UN General Assembly
1965

55. I think it is most important for world security generally that unification in any of these unhappily divided countries should not be attempted by force, if only because of the grave dangers that this would hold for world peace. In fact, this modus vivendi jogged along in one way or another for some years, and then, gradually, it became upset by armed subversion in South Viet-Nam, directed and supplied from outside, particularly from North Viet-Nam. This has been stepped up. There have been, over the period of the last two years, deliberate killings of officials in villages and the elimination of national, cultural and other leaders in South Viet-Nam with a view to disrupting government, and with the inevitable consequences, of course, that the Government had to become more rigorous and that moves towards greater liberalization had to be checked. There has also been, over a period of years, the deliberate destruction of economic facilities — bridges and so on — with a view to slowing down and reversing the economic progress that was taking place in South Viet-Nam.