Consideration of the Korean problem at the Geneva Conference,
which convened April 26, 1954, marked the culmination of nearly 9
months' effort by American negotiators to obtain Communist agree-
ment on the holding of the political conference envisaged in the
Korean Armistice Agreement of July 27, 1953. That agreement had
recommended that a political conference be held within 3 months,
but this had been prevented by the North Korean and Chinese Com-
munist insistence, in negotiations at Panmunjom, Korea, that a group
of "neutrals," among them the Soviet Union and India, participate
in the proposed conference. The United States, representing the
allied nations with forces in Korea, refused to acquiesce in the fiction
of Soviet neutrality. It insisted that the conference be between the
two sides in the Korean war, without the participation of any powers
which as "neutrals" would not be bound by the decisions of the
conference.

The impasse on the proposed conference was finally broken at the
four-power Foreign Ministers meeting at Berlin, where the United
States, the United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union agreed
to call such a conference at the very place -- Geneva -- and with the
precise composition advocated by the United States at Panmunjom.
The four powers also agreed to discuss at Geneva with other interested
states the restoration of peace in Indochina. This was done in a
separate phase of the Geneva Conference.

Although before and during the conference Communist China
attempted to pose as one of the "Big Five," it was made clear in the
Berlin Communique that it was merely to be one of the participants
invited by one of the four major powers. The Communique, which
was signed by Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov, stated: "It is under-
stood that neither the invitation to, nor the holding of, the above-
mentioned conferences shall be deemed to imply diplomatic recogni-
tion in any case where it has not already been accorded."

The allied side in the Korean discussions was made up of the
Republic of Korea and the following 15 nations, all of which had
contributed forces to the United Nations Command in Korea:
Australia, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Ethiopia, France, Greece,
Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, Thai-
land, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The

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