Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1946-01-29
Roosevelt Kept Secret
OF KuriIes Pact Even
From Him, Byrnes5ays
BY GARRETT d. HORNER.

secretary OF state ByrneS said
today that he had learned after
Japan surrendered that President
Roosevelt and the then British
Prime Minister Churchill had
agreed at the Yalta conference with
Soviet Premier Stain last February
that Russia should get the Kurile
Islands from Japan.
He told a news conference that
the secret agreement provided that
the southern half of Sakhalin
Island, and some adjacent islands
which were coded to Japan by Rus
STA in the last century, should be
returned to the Soviet government,
and that the Kuriles should be
turned over to Russia.
The islands involved are off North
ern Japan, and were used by the
japanese as springboard for their
attacks on the Aleutian Islands early
in the war. The agreement was
made with the full knowledge of
this country's military leaders, Mr.
Byrnes said.
Was Kept Secret.
Mr. Byrnes said that even though
he was at the Yalta Conference, Mr.
Roosevelt had kept the agreement
secret even from him. It was signed
during the last day OF the confer
ence after he had left Yalta, Mr..
Byrnes added. He emphasized that
at the time it was necessary to keep
such an agreement top secret be-
cause Soviet military leaders had
said they would need 80 days for
preparation to join the war on Japan
after Germany collapsed, and that
every precaution had to be taken
against a leak to the japanese that
Stain had agreed to join in the
Pacific war.
The secret agreement also had
reference to Soviet desires regarding
Port Arthur and Dairen, which later
were formalized in a Russian treaty
with China, Mr.. Byrnes said.
He said it is his understanding
that permanent Russian possession
of the Kuriles and the other Japa-
nese islands involved in the Yalta
Agreement will have to be formalized
in an eventual peace treaty with
Japan, but admitted that some one
presumably the Russians-might
raise question as to whether such
action was necessary to legalize the
return of territory.
Called Acheson Wrong.
The question came up at Mr.
Byrnes' news conference in view of a
statement by Undersecretary of
State Acheson last week that he I'M
derstood that the Yalta Agreement
provided for Russian occupation of
the islands involved, but made no
final award. The Soviet news agency
Tass later said that Mr.. Acheson
was wrong, asserting that the secret
agreement definitely turned over the
islands to Russia.
Mr.. Byrnes had said in a news
conference last September that
as a result of discussions at Yalta
the United States would not oppose
Russian claims to the islands.
He was questioned closely today
about the long secrecy preserved by
Mr.. Roosevelt, and said that the late
President had kept the American
copy of the agreement in the White
House with no copy in the State De-
partment archives. He said he did
not know whether former Secretary
of State Stettinius had known of
the agreement.
Learned After Surrender.
Mr.. Byrnes said he found out about
1t soon after the japanese surrender
when some question concerning it
came up and he asked Charles E
Behlen, State Department Russian
expert, who had served as interpre-
ter for Mr.. Roosevelt at Yaata.
He told questioners that he did not
know when President Truman
learned about the agreement, but
that Mr.. Truman had said nothing
to indicate that he had any knowl-
edge of 1t before he (Mr. Byrnes)
spoke to the President about it.