the greater the efforts we must make.
11. If we are to save the international situation we must begin by knowing the facts. The first requirement in any effort to save humanity from destruction in a new war is to try to understand the realities of the world and the problems with which we are faced.
12. As has already been said in this Assembly, and almost everything has been said here, the international situation may perhaps be gauged by the fact that many millions of human beings are suffering hardships and that most of mankind lives in dire poverty and cannot satisfy those needs which the more advanced peoples of North America and part of Western Europe consider necessities.
13. I feel therefore that we should congratulate seven members of the British Commonwealth of Nations on the efforts which they are now making to raise the standard of living and improve social conditions for such a large section of humanity.
14. I wonder whether a similar effort to co-ordinate and plan the potential resources of Latin America would not be a great contribution to strengthening the democratic sector of the world which seeks peace and not aggression. The majority of the population of the world longs for urgent and continuous action which will progressively satisfy its needs.
15. If that majority finds that its aspirations towards a just and progressive system of social welfare cannot be achieved through methods and governments which harmonize, balance and combine democratic freedom; with energetic social action, hundreds of millions of; workers may in the future gradually be won over by those who seek social revolution as a prerequisite for human happiness.
16. On the other hand, we must confess that in all countries which have not yet obtained independence there is a deep-rooted and justified movement in that direction. When unsatisfied social needs are combined with the will of the people for political independence, the result is a force which is difficult to check because it is just and because it is deeply rooted in the soul of the people.
17. If there is an attempt to counteract these two; forces or this combined force through pressure by a superior force, then there arises on the world scene the political paradox of movements which are international by conviction and by their recognized tactics, but which wear the mantle of essentially national and nationalist aspirations, appearing as defenders of the independence and nationality of the peoples of the world.
18. In our opinion, a number of conclusions and lessons are to be drawn from the facts and the situations I referred to. It is fortunately true that the action taken by the United Nations in Korea was a necessary step to prevent the Organization from disintegrating as an effective political instrument. Unless that action had been taken, the Charter would at this moment be another useless scrap of paper.
19. It is also true that the energetic decisions of the Security Council and the support of almost all the Members of the Organization have inspired confidence; in the political effectiveness of the United Nations in the hearts of the free peoples of the world, in that very large part of mankind which can and does receive free: information and which follows the progress of world: events day by day.
20. Today we are faced with a task which we must not avoid or delay: to inspire confidence in the social effectiveness of our Organization through a broad programme of social justice.
21. If we really wish that faith in the United Nations should become more deeply rooted, more universal and permanent among the masses of the world and, in particular, of those countries which are already seeking or struggling for political independence, our Organization must stress boldly and emphatically two tasks set forth in the Charter: first, the task of assembling all the resources available to the United Nations to continue and extend the campaign in defence of the popular masses by improving their standards of living; and, secondly, the task of serving as an effective instrument to enable the nations of the world to achieve and enjoy freedom, independence and territorial integrity.
22. The United Nations should not only be the daring standard bearer of social progress and political independence, but should also appear in that role to the peoples of all continents especially those which are the scene of great social and political movements of this kind. The reason is that if the United Nations — unjustly, it is true, since its conduct does not warrant such a judgment — should appear to certain peoples as the instrument of social reaction, of colonialism or political aggression, our efforts would encounter further obstacles and our ideals would be met by lack of confidence on the part of the people.
23. The social and economic improvement and independence of peoples are therefore essential prerequisites for international peace. Otherwise, in the final analysis, people who are suffering oppression and misery would seek to overthrow a regime imposed upon them against their will.
24. If this is the international situation, charged as it is with explosives, there is a danger that a conflict may break out and engulf us in a sea of blood.
25. Therefore, the primary, most elemental and urgent need is to ensure the defence and the life of the peoples who desire peace, but within a system of freedom and justice.
26. For the same reason, in our opinion, the proposals of the United States representative [A/1377] are appropriate to achieve effective United Nations action in cases of emergency by making it possible to convene the General Assembly rapidly and to establish a committee of collective action and a peace patrol to keep watch in places where new aggression may arise or has arisen.
27. The proposal that each Member should designate units within its national forces which would be equipped and trained to serve the United Nations represents so great a step forward and so great an innovation in the progress of the international Organization that my delegation believes it deserves careful consideration by each government in the light of its material resources and its respective legal and constitutional provisions.
28. All of us, great and small, must therefore seek to strengthen the rampart of collective security so that it will become so high and so imposing that no one will dare to cross it.
29. It is said that nations with great economic and military strength have a greater responsibility in the maintenance of international peace and that, when armed force is unleashed, they are the ones to make the efforts and the sacrifices that are within their power. The great Powers, however, cannot do everything alone and the world also needs the co-ordinated action and the extraordinary moral and political force which small and medium-sized States can exert jointly as factors for peace and collective security, in defence of an organization like our which should continue to pursue its objective of achieving universality.
30. All the States that are sincerely resolved to respect the principles of the Charter must co-operate so that the principles and rules it establishes may become las flexible and effective an instrument in the Assembly f as it was in the Security Council at the beginning of the Korean conflict.
31. The unity, co-ordination and speed of action of those countries which are at present members of the communist bloc should make us pause. Those States act in an orderly fashion as if they already constituted a unified and organized bloc of nations which, it appears, at least, is not paralysed by the veto. No member of that friendly group appears to run counter to the direction in which it moves or to obstruct its actions.
32. Meanwhile, unless we succeed in improving the present situation in the United Nations, the use of the veto can, in practice, at the will of a single nation, paralyse the essential functions of the Security Council to halt aggression.
