U.N. Expresses 'Grave Concern' Over Atrocities

UNITED NATIONS, N.Y., Dec. 3--The United Nations General Assembly today passed an American-backed resolution expressing "grave concern" over charges that the Communists in Korea tortured or murdered 38,000 U.N. prisoners and Korean citizens.

The 42-5 final vote, with ten abstentions and only the Russian block in opposition, is considered an important cold-war victory for Henry 'Cabot Lodge Jr., chief United States delegate, who made the charges late in October, and a crucial progaganda setback for Androl Y. Vishinsky, Russian deputy foreign minister, who denounced them as "sladerous, libelous and provocative."

Following the vote, Vishinsky launched a further attack on the American case, denouncing it as "a falsification, a fake and utterly spurious."

Inhuman Practices

The resolution's key paragraph declared that the Assembly "expresses its grave concern at reports and information that North Korean and Chinese Communist forces have, in a large number of instances, employed inhuman practices against the heroic soldiers of forces under the United Nations command in Kores and against the civilian population of Korea."

It went on to condemn "the commission by any governments or authorities" of "murder, mutilation, torture and other atrocities."

The resolution did not specifically call the Communists gulity of these crimes, but it strongly implied their guilt. The United States would have preferred stronger wording, but was forced to tone down the resolution in order to secure support.

[Today's vote was taken without reply to Lodge's earlier challenge, when he called upon Vishinsky to permit an impartial investigation by the International Red Cross "wherever the world bears the sears of war." The Soviet delegate completely ignored this challenge.]

No Judgment

Of the abstaining countries, Pakistan and Indonesia stated publicly, and a number of others privately, that they would not pass judgment before hearing the defense offered by the accused. India's delegate, V.K. Krishna Menon, Said he would not participate since India is chairman of the Neutral Nations Repatriation commission now trying to dispose of prisoners of war in Korea.

Member of the Soviet block who opposed the resolution were: White Russia Czechoslovakia, Poland, the Soviet Ukraine and the Soviet Union.

In addition to Pakistan and Indonesia, the abstentious were: afghanistan, Burma, Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen, and Yugoslavia. El Salvador and Lebanon were absent.