United Nations General Assembly Resolution 498

The United Nations General Assembly resolution 498 was approved on February 1, 1951, in response to the intervention of Chinese troops in Korean War.

UN General Assembly Resolution 498
Date	February 1st 1951
Meeting no.	327
Code	A/RES/498 (V) (Document)
Subject	Intervention of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China in Korea
Voting summary	44 voted for 7 voted against 9 abstained
Result	Adopted

It was the first time in which United Nations treated a nation as an aggressor.[1]

Background

Poster of 1951 (produced by the American government) allusive to the resolution. The text is in thai. The text in the arrow translates "44 nations condemn red China". The names of the countries that approved the resolution appeared.

In late 1950, hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops crossed into North Korea to help the troops of North Korea to fight the coalition led by United States and South Korea.[1]

The General Assembly vote followed unsuccessful attempts by the U.S. delegation to the United Nations to have the Security Council take action against the Chinese. Exercising his nation's veto power, the Soviet representative on the Security Council consistently blocked the U.S. effort. Turning to the General Assembly, the U.S. delegation called for the United Nations to condemn communist China as an aggressor in Korea.[1]

The resolution in few words

The resolution had 3 main points:

• The aggression of the People's Republic of China is condemned
• The Chinese troops are exhorted to leave Korea
• The United Nations member states are exhorted to continue supporting the U.N. troops in Korea [2]

The voting in detail

For

Argentina  Australia  Belgium  Bolivia Brazil  Canada Chile  China  Colombia  Costa Rica  Cuba  Denmark  Dominican Republic  Ecuador  El Salvador  Ethiopia

France  Greece  Guatemala  Haiti  Honduras  Iceland  Iran  Iraq  Israel  Lebanon  Liberia  Luxembourg  Mexico  Netherlands  New Zealand  Nicaragua

Norway  Panama  Paraguay  Peru Philippines  Thailand  Turkey  Union of South Africa  United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland  United States of America  Uruguay  Venezuela

Against

• Burma
•  Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic
•  Czechoslovakia
•  India
•  Poland
•  Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
•  Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

Abstentions

•  Afghanistan
•  Egypt
•  Indonesia
•  Pakistan
•  Saudi Arabia
•  Sweden
• Syria
• Yemen
•  Yugoslavia

[3]

Aftermath

Poster of the time (produced by the American government) allusive to the resolution. In this poster, the number of countries that condemned red China is 53, when the right number is 44.

The action was largely symbolic, because many nations were reluctant to take more forceful action against the People's Republic of China for fear that the conflict in Korea would escalate. While economic and political sanctions could have been brought against China, the United Nations decided to take no further action. The Korean War continued for 2 more years, finally ending in a stalemate and an armistice in 1953.[1]

See also

• United Nations General Assembly resolution
• United Nations Security Council resolution

References

1. "This day in History: U.N. condemns PRC for aggression". A&E Television Networks. 2009. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
2. "A/RES/498 (V)" (PDF). United Nations. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
3. "The Question of Korea". Yearbook of the United Nations 1951. New York City: United Nations. 1951. p. 224. OCLC 867230999. Retrieved 2 April 2015.