33. The conclusion to be drawn is obvious. While taking care that the United Nations does not lose its essentially international character, let us make of it an effective instrument capable of acting with the speed and co-ordination shown by the communist group.
34. If those who are able to eliminate the power of veto from the Charter do not wish to do so, and if those who wish to see it eliminated are unable to achieve their end, we have no other recourse than to make the Assembly a bulwark against aggression. Here, the opposition of the minority cannot paralyse the action of the majority.
35. It is true that the Western nations have been compelled, by the historical experience of the past five years, not to rely on declarations of peaceful intent, and to increase their military preparedness. It is also true, on the other hand, that we, the peace-loving countries of the United Nations, are now obliged to align ourselves more solidly, both on a regional and on a world basis, not for purposes of attack, but in order to live in security and repel aggression, whenever, wherever and from whomever it may come. This is the first and basic necessity of our existence. There must be no doubt on this point.
36. But to limit our efforts to such action might be interpreted as an admission that we believe a new world conflict is inevitable, and that the principles of the Charter, under which we live, are invalid and ineffective. The spirit in which the Charter was written compels us to believe that peace is possible as long as it is not totally destroyed, and to seek its preservation with every means at our disposal.
37. Apart from the essential values of international life, such as morality, and justice, much may have to be sacrificed in order to safeguard peace: from the proud confidence in one’s own strength to collective pride; belief in the infallibility of doctrines to considerations of prestige.
38. If the worst should come, our sacrifices for the preservation of peace might be a hundred times greater than those required of us now; and each group of states would lose that which, fundamentally, it is trying to defend today — the very type of social and political organization in which it desires to live. Some would lose their dream of world empire, their desire for power to regulate the life of society through the iron hand of small dictatorial groups, and their grandiose plans for material construction. Others would have to sacrifice their love of individual and collective freedom, of free enterprise, of gradual social progress, the constant aim of which is to promote justice without sacrificing liberty and without reducing man to the status of a mere cog in the machinery of the state. All of us would have to renounce our dream of ever increasing social well-being.
39. In a major world conflict, would not individual freedom be the first casualty? And would not the first result of such a conflict be the permanent strengthening of the state at the expense of the individual — the multiplication of state controls and interventions beyond anything yet dreamed of? Could individual liberty endure in the face of the universal regimentation of national forces which modern war imposes?
40. Let us therefore, together with the group resolved upon defence, endeavour once more to take positive action for the preservation of peace; and even though there might seem to be no good reason for confidence in the outcome, let us nevertheless persist in our positive efforts to ward off the catastrophe.
41. We cannot believe that all possibilities of an understanding between the great Powers with opposing international policies have been exhausted, or that the countries which are contemplating or encouraging aggression may not come to recognize, in the end, that that policy does not pay and that all humanity will lose by it.
42. This Assembly may perhaps afford the world one of its last opportunities of averting the catastrophe. The anguished feeling that a new world conflict is approaching has created an oppressive atmosphere that weighs heavy upon the hearts of the peoples of the world. Without being pessimistic in regard to long-range programmes, we must in all sincerity confess that few possibilities exist, within the framework of the normal work of the United Nations organs, for immediate and concrete action to ward off the dangers which threaten world peace, or to relieve quickly the international tension under which we live, in constant fear for our countries, our children, our homes.
43. The noble efforts made in the past — until quite recently — to bring into direct contact the statesmen upon whose policies the future of mankind depends, have been unsuccessful, perhaps, among other reasons, because of the difficulty in organizing international conferences on so high a political level, when there is little probability of success.
44. Perhaps because it is difficult to give up all hope, there remains a flicker of faith in the peoples of the world, that the worst can always be avoided if we try hard enough. The statesman who fights resolutely for peace, in the face of adverse circumstances, is as much a hero as the soldier who gives his life for his country.
45. The simple ordinary people of the world know nothing of politics or diplomacy; the man in the street and the boy who sheds his blood in battle may not, perhaps, have lost their hope that direct personal contact between the leaders of the great Powers which gravitate in such different orbits — now encroaching dangerously upon each other — may still improve the situation to some extent, or ward off the storm.
46. The common man cannot, I think, bring himself to believe that an exchange of ideas between ministers for foreign affairs, when it is an informal, verbal exchange which cannot act as a boomerang against any of the parties attending, can be entirely useless and to no avail. We ourselves cannot believe that it is so.
47. Let us admit one fact which appears certain: in the course of the next few months we shall not see a repetition of the event which has come to pass here, namely, the meeting together in one room of high-ranking leaders in international politics who represent nations with opposing views. Were we now to open the doors of this Assembly hall to the peoples of the world, it is probable that a clamorous demand would fall upon our ears — a demand that the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the great Powers should speak directly with one another, without public address systems, nor verbatim records, nor minutes, but without prejudice to those defensive measures which experience, as well as national and international security, force upon us all. The peoples of the world would tell those Ministers that their talks together cannot paralyse their efforts to strengthen the defence of their own peoples, and would demand that these high officials should not leave New York, this political capital of the world, until they have made some concrete progress, if at all possible, towards easing the tension which oppresses us all.
48. The Preamble and Article 1 of the Charter compel us to leave no possibility unexplored in our efforts to maintain peace.
49. For the foregoing reasons, the delegation of Ecuador expresses its firm hope that the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the States holding permanent membership in the Security Council, profiting by their presence here together in New York, will take this opportunity to exchange views, individually or in groups in an informal manner, in order to explore all possibilities of lessening the present international tension.
50. Nothing will be lost, and something may be gained, if these statesmen, conscious of their tremendous responsibility in these times fraught with danger, can talk frankly among themselves, in a determined effort to find the difficult road which will lead mankind away from the terrible scourge of war.