While They Talk Peace

What are the Communist armies up to while the truce talks drag on? At a formal press conference, a Pentagon colonel last week told the U.S.: that the enemy has utilized the time since the Malik peace proposal to build up his strength tremendously. Items:

P: Fresh Chinese troops have arrived in the line. P: A new North Korean army, twice as powerful as the one which attacked in June 1950 is ready for a new offensive. P: Enemy armor is rolling south; heavy artillery has been wheeled to the front.

The colonel continued his analysis, based on G-2 estimates: "[In May] the Chinese were driven back in confusion all along the front, losing over 100,000 dead [in] their most disastrous defeat since they entered the Korean conflict last November, and at least four Chinese armies . . . lost their combat effectiveness . . . Acting in entire good faith . . . the U.N. accepted arrangements to explore the terms for negotiating a settlement . . . [when] we had [the enemy] just about hanging on the ropes . . . Since the peace proposal, however, the enemy has moved into the battle area a far greater quantity of supplies than he needs."

The colonel's statement threw the Pentagon into a pother. The Department of Defense denounced it as a "terrible blunder," an example of "lowlevel thinking," disowned the report. But despite the storm that broke on the colonel, no one contradicted his facts--and no one took action against Major General Floyd L. Parks, Chief of Army Public Information, who had cleared his statement.

From the Korean battlefront came new evidence of the enemy buildup. In a week of careful probing, U.N. patrols identified two new Red armies (some 150,000 men) in the line. On the east-central flank, massed Red guns swept Eighth Army patrols off a strategic hill. Allied warships plastering Wonsan harbor for the 161st straight day encountered more powerful shore batteries. U.N. jet fighters were pounced on by MIGs, freshly equipped with wing fuel tanks which would enable them to operate far behind allied lines. Hundreds of Russian-made tanks maneuvered north of Kaesong.

No one could be sure of the Reds' intentions. But U.S. military men know one thing: if the Reds choose to break off the Kaesong talks and attack, they will be in a far better position to do it than before.

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