Quiet Has Been Restored

On Koje, the bleak and bloody island where the U.N. holds 130,000-odd Chinese and North Korean prisoners of war, strife between Communist and anti-Communist factions is constant, relentless and apparently uncontrollable. Recently, among the North Koreans in Compound 93, the anti-Reds got the upper hand, and the enclosure was suddenly converted to freedom. Work parties from 93 began to sing South Korean songs and wave homemade R.O.K. flags as they were marched to & from their jobs.

Last week a work party of about 150 exalted converts from Compound 93, under a small guard of R.O.K. troops commanded by an R.O.K. sergeant, was marched along a road skirting Compound 92, whose North Korean inmates are still incorrigible Communists. The anti-Communists not only sang songs and waved flags, they hurled taunts and insults. The Communists inside the barbed wire answered with a heavy barrage of stones, thrown as fast as they could pick them up from well-prepared caches.

A U.S. security officer, Captain Walter R. Leahy, who had sensed trouble as soon as he saw the work party approaching Compound 92, rushed to the scene, waved a white flag, ordered the South Koreans not to shoot and pleaded with 92's inmates to stop throwing stones. Captain Leahy was hit by three or four stones, one of which struck him in the face and knocked him down. When he regained his senses, the South Korean guards were shooting through the wire. It was soon over; but twelve of Compound 92's Communists were killed, 26 wounded. Said the U.S. Second Logistical Command, which is responsible for Koje: "Quiet has been restored, and all prisoners are complying fully with the orders of the authorities."

The camp command took what comfort it could from the fact that no American had killed anyone, and that the episode was much less bloody than last month's organized rebellion, in which more than 200 Communists were shot down with 40 U.S. casualties (TIME, March 3). Said General James Van Fleet: "There'd be no incidents down there if the Communists would only behave." At Panmunjom, Admiral Libby duly made a report on last week's riot to the Communist negotiators, who received it with bitter comments and hints that more would be heard from them later. The unfortunate outbreak was one more bone to pick over in the truce talks, which are already amply strewn with bones of contention. Peace last week seemed farther and farther away.

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