CDKW00079 - The UN Response

In this cable, the Acting Canadian Delegate to the UN conveyed Secretary General Trygve Lie’s gratitude and acceptance of the Canadian offer to send a squadron of RCAF North Stars to the UN Forces in Korea. Despite the reluctance of the Cabinet and the Chief of General Staff to committing ground troops, however, their communications with the UN left the door to committing ground troops open for the future as the Canadian military strengthened itself. The other key element here lay in Canada’s usage of the term “United Nations force,” which had not yet been used by the United Nations itself nor any other member states supplying the Korean conflict. In particular, this suggestion allowed the UN to pursue such a task without being presumptuous and Lie encouraged the Canadians to push both the British and the Americans towards a united armed force under the banner of the United Nations